Tony La Russa, Dusty Baker Ejected as Cardinals, Reds Fight

A war of words ignited by Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips Monday turned physical a day later.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and Reds manager Dusty Baker were ejected Tuesday night in Cincinnati after a benches-clearing incident between the two teams.

The scuffle began as Phillips stepped into the batter's box during the bottom of the first inning at Great American Ballpark and began to jaw with St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina. Phillips tried to tap his bat to the shin guards of Molina and home-plate umpire Mark Wegner in a friendly gesture. When he attempted to do so, Molina kicked at his bat, then took off his mask and challenged the All-Star second baseman face-to-face.

"The comments that he made yesterday, that he's got no friends over here -- then why are you touching me?" Molina said following the game. "You are not my friend, so don't touch me. I mean, if we're no good for you, you are not my friend."

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Reds third baseman Scott Rolen, a former Cardinal, seemed to defuse the situation by separating Phillips and Molina quickly, even as the dugouts and bullpens emptied, but the confrontation hit another gear when Rolen and his former teammate, right-hander Chris Carpenter, clashed.

"I don't think it's a big mystery that there was some tension before the game," Rolen said. "I was tired before my first at-bat. I won't get into specifics about it. It was two teams defending their own people. It got ugly."

From there, a number of shoving, yelling and wrestling matches erupted, including one involving Baker and La Russa, one involving Reds outfielder Jonny Gomes, who had his jersey torn, and another in which starting pitcher Johnny Cueto was seen kicking players on television replays.

Carpenter, who got pinned against the backstop screen, wound up with several scrapes across his lower back and right side. "I turn around and I've got Cueto kicking me in the back with his spikes," Carpenter said. "It's super unprofessional. I don't know where he learned how to fight." Cardinals catcher Jason LaRue had some facial damage from the kicks and sustained a slight concussion, according to La Russa.

Cueto said that he was just trying to protect himself in the melee. "I was trying to break it up," Cueto said. "The next thing I know, 15-20 people were around me. I was up against the net. When 15 people are around you, you get scared. I had my back to the wall with my feet up."

Tempers were already hot between the two teams coming into the game because of some choice remarks made by Phillips a day earlier.

Hobbled by a leg injury heading into this week's NL Central showdown with the Cardinals, Phillips said he would play "with one leg" against St. Louis. His reason: "I hate the Cardinals. All they do is (complain) and moan about everything, all of them. They're little (expletives), all of 'em. I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear -- I hate the Cardinals."

St. Louis (63-49) took first place by percentage points over Cincinnati (64-50) in the Central Division with Tuesday's 8-4 win. The two teams meet again Wednesday in the finale of a three-game series at the Great American Ballpark and will face each other once more during the regular season, from Sept. 3-5 at Busch Stadium.

Check out the latest installment of "Three Down" with FanHouse TV's Steve Phillips. Click below to watch: