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[remindmeofthe]

Omg the Cardinals swept the Padres I am shocked SHOCKED I TELL YOU.

That's too bad, the Padres winning would have been hilarious.

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[owllover711.livejournal.com]

The rest:

Death of a Friend, and Teammate


The Cubs and the Cardinals were to play a game on June 22, 2002, but the game was called due to a death in the Cardinals organization. Pitcher Darryl Kile, age 33, was found in his hotel room in Chicago the morning of the game, and the Cubs organization was quickly notified of what happened. At the time when the first pitch was to be thrown out, as an amazing showing of respect and dignity, the entire Cubs team walked to the pitchers mound and announced that the game would be postponed due to the death. The Cubs and Cardinals would later make up that game, but both teams and fans of baseball would remember that day for a long time.

In 2003 Matt Morris made comments about rooting for the Astros to win the central instead of the Cubs since he and the Cardinal players respected the Astros. That same year, Baker and LaRussa got into shouting matches during the all important 4 game series in Wrigley that Septembe. In 2004, Mark Prior returns the favor with similar comment towards the Cardinals. In recent years the head hunting Carlos Zambrano has poured more fuel on the flames of hate between these two teams.

Perhaps this story, written in Chicago in 2004, best sums up this midwestern rivalry in terms of giving brief insights into the intensity of this series:

The Associated Press


CHICAGO - June 9, 2004
The harsh feelings between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs didn't go away over the winter.

Both benches cleared in the bottom of the fifth inning Wednesday after Cardinals starter Matt Morris sent Derrek Lee sprawling in the dirt with a fastball near his head. No punches were thrown and no one was ejected, but the game was delayed for about five minutes before umpires restored order.

The Cubs-Cardinals rivalry is always tense, but it was particularly ugly last year. Things came to a head when the Cardinals went to Wrigley Field for a key four-game series the first week of September, and Cubs manager Dusty Baker and Cardinals manager Tony La Russa got into a shouting match during the Sept. 3 game.

Emotions seemed to have cooled in the offseason, and there were no problems in the first two meetings of the year. But tempers flared again Wednesday.

So Taguchi and Jim Edmonds had been sent sprawling on 0-2 pitches earlier in the game. But Lee took offense when Matt Morris - vocal in his dislike of the Cubs last year - buzzed him with two fastballs. The second rose as it neared Lee, and Lee had to hit the ground to avoid being hit in the head.

Lee pointed at Morris as soon as he got up, and Morris screamed back at him. Plate umpire Ed Rapuano pulled Lee back as the Cubs and Cardinals slowly started coming out of their dugouts. But someone said something to Lee and he started back toward the mound. Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina restrained him, and the umpires got between the teams.

Words were exchanged for several minutes before both teams wandered back to their dugouts. Morris had another exchange with one of the Cubs coaches, but he stayed on the mound and walked Lee when play resumed.


OOH I DIDN'T KNOW THAT ABOUT MATT MORRIS. That fucker, I liked him. Now all my respect for him just vanished. No wonder Mark Prior made those remarks.

What gets me is how they claim to be all genteel in their rivalry. It's a HUGE LIE. Deadbird fans are as condescending and arrogant to Cubs fans as Yankee fans are to Red Sox fans, especially when no one's looking. And I think they have the same sense of entitlement as to how baseball revolves around their team and its history.