The St. Louis Cardinals are at it again. With main whiner Tony La Russa leading the way, they accused Milwaukee of changing lighting in the right situations to benefit the Brewers. In addition to the lighting, the Cardinals ace whiner, Chris Carpenter accused the Brewers of planting someone to steal signs.
One would think that another team would come up with one of these irregularities once in awhile. Brandon Phillips was correct. They whine and find excuses everywhere. The list grows by the series, especially in game where Carpenter gets lit up like he did against Milwaukee on Monday night.
Like the boy crying wolf this complaining bunch loses credibility each time. The umpires saw no lighting changes. Corey Hart wondered why he struck out twice, if he knew what pitch was coming.
Then after making these accusations, La Russa wants to clam up. If he has proof and he better if he's going to make these accusations, he can not get by without going public.
Below is Tom Hardircourts report on the complaints from the Milwaukee Journal Sentintal
All year, folks have wondered why the Milwaukee Brewers have been so much better at home than on the road.
The St. Louis Cardinals offered a possible theory Monday night: The Brewers are cheating.
St. Louis manager Tony La Russa filed a complaint with the umpiring crew during that series opener, suggesting the LED "ribbon" board that wraps around the ballpark above the loge level shone brighter while the Brewers batted. The suggestion was that the lighting was darker when the Cardinals batted, making it more difficult to see the ball in their 6-2 defeat.
Umpiring crew chief Gary Darling forwarded that complaint to Major League Baseball vice president of baseball operations Joe Garagiola, Jr., who then placed a telephone call to Brewers general manager Doug Melvin.
"There's no cheating," said Melvin. "It's all been handled.
"We didn't change anything."
Asked after the game Monday about his complaint to the umpires, La Russa only said, "I'm not sure if it's the right thing to talk to you guys about. In fact, it's the very thing I shouldn't talk to you guys about. It's something they've heard before."
La Russa declined to comment further about the matter Tuesday.
Darling confirmed to a pool reporter before the second game of the series that the Cardinals complained about the lighting but said nothing was changed. He said no edict was issued by MLB to make any adjustments to the lighting.
"I sent an email last night to the baseball ops department explaining Tony's complaint. They took it up from there," said Darling.
Asked if he noticed any irregularity in the lighting, Darling said, "No. Like I told him last night, we just don't pay that much attention to it. Nothing really jumped out about it."
There have been whispers about possible cheating by the Brewers at home because they have been so much better at Miller Park than on the road. They entered play 40-14 at home, but only 21-35 on the road.
Apparently, there was thought on the St. Louis side that the Brewers were relaying pitch signs from second base Monday night in the fifth inning, when they broke through for five runs against right-hander Chris Carpenter.
It's not against the rules to relay signs from the bases, but if the other side suspects it confrontations can occur.
When told about that suspicion, Brewers rightfielder Corey Hart said, "Why did we wait until the fifth inning to do it? I had struck out twice by then."
When asked if the Brewers were cheating at home, manager Ron Roenicke was incredulous.
"If we are, I know nothing about it," said Roenicke. "I would think I would be (in the loop)."
No one can dispute how much better the Brewers have been offensively at home, however. Through 54 games at Miller Park, they had a .282 team batting average with 67 home runs and an average of 5.13 runs scored.
In 56 road games, the Brewers have batted .236 with 51 home runs and an average of 3.5 runs per game.
"I remember going into Texas (as a coach with the Los Angeles Angels) and thinking the same thing. Why is their batting average 100 points higher there than it is on the road?" said Roenicke.
"I don't know what the answer is. I've said before it's a comfort when you come to the ballpark, knowing it's a good-hitting park, knowing that you're probably going to get one or two hits a game. It does something to you mentally."
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