Ted Lilly may be a pitcher, but he proved last night that he's not afraid to get his hands dirty. Just ask St. Louis Cardinals' catcher Yadier Molina.
The Sun-Times sports staff appears to be giant fans of this move.
The Sun-Times sports staff appears to be giant fans of this move.
Gordon Wittenmyer floats the idea that Lilly's physical play may have reignited the fiery spirit the Cubs have been lacking lately.
"As soon as Cubs manager Lou Piniella roared about his team's need to ''go out and kick somebody's ass,'' pitcher Ted Lilly showed teammates the way -- by crashing through St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina trying to score in the second inning Wednesday night.
It may not have been the wisest move for a modestly built pitcher to try against a fireplug catcher in full gear. And Lilly didn't even score.
But when he left Molina on the ground in pain and coolly sauntered back to the dugout, the Cubs' season may have been reborn.
Roman Modrowski wonders if Lilly is the heart of this ball club.
In today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Molina and Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa say the play was clean and hard-nosed.
"Molina thought Lilly's play (was) clean because he gave him nothing to slide at. La Russa said, "We're going to play hard. That's how we play anyway. As long as when we play hard, they know it goes both ways."
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