Denver — The St. Louis Cardinals fumed, and manager Tony La Russa glared at Colorado's Preston Wilson when he stole third base with a five-run lead.
Wilson stole the base with a 9-4 lead in the eighth inning Wednesday night for the Rockies. According to Wilson, third baseman Scott Rolen said, "Don't you think that's a little late?"
Wilson said he responded, "You must not have played here last night," referring to St. Louis' 15-12, 13-inning victory Tuesday.
"With the way runs disappear in this ballpark, you cannot tell me a five-run lead is safe," Wilson said.
The two sides were still on edge Thursday, but there were no immediate repercussions. In his first at-bat, Wilson took a strike and then hit a broken-bat popup to shortstop.
"If they want to run in the final innings, that's fine," La Russa said before Thursday's game. "What I say to that is, 'If they are going to run with five, don't ever look over here if we run with five."'
Rockies manager Clint Hurdle, a former Kansas City Royal, defended Wilson.
"Tony and his staff have been together a long time and they've played a lot of ballgames here," Hurdle said. "And they've got an assistant general manager (Bob Gebhard) who was the general manager here for many years. They can attest to the fact that if you play 81 home games here, I would say you can count on both hands the games that are over at the end of the seventh inning.
Rockies manager Clint Hurdle argues with umpire Mike DiMuro Tuesday in Denver. Hurdle defended Preston Wilson after he stole a base with a 9-4 lead in Wednesday's game.
"That game was not over. And that's the same team that scored five runs in an inning the night before."
After the game, Wilson said the Cardinals "were over there chirping and saying things. I heard someone say, 'Don't get yourself hurt.' Just silly stuff. It was coming from their bench mostly at first, but then Rolen jumped in."
Wilson questioned the Cardinals' strategy if they felt the game was already out of hand.
"If they were already conceding the game," he said, "why change pitchers when I come to the plate? Then when I got to third and they walked (Bobby) Estalella, why hold him on when it's first and third? If you are going to do all that talking, then manage that way. But don't be yelling, acting one way in the dugout, trying to put on a show, when that is not what you are really trying to do.
"I have never in my career stolen bases just for the sake of stealing bases to try to bump my stats up. I've never done that. It's the eighth game of the season. I'm trying to get us a run, give us a little more cushion going into the ninth. Our bullpen had a long night (Tuesday) night.
"I know I didn't do anything wrong. And I'm not worried about (retaliation on Thursday). That's probably what they want, they want you to be worried."
Rolen acknowledged there was a disagreement but said Thursday, "I don't want to talk about it."
Colorado's Preston Wilson bats Wednesday in Denver. The Cardinals were miffed after Wilson stole third base when the Rockies had a 9-4 lead late in Wednesday's game.
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