Cards Expect Catcher to Be Disciplined

The Cardinals are expecting Yadier Molina to be disciplined for his antics.

After the catcher was ejected for complaining about a ball called on Milwaukee's Corey Hart during the fifth inning Monday, Molina protested by taking off his gear and leaving it in a pile at the feet of plate umpire Paul Schrieber.

"We'll hear something," Manager Tony La Russa said yesterday. "It's not going to go unnoticed."

Molina declined to revisit the matter.

"Well, I thought it was a pretty good show," said pitching coach Dave Duncan, a former catcher.

Duncan thought Schrieber did a good overall job on ball-strike calls, but that Molina was set off by some calls that went against the Cardinals in key situations. The first-pitch call to Hart came two batters after Ryan Braun homered.

The quick ejection -- La Russa was coming out to the plate when Molina was tossed -- caught the rest of the team off-guard.

"I was surprised there was not more patience because he's established a reputation," La Russa said. "That's one of the things Paul admitted when I went out there. Yaddy has established a reputation as being somebody umpires like to work with, and he's not confrontational. He got warned once, and the second time he was thrown out, and that's unusual for a guy with that reputation."

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-- From News Services