NLCS Game 3 Primer: plenty of bad blood

ST. LOUIS -- The latest verbal arrow in the Brewers-Cardinals rivalry was fired by Zack Greinke, who basically called Chris Carpenter a phony."I think his presence, his attitude out there sometimes is like a phony attitude. And then he yells at people. He just stares people down and stuff," Greinke said. "A lot of our guys don't like Carpenter."


Carpenter, who's already gone back and forth with "Tony Plush" on this topic, offered a response to Greinke during Tuesday's NLCS Workout Day at Busch Stadium.  "Why Zack thinks there’s a problem, I’m not sure," Carpenter said.


The most telling moment of the interview session came when Carpenter, a Trinity High of Manchester graduate, wouldn't take the Brewers' bait.


"I know what they're saying. They can do what they want, they can say what they want. I don't care. I'm not concerning myself with that. It's called playing the game the right way. It's called being professional."


Yowzers, this is getting good.


When the New Hampshire native last pitched against the Brewers, Carpenter struck out Nyjer Morgan in the ninth and said some things. This prompted Morgan to chuck his wad of chewing tobacco in the pitcher's direction. Said Morgan, "He felt like he had to say something. But as soon as he said it, he turns his back and runs away."


During postgame, Carpenter tried to avoid the issue but couldn't hold back when asked about the Brewers' agitator:"He was yelling at me at second base. The whole game he's screaming and yelling at me. I don't know if he's trying to get guys out of their game, but I'm not going to allow it to bother me. He's a serious talent. He just plays the game in a different way," Carpenter said. "There's a certain way to compete. There's a certain way not to compete. It's unfortunate because it takes away from how good a player he is."


Get ready to drop the gloves for Game 3. The teams are even fighting over the family seating at Busch Stadium as Amy K. Nelson reports.


--KG