Byline: Teddy Greenstein
ST. LOUIS _ Kenny Lofton lit a fire under the wrong team Wednesday night.
And he made no apologies for it.
The San Francisco Giants center fielder couldn't keep his mouth shut after Mike Crudale threw a fifth-inning pitch that was a little too tight for his liking.
Lofton reacted to the pitch by yapping and pointing at Crudale and catcher Mike Matheny, leading to a nasty confrontation on the field between the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals.
The players weren't the only ones who had to be separated. The two managers, St. Louis' Tony La Russa and San Francisco's Dusty Baker, appeared eager to throw down the gloves.
The altercation fired up the Cardinals and their home crowd of 52,175. But after scoring four runs in the next two innings, their rally fell short in a 9-6 defeat.
The victory gave San Francisco a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series. Game 2 is Thursday night.
The Giants administered a beating to Cardinals ace Matt Morris, who in the second inning gave up six consecutive hits, setting an LCS record. He also walked four and surrendered two homers in the game.
"Every pitch that was hit was up in the (strike) zone and over the plate," Morris said. "I put our team in a hole. Just pathetic."
Even the scrawny Lofton took him deep_and then rubbed it in.
After giving the Giants a 6-1 lead in the third, Lofton broke into a prolonged home-run trot. He was barely more than halfway to first when the ball cleared the right-field wall. Morris stared at Lofton as he jogged from first to second.
"I don't think I did anything wrong," Lofton said. "This is the playoffs. You have fun and enjoy it. When (St. Louis') Jim Edmonds hit a home run against Randy Johnson, he started pointing in the dugout. I did none of that."
Morris, who in May accused Sammy Sosa of stealing his pitch location and threatened to retaliate by putting one "in the ear" of a Cubs batter, claimed afterward that he didn't notice Lofton's stroll.
"That had nothing to do with any of it," he said.
Morris' teammates, though, apparently took note. The next pitch Lofton saw was the one that backed him off the plate.
"That was very unnecessary," La Russa said of Lofton's reaction. "It's a trick I've seen him pull before, causing a lot of stirring around and people saying nasty things to each other.
"He's trying to change the way the game is played and not have anybody pop him inside. It's a trick that Lofton does that we don't appreciate."
No punches were thrown in the ensuing melee.
Barry Bonds had to be restrained from going after Cardinals backup Eduardo Perez and reliever Steve Kline. Lofton, who started the year with the White Sox, was immobilized by teammate Benito Santiago.
But the oddest scene took place behind home plate, where Baker and La Russa appeared to exchange angry words before being separated.
Baker downplayed the incident.
"There was no thing," he said. "If there had been a thing, somebody would have thrown some blows. It was a heated discussion."
Warnings were issued to both benches, but there were no other incidents. Lofton, who was booed and taunted the rest of the way, lined out in his final at-bat.
The altercation changed the complexion of the game and perhaps even the series.
The Cardinals, already inspired by the shocking death of pitcher Darryl Kile in June, now have another rallying point.
St. Louis managed just one run off lefty Kirk Rueter through the first four innings. But they came to life immediately following the scrum with two-run homers by Albert Pujols and Miguel Cairo.
But the Giants' early offense was too much to overcome.
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(c) 2002, Chicago Tribune.
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