St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright says his comments about Adrian Gonzalez‘s actions in Game 3 of the National League Championship Series on Monday and the firestorm that ensued were a product of “bad reporting.” But it’s not what you might think.
Wainwright isn’t alleging his comments were taken out of context necessarily, they were just used to describe the wrong plays. The Cardinals ace accused Gonzalez of doing “some Mickey Mouse stuff” during Game 3, and it was assumed that the pitcher was mad about Gonzalez’s celebration after a fourth-inning double. That’s not the case, Wainwright says.
The pitcher told CBSSports.com that he wasn’t mad at the celebratory gestures from Gonzalez, but instead claims Gonzalez was heckling him when the Dodgers first baseman was at third.
“He told me to throw the ball to the backstop when he was at third base,” Wainwright told the website Wednesday.
Gonzalez doesn’t actually deny saying something while running at third base, but he does have a (potentially very flimsy) explanation as to why he was yapping. He wasn’t talking to Wainwright, he says, he was just talking to himself.
“Wally [Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach] said, if it’s a curve in the dirt to score,” Gonzalez said, according to CBSSports.com. “So I was telling myself, curve in the dirt, and score.”
Wainwright may be the one who gets the last laugh. The Cardinals defeated the Dodgers on Tuesday night to take a 3-1 series lead, and they can win the National League pennant with a win Wednesday afternoon in Los Angeles.
