It turns out the women of Missouri aren’t the only ones pissed off at Jose Lima. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Joe Strauss explains.
Kansas City Royals righthander Jose Lima on Sunday defended his Saturday night antics, which drew a warning from plate umpire Doug Eddings and a request from Cardinals manager Tony La Russa that his uniform be inspected for a foreign substance.
“They know it’s my style,” Lima said. “It’s the way I pitch.”
In the aftermath of Saturday’s 6-5 win, several Cardinals expressed frustration with Eddings’ second-inning warning to both dugouts after Lima hit designated hitter Larry Walker and left fielder Reggie Sanders with pitches before nearly drilling John Mabry.
Center fielder Jim Edmonds later called Lima (above) both “a good guy” and “a clown.”
After Sanders was hit, La Russa came onto the field and demanded that Lima’s pants leg be checked for pine tar. “We know what it’s like. We’ve been on the other end of that one,” La Russa said, referring to reliever Julian Tavarez’s suspension last season for wearing a doctored hat. “It cost us 10 days.”
“If they don’t like what I do, just knock me out of the game quick,” Lima said. “Knock me around for five or six runs.”
Lima led the Cardinals 3-1 Saturday until allowing two fifth-inning runs. He left with a 5-3 lead only to watch the Royals’ bullpen give up a three-run homer to Walker in the seventh inning.
Lima, who at one point Saturday exchanged words with the Cardinals bench, suggested there were no hard feelings.
“When they hit a home run they can do whatever they want,” he said. “They can jump around. They can do what I do on the mound. It doesn’t bother me a bit.”