By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
Published October 17, 2005
HOUSTON - As many times as he was asked, that is how many times Cardinals manager Tony La Russa declined to discuss home-plate umpire Phil Cuzzi .
"Anything that involves umpires, you know, there's nothing you should say, next day, next week, next year," La Russa said after Game 4. "I have nothing to say about that."
La Russa and centerfielder Jim Edmonds were ejected in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, for arguing balls and strikes. La Russa said he did not believe anything he or Edmonds said was an ejectable offense.
"I know what (Major League Baseball) tells us about certain latitudes you get in postseason play because you're supposed to be emotional and try to win this," La Russa said.
"See what the explanation is allowing Jim to get thrown out for the little that he did and the little that he said. I don't think he cursed anybody, from what I understand."
That is as far as La Russa went.
"You can fish around all you want to," he said. "I'm not taking the bait."
WHO'S ON THIRD? After St. Louis' Albert Pujols was thrown out at home in the ninth inning by third baseman Morgan Ensberg , the less than fleet Larry Walker advanced from first to third while Ensberg signaled for time.
"Apparently, time was not called and Larry had an incredible heads-up play," Ensberg said.
It could have been a turning point, as the Cardinals had runners on first and third with one out.
"They did not see Morgan call time," Astros manager Phil Garner said. "No umpire saw it. I just asked Phil (Cuzzi) if he had seen it, and I asked anybody else if they had seen it. We didn't have much to stand on."
HURTIN' CARDINALS: St. Louis got leftfielder Reggie Sanders back but lost third baseman Abraham Nunez , who bruised a thigh in Game 3 and was replaced by John Mabry .
STAYING SAFE: Don't expect Astros Game 5 starter Andy Pettitte to run the bases during batting practice. The left-hander did that before his Game 1 start and took a batted ball off his right knee.
Pettitte offered no excuses for his five-run, six-inning effort.
"I was just bad," he said. "I threw a lot of balls right in the heart of the strike zone."
BELL OF THE BALL: La Russa went out of his way to compliment Saturday's home-plate umpire, Wally Bell . La Russa said before Game 3 that he worried Bell might give Roger Clemens a wide strike zone.
"All I said was if he gives him inches, we're in trouble," La Russa said. "He didn't. He had a consistent strike zone for both pitchers the whole game. ... He was outstanding."
HATCH IS BACK: Devil Rays first-base coach Billy Hatcher threw out the first pitch and got a nice ovation.
Hatcher, who played for Houston from 1986-89 and hit a 14th-inning home run in Game 5 of the '86 NLCS against the Mets, said he wouldn't mind working for the Astros.
"You look at the ballpark. You look at the fans," he said. "Who wouldn't want to be here?"
ODDS AND ENDS: Astros closer Brad Lidge 's three saves are one off Dennis Eckersley 's mark for a league championship series. ... Houston has won seven straight postseason games at home. ... St. Louis second baseman Mark Grudzielanek was dropped from sixth to eighth in the lineup. He's batting .143 in the postseason with no extra-base hits after going 1-for-3. He hadn't batted eighth all season.
