[Caluabdum]

It was ugly, but was it intentional?

Cardinals pitcher Sidney Ponson and manager Tony La Russa both deny there was any meaning behind two straight White Sox batters being hit by pitches--with the bases loaded--in Tuesday's 20-6 pounding by the White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field.

"I pitched eight years in the American League and I got my butt beat like that before and never threw at somebody on purpose," Ponson said. "I'm not going to put my teammates in jeopardy to get hurt.

"It looked like it was [intentional], but it wasn't. The bases were loaded, why hit somebody? Of course, they're going to be [ticked] off, they have all the right to do that."

After pitching a 1-2-3 fifth inning that ended with the Sox leading 13-1, Ponson allowed four straight hits but only one run in the sixth. Then, with the bases loaded, he drilled Brian Anderson in the back for one run. Then he plunked the next batter, Pablo Ozuna, in the arm to force home another run.

La Russa seemed incensed as he banged on the bullpen phone, moments later bringing in Tyler Johnson to relieve Ponson.

"I was upset, so was everybody," La Russa said. "I went out and asked him, `What's that all about? It was obvious we had trouble locating [pitches] all day long. He said he didn't do it intentionally. That's good enough for me. I trust him. I just told him it looked like [garbage]."

The Sox retaliated the next inning, with reliever David Riske hitting rookie Chris Duncan, son of Cardinal pitching coach Dave Duncan. Guillen and Riske were ejected as the crowd stood and applauded.

"That's part of game, getting hit," Duncan said. "There's definitely no hard feelings. Stuff like that happens, so that's just the way it goes."


credit: http://chicagosports.chicagotribune....baseball-print