No middle ground between Kline, La Russa
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The St. Louis Cardinals aren't known as the Birds for nothing.
Cards reliever Steve Kline, angry that he didn't get called into Wednesday night's game in the sixth inning after he had been told to warm up, gave manager Tony La Russa the one-finger salute from the bullpen.
La Russa didn't learn of it until after the game, though, when reporters asked him about it — on live TV.
"He did that?" La Russa exclaimed. "Give me two minutes, and I'll be standing on top of his chest ... "
La Russa then confronted the pitcher in the shower, but both sides said the rift wouldn't linger.
"He yelled at me like he normally does," Kline told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "Hopefully he gets over it in three more weeks, and we move on."
Shaqramento, Calif.?
Just wondering: If Shaquille O'Neal is serious about getting traded to former nemesis Sacramento, will he crown himself the "King of Queens"?
At ease, Elias
News item: Phillies outfielder Ricky Ledee is on the 15-day disabled list after having hemorrhoid surgery.
So relax, George Brett: Your hitting records are still safe, at least for roid games.
Feeling the mowjo
What does a guy do for some Saturday morning excitement during a weekend series in Cleveland? If you're Cincinnati first baseman Sean Casey and you make $6.8 million this season, you cut the grass at your in-laws' house in nearby Mentor.
"It was great," Casey told The Cleveland Plain Dealer. "I was weed-whacking and everything."
Talking the talk
• Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated, after Steve Williams, Tiger Woods' Kodak-phobic caddie, kicked one photographer's camera and grabbed another at last weekend's U.S. Open: "The man has ruined more pictures than Sylvester Stallone."
• Fred Russell, Miami Dolphins free-agent running back, to the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, on how he not only survived but thrived at Iowa despite standing only 5 feet 7: "As a kid, I played lots of tag. And I was always running from my parents trying to avoid spankings, things like that."
• Peter Vecsey of the New York Post, on the odds of Rudy Tomjanovich becoming the next Lakers coach: "The only way Rudy T. doesn't get the job is if he's beaten out by Kobe's au pair, Jim Gray."
Wiener's circle
Given the way the Pirates' Randall Simon whacked Milwaukee's sausage mascot last season, you've got to be nervous — very nervous — if you're Rangers pitcher Nick Bierbrodt.
Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com