The St. Louis Cardinals have lost to the Milwaukee Brewers four out of four times so far this season, and going back to season the Brew Crew have beaten them up to the tune of a 9-1 record in their last ten meetings. Milwaukee’s kind of treated them recently as if they were the Pirates, and the Brewers’ second 1-0 victory over the Cardinals this season likely won’t put a good taste in the Cardinals’ mouths.

The one-run ballgame was highlighted by Bill Hall’s 10th inning single into the gap with Casey McGehee on third and two outs. Immediately after the game-winner, Hall and the rest of the Brewers decided to run into the dugout (watch the video) and celebrate there. This being a far cry from the Untuckem philosophy that has earned the ire of people in St. Louis. Take a look at what Ryan Franklin, the Cardinals’ closer, said awhile ago:

“Well, they’ve got a little flair about them that some people don’t care for,” said closer Ryan Franklin. “But that’s just the way they are. So yeah, I think it would be more fun to beat them than it would be the Padres or something, just because of what they do after they beat you.”

Today after an emotional victory the Brewers immediately decided to run into the clubhouse instead of untuck the shirts and high-five each other walking into the dugout. They also didn’t do the awful, shove-it-in-your-face celebration by mobbing the guy who hit the game winner at first base after the winning run scored. Instead, they ran directly to the clubhouse so as to not “offend” St. Louis.

The Cardinals’ TV announcer has referenced the way Milwaukee celebrates their wins as unclassy or unsportsmanlike as well. Of course it’s not actually unsportsmanlike, since they do it with every team and it’s a tribute to Mike Cameron’s dad and doesn’t do anything to show up the other team at all. There’s a false pretense in baseball that says any form of celebration in baseball is unheard of and unsportsmanlike — staring at a home run, for example, is objectionable and baseball old-timers think you must run the bases at full speed. Pumping your fist Joba Chaimberlain-style after a big strikeout is just as awful of a thing to do.

Be it America’s pasttime or not, it’s still professional sports and these players get paid millions of dollars to perform at a high intensity and doing things like gazing at your success or pumping your fist at a swing-and-miss is something I’d expect out of my team whether it was in a pennant race or not. Hell, Alfonso Soriano and the rest of the Cubs outfield untucked their shirt when they beat the Brewers at Miller Park earlier this year just to mock Milwaukee and there’s no way I would ever have any problem with that. It means he’s competitive. It means he wants to triumph just to troll them. Competition is good for the game, dormant 1920s polite attitudes are not anymore.

Now, whether or not the Brewers held off on untucking ‘em to not offend the Cardinals or not is unclear, but they shouldn’t care either way.

For me, personally, yesterday’s Memorial Day victory provided a much needed pick-me-up after an awful weekend in Minnesota. I live in Minneapolis, so naturally I used my internship at Fox Sports North to gain a free pair of four tickets to Friday’s game and buy cheap seats for Saturday’s. On the walk back to the bus from the Metrodome I took the liberty of crawling through a hole in a fence to get to a private wooded area to relieve myself since the nearest bathroom was still 30 minutes away. The next day, I woke up with a blotch of red on both of my elbows. The next day, it spread everywhere else.

After having to watch an embarrassing Brewer sweep I ended up covering 1/3 of my body in poison ivy and am going to have to spend the next week or two being a hermit and spreading myself with hydrocortisone lotions every hour to stop myself from itching my limbs. Thank goodness I have something to look forward to — another walkoff tomorrow would be perfect.