FanHouse

You might have noticed that tonight marked the first time since Jim Edmonds became a Cub that he played in St. Louis wearing blue and red. So Edmonds received the inevitable questions about coming back to St. Louis. What followed? War!

Miffed by Jim Edmonds' comments that he was happy to be with the Cubs and tired of talking about his past, La Russa said Friday he'd ignore the four-time All-Star in his first visit as a member of the team's biggest rival.

"I wouldn't clap or boo or anything," La Russa said before a three-game series matching the NL Central's top two teams. "He wants to put his Cardinal days behind him, so I think you've got to respect that, and just ignore him."

You're kidding me, right? Tony La Russa is getting huffy?

Edmonds said La Russa, his manager for the best eight seasons of his career, would do so at his peril. The two have always had a good relationship.

"If he ignores me, I'm going to punch him in the mouth," Edmonds joked. "I think he's trying to stir it up. He gets a little excited about this rivalry."

I think we have enough to promote "FanHouse Baseball Wrestlemania" here. Edmonds vs. La Russa can be the undercard to Chacon vs. Wade and Reyes vs. Hernandez. We need a women's match though ... ooh! Cynthia Rodriguez vs. Madonna! Quick, get Eric Bischoff on the phone.

"I was trying to fit in with Chicago and everybody kept asking me questions about trying to fit in," Edmonds said. "So if that was what it was, obviously that was taken out of context."

It was enough to get La Russa's blood pressure up. La Russa said he'd say hello to Edmonds when the two crossed paths and said the Cardinals should honor Edmonds after he retires, but certainly not now.

"Are we indebted to him? For what?" La Russa said. "Didn't he play in a bunch of postseasons? How many of the postseasons was he in before he got here? None.

"He got to a World Series, too, and he was paid for it. I mean, there isn't anything he gave us that we didn't give him back, is there?"

You have to seriously be kidding me. La Russa's starting to sound like Hulk Hogan when Paul Orndorff turned on him and Hogan was crying "I can't believe I broke bread with you, brother!!!" Tony, the world knows you're a genius. But I think we're taking ourselves a wee bit too seriously here. Chill.