TOWER GROVE — What with two dugout-clearing donnybrooks this weekend and the ever-agitating Chicago Cubs coming to town this weekend with first place possibly up for grabs, this little island of three games against Cincinnati seemed so quaint, so tranquil.

Then Walt Jocketty used a most curious word.

Vendetta.

“Trust me,” he said at the press conference announcing his hiring as general manager of the Reds. “Me and (manager Dusty Baker) are very motivated. We’re both guys who have a vendetta, a little chip on our shoulders.”

He may not have meant it this way (doubtful), but “vendetta” is a charged word. It’s not one thrown around lightly except in blockbuster movies and comic books. A “vendetta” is something the Green Goblin swears against Spider-Man, what Two-Face has for Batman, what that dude in the Guy Fawkes mask has for Big Brother Britain. It’s something out of “Sopranos”. Heck, in a trailer for The Godfather video game the voiceover talks about how “the vendetta level is going to rise and keep rising” (warning: animated violence) and the game scores “vendetta levels” I guess like Super Mario counts power coins.

I can see it now, as Jocketty negotiates his first trade for the Reds:

“Leave the Dunn, take the cannolis.”

Hall of Fame writers Hal McCoy outlined some of Jocketty’s other comments — and perhaps builds the back story for the pointed word choice — in this blog entry at the Dayton Daily News. Our own Hall of Fame ballwriter Rick Hummel asked Jocketty to elaborate on the revenge-esque word and Jocketty, who will speak to the local media tonight before the series opener, said any time you’re in the division as your former employer, then there’s added motivation. Sure. Competition breeds motivation. Chips abound.

But here is the definition of vendetta:

ven-det-ta

1. A feud between two families or clans that arises out of a slaying and is perpetuated by retaliatory acts of revenge; a blood feud.
2. A bitter, destructive feud.

Yikes.

So, which would it be — blood? or destructive? However, it’s a fascinating choice of words that even if thrown in for dramatic effect — to raise the metabolism of a franchise obviously weary of losing — speaks to some hard feelings. And no wonder, several people around the Cardinals said. Most when asked about the word choice understood the purposeful tone.

“I know he was unhappy when he was fired,” manager Tony La Russa said. “I don’t think it made any difference to me the words he chooses. That wasn’t good news. I don’t think any of us are so pure that somebody breaks your heart and you say, ‘Oh, OK, what’s the big deal?’”

In a larger context, however, it speaks to a changing climate in the NL Central. You want parity? You get animosity. Bridges aren’t so much being torched as napalmed. Actions speak louder than words, and consider some of the recent actions that have escalated the Cardinals’ gentlemanly rivalries with division foes to weekly boiling points:

• Twice this weekend the dugouts cleared in games against Houston. The Astros believe Adam Wainwright threw behind Brad Ausmus with intent — perhaps a retaliation for hitting Jason LaRue with a pitch or something much deeper. On Sunday, Brandon Backe threw up and in on Yadier Molina and that caused a fracas. Already this season, Backe and Albert Pujols have had words. Ausmus and La Russa have jawed at each other. Things are hardly settled.
• In Milwaukee, Prince Fielder still seethes over what he believes was clearly an intentional hit-by-pitch last season. The Brewers got into a beanball exchange with the Cardinals late last season that probably detonated their postseason chances and shredded the mutual respect society that was Ned Yost and La Russa’s relationship. The two dugouts were seen yelling at each other across the diamond last year. Yost and La Russa sat next to each other at the winter meetings and Yost insists he said nothing more than, “Hello.” And, this season he’s gone out of his way to assure people know that he is not batting the pitching No. 8 because of anything related to La Russa’s reasoning for doing the same, and doing it first.
• The Cubs are the Cubs.
• And now Cincinnati. The fact that the Reds new CEO came from the Cardinals’ ownership group and that the Cardinals’ chairman lives in Cincinnati gave the series added appeal, but it was hardly the stuff of anything more than a khaki rivalry. Now Baker is in the mix, and Jocketty is clearly fired up. How that translates to the field is what we’ll see for the first time tonight.

Good thing for the courteous Pirates.

Oh wait, even Ian Snell plunked Pujols with a pitch.

Can’t we all get along?

Jocketty has likened Cincinnati to the Cardinals many times, telling MLB.com recently that he views the Reds as further along now than when he took over the Cardinals in 1994. In McCoy’s article, Jocketty talks about how both teams are “storied franchises” with “tradition.” He then was asked what his cardinal philosophy is when it comes to building a team.

Jocketty’s answer: “Win.”

The Cardinals know him well enough that he means what he says, and he probably will.

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