Molina fined, not suspended
DOWNTOWN — Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina will be fined an undisclosed amount but will not be suspended for his ejection Monday at Milwaukee, the club learned from Major League Baseball on Wednesday.
After arguing a couple calls with home plate umpire Paul Schrieber, the official ejected Molina from the game. Before leaving the field, Molina shed his equipment, deliberately, and then left it in a trail leading from home plate.
“I think it was fair,” Cardinals general manager John Mozeliak said of MLB’s decision. “Given what happened and when you look at Yadier’s history — never been suspended before, even-tempered.”
Molina has declined comment on the incident, except to say he was waiting on the decision from MLB.
On Wednesday, baseball official Mike Perez, an assistant to Bob Watson, the leagues’ vice president for rules and on-field operations, met with Molina to, as Perez said, “get his side of the story.” Pitching coach Dave Duncan said it wasn’t frustration that built through the entire game that led to Molina’s show but the calls that came at key points in the game. (More on that was in this morning’s paper.)
A suspension could have posed a challenge for the Cardinals and their roster. Backup catcher Jason LaRue was slowed by a sore knee this past weekend and Molina’s absence would have asked the Cardinals to choose between going a game or two with just LaRue at catcher (and the emergency catcher Aaron Miles) or make a roster move. MLB decided a suspension was not needed.
Mostly, Molina’s teammates chuckled at the catcher’s disrobing.
“Did he go too far? Yeah, probably,” manager Tony La Russa said. “But like I said, he’s a been a solid citizen. … He’s been not just a solid citizen, he’s been an exemplary citizen. That’s got to count for something. ”
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Derrick Goold told everyone he was going to Mizzou for capital-J journalism, but really after growing up in the Time Zone Baseball Forgot he was drawn to MU's primo location between two major-league cities. Goold joined the Post-Dispatch in 2001 after working for The Times-Picayune and Rocky Mountain News, covering sports from LSU to NHL and every level of baseball inbetween. 
As a former pitcher it has always been painful to watch a game, solely due to the umpire behind the plate.The least called pitch for a strike has always been the curve.Considering the training these men go through to become major league umps,it’s disturbing that calling balls and strikes is so difficult for them.Yadi is an oustanding catcher and also a human being,playing the most demanding position in the sport.He deserves a pass for venting his frustration, the umpire does not…