All it took was one Dodgers victory and a few exuberant in-game celebrations to ignite the age-old debate over baseball etiquette.
And the buttoned-down Cardinals, who lead the NLCS 2-1, were all too happy to take the Hollywood Dodgers and their 22-year-old Cuban phenom to task.
Yasiel’s Puig’s opposite-field RBI triple in the third began with a bat-flip and ended with a demonstrative, fist-pumping celebration as he pulled into third standing up. Right fielder Carlos Beltran, who was unable to corral the long drive off the wall, took notice.
“As a player, I just think he doesn’t know [about how to act],” Beltran told reporters in Los Angeles. “That’s what I think. He really doesn’t know. He must think that he’s still playing somewhere else.
“He has a lot of passion, no doubt about that — great ability, great talent. I think with time, he’ll learn that you’ve got to act with a little bit more calm.”
Even Dodgers manager Don Mattingly wasn’t thrilled with his star’s reaction once the ball was hit.
“I’d like to see him run right away, honestly,” Mattingly said.
When Beltran played with the Mets, they were criticized for showing the opposition up.
Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright said he didn’t see Puig’s antics, but he did take a shot at Adrian Gonzalez, telling Cardinals writers he was “doing some Mickey Mouse stuff at second” after his run-scoring double in the third.
A-Gon laughed off Wainwright’s criticism.
“We are in L.A.,” he said. “So Mickey Mouse does go. Mickey Mouse is only an hour away. So, you know, it fits us.”
This is nothing new with Puig, who energized the Dodgers and turned off other teams with his at times over-the-top celebrations since his call-up in early June. It is the way he has always played.
“I was able to get back to really having fun,” Puig said through a translator after going 0-for-10 with six strikeouts in the series’ first two games in St. Louis. “That’s all it really is for me, is having fun playing the game.
“In Cuba, you always see a lot of emotion on the field.”