MILWAUKEE -- As the losses piled up over the past few weeks, glimpses of frustration from the Cardinals' dugout have bubbled up along with them. Friday, that frustration resulted in the subtraction of one of St. Louis' best players early in a 2-1 loss to the Brewers.
The Cardinals lost their center fielder and No. 2 hitter in the first inning against the Brewers, after home plate umpire Tim Timmons ejected Tommy Pham for arguing strikes. Pham was in the dugout when he was ejected. He reacted slowly to and expressed his displeasure with Timmons' strike-three call, but did not stop to argue before heading back to the bench.
Pham then descended into the clubhouse to review the replay, which he said confirmed his assessment of the pitch. Back in the dugout, Pham continued his express his opinion until Timmons interrupted Marcell Ozuna's at-bat -- two batters later -- to toss him from the game.
"He missed it by a lot," Pham said. "You don't [usually] see them looking back in the dugout. Maybe he felt something in his conscience."
Immediately after the ejection, Cardinals manager Mike Matheny left the dugout to talk with Timmons, but the skipper remained in the game. Ozuna popped to short to end the frame, stranding Matt Carpenter at third base. Pham was replaced by Harrison Bader in center field the following inning.
After the game, Pham's frustration centered on the fact that Brewers left fielder Eric Thames was allowed to stay in the game after arguing more colorfully following his strikeout in the third. Thames objected to two calls, one by Timmons and another by third-base umpire Mike Muchlinski, throwing his helmet and slamming his bat.
"It took me by surprise," Pham said. "Especially coming in after I got ejected and watching a player on their team do something a thousand times worse than I did. You gotta be fair. You eject me, you gotta eject him."