Yadier Molina Video: Watch Cardinals Catcher Go Postal on Home Plate Ump

There's an old saying in baseball: Never argue balls and strikes with an umpire. 

Apparently, St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina never got the memo, as he exploded at home-plate umpire Rob Drake during Tuesday night's clash with the Milwaukee Brewers. 

In the top of the 10th inning, Molina struck out looking on a check swing. As soon as strike three was called, the talented backstop hit DEFCON 4, blowing his stack in a big way and getting into Drake's face over what he thought was a lousy call. 

Molina didn't just argue balls and strikes with Drake. He also violated other golden rules of the baseball field: Never touch an umpire and never spit anywhere near an ump. Naturally, Molina got the hook, but he wasn't done yet, shouting so close to the ump's face that Drake had to turn away from the shower of spittle spewing out of the livid hitter's mouth.

I get that this was a pressure-packed situation; after all, the game was in extra innings and Molina was leading off the inning. A hit would have been incredibly important to the cause. 

But why explode like that? Did he want to get tossed? After all, 10 innings is a long time to squat behind home plate, and with seven Brewer runs already across the plate at that point, it's pretty clear that things hadn't gone as planned for the Cards.

So it makes sense that he'd try to get tossed if he was tired, even if Molina isn't typically a player who pulls stunts like that.

Whatever ridiculous notion was going through the catcher's head, he's probably going to have plenty of time to think about blowing his top. Odds are good we're going to hear about a suspension at some point in the very near future, meaning Molina's spit-fueled tirade to Drake could cost his team a crucial game or two in the postseason race, even if the Cards did get the win in 11 innings on Tuesday.

Hope it was worth it to not prove anything to the ump, Yadier.