Lou Piniella Hates Steve Phillips. That Makes Several Billion of Us, Lou.

Steve Phillips‘s quest to anger and irritate every human being on earth has claimed another victim:  Lou Piniella, Cubs manager, who says he has lost whatever respect he may once have harbored (in some dark forgotten recess of his brain) for Phillips after the ESPN analyst’s criticism of the way Lou handled the Kosuke Fukudome fiasco last season.

“My view is Lou doesn’t have a great deal of patience for assimilation into culture, assimilation into the team,” Phillips recently opined. “He is just not the most patient guy around, and he tends to verbalize his frustrations in an angry way. I think that may have affected Fukudome a little bit.”

I’m just imagining Lou reaming Fukudome out in Japanese.  For some reason I’m hearing the Mothra music.

Oh, and of course Lou wasn’t going to just let that one go.  The manager shot back:

"I don’t have much respect for Steve Phillips. Let him be around a little more and see what transpires before he makes assumptions. I’ve lost total respect for this guy. If he had something to say, let him say it to me."

Uh…well, Lou, it is sort of his job to say things about people on the television, so I don’t know how much water that last remark really carries.  And don’t forgot – you used to do that for a living too.  I’m guessing you weren’t much inclined to hold your tongue just because the person you happened to be criticising wasn’t right in front of you.

That being said, I think we all understand what an insufferable, smug, freaky little twerp Steve Phillips is, and therefore fully understand and support Lou’s frustration with, and desire to deliver a gonad kick to, the pencil-necked SOB.