Reds' Phillips tweeting his way onto Cardinals fans' nerves

ST. LOUIS It took all of 15 minutes Thursday evening for Brandon Phillips to get on the nerves of Cardinals fans yet again. And according to Phillips, that's just what he wants. Shortly after the Reds landed in St. Louis Thursday, Phillips tweeted that, "My teammates ask me if I knew where some good places 2 eat at in St. Louis! I said, "Yea, come with me 2 the store 2 get some Lunchables!"" Phillips said Friday that the tweet was meant to be a joke, as is most of the stuff he says on Twitter. But after comments he made last year towards the Cardinals that led to a bench-clearing brawl, Phillips has understandably become enemy No. 1 in St. Louis. The outspoken Phillips was sure to get booed loudly this weekend even before his recent tweets. Now it plans to only be worse. "I like to get on people's nerves a little bit, especially the fans," Phillips said. "Ever since I got here I've just been tweeting the fans and trying to get on their nerves a little bit because I know they are going to boo me. ...I can't wait to get booed. Even though the boos don't really do anything for me, it just lets me know that they had nice dreams about me the night before. "It doesn't do anything. If I hit a home run they are going to boo me. If I get out they going to boo me. They are going to boo me. I went to the mall and they were booing me. I love the fans. It's nice that the St. Louis fans, they have their team's back. That's one thing about them, and that's nice. I'm going to keep on tweeting and acting a fool like I always do." Phillips was at the center of attention last year when he made critical comments towards the Cardinals before a big three-game series in Cincinnati. The comments helped ignite a bench-clearing brawl in which backup catcher Jason LaRue was kicked so hard by Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto that he was forced to retire with a concussion. The Reds came to St. Louis for a three-game series a few weeks later and none of the bad blood surfaced again. But with the two teams meeting for the first time this season this weekend in St. Louis, the newly formed rivalry is set to take on a new chapter. "On our side, we're not really worrying about anything," Phillips said. "We're trying to go out there and play a simple game that everybody loves. Everybody is family. We're not worried about what happened last year. Last year was last year, but like I said, people won't forget it. It is what it is. "We don't want anybody getting hurt. Just like what happened to (Adam) Wainwright in spring training, we really wish him all the best, but you have to go out there and compete and that's all we can do is go out there and play the game and worry about ourselves. We all are a family. We really hope he gets better. "My prayers have always been with Jason LaRue. He used to be over here with the Reds, I played with him, he is a great guy and was a great teammate. It was sad what happened, but in the heat of the battle, some things happen. Right now, we're trying to go out and get some wins for the Queen city." Phillips said he spent time Friday morning at the Galleria, a large mall in St. Louis, and was greeted nicely by Cardinals fans. He took several pictures and chatted with fans. Phillips said some said, "'Aw Brandon, you are cool, we didn't know you were like that!' Then they walked away and they were like 'Boo!' "A lot of people don't really know what type of person I am. If I'd say one word about me, I'd just say 'misunderstood' until people really get to know what type of person I am. I just love playing this game. I play it one way and that's just having a good time and doing it the best way I can." So did Phillips end up having Lunchables before Friday's game? "It was a joke," Phillips said. "I'm just trying to entertain the fans here. I have no blood or nothing against the St. Louis Cardinals. It's over. I'm not worried about that stuff. I know people don't forget things but I'm not worried about that stuff. The Lunchables thing, there's a lot of places I eat here in St. Louis. Pappy's is delicious. I love that place to death. "The Lunchables thing, somebody said, 'You better watch what you eat here, they might poison your food just like they did Michael Jordan in Philly,' or something like that so I said, 'I may need to go to the store add get some Lunchables,' and they said, 'Brandon why don't you tweet that,' so I said alright. The majority of my tweets are a team effort. It's like the team and they support me and they are glad I am on Twitter. I'm having a good time with it." When Phillips comes to the plate, Cardinals fans will likely have plenty of fun as well.