Adam Wainwright: ‘Mickey Mouse’ remark ‘spun out of control’

BOSTON — St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright said he has not spoken with Adrian Gonzalez since he accused the Dodgers first baseman of “Mickey Mouse” antics during Game 3 of the National League Championship Series.

Wainwright, who will start Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday against the Boston Red Sox, said he meant his comments “in jest” and said that he had spent some time dodging questions about Yasiel Puig, the Dodgers’ rookie who had paused to admire a home run that never actually left the park.

“The whole intent of that interview was to get me to say something bad about Puig,” Wainwright said.

Wainwright had alleged Gonzalez heckled him from third base. Gonzalez claimed he was simply shouting back to coach Tim Wallach that he knew what to do if Wainwright threw a wild pitch.

“It spun out of control,” Wainwright said. “But that’s playoff baseball. If you don’t want something to happen, don’t say knuckleheaded things like that.”

After Gonzalez homered in Game 5 of the NLCS, he made the sign of Mickey Mouse ears atop his helmet. When the NLCS returned to St. Louis for Game 6, Gonzalez autographed a poster of him wearing mouse ears and riding Dumbo, and a Dodgers fan showed up for the game wearing a Mickey Mouse head.

St. Louis outfielder Shane Robinson, who had a pinch-hit home run in Game 4, said he was not sure if the Dodgers were trying to get inside the Cardinals’ heads.

“We stress on our side to respect our team, respect our opponent and respect the game in general,” Robinson said.

“We basically let it go and try to speak with our play. That’s all you can do, against teams that are trying to get something out of you. Our team did a good job of not getting caught up in things and starting something that would fuel the other side. We did a really good job of keeping it about ourselves.”