Now Chris Carpenter can have his say versus Milwaukee

Reporting from St. Louis — Not only has the momentum swung St. Louis’ way in the National League Championship Series, but so have the mind games.

The Cardinals go into Game 3 on Wednesday night at Busch Stadium tied with Milwaukee at one game apiece, and ace Chris Carpenter will be on the mound with some revenge possibly on his mind.

Carpenter gets his chance to reply to Brewers ace Zack Greinke, who said before the series that the Cardinals right-hander has a “phony attitude. He yells at people. He just stares people down and stuff.”

For Carpenter, it’s all part of being competitive. And make no mistake, few pitchers are as competitive as Carpenter. So his retort will come Wednesday from the mound.

Greinke won his first start against the Cardinals in Game 1. Now it is time for Carpenter, who pitched a shutout in the deciding division series game against the Phillies, as he goes against Yovani Gallardo.

“I don’t worry too much about what’s being said,” Brewers Manager Ron Roenicke said at Tuesday’s workout. “It’s no big deal. There’s a lot made out of it that really isn’t there.”

Even the Cardinals seem to be downplaying the comments, although they certainly won’t back away from using them as bulletin board material.

Cardinals Manager Tony La Russa reiterated Tuesday that he was “disappointed” in Greinke’s comments.

“It’s just one of those deals where something was said,” La Russa said. “I think very few people see Chris as a villain. I don’t think the Brewers see him as a villain. [Carpenter] is out there to beat you.”

In fact, La Russa believes in Carpenter so much that he compares him as a staff leader to aces of the past, including Dave Stewart from his Oakland Athletics’ pennant-winning seasons.

“There are some qualities, starting with when we announced in spring training that he’s the No. 1 starter,” La Russa said. “You’re telling the rest of the rotation, the rest of the team, ‘Follow me.’ And [Carpenter] embraces that just like [Stewart] did.”

Carpenter is a big-game pitcher, and his duel with the Phillies’ Roy Halladay in Game 5 of the NLDS proved it. But La Russa shied away from calling it the best performance he had ever seen one of his pitchers make.

“I’ve been fortunate,” he said. “This goes way back, 1983, [the White Sox] played the fourth game [of the ALCS] down 2-1 [in games] in Baltimore, and Britt Burns at age 21 or 22 pitched against Storm Davis. Nine shutout innings. [Burns went] out in the top of the 10th and gave up a home run to Tito Landrum.”

Forgotten amid the volleys of verbiage and praise for Carpenter is Gallardo, who, like Carpenter, started the Game 5 extra-inning victory of his division series against the Diamondbacks.

“For a starting pitcher, it doesn’t get any better than this,” Gallardo said. “I mean, every game is important, for both clubs, and that Game 5 was the most important game I’ve ever pitched.

“Here I am again, facing these guys and the series tied 1-1. You know, It just makes baseball that much more fun, [you] enjoy it a little bit more.”

dvandyck@tribune.com