Larry Rothschild Thinks the White Sox Have Been Snitching

The "Battle For The Best Third Place Team in Chicago," also known as the Crosstown Rivalry, will come to an end for the 2009 season on Sunday, but that doesn't mean there won't be any lingering issues between the two teams.

Though the Windy City rivals have split the first two games of this series, which has been pretty entertaining to watch, the big story was and still is the argument between Lou Piniella and Milton Bradley on Friday.

Piniella sent Bradley home early on Friday after calling him a "piece of [naughty word]" in the visitor's clubhouse. According to both of them they've hugged out their differences, and now the Cubs seem to be turning their anger towards the White Sox. Particularly Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild, who wants to know who's been snitching.

Cubs pitching coach Larry Rothschild confronted a White Sox clubhouse employee Saturday over an alleged leaking of the Lou Piniella-Milton Bradley argument. He was told no Sox employee who worked in the clubhouse spoke to the media about the incident, though Bradley and the Cubs believe otherwise.

"We have some snitches, some White Sox staff snitches," Bradley said. "But that's how people keep a job for a long time. That's what you have to do. I wouldn't do it."

Piniella said the vocal altercation in which he called Bradley "a piece of [expletive]" lasted only a few seconds and should have been kept private.

"We have the sanctity of the clubhouse here, and I'm disappointed something like that gets out," Piniella said. "There are a lot of heated things in the clubhouse at times. They should just stay there."

The White Sox employee and the team both deny that anybody said anything to the press about it, but I do recall that, while watching the two teams play on Friday, White Sox play-by-play man Hawk Harrelson seemed to know what happened before anybody else did.

An inning after Ryan Freel replaced Bradley in right field, Harrelson spoke of Milton's absence by saying, and I'm paraphrasing here, "There's the story, and then there's the story." So Hawk knew the story before it hit the press, and he had to find out from someone in the know, possibly the clubhouse employee Rothschild confronted.

Whatever the case is, this really is the last thing the Cubs need to be dealing with right now. They have not played well this season yet still find themselves only 3 1/2 games behind the Brewers and Cardinals in the NL Central. Instead of focusing all their frustration on each other, Gatorade coolers, White Sox employees or the media, they should probably focus on catching the Cardinals and Brewers.