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This is his story from that game in Houston.

"I doubt very seriously if that guy knew what He was doing," said Cardinals Manager Ken Boyer.

That was about the most charitable thing said Wednesday night to or about umpire Dave Pallone after he ejected Boyer, Ted Simmons and Keith Hernandez in the ninth inning of what turned out to be a 5-4, 16-inning loss for the Cardinals to the Houston Astros.

Pallone, in fact, cleared the Cardinals' bench of all playing personnel after a baseball, six towels and a jacket were tossed onto the field in dispute of his safe ruling on what seemed to be a forceout at second base.

"Any time you throw equipment onto the field, you can't let them sit on the bench," said the 26-year-old Pallone, an eight-year minor league veteran summoned from the International League to work as a major leaguer during the umpires' strike.

But some Cardinals gradually filed back to the dugout in defiance of Pallone's dictum and Pallone refused to enforce his bench-clearing decision.

"I'm new," he said sheepishly afterward. "I didn't notice the players standing out there at first. You just can't stop the game every time and ask them to leave."

Pallone said he would file a full report on Wednesdays activities, including the fact that he told coach Red Schoendienst that all the Cardinal players on the bench would be banished to the clubhouse to return only if they were needed. But the Cardinals' players and manager don't care what he files, on the basis of their post-game comments.

Simmons, who was ejected by crew chief Pallone because Pallone said he called him a "scab," acknowledged that he had said it and that he meant it. "That's what he is, isn't he?" said Simmons.

"I can't wait for the regular umpires to get back and he has to work with guys like (Ed) Vargo and (Bruce) Froemming. He'll last about one day. He has no idea what he's doing."

The umpiring was such Wednesday that even the winning manager, Bill Virdon, admitted "they had their problems."

The Cardinals also contended that Houston first baseman Bob Watson was off the bag on an inning-ending double play that cost them two third-inning runs. But the majority of their wrath was reserved for Pallone after he had ruled shortstop Garry Templeton had not stayed on the bag long enough in fielding pitcher Will McEnaney's throw on a sacrifice bunt. When Pallone flashed hands down, McEnaney, Hernandez and Simmons raced toward second base in unison to join Templeton. who was not far behind. Hernandez, to his regret, arrived first. With a bump.

"When I ran up to him, I couldn't slow down," said Hernandez. "I bumped him inadvertently. He said, 'Don't you bump me.' I grabbed him by the arm and he said, 'You're gone.'

"It's called a no-guts decision in front of the home crowd. I asked, 'Would you call that play the same in ºüÀêÊÓƵ?' I called him a gutless bleep."

Soon enough, Simmons was out and so, too, was Boyer.

At one point, the Cardinals had chased Pallone halfway into center field. "

What I said, you couldn't print in your newspaper," said Boyer.

During all this, Cardinals trainer Gene Gieselmann was hit twice once on his jacket and once in the face by a fan throwing beer.

"I yelled at him after he hit me the first time," said Gieselmann. "I guess I shouldn't. But the police told me later that they had arrested him."

Pallone, standing in a runway long after the game, uniform shirt hanging out as he was interrogated, denied that he had threatened to forfeit the game. The way he said he put it to the Cardinals was, "You know I'll walk off the field if you don't." The replays seemed to support the Cardinals, but Pallone said they supported him.

"I felt I made the right call at the time," he said. "I was hoping the instant replay would back me up 100 percent and the replay shown backed me up 100 percent."

Postscript: After the strike was settled, Pallone was one of eight replacement umps hired by the Major Leagues. He had a 10 year career in which he was mostly treated as an outsider by his fellow umps.