Miguel Montero is apparently not a Yasiel Puig fan

So the Diamondbacks-Dodgers rivalry continues to intensify, thanks in part to Arizona catcher Miguel Montero and LA phenom Yasiel Puig.

By Dayn Perry

Jul 11, 2013 at 5:45 am ET • 1 min read

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First, here's the somewhat tense plate collision between Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero and Dodgers outfielder/thief of hearts Yasiel Puig on Tuesday night:

You might have noticed a smoldering glance and a menacing finger-wag in there. As it turns out, Montero did indeed take exception to Puig's sorta-kinda staredown after their encounter at the plate. Here, courtesy of MLB.com, are Montero's rather pointed comments after the game in question:

"If he's my teammate, I probably try to teach him how to behave in the big leagues. He's creating a bad reputation around the league, and it's unfortunate because the talent that he has is to be one of the greatest players in the big leagues.

"Right now, I'm not going to say he's the best because he hasn't proved anything yet. Does he have talent? Of course. Does he have the tools? Of course. He's got so much talent, it'd be really bad if he wasted it doing the stupid things that he's doing. You have to respect to earn respect. If you don't respect anybody, you aren't going to earn respect."

As Dodgers manager Don Mattingly suggested, some of this surely traces back to the Ian Kennedy beaning of Puig and the scrum that followed. While Puig could certainly stand to moderate himself at times, Kennedy on that night showed much more bang-spoon-on-high-chair immaturity than Puig has ever dreamed of. Developing, I have no doubt.

In conclusion ...