Let's watch the Cardinals and Rockies battle it out in the form of a pregame standoff

Before Wednesday's Cardinals-Rockies game had even begun, St. Louis had already tallied a win. Well, when it comes to anthem standoffs, anyway. Perhaps inspired by the Brewers and Reds last week, or, you know, any anthem standoff in the past decade, the Rockies' Carlos Estévez and the Cardinals' José Martínez heard the song end … and then they just kept standing there. 
Estevez had plenty of support from his teammates. Boone Logan even fitted him with a catcher's mask, probably so he'd be protected from stray balls in case he was still on the field when the game started. Or maybe there was another reason.
"I was laughing, so it was a good thing I had the mask," said Estevez. "Because I was supposed to stay serious about it."

Don't worry, the rest of the Cardinals weren't about to leave Martinez out to dry -- they did quite literally the opposite: 

The standoff went on so long that umpire Jim Joyce even tried to get Walt Weiss and Mike Matheny to intervene. But there was no need -- eventually Martinez was victorious:

"The umpire asked my why I did that," Martinez said.  "Pena said stand out there and don't move. He's a veteran, and when a veteran tells you what to do, as a rookie, you have to listen to him. I was acting like I wasn't listening [to the umpire]. It's a game. The most important thing is to have fun. And to win. It's a win for us."<o:p>
But there was a little strategy behind Estevez's concession. He lost the battle, you might say, only to win the war. Turns out, the Rockies defeated the Cardinals, 11-1. 
"Walt told me they were going they were going to kick me out of the game," Estevez said. "We'd have one less bullpen guy, and they only got a pinch hitter. If they kick him out, they'll have some more, but this [was] not the case [for us]."