Was Mike Yastrzemski stealing signs? Or just playing mind games?
Mike Yastrzemski wasnt trying to steal signs in the third inning Wednesday. He didnt mind one bit, really, that Cardinals starter Johan Oviedo thought he was trying to do so. It was a surprise to everyone, including Yastrzemski, when Oviedo whirled and started barking at him, though. Shut the f- up! Oviedo clearly yelled. "I thought every guy in the second inning was trying to steal signs, I was changing signs all the time, Oviedo said, adding of the batter, Wilmer Flores. At that moment, I thought the way he was taking my pitches, I was like, OK, (Yastrzemski) has got to have it.'   Yastrzemski was happy to affect Oviedos focus, even if, as he noted, the Cardinals had changed signs multiple times at that point, making sign-stealing moot. So any advantage that we can take, whether teams are paranoid, whether they think we're doing something that we're not, it's just a way to hopefully be a distraction away from the hitter and to get it onto the baserunner, Yastrzemski said. I had nothing, they changed their signs four or five times, I had zero clue what was coming. Even when I thought I could have possibly known what was coming, it was honestly the opposite.  Even Oviedo was having trouble with the signs, making the whole kerfuffle even more silly. He kept having to refer to a card in his pocket to figure things out. Ive just got to sell it sometimes, you know, we're in the entertainment business, Yastrzemski said. Its like were center stage at times, and hopefully the focus was on me instead of on Flo. Its just another way that you can try to impact the game from the basepaths to try and get your guy a better pitch to hit.  Oviedo, who allowed just two runs in his four innings, got Flores to fly out. "It was a misunderstanding there, Oviedo said of his ire. I got upset, I said a couple things to him and he was like, 'No! Nothing's going on!   Susan Slusser is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sslusser@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @susanslusser