SAN FRANCISCO -- St. Louis pitcher Garrett Stephenson struck an unruly fan outside the team bus following Game 4 of the NL Championship Series, police said.

	Stephenson

No arrests were made, but a report was filed, according to police Lt. Don Carlson.

"No one was arrested or will be arrested," Carlson said. "It's now in the hands of the district attorney."

The most serious potential charge would be battery, a low-level misdemeanor, Carlson said. Stephenson has not been charged.

Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said Stephenson only shoved the fan, who was not injured.

"He was coming at me, so I pushed him back," Stephenson said. "He was not a very nice person. I didn't really do anything, he just decided he hated the St. Louis Cardinals.

A stadium security guard who witnessed it Sunday night told police that the fan, David Richardson, 35, of South San Francisco, was pounding on the bus, making obscene gestures and yelling profanities at players and their families as the bus was halfway out of the parking lot at Pacific Bell Park.

"This was a guy who had really, really gone over the edge as far as the vulgarity and the things he was saying," La Russa said. "I'm very pleased that Garrett told him to give it a rest to the ladies on this bus and (tell him) he should shut his mouth."

Stephenson got off the bus, confronted Richardson and "struck him with an open hand," Carlson said.

In California, this is called a "mutual combat" situation, and both men have been listed as victims and suspects in the report, Carlson said.

La Russa was not on the bus but said he talked to other passengers and a security officer who had been nearby.

"It definitely is not typical of the way Giants fans have treated us, but there were some real brutal cases in the stands," La Russa said. "We've had a couple of our wives actually leave the ballpark and go back to the hotel because of the insults and the profanity."

La Russa said no disciplinary action was taken with Stephenson.

Kevin Hallinan, director of security for major league baseball, said the problem was that the bus was parked outside the stadium.

"It should have been inside," Hallinan said. "Obviously we want to make sure we do a better job of making sure those buses are inside. There's plenty of room, but sometimes the bus drivers make their own decisions."

The area where buses exit are not usually patrolled by police except for big games, but there was an added presence for Monday's Game 5.

Physical contact between players and fans is rare, said Carlson, who has worked 49ers games at Candlestick Park for seven years and has been at Pac Bell since it opened in 2000.