A dirty play from a dirty player. Photo via sbnation
[Editor’s note: after writing this but before posting, Utley was suspended by the league for 2 games…. but is appealing, enabling him to keep on playing. Very effective deterrent. I guess he’ll get his hearing after the playoffs are over. Don’t dig in tonight Chase.]
The Chase Utley play in NLDS Game 2 was dirty. I don’t care if you can claim it was “within the rules.” He *broke a guy’s leg* who was BEHIND THE BAG. He basically jumped past the bag and hit Ruben Tejada on the fly, fracturing his leg in the process. It was a ridiculously awful slide from a guy who has done it many times before (ask Jesus Flores what he thinks of Utley’s sliding techniques). Think Utley has never done this before? Here’s a couple of his greatest hits:
This slide on Jedd Gyorko earlier this year didn’t result in injury but was just as egregiously bad. Video link here
In fact, it isn’t even the first time Utley has gone hard in on Tejada!
Its not the 2nd or 3rd such situation we’ve faced this year where a guy was injured on an awful looking slide. The Pirates were significantly weakened late in the season when a Chicago player (Chris Coghlan slides into ) did the same thing, snapping 2nd baseman Jung Ho Kang‘s leg. See that image here:
Another awful slide. Via wtvm13.com
You can’t tell the angle Coughlan is taking, but its very far off the bag. The “rule” says that as long as you can ostensibly touch the bag, a runner can slide wherever he wants. I think the rule is wrong and has empowered some players to take advantage of the situation and basically try to go straight after players. Kind of like how in soccer you can jump slide tackle into someone’s knees, but as long as you hit the ball first your slide is “legal.”
This Matt Holliday slide from a couple years ago was just as ridiculous; somehow Marco Scutaro avoided serious injury (video here):
(Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Much like we’ve now eliminated purposeful catcher collisions after a series of high profile (Buster Posey) injuries occurred, I think its high time to do the same on these middle infield plays. And clearly the sentiment is the same in the industry. Even C.J. Nitkowski’s notoriously “gorilla-man” anonymous surveying of his current and past connections in the industry on Jabo.com showed that a plurality of players think the slide was dirty and needs to change.
That Utley was eventually suspended admittedly seems hypocritical; change the rule THEN suspend the player; you can’t suspend the player for doing what he’s been doing for the last 20 years. Put a new rule in place in the offseason that eliminates this situation much like we’ve eliminated needless defenseless catcher injuries.
(side note: the fact that the play was even reviewable, and that Utley was awarded the base after this vicious slide and having never touched the base is even more ridiculous. Explain this one to me; when a batter swings at a pitch in the dirt for strike 3 but walks off the field … eventually the ump calls him out. Why?