Hey looks it's the @mets David Wright "sliding" into Chase Utley. But that's none of my business...... @Dodgers pic.twitter.com/Z3wed7jvrz
— Greedy Pinstripes (@GreedyStripes) October 12, 2015
We all know what happened by now, even the ones living under
a rock and the ones that don’t watch baseball surely know by now, Chase Utley
slid late into second base on a play that resulted in a season-ending injury
for Ruben Tejada. Joe Torre immediately reviewed the play and decided to
suspend Utley, maybe for his own safety, for Game 3 and Game 4 of the NLDS that
were to be played inside Citi Field in New York while Utley almost immediately
appealed the decision and suspension. We have seen our fair share of late
slides and “dirty” slides in Major League Baseball in our lifetimes but I can’t
recall anyone ever getting suspended for it, did the suspension only come down
because of the fact that Tejada’s postseason is now over due to the injury?
Look, the Utley slide was not only late but it was illegal
as well but it was far from unprecedented. Take for instance the American
League Wild Card Game from this season between the New York Yankees and the
Houston Astros. Didi Gregorius was Chase Utley in this scenario sliding past
the bag and making contact with Jose Altuve, or Ruben Tejada in this instance,
but the difference here was that Altuve ate the contact and is still playing
today. I couldn’t even find a link or a video to compare the two slides for you
because that’s how insignificant the slide was to the general MLB fan base.
Why? Because Altuve didn’t get hurt. The Yankees did the same thing just a week
prior to the Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia without a comment
made. Guess the rivalry gets a pass too.
I hate that Tejada broke his fibula and will miss what could
be a deep and magical postseason run for the New York Mets, I do, but the rule
is written pretty clear if you ask me. If you can make contact with the bag,
which Utley did with his left hand, then the slide is legal. You’re allowed to
disrupt the second baseman or shortstop to the point where you’re making
“deliberate” interference, hence the whole touching the bag during the slide
guidelines. The play was dirty, the slide was late and the injury was
unfortunate but the suspension was complete and udder BS. If it works for one
it works for all. If you suspend Utley you have to suspend everyone, and if you
don’t suspend everybody then you can’t suspend Utley.
Just my two pennies, leave yours in the comments section.
