Sports

[cody2]

Now...GO CUBBIES.  

[Ibby114]

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@cody2 wrote:

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@gardenman wrote:

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@Ibby114 wrote:

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@gardenman wrote:

Take out slides at second base, complete with active tumbling/rollng into the legs of the shortstop/second basemen, have been part of baseball forever. It used to be the same with knocking over the catcher at home plate. A simple rule change could/would eliminate it, like they eliminated the home plate collisions. Baseball's never changed the rule so the "old school" players like Chase will continue to try and take out the guy on second to break up a double play. Suspending him for two games for playing hard is kind of silly. If they want to protect the infielders then change the rule.

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He actually never slid into 2nd- just into Ruben Tejeda wwho was way off 2nd trying to make the douple play toss to 1st base. That was the basis of the suspension- he slid last minute into an infielder  rather than the base!

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The only rule that I'm aware of regarding take-out slides is that the base runner has to stay within arm reach of the base, and Chase was. Clearly his intent was to take out the infielder to break up the double play, but he was within arm reach of the base, so the slide was technically legal even though he wasn't sliding to the base. I suspect he'll win the appeal and MLB will change the rules this off season.

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It doesn't matter to me if it was "technically legal" or not. A professional baseball player doesn't, or shouldn't, risk ruining another's career by injuring him to break up a double play. Prince Fielder took out one of our catchers with a tackle and that catcher was taken off the field unconscious. He never played another game again. Matt Holliday took out our second baseman Marco Scuturo during postseason play and injured his back so badly that he never recovered. I have no respect for the Utleys, Hollidays and Utleys...legal or not. I hope that the suspension stands. I think he should pay a big fine too. If that is the old fashioned way of play, I hope the "rules" change.

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I didn't  think Utley's slide was within arms length of the base since Tejeda had stepped away from  the bag to attempt the double play.  But this picture shows his slide was within arms length of the base.  An 'arms length' measure  is nuts - the infielder has little chance of avoiding the runner if they need to step that far off the base. Hopefully this will get a conversation going during the off season.

[gardenman]

I'd be surprised if baseball doesn't address this during the off season. What Chase did was technically legal, just as forearms to the head/neck of catchers blocking home plate used to be legal, but I suspect baseball will adjust the rule limiting base runners to the first base side of the bag on slides. That would effectively limit aggressive take out slides without unduly changing the game. If a shortstop crosses the bag into the base path he'd still be fair game, but otherwise protected.

[handygal2]

I agree that changes will be made in the off-season to protect middle infielders. If there are rules to protect catchers-- who wear protective armor-- then shortstops and second basemen certainly need to be protected from the likes of Utley. Maybe they'll call it "the Utley rule."

BTW, you can tell l'm not a fan of his.  I saw on TV, outside of Citi Field before NLCS game 1, a Mets fan was holding a homemade sign that said "Hey, Utley, how's golf?" LOL.

[ValuSkr]

Just think how much better the Mets would be playing if Tejada were able to play.

[handygal2]

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@ValuSkr wrote:

Just think how much better the Mets would be playing if Tejada were able to play.

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The Mets' best revenge was beating the Dodgers in game 5-- on Dodgers' home field-- with their pitching and bats, and not having to resort to retaliation. They took the high road. So far they've been able to overcome the loss of Tejada. l hope that can continue.