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Sunday, October 11, 2015

Chase Utley's Slide was Dirty

It's the big controversy so far in the 2015 MLB Playoffs.  It occurred in the seventh inning yesterday of the Mets and Dodgers in Game 2 of their NLDS series.
There were runners on the corners with one out and the Mets were leading 2-1. The ball was hit to the second baseman who fielded it, and tossed it to the shortstop, Ruben Tejada.  Tejada caught it, spun, and got slid into by Chase Utley.  Tejada flipped over, and he went high.
Immediately, trainers rushed out, and not soon after they called for a cart.  They had to stabilize Tejada's leg by putting it in an aircast.  It turns out that Tejada broke his leg, which clearly means he is out for the rest of the year.
I feel really bad for Tejada.  He worked hard the whole year, and he gets knocked out by a dirty play.
Now let me explain why it was such a dirty play.  First of all, after Tejada spun, he was no where near the bag.  He was probably two feet or so off of the base.  Secondly, Utley started his slide past the bag. Lastly, he didn't slide into him, he tackled him.  It was such a hard slide, Utley tackled him.  If this was college football or the NFL, he would be called for an illegal hit on an defenseless receiver.
This was not a hard nosed play as some people such as Dodgers fans would say. 
This is the second time this year somebody has gotten hurt for the year on one of these plays.  In September, the Pirates Jung Ho Kang got hurt for the year by Cubs outfielder Chris Coghlan, but I'm not sure that one was dirty.
For sure, the MLB will have to consider changing the rules to protect these middle infielders.  They did it with home plate collisions after Buster Posey got hurt, and they should do it now.
To make matters worse for the Mets, Utley was ruled safe because Tejada never touched the bag.  But, neither did Utley, so the umps straight blew it.  Also, it turns out the original call isn't challenge able, so to, ya know, make matters worse.
The Dodgers won 5-2, tying up the series up 1-1 as the series goes to New York, where they will have to face Matt "Batman" at Citi Field.  I think the Mets will go on and win in four of this best of five.  I think their pitching is too good.  I also hope they win because of the slide, and also because the Cubs(who will hopeful advance) went 7-0 aganist the Mets in the regular season.

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