Where is Dusty's toothpick??

I'm going with Utley making a dirty play, not a hard baseball play. Initially he might of thought he was making a hard play but he slid at/after the base and never made an attempt to touch the base. I am probably in the minority but he should of been tossed from the game and called out anyway.

I have no problem with a hard slide to break up a double play but his slide was late. If you are going to slide, then start before you get to the bag.

No issue with Utley's play from me. Unfortunate that Tejada's leg was broken but to me that is baseball. Especially in the playoffs.

Utley made no attempt what so ever to go for the base, should have been ejected, dirty play.

When I saw the play, I immediately flashed back to when Mookie Wilson slid into Ron Oester to break up a DP in '87.

Suspended for two games

I have no problem with a hard slide but don't start your slide at the base or after.

So, if Utley doesn't start game 3...do the Mets plunk someone else? (Maybe Adrian Gonzalez?) Or do you wait for Utley to get in the game? But I will be shocked if someone doesn't take on in between the shoulder blades tomorrow.

I have a problem with this suspension. This type of "disrupting a DP" has gone on for years and as I understood as long as you could contact the bag it was an accepted part of the game just like the "neighborhood tag" at second. If it was bad enough for Utley to be suspended after the fact, why was he not called out when he clearly did not touch the bag after it happened? MLB saw it on replay. You either call it when it happened or not. Cannot go back and satisfy the PC police after the game is over. Just my opinion.

I've been around a lot of baseball, and that slide falls under my "dirty play" category.

 

If Utley even attempted to reach for the bag I'd be willing to chalk it up as a baseball play.

 

You don't slide at or after the bag when breaking up a double play. Go in hard all you want but don't attack a player (which is what Utley did).

I've been around a lot of baseball, and that slide falls under my "dirty play" category.

 

If Utley even attempted to reach for the bag I'd be willing to chalk it up as a baseball play.

 

You don't slide at or after the bag when breaking up a double play. Go in hard all you want but don't attack a player (which is what Utley did).

 

I'm with you on this. slide as hard as you wait but don't want until you are at the bag or after it.

I have no issue with it.

 

So you guys who think it was dirty think he was trying to injure Tejada? That's what a dirty play is, with malicious intent.

I think he will win on appeal. I think it is a hard slide and probably should be suspended. But when the lawyers show up with video of dozens of similar slides and no penalties given out, they are going to win. As well as no call on the field calling him out.

Not even a controversy if Tejada's leg is not broken OR Tejada does the usual footwork around 2B trying to turn DP. Twirling around backward, which Utley has no control over OR ability to change his path when Tejada decides to do it, completely changes the "perception" of Utley's actions -- without Utley doing anything different.

 

1 - should / will the rule be changed -- Yes. Just like the Buster Posey rule, there will be a change that will require the runner to have the center of his body (perpendicular to the base rather than parallel to avoid rolling slides) aimed at the base and that he hit the ground X feet before the bag to avoid an automatic DP being called. This will allow middle infielders to reasonably easily avoid the sliding runner in most cases. (Although, ironically, not in this case. Tejada's odd pivot caused by a high throw not only prevented him from clearing the bag in a normal manner by grazing across it toward the OF or by sticking it and retreating toward the P mound, but actually resulted in him traveling toward 1B which exacerbated the contact with Utley.)

 

2 - those who say Utley was nowhere near the bag need better eyesight and/or understanding of the game. The current rule allows him to be OK so long as something can reach the bag. His left hand clearly passes over the center of 2B showing that he clearly could reach it.

 

3 - was Utley's slide late? Yes. Was it wildly different from a bunch of similar slides this season that brought 0 review or punishment from MLB? Nope. Was it hard baseball played according to the rules as they existed at the time? You betcha.