There’s been a lot of talk about narratives lately, mostly concerning the Yankees and identifying reasons for their struggles. By comparison, the National League Championship Series seemed almost boring. Here you had two good teams playing for a chance to win their second world title in a two- or three-year span—nothing exciting about that whatsoever. In Monday night’s Game Two, the series-defining narrative arrived.
It happened almost right away. In the first inning, with runners on first and second base with one out, Allen Craig hit a groundball to the shortstop Brandon Crawford. Crawford threw the ball to Marco Scutaro, and Scutaro turned and fired the ball to Brandon Belt. Craig was called safe on the play and the inning continued. But that didn’t matter. What did matter was how aggressively the baserunner, Matt Holliday, went into second base. Holliday’s slide resembled a tackling effort as much as anything. If the intent was to disrupt Scutaro then Holliday succeeded and some; Scutaro fell to the earth and rolled in pain before getting up and continuing with the game.
Holliday’s actions allowed for a good-versus-evil talking point to be conceived—a storyline that was in everyone’s mind when Holliday flubbed a line drive off Scutaro’s bat a few innings later. The Giants scored three runs on the play, pushing the score to 5-1. They would win 7-1 and Scutaro would leave in the late innings to have x-rays taken. Holliday, by the way, did not receive his comeuppance in the form of a hit-by-pitch. He did make one big mistake in the field and perhaps another big mistake on the basepaths—or at least that’s how we’ll all tell it if the Giants go on to take this series.
- Ryan Vogelsong pitched well: seven innings, four hits, one run, two walks, and four strikeouts. There had been some talk about whether Vogelsong or Tim Lincecum would make the next start in this slot, tentatively scheduled for Game Six. Vogelsong, who has now had the Giants starters’ best two starts in the postseason, should get the ball if it comes to that.
- And it might not come to that, because Lincecum could start Game Four in place of Barry Zito instead. Either way, Vogelsong is almost certainly one of the Giants’ four best starting pitchers right now.
- Speaking of starting pitchers, Chris Carpenter wasn’t horrible, either. His defense cost him, but he wasn’t five-runs-allowed poor.
- The sixth and seventh Giants runs were allowed by Shelby Miller, who made his postseason debut tonight and threw 1 1/3 innings.
- Those sixth and seventh runs were knocked in by Scutaro’s replacement, Ryan Theriot. Karma! Or coincidence. You decide.
- Kyle Lohse and Matt Cain will meet in Game Three on Wednesday afternoon, with both vying to give their teams what’s always described as a critical 2-1 lead in the series.
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I listened 'live' on radio and it wasn't until later that I saw the replay. I was listening to SF radio announcers (Jon Miller makes the game so easy to listen to!), and they described it as a hard aggressive slide. I don't recall too much discussion of whether it was illegal, just more concern for Scutaro.
Upon review of the replay, yes, he landed on top of the bag with his slide and then willfully carried himself well past the bag to collide with Scutaro. I don't think Holliday's hand could have reached the bag from where he ended up (after Scutaro's left leg and body brought his momentum to a stop).
This is why second basemen used to jump to make their relay throw (not just moving towards the pitcher's mound and waving their left foot in the vicinity of the bag as we often see these days).
I also don't think Scutaro realized how just how close Holliday was when he chose to stay planted to the ground to make that throw.
This isn't just a matter of "back in the good old days," because there are still 2Bs around who do it. I do think, however, that there are fewer now, and one reason may be the devaluation of 2B so that it's played by (comparatively) less athletic guys and/or converted utility men who haven't made a career of avoiding the takeout slide. It's not coincidental, I think, that Scooter falls into that second category. So do the guy who'll be on second tomorrow for the Cardinals (Daniel Descalso) and the possibles for Detroit (Omar Infante and Ramon Santiago, although Infante at least has now settled into 2B comparatively regularly). Only the Yankees have a second baseman for whom that position has been his career-long home.
I don't know if it's legal, but it's a dirty, dirty play.
I think a dirty play is one with malicious intent. I certainly think it was a reckless play, but born more out of clumsiness than anything else. Holliday said he should've slid earlier, that it bothered him all game long, that he asked Scutaro a couple times after the play if he was OK, then called the Giants' clubhouse after he had heard Scutaro was removed from the game to again check on him. Not sure a player would act that way if his intent was malicious.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20121015&content_id=39842154&vkey=news_sf&c_id=sf&partnerId=rss_sf
The throw did not hit him and Carpenter's throw was well wide, but on that type of bunt, the runner's position has a huge effect on the fielder's throw. Belt would've still scored from third either way, but Vogelsong would've been up with 2 outs, likely ending the inning. Instead, Vogelsong sacrificed, Pagan walked, and then Scutaro drove 3 runs in. If you take those 3 runs away and the 2 runs from scoring after the blown call, this game has a dramatically different tilt.
Rule 7.08(b) Comment: A runner who is adjudged to have hindered a fielder who is attempting to make a play on a batted ball is out whether it was intentional or not.
If, however, the runner has contact with a legally occupied base when he hinders the fielder, he shall not be called out unless, in the umpireÂ’s judgment, such hindrance, whether it occurs on fair or foul territory, is intentional. If the umpire declares the hindrance intentional, the following penalty shall apply: With less than two out, the umpire shall declare both the runner and batter out. With two out, the umpire shall declare the batter out.
The old saw about " well he could touch the base' has no basis if the move is intentional. If the umpires don't start calling and forcing runners to slide towards the base instead of sliding at the second baseman/shortstop and reaching sideways or backwards to touch the base, someone is going to get seriously injured.
Holliday was extremely lucky this was a post season game and that an old school pitcher wasn't on the hill. He might well have a really sore rib cage and he would have earned it.
It would be good to get an actual MLB rules expert to address this one, but I've never, not once, seen this call made when the sliding runner's trajectory took him to and over the base he was sliding into. Holliday's slide qualifies.
Rule 3.15 Comment: For interference with a fielder attempting to field a batted or thrown ball by members of the team at bat or base coaches, who are excepted in Rule 3.15, see Rule 7.11. See also Rules 5.09(b), 5.09(f) and 6.08(d), which cover interference by an umpire, and Rule 7.08(b),
which covers interference by a runner.
... can be construed to imply that 7.08(b) does also apply to "interference with a fielder attempting to field a batted or thrown ball by members of the team at bat"?