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CardsofSTL wrote:

mul21 wrote:Your manager seems to be okay with it.

https://www.thescore.com/mlb/news/77137 ... by-bourjos

This video is from 2015; before the so called Utley rule was put into effect. Also; using Matheny in your argument will not win you many hearts and minds on this board.

Right. Have you met us?

Initially, I thought it was against the rules, but not necessarily "dirty".

After looking at it again, it definitely seems a little out-of-bounds.

I can take or leave the slide, but Clint Hurdle is the last person on Earth who should be complaining about anyone doing something too 'old school'.

The Cubs broadcasters had an idea (and I've been thinking about this too) that if MLB wants to protect the players so much that plays like these are now going to be called dirty, just change the rule to say that you can only slide directly into the base.

ndistops wrote:I can take or leave the slide, but Clint Hurdle is the last person on Earth who should be complaining about anyone doing something too 'old school'.

The Cubs broadcasters had an idea (and I've been thinking about this too) that if MLB wants to protect the players so much that plays like these are now going to be called dirty, just change the rule to say that you can only slide directly into the base.

What's wrong with the current rule?

Seems to me that this is the first occurrence of this kind of thing with Rizzo. And that definitely was an illegal slide.

MDCardsFan wrote:Seems to me that this is the first occurrence of this kind of thing with Rizzo. And that definitely was an illegal slide.

Not the first; maybe not even the second but I don't feel like researching further.

Socnorb11 wrote:

ndistops wrote:I can take or leave the slide, but Clint Hurdle is the last person on Earth who should be complaining about anyone doing something too 'old school'.

The Cubs broadcasters had an idea (and I've been thinking about this too) that if MLB wants to protect the players so much that plays like these are now going to be called dirty, just change the rule to say that you can only slide directly into the base.

What's wrong with the current rule?

Because the current rule has led to legal slides, or at least slides close enough to legal that they're ruled to be so on the field, being considered dirty plays. If they're dirty plays, and other teams are going to complain about them when they occur, then just make them illegal and be done with it.

Isn't Rizzo the same cry baby mother [expletive] who stands on top of the plate and then gets his feelings hurt when he gets hit by a pitch?

ndistops wrote:

Socnorb11 wrote:

ndistops wrote:I can take or leave the slide, but Clint Hurdle is the last person on Earth who should be complaining about anyone doing something too 'old school'.

The Cubs broadcasters had an idea (and I've been thinking about this too) that if MLB wants to protect the players so much that plays like these are now going to be called dirty, just change the rule to say that you can only slide directly into the base.

What's wrong with the current rule?

Because the current rule has led to legal slides, or at least slides close enough to legal that they're ruled to be so on the field, being considered dirty plays. If they're dirty plays, and other teams are going to complain about them when they occur, then just make them illegal and be done with it.

They blew this one on the field, but it was an illegal slide.

You don't change the rule because of one umpiring mistake. Even if you change it, there will be controversial plays.

My quick view:

- I don't think baseball needs slides that are intentionally making contact with fielders, although I can appreciate there are baseball lifers(e.g. Maddon, Rizzo, and the Pirates players who felt it was a clean baseball play) who feel contact is a healthy part of the game. The current rules do a decent job of allowing that contact in a safe way, for me the benefit just isn't worth the risk.

- It wasn't the intentional contact that made Rizzo's slide illegal, and had he done a straight line to his slide it would've been within the rules, to my understanding. The rules should make the slide illegal instead of just the path to the slide.

- The slide wasn't particularly dangerous, and Rizzo even appears to pull his left leg back to avoid hitting Diaz higher up towards the knee, for whatever that's worth.

- One of the reasons this doesn't happen very often is that catchers normally do a better job than Diaz of not stepping towards third base when trying to turn that DP, but with the throw on the glove side and the actual chance to turn the DP(backup catcher was running and otherwise wouldn't have drawn a throw) he optimized for speed.