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BY ISMAEL NUNEZ
If you missed it: This past October 11th, 2015 on Saturday night in the MLB playoff game between Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, the talk was not the Dodgers 5-2 victory it was the slide! Dodger 2nd Baseman Chase Utley slid into Mets Shortstop Tejada causing a broken fibula. Tejada is out for the season, and who knows what his future will be.
This has been the talk of Social Media! Close to 90 percent of the people polled by MLB Network have stated: “The slide was illegal! He should be suspended! Bean him!
Broadcasters and commenters on MLB Network stated “Utley suspended games 3 and 4 for slide. Mlb classified play as dirty. Case closed!” Additionally, former Atlanta Braves Third Baseman and future Hall of Famer Chipper Jones added, “That was not a slide and that is not how you ‘go in hard!”
The New York Daily News reported on October 11th that it was not the first time Utely has performed this act. John Healy from the Daily News reported “Chase Utley has a history of dirty slides.” In fact, Utley took out Tejada with a hard slide in 2010, when Tejada was a 20-year-old rookie.
Major League Baseball stated “LAD INF Utley has been suspended for Games 3 & 4 of NLDS as a result of his illegal slide in the 7th inning on Sat.”
Baseball Head of Operations Joe Torre added that he “didn’t think Utley was trying to hurt Tejada and that the player was just trying to break up a double play, but that Utley’s slide was “a bit much.”
Utely’s agent, Joel Wolfe, in a statement to Fox Sports, immediately fired back, saying a “two-game suspension for a legal baseball play is outrageous and completely unacceptable.”
In a report by the NY Daily News on October 12th2015 stated “The appeal will be heard Monday in New York, however Utley’s representatives were reportedly asking for more time to prepare, meaning his appeal could be pushed back to accommodate those requests.”
If he plays the rest of the postseason NY Mets fans won’t forget! Utely my advice to you is don’t play!
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