I think most baseball fans would agree with you. Absolute bullshit.
It’s hard to watch this and know that I am rooting for the Dodgers but this is not the way I wanted them to win. The fun is gone for me.
I don’t care who wins this game, and I have no real dog in the fight for the series as a whole, but this inning has been a complete clusterfuck.
Eh, it’s not the Dodgers fault (except for Utley, but he 's a turd and has always been). The umpires should never get to do another playoff game, but the Dodgers are a great team and if they win, they deserve it.
Ditto. Did they ever state the rationale for him being called safe? I’ve been kind of going in and out of the game, so I missed it, but if he never touched the base, how can he be safe?
The only thing I can think of is if you said that the call kept him from touching the base and therefore there was no reason for him to touch the base.
But for me, the bigger deal is that he didn’t touch the base because he was deliberately sliding into Tejada.
I’m surprised the TBS announcing crew didn’t think Utley’s slide was illegal. Just a “hard-nosed play.” No. You have to at least attempt to reach the base. There had to have been some explanation to Collins for him not to lose his mind. If this were on FOX we’d be hearing from a rules expert.
And I hate reviewing the in-the-area force at 2nd base .
Apparently, according to the commentators, MLB said it was not considered a “neighborhood” play because the throw took Tejada off the bag.
That, also, is bullshit in my opinion.
Blech. I legitimately don’t care about bad calls per se, but they went back and broke something that was fine as is.
Fractured right fibula for Tejada.
Rule I pulled off some tweets:
“(e) If, in the judgment of the umpire, a base runner willfully and deliberately interferes with a batted ball or a fielder in the act of fielding a batted ball with the obvious intent to break up a double play, the ball is dead. The umpire shall call the runner out for interference and also call out the batter-runner because of the action of his teammate. In no event may bases be run or runs scored because of such action by a runner.”
Maybe the umpire moonlights as a back judge for Seattle Seahawks? 
Wow, the replay is more damning than I thought at first. They keeping saying it was a “late” slide, but it wasn’t really a slide at all. Utley doesn’t even get to the ground until after he’s already past the bag, just slams into Tejada’s leg.
Utley maybe isn’t the best athlete on the field, so I don’t know if his intent was really just to slam into Tejada’s leg, but he did go wide enough of base to not touch it, which is usually ruled interference. Plus it really was a neighborhood play. Robinson Cano is often about a foot off of the base before he throws to first and Tejeda’s foot was barely missing the plate. It seems the umpires want this to be a close series for ratings.
It’s Deja Vu all over again…
I’m a huge Dodger fan but it was an ugly play and I think Utley was way over the top with that slide. One thing is certain - we are getting ready to play in a stadium full of very pissed off fans (and rightfully so).
CUBBIES!!
It’s truly a new day dawning when the Cards are the ones shooting themselves in the foot in October. With Arrieta pitching on Monday, it feels like the Cubs lead the series 1-1.
That apparently is the reason: the out call is ruled to be the reason Utley never went back and touched the bag, so they can just decide that 2nd is where he would have wound up in a perfect world. That makes a certain kind of sense, but why doesn’t it apply to the other way, too? The out call is also the reason Tejada didn’t tag him out (well, that and the fact that Utley had just broken his ankle), which he would have been able to.
That’s dumb, right? I think that’s dumb.
For what it’s worth, Terry Collins thinks the umps got it right.
For interference, the question isn’t whether Utley came back and touched the bag, it’s whether he touched the bag as he slid into the defender. If he slid so wide that he couldn’t touch the bag, then it’s ruled interference.
Absolutely. If the “correct” call had been made on the field, Tejada could have rolled over and tagged Utley. The review process is very flawed. Was a question of interference reviewable or only whether Tejada was close enough to the base?
I know at the end of the day it doesn’t matter, but Terry Collins should be pissed. Should have been interference and out of the inning.
I agree that Utley’s slide was late, borderline “within reach of the bag” (if he extended his arm he “likely could have touched 2B”), intended to break up a double-play, and he should have been out for either leaving the base path and/or not tagging 2nd.
That said, Tejeda’s momentum was taking him towards CF and he had little (READ: no) chance of turning the DP (right handed player moving towards CF has no torque to throw to 1B).
Instead of:
- recognizing Utley was coming at him (based on the present and past) and simply continuing towards CF and not making the throw, and/or
- knowing contact was imminent and jumping to avoid having a leg planted at the moment of contact,
Tejeda did the unpredictable, ill-advisable: he pivoted in an attempt to whip his body around to make the throw to 1B. This move actually kept him directly into the path of Utley, who took Tejeda’s right knee to the head, knocking his helmet off and his head directly to the ground (all blame to Utley for sliding into Tejeda with his head at knee-level). Unfortunately, Tejeda was 100% planted on his left leg when Utley made contact, breaking his fibula (weight bearing bone) and not his tibia (which shows how much force was involved in the collision).
If you watch the play over a few times, pausing a lot, you can see how bizarre it really was.