You are by now of course familiar with the Anthony Rizzo-Austin Hedges controversy. During Monday night's Padres-Cubs game at Wrigley (CHC 3, SD 2), Rizzo slid hard into Padres catcher Hedges during a play at the plate. Hedges held onto the ball, and Rizzo was called out. However, subsequent viewing angles revealed that Rizzo deviated from his path to the plate in order to make contact with Hedges and didn't execute an appropriate slide, to use the language of the official rules.
Speaking of the official rules, as of the 2014 season, you can no longer take out a catcher who isn't blocking your path without the ball, so that's the matter at hand.
In our exhaustive breakdown of the controversial play, we all deemed Rizzo's slide to be against the rules, but we were split on whether the first baseman should be suspended for his actions. Speaking of which, Rizzo was not suspended by the league, which is in keeping with precedent for such a rules violation.
That said, Padres CEO Ron Fowler seemed be to be most displeased with MLB's decision to not discipline Rizzo. Fowler on Wednesday made an appearance on The Mighty 1090 in San Diego and had this to say about the situation:
"Obviously, Rizzo clearly violated the rule. It was probably the most egregious violation since the rule went in, and to do that with no repercussions, I think, is pure BS. I told baseball that."
Summary: He's unhappy.
The Padres and Cubs concluded their three-game set on Wednesday, and San Diego won a close one to avoid the sweep. Since the two teams have already played a series at Petco, not even vigorous booing awaits Rizzo, who, let us recall, is a former Padre. It seems Fowler's pound of flesh shall elude him forevermore.
