LOOK: Chase Utley started the season with an illegal slide
After breaking Ruben Tejada's leg with a brutal takeout slide in the NLDS last year, Chase Utley opened the 2016 season with an illegal slide into home plate.
By
Mike Axisa
•
1 min read
As I'm sure you remember, Chase Utley broke Ruben Tejada's leg with a brutal takeout side at second base in Game 2 of the NLDS last year. The play was so vicious MLB revised the takeout slide rules over the winter to make sure slides like that never happen again.
On Monday, the Dodgers opened the new season by handing the Padres the worst shutout loss on Opening Day in baseball history (LA 15, SD 0). In the third inning of that game, Melvin Upton Jr. and Alexei Ramirez teamed up to throw Utley out at the plate on Justin Turner's double. Here's the play:
Nice set of relay throws by the Padres there. But that's not why I showed you the video. Did you see Utley's slide? Here is the slow motion replay:
That is absolutely, 100 percent not a legal slide. Padres backstop Derek Norris played the ball perfectly. He received the throw and gave Utley a clear path to home plate, which is exactly what the new home plate collision rules say he has to do.
Utley, however, slid into Norris' hands anyway, presumably in an attempt to knock the ball out his glove. That's a no-no. Here is a portion of the text of Rule 7.13, the home plate collision rule:
A runner attempting to score may not deviate from his direct pathway to the plate in order to initiate contact with the catcher (or other player covering home plate). If, in the judgment of the Umpire, a runner attempting to score initiates contact with the catcher (or other player covering home plate) in such a manner, the Umpire shall declare the runner out (even if the player covering home plate loses possession of the ball).
It sure looks like Utley deviated from "his direct pathway to the plate in order to initiate contact with the catcher" on that play, does it not? The good news is no one got hurt. Norris applied the tag and that was the end of it right there.
Utley has long been a hard-nosed player and that's okay. You want guys to play hard. There is a fine line between playing hard and playing dirty though, and a slide like Monday's shows Utley is starting the cross that line.
