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Monday, October 12, 2015

Utleys Illegal Slide

Chase Utley, the Dodgers second basemen, committed what appears to be an illegal slide in game 2 of a series against the New York Mets.  Chase Utley deliberately flung himself into the shortstop Ruben Tejada and broke his leg.  Chase Utley is now suffering from a 2 game suspension and will be missing game 3 and 4 of the series.  Utley is appealing the suspension.

I rule Chase Utley's slide as illegal.  He was not aiming for the base and intentionally slid into Tejada. Although his intentions were to break up a double play and not to hurt Tejada the slide should still be ruled illegal.  I believe that if Tejada were to have gotten up from the play and had not been injured the play would not be getting this attention.  I think baseball umpires should do a better job protecting the fielders before someone seriously gets hurt.  A serious leg injury could ruin a young players career.

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