SAN FRANCISCO — They are sensitive about hard slides here at AT&T Park, and Matt Holliday of the St. Louis Cardinals gave the San Francisco Giants reason to pause Monday night in Game 2 of the NCLS by sliding about as hard as one can into second base.
Holliday's take out slide of Marco Scutaro in the first inning didn't get anybody hurt, just scared, especially after Scutaro lay on a ground for a few moments to collect himself. On video replays, you can see Scutaro's left foot get caught in the dirt beyond second base. It was a good way to injure a knee, but Scutaro got up shortly and hit a single in his at-bat.
Holliday's slide appeared to be legal. He started it just before the second-base bag, touched the bag with his left leg and tackled Scutaro without getting out of the baseline.
Watch this animation from the Fox broadcast, thanks to @cjzero
The slide was effective, helping to prevent the Giants from turning a double play on Allen Craig's grounder to short. But it also was brutal and dangerous — evoking the infamous slide by Scott Cousins that took out Giants catcher Buster Posey and broke his leg in 2011.
Thankfully, the toll wasn't as great.
Legal is one thing. The umpires didn't penalize Holliday and the Giants didn't appear to complain. But should it be legal to tackle someone on a baseball field? That's a question still left unresolved by Cousins/Posey and every other crash at home plate. Or, sometimes, second base. Football is a great sport, but its tactics don't belong in Major League Baseball.
Holliday could be seen talking to Posey before the first pitch of his next at-bat in the top of the third. We'll see later if either reveals what was said. Holliday's at-bat ended with a pop-up. With a runner on second base, it wasn't a good time to retaliate with a purpose pitch.
But Holliday will bat again.
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