We are talking Bobby, right?
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I think he means A-Rod Bonds.
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More like the fruit of Bobby's loins.
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While Bonds is obviously one of the five best home run hitters of all time, he wouldn't be in my top 5 players, Stephen....but it's all subjective, just one fan's opinion here.
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Of course it's all opinion. But Bonds was so much more than a home run hitter, Tom. Top five all time in OPS, SLG, runs scored, and total bases. 6th all time in OB%. Over 500 stolen bases, which I believe puts him around 30th all time. Was a good fielder, also.
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Yeah, and nearly as shameless a liar as Pete Rose. :-)
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Barry was the best doubles hitter of all time :-) he had a great eye and always made contact
Just had a little help with the distance later in his career.
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As you probably know, any PEDs that Bonds took helped with recovery and stamina, not hit a ball over a fence. You know, like amphetamines that players such as Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle and countless others took. But I digress, cause nostalgia.
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Not disputing Bonds as a great player at all, Stephen, the stats certainly speak for themselves.
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I'm backing Blue Jays and Mets at this point. What a disappointing year for my Sox..
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At least they're better than the Tigers, Nate, talk about a fall from grace. I'm pulling for the Cubs. Short of that, anybody in the National League besides the Cardinals.
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Does anybody have any opinions about the Chase Utley slide into Ruben Tejada?

For me, I definitely think the slide was late but I don't think it was dirty.
To me a dirty play is one where there is intent to injure. I don't think that was the case here.
I think the injury was caused by Tejada turning his back on the play.
It's the postseason, Utley knows his job is to break up the DP at all costs, so that run scores.
If this was a game in May, I still wouldn't call it dirty, but I would call it over the top.
This is October baseball. If you don't break up this DP you might not be playing long enough to try and break up another one.

What are your thoughts?
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Heading to Game 3 of the Rangers/BlueJays game, today. :-)

I still can't believe the Rangers are up 2-0.
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Definitely a late slide...while not a fan of losing Tejada, it was a hard nosed playoff baseball play. It was also the turning point/key point in this game. If Utley is out, next guy pops out...game is still tied...but Utley being safe turns it around and Reed chokes. At least we split in LA...now Harvey needs to do his job in game 3.
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Utley suspended 2 games by MLB.
He will appeal and likely have his case heard later today.
To me, this is a bad job by MLB.
I personally don't recall anybody getting suspended for late slide.
I think it's hard to set the precedent in the playoffs.
If you want to change the rule, the same way they changed the rule about running over the catcher, change it in the spring.
I'm curious, if Tejada doesn't get injured, would they still have suspended him?
Why wasn't Chris Coghlan suspended when he broke Kang's leg with a slide that was basically sideways?
Thoughts?
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Utley's was definitely a hard take-out slide to break up the DP, and he was way off the bag. Is that dirty, or is that baseball? I say "Yes." :-)

I don't like it when anyone gets hurt, for whatever reason. Some think Utley should face no suspension at all. Some think he should be banned from the playoffs completely. Old Testament justice would have us break HIS leg. What do I think? Does it matter what I think? :-)
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Not sure I agree with this suspension. In doing so, MLB has admitted that this was an illegal slide...meaning the runner is out and the run doesn't score. Thinking about this continues to piss me off. I just hope we go out tonight and take care of business at home.
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Reports are the Utley appeal won't be heard today and he will be eligible to play tonight and any other games that happen before the appeal is heard.
Reports are that the MLBPA asked for time to prepare for the hearing.
The hearing must take place within 14 days.
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Not surprisingly, I'm a big fan of Utley's. So take this with a grain of salt, but I agree it was a hard baseball play that has been performed multiple times before and not worthy of a suspension.

This might seem to some as "blaming the victim", but Tejada needed to do a better job protecting himself. Doing a pirouette while a player you darn well know is going to try to take you out is just a really bad idea.

For what it's worth, I also always felt Posey did a poor job putting himself in a position to protect himself too. If the rule change was made more for the protection of both the runner and the catcher (considering head injuries that we're still learning about), fine...but like Tejada, Posey's injury was a "lower body injury" and avoidable if he protected himself better.

If Utley plays tonight, or even if he doesn't, the atmosphere should be electric. Harvey and Utley have a history to boot. Earlier this year, Harvey pegged Utley in response to two Mets having been hit by a Phillies pitcher. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcwMTg7esZc. Not much came of that, but regardless, adds a bit to the story.
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I think the whole argument here is about the force Utley threw into the slide. He hit Tejada HARD.
I watched it about 10 times.
Mind ya, I have nothing in any of it.

MLB needs to say "Oops, sorry. Wrong memo. Carry on."
It's a stupid suspension.
I'm excited to see how many times Utley gets hit tonight, and how hard.
About 93mph on the chin should be even. :-)
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