dirty play by Pujols…had plenty of room to slide to the outside……intentionally went after him…will the team do the right thing and suspend them?

e j m,

Dirty play, c’mon. He could have plowed over him. Go Albert, play hard or go home.

If that’s a dirty play, then you my friend have never played the game. If you don’t have the ball (he didn’t) what the hell are you doing in the way? If you block the plate without the ball, expect to get knocked on your ass. Bunch of pansies. I’m not a Pete Rose fan– but I still love his all star game coming around third….

So the team should suspend Albert for doing something that isn’t against the rules?

Yup…makes sense to me.

Ya, i agree. Albert was playing the game. He really could have taken the guy completely out! Don’t even talk about suspending anyone! Thats just crazy talk!

that was bush league by albert. he deserves to get one in the back at the plate tonight….and should take his medicine and walk to first base.

if he does not have the ball yet and he is on the base that is interference. dont stand on the plate if you cant take a hit. and that slide was nothing. anyone remember the slide rolen did that took out the 2nd baseman and the short stop all at once a few years back?

besides “its apparent we dont like each other.” from backe should have been flooled up by a “whats a backe?” from albert.

I’m not calling the play dirty, but I did find it a little puzzling.

To those describing Towles as blocking the plate without the ball — he was NOT blocking the plate. The plate was virtually uncovered. If you go over to the vivaelbirdos blog there are photos posted in the comments section that make it clear how much of the plate was there for Albert to slide over.

If Pujols apologized, he must have felt somewhat in the wrong. Short apology, issue over. I don’t see this non-descript catcher blocking #5’s ticket to Cooperstown. Other than the KFNS morning show, who sees this as such a big issue?

If Albert had come in soft to one edge of the plate Towles could have blocked him, caught the ball , and tagged him. So Albert made the right play. If Towles felt that he needed a portion of the plate then he ftoo felt that there was a chance for a play. Branden Backe and this bunch are cry babies. No one was hurt, it was just baseball.

So the catcher got knocked over, so what, he’s a professional - take the hit and don’t whine about it.

How many times do hockey players get knocked over during a game. Ever see them whine about it?

geez

The plate was wide open and the therefore the slide was a bit dirty but not terrible. Duncan (on deck) gave Pujols the sign to get down at the last minute so Albert probably thought there would be a play on him and that he had a better chance to score by taking him out. Personally I think he has a better chance to score by sliding to the right and reaching with his hand. Considering he missed the plate on the first slide it definitely wasn’t a great play, but I don’t think he was trying to kill him.

The same people complaining about it being a dirty play would have been complaining if he hadn’t slid at all, and would be calling him lazy. To call this is dirty play, you obviously never played past 8th grade. He had no sight of the ball and to his knowledge there could have been a play at the plate, Duncan motioned for him to slide, and he slid into his feet…textbook slide in that situation, nothing else to say about it.

I can’t even believe this is an issue. Pujols did exactly what he’s supposed to do. Backe made it worse by starting something the next day at batting practice. I guess since he is a mediocre pitcher he needs to get his name in the news somehow.

what flavor tonighy gentlemen?? strawberry??

Ah, the lovely Post Dispatch believes in censorship!

This is baseball, not tee ball. Grow a set, you nancy boys caterwauling about a dirty play.

Also, who’s Brandon Backe???? Give me a break. This is what’s wrong with baseball - invasion of the pansy prima donas. You crowd the plate as a batter, you deserve a pitch by the ears. You block the plate as a catcher, you are gonna get pummeled by the runner. Just ask Yogi Berra, Mike Soscia or any of the old time catchers.

For all of those who are saying that it\’s part of the game, or that the catcher had it coming for blocking the plate, READ some of the comments that state the catcher was clearly not blocking the plate. Not any part of it for that matter……it\’s not like crowding the plate. If anything it looked like Pujols went out of his way to knock the kid down. He may not have been able to see the plate because it had dirt on it, or some other reason, etc., but he took the kid out. It was not a good, hard play. It wasn\’t sliding into second base hard to try to break up the double play, so don\’t make it sound like the kid had it coming. I\’m not saying Pujols should get suspended; it sounds like he made it right by calling the catcher that night. But seriously, look at the tape before you continue worshiping your hero blindly.

From Houston - the radio guys jumped all over this and played a quick tape from an interview with Backe that had to have taken place right after the incident. the radio dude did not mention that Backe had called out to Pujols and Backe implied that Pujols confronted him completely unprovoked. radio guys agreed that Pujols - despite the phone call apology - has no class. Supposedly there was a clubhouse meeting to ‘decide what to do about’ Pujols. Obviously, cooler heads prevailed cuz nothing has happened in his at bats so far tonight. On the local telly down here the anouncers commented that they watched the play several tiems last night and didn’t see anything wrong with it. Callers to the radio station - the usual get a life guys - were happy that Backe stood up for the team and hoped that Pujols would get drilled tonight.

I just love Pujols. First he makes a heads up play, an on the field choice to make sure he gets the run scored. After thinking about it, and maybe seeing some discussion, Pujols decided to discuss the play privately. He showed class on tackling the situation head on. He made a choice in the heat of the moment and some people questioned it. He handled it great.

Backe is a punk.

The most interesting thing is the difference in the stories between Goolds account and MLB.com. MLB portrayed Pujols as completely surly when interviewed, failing to mention that he eventually talked about the phone call. Whats worse is that they approached the story as if Pujols went after Backe with no provocation. They lied by not saying that Backe initially yelled at Pujols, sparking the confrontation. From MLB.com Pujols sparked it. Talke about unbalanced reporting.

We’re lucky to have a such a competitor and a complete class act to boot. Pujols is fantastic!

That WAS a dirty play! As soon as it happened I knew it was dirty. Towles gave him plenty of room to slide in without even touching him, but I rewound and saw over and over Pujols was sliding to the opposite side of the free area of the plate and was aiming for the catcher. Pujols is an idiot if he expects people to believe he didn’t mean to. Especially when he got up and bowed his chest out walking into J.R.. LaRussa has to support Pujols. He might be the only thing in the lineup worth going to the park for.

Pujols is a moron

The MLB.com writer who posted that story is a Houston writer. The mentioned the story on the local broadcast and then showed her sitting at her laptop in the press box. The story was her interview with Backe. She didn’t talk to - or didn’t get an answer - from Pujols. There was nothing about talking to LaRussa or anyone else involved either.

Todd -
“Pujols is a moron”?! Really?
Did you come to this conclusion through your intensive research completed by rewinding and watching your betamax over and over of one, considering the big scheme of things, insignificant play? Or was this non-issue play the topper of a long string of Albert refusing to sign your Topps cards?

You stupid people are so judgmental. Pujols does not deserve to get suspended for a play that was questionable at best. Whether or not the play was dirty is not the problem. Albert thought it looked bad and took the initiative to call and apologize (something that doesn’t happen much in MLB). There clearly is a difference in what the media has reported regarding the incident earlier today. The truth is, many of the reporters probably didn’t pay attention to what was going on until Albert and Backe were in each other’s faces. Suppose Albert did approach Backe. That’s because he already called, apologized, and was forgiven, but Backe felt the need to dwell on the issue simply because he doesn’t like Albert. Backe has nothing to do with the situation and needs to mind his own business. You people give him credit for standing up for his team, but this wasn’t his fight. It was an issue that was handled privately between Pujols and Towles. Albert wouldn’t confront someone for no reason. And shame on you for saying that Pujols deserves to get drilled in the back!! You are a disgrace to baseball fans you dumbass!

Pujols scored without a play to the plate … Towles knew it wasn’t coming in. If Towles didn’t have the ball — and knew the ball wasn’t coming home — he shouldn’t have been over the plate. I played catcher from 3rd grade through Legion ball. Don’t hog the plate if you don’t have the ball. Basic stuff.

Who Cares! It is a non factor. I have seen harder hits in futbol or soccer. Get over it people. Be prepared Houston will do something and then you can complain about that.

Pujol’s HOMERS!!! Did Towles get out of the way for that!?!?!

Scott - what’s with the name calling. Please read carefully before you start your diatribe. You’re attacking the wrong dumbass.

Interesting that you start by saying “You stupid people are so judgmental”. this is a comically flawed statement. It would have been hilarious had it been intended as a joke. Alas, it was not.

Go to bed now. Get some rest. You’ll need it to push that broom tomorrow at work.

this is a non issue…if he didn’t hit him i would have suspended him…my i should be more understanding and forgive all and say albert should have handed him flowers at the plate and then stood there asking the young cather to tag him out… then they could have hooked pinkys and skipped off the field together spreading good will among men…

It used to be the case that actions during the game that did not lead to ejection were not subject to further sanctions from the league office. I remember one brawl where Nolan Ryan (then with Texas) got a few punches on the batter (probably of the ChiSox) who had just charged the mound after being hit. Since the umpires did not eject Ryan, he could not be suspended.

I have yet to see the play, being we don’t get many Cards games out here in the desert, however it sounds like Pujols did the right thing after the game if he thought he was wrong during it.
If I were Houston players or fans I’d hate Pujols too, considering the hurting he’s personally put on that franchise over the years, including destroying their closers (Lidge) confidence so badly they had to trade him out of the division because he can’t even pitch with Pujols in the park.

Seems like everyone is just a bit too sensitive. Backe says that it’s over but then says this to explain why he became so upset with Pujols, “Because I felt violated,” Backe said. “I felt like he confronted me at the wrong time. I don’t think it was very professional on his part”.

Gimme a break. He felt violated? isn’t that something we should reserve for sexual assault cases? Seems that Backe didn’t like getting talked to in front of the guys. He forgot about the incident and now appears worried about his own cred.

Time to shut down and watch for the next sent of insults to fly.

We all have too much time on our hands. Let’s volunteer somewhere and quit wasting time here.

Well, some of these comments sure are laced with barbwire, but none quite as deep as that last one there, Lemon Jay. Ouch. No, no, go volunteer. The Boy Scout in me insists, even encourages. But to write it’s wasting time in here … That sounds like something JSL!!!!@#%!! would say.

And as for “censorship”. See, here’s the thing. All for free discussion. Big fan of debate. But we can’t work blue here. There are lexicon lines that cannot be crossed — even in comments — because this is still a newspaper and there is an audience that includes ages not yet in that PG-13 crowd.

We now return to the lively banter.

dg
-30-

Nobody mentions these facts:
1. Towles was in the area of the plate where a play could be made.
2. The ball was coming in
3.Runners were on base.

If Houston is going to attempt to make a play at the plate by throwing there, the catcher was fair game. If that throw had resulted in a ball going past Towles, and Glaus advancing to third or possibly even scoring, because Pujols took out the catcher, I say here here…hard nosed baseball.
In this case it didn’t happen.. But my point is Houston hung their catcher out to dry by trying to make a play that they knew they couldn’t. Towles should have completely cleared home plate. When Pujols came around third, all he could see was Towles ready to acccept the ball, he had no choice but to take him out…plain, simple, baseball.

If there wasn’t a play at the plate then how come Cardinals player Chris Duncan motioned for him to slide. He got the run, spikes down, no one hurt–whats the issue? Is it because Houston lost?

The Rays didn’t even cry as much when their player was spiked at 2nd base by a Yank and that player was ejected.

I can’t believe we are even disussing this. I live in Las Vegas and am a 51’s fans (Dodger AAA) and competive plays like this seem to be more accepted and appreciated in the junior leagues then in the pretty (big) leagues.

I love the slide from Albert, kinda reminds you of the Gashouse Gang in ‘34. All he’s doing is going hard and playing all out, nothing wrong with that, La Russa tells his players to play a hard 9. This is going to be part of this team’s idenity. Besides, the Backe incident awoke a sleeping giant, 2 HR’s and 3 RBI’s, Sir Albert has arrived.

I played a little semi-pro for fun. One game, against the best team by far in the league, I got taken out at third base while standing there waiting for a throw that didn’t come. I asked the runner ‘why?’…

He told me that if he didn’t play the game hard, every inning, he wouldn’t be playing for that coach. In other words, playing the game was far more important than any worrying about getting hurt (If you are willing to hurt, you are willing to BE hurt).

What is happening, don’t you think?, is that the money is so huge these days that it is changing the way the players interact with one another. They are starting to insinuate that ‘hard play’ is too dangerous to everyone’s paychecks.

I saw the play on FSN Midwest and I think it was a clean slide by Mr. Pujols. Albert was just merely playing good, clean, hard Tony LaRussa style baseball. J.R. Towles was blocking the plate without the ball so that makes him fair game. Towles should have known that there wasn’t going to be a play at the plate and moved out of the way of the baserunner (Pujols). Should Albert be penalized for playing 1934 Gashouse Gang or Pete Rose style baseball? NO.

Towles is a liar, he did not give Troy Glaus any part of the plate.

I think Bernie said it best in his column today where he talks about the 34 Cardinals. That sums up toughness and the way the game should be played.

Folks, Pujols is a winner day in and day out. Others should take note of the way he plays the game with a winning style and follow his class act when their heart tells on them for a done wrong. In the heat of the moment he was himself as a competitor. Afterword he called to aplogize to show the classy person he is off the field. As a Cardinal fan and a person, I am proud of him.

I am curious what the reaction would be had it been Molina on the receiving end? Pujols obviously felt he did something wrong or he would not have apologized. Hard play has its place. This just creates the need to retaliate by Houston. Who will receive it and wil they get injured?

well i’m chiming in late, but everybody’s got an opinion, including me!

if you actually watch and pay attention to the reply you see that pujols makes a bee line to towellie, and slides into him and “takes him out”, but then he gets up and starts to walk off, thinking he’s hit the bag. you can actually see a split second where he realizes that the bag is not where he originally thought it was, and he makes a quick step on the bag. from our perspective we see that pujols had plenty of room to slide onto the bag. but then why did he slide into towels, walk off, and the jump on the plate after realizing he didn’t touch it? what i think is that, from pujols’ perspective, he didn’t initially see the plate. i think he thought that towels was blocking it, slid into him, thinking he touched home plate. then after standing up he saw that the plate was a few feet back, and he quickly touched it to confirm that he was safe at home.

regardless, if you think there is anything “dirty” about it, boo hoo? even if it was dirty, so what? towel had it coming for blocking the plate against troy glaus the night before, and i remember him having another play where he was blcking the plate, AND did anyone notice that earlier in tuesday night’s game st. louis catcher jason larue getting bowled over at home plate when he didn’t even have the ball? if you ask me, towel/astros had it coming. but that’s just what i think.

I am curious what the reaction would be had it been Molina on the receiving end? Pujols obviously felt he did something wrong or he would not have apologized. Hard play has its place. This just creates the need to retaliate by Houston. Who will receive it and will they get injured?

Any of the boys on here complaining about Albert must have hated Gibby. He was the fiercest most frightening player in his day. Intimidation period. Thats when ballplayers were men. “I felt violated.” That sounds manly right? The play didn’t even involve him. I’d hate to imagine how Backe would feel standing in against Gibson. He might need therapy. Grow a pair boys and man up.

I find incomprehensible that anyone would think Albert Pujols should be suspended for sliding aggressively into home plate. Thank you Brandon Backe for shooting off your mouth and giving Sir Albert that little extra focus he needed to jack a couple of taters.
I am liking this Cardinal group more and more each game and I sure hope they keep on scratching and clawing for wins. When you are told over and over that you are terrible, you might not even finish ahead of the Pirates, etc…the real competitor comes out. Turns out we have a bunch of guys who can play the game. They may not win the world series, but it’s been more fun this year already than almost all of last season combined.
I agree RCJ, some of these guys today would have been in therapy if they had to face off with Drysdale and Gibson back in the day. Those guys would yell at you from the mound that you were about to get drilled, and then do it.

I didn’t see this before. this is from the SI story -
_____________________________
Backe was still red-faced from the exchange several minutes after it ended.

“It’s apparent that we don’t like each other,” he said. “That’s OK. There’s plenty of other people I don’t like in this game. It doesn’t matter. The competition between he and I just escalated.”
______________________________

Now isn’t that cute?! Backe actually thinks he plays in the same league that Albert does. Can’t wait to see that doouble A arm go after Pujols the next time they get together.

I just watched the replay on MLB.com - several times - and it shows Albert altering his path to the plate to slide into Towles. It’s probably something he shouldn’t have done, for whatever reason, but since he apologized there shouldn’t have been any further fallout.

i don’t see what the issue is. pujols thought the ball was coming in and duncan was even telling him to get down and slide. my thinking is that pujols thought he needed to slide into towles so he could try to knock the ball out of his hands/glove. it’s a non-issue.

Quit whinin, Backe! Haven’t you heard?…..there’s no crying in baseball! Keep playin hard, Pujols!

Total non-issue. On plays at the plate, a catcher will get hit. Has nobody played little league? Aren’t you curious why they wear all the protective gear? Duh. The ump and coach did not take issue and I think they know the game a bit better better than all these sackless she-men. If you can’t stomach a bit of contact on plays at the plate, watch golf. But, just in case someone took it the wrong way, Pujols took the high ground and made the apology phone call. Dead issue. But, very disturbing that St. Louis has so many nancy boys.

I love baseball and I am proud that Albert wears the birds on the bat proudly. But a hard slide in a baseball game, come on now. The government has sanctioned the torture of prisoners in our custody and police are tasering woman and children in this country. Lets all step back and get our priorities straight. And no, I am not a bleeding heart liberal, I have served my country proudly in uniform.

houston is full of idiot who do not know much about baseball. backe should get a ball thrown at his head for acting like that. pujols knows how to play the game. all you morons that think pujols should tiptoe around the plate need to learn about the game of baseball.

You guys are all missing the biggest point. Did you read Backe’s comment:

“It’s apparent that we don’t like each other,” he said. “That’s OK. There’s plenty of other people I don’t like in this game. It doesn’t matter. The competition between he and I just escalated.”

THAT’S TERRIBLE GRAMMAR!! It should be “between him and me”. Backe should be suspended. No question.

Nothing like bringing politics into this debate eh lovethegame? None of that has anything to do with this discussion but feel free to interject….

As for those who are clearly in need of therapy to suggest Pujols did something wrong I ask that you go watch a “safe” sport like curling. Baseball needs to get back to a bit of hard nosed play. Part of the problem with the game’s declining numbers is that we have allowed the hard play of the 50’s and 60’s to go by the wayside. Pitchers have to feel threatened to pitch in close, Prima Donna batters stare them down as they even think of hitting them in their backsides if they crowd the plate, we think runners are supposed to yield to catchers if the plate is even somewhat in view?? PLEASE….

Towles is a young kid who plays hard and made a decent play to try to take away Glaus’ run earlier in the series. The flip side is that you will get run and the slide was clearly to send a message while at the same time good hard baseball. For crying out loud, nobody got hurt and even if they did, it’s part of the game…Anyone remember Ray Fosse? Ask Bob Gibson what he thought of the slide and about Backe’s cowardly comments to Pujols afterward. Ask Gibby how HE would settle that matter the next time the loudmouth punk came to plate if HE was pitching. heheheh….Gibby would have Backe running for new underpants.

Go Birds! Play Hard!

it’s amazing to me how many comments begin with an insult. why can’t folks communicate without being so immature. that said, the best way to score a run at the plate, is to take out the catcher. watch a catcher’s highlight reel and you’ll see the catcher getting hit every time there is a play at the plate. it is part of the game. backe is way out of line and it wouldn’t surprise me if he ends up unpopular with his team mates for stirring up trouble where none exists. pujols did change his direction to hit the catcher. that is what he is supposed to do and he did his best not to hurt him. by calling, albert proved what a class act he is and i guarantee the level headed astros appreciated the gesture.

This is Major League Baseball. The catcher has absolutely no right to be in the basepath at all without the ball; futhermore, if he is in the basepath a player should make contact to prevent him from catching and holding on to the ball. This was a hard-nosed play by Albert. Yadi Molina isn’t told by La Russa to block the plate that way. The reason? avoiding injury. Houston needs to teach their catcher the same

We can’t really kow what Albert was thinking as he ran down the third base line towards home unless he tells us. It’s possible he thought Towles was blocking the plate and/or was going to be able to make a sweep tag. In that situation he did what he had to do - take the catcher out. Maybe he felt a little embarrassed when he got up and discovered how far off the plate Towles actually was and that prompted the phone call of apology. That showed a lot of class (a Pujols trademark) and should of been the end of it. For Mr. Backe to make an issue out of it and say that he feels violated………..let’s just say he will probably have a new definition for being violated next time he has to pitch to Albert.

Added it up:

Hot Sweaty Day + Overacheiving team against all the odds is winning + Big guy running from 2nd to home on a double + possible play at the plate + a catcher who as rep for covering the plate = You take the odds that he is on the plate while your eyes are bouncing and you take out the leg to make sure there isnt a play.

Thing is. If there wasnt a play ( like it turned out) Towles shoud step away from the plate. He has a rep for blocking as he did with Glaus the night before so he needs to take the shots.

He is the most protected guy on field and Glaus could of been hurt by is action night before and the play probably is made if catches and reaches for a tag.

Anyone who thinks its dirty probably wants Albert to be a Yankee or a Cub, too. So not truly their forum. Want to see a dirty shot in Houston. Remember the chop slide into third base that Jason Lane put on Abraham Nunez in the playoffs of 2005. Straight outta Blood Sport. That was a dirty slide meant to maim AND it did. Going from Rolen to Nunez to Cairo/Miles was an affect on that series that led to a WS berth.

So remember your history before you jump to conclusions people. Pujols only makes points when they need to be made. (Right Odalis Perez;)

first, Pujols did the right thing.
secondly, if you have ever played baseball then you know when you are rounding third all you are thinking about is getting to home plate, safely, and you only have a couple of seconds to decide how to do that, whether it be slideing around, through, or even over the catcher. Pujols made his choice to go through the catcher…… give him a break!! . Its not like he was the first to hit a catcher, its part of the game. LET’EM PLAY!!

I’m finding this whole thing rather funny, but then I’m kinda warped.

But seriously, I think all the strong opinions are getting way out of perspective. Emily’s got it about right IMO. Remember, the score was 4-3 not some runaway, it was an important run and Duncan told him to slide. Pujols has a fraction of a second to decide what to do, knowing that the team really needs the run. He probably was trying to knock out the ball. After the play, he probably came to the conclusion that it wasn’t necessary and apologized.

And here we are, two days later, still breaking it down frame-by-frame as if Pujols somehow had that same luxury. These guys aren’t robots, they’re just playing ball mostly by reacting because there isn’t really time to think. Thinking is what you do before throwing a knock-down pitch, and that’s why they were invented. Then maybe you get one of those crazy baseball fights that’s really more like a dance and no one gets hurt…….

Brandon Backe is hothead and a blowhard. So Pujols took out the catcher…big deal. Pujols did not need to apologize. Was Backe worried that his catcher might break a nail under all the armor and equipment he was wearing?? Please. He took out his legs for Pete’s sake!!! This was not a shoulder first tackle!!! Backe needs to take a long walk off a short pier…

How would this blog be going if there was a play at the plate? Puhols and Towles collide, Towles drops the ball because of a hard slide. Albert scores the run. Puhols and Towels collide and Towles holds on regardless of the hard slide, Albert is out at the plate. In both these cases and what actually happened on the field just spells out good, hard baseball. One thing I haven’t heard is if Towles actually complained about the hit. I’m sure he was shook up some but it appeared to me as if he “shook it off” pretty well. Albert is a big guy; any collision with Albert is going to hurt. As for Backe, he just needs to go away. As for the media, they just need to leave this alone. Let’s move on and enjoy baseball!

Agree with the statement……….”don’t have the ball, get out of the way!”

As for Backe, Ausmus getting involved in diplomatic affairs over a very small non-issue. You all should put this much effort into trying to win a game. Looks like a deflection method because of the harsh Astro Reality in 2008! Move on, try to play baseball and win games, don’t draw attention to stuff that is insignificant. He apologized, explained, and now…move on!

Hey, Brandon Backe.

Tampax called:

They want their spokesman back!

Just to piss off everyone who had a problem w/Albert’s slide on Tuesday night, I hope he goes into 2nd and home w/spikes up every time from now on.

Ty Cobb style!!!

I was in the stadium and had a very good vantage point on the play. None of the Astros fans around me said a word, and yes I was in Cardinal red with my St. L hat on. My son sitting right next to me was wearing a Pujols jersey.

Towles does not appear to be upset by the play. He is taking this as just another play in a very well contested game. Backe took up for his teammate, that’s cool. I think he is a hothead and way off base with his comments, but I admire his backing Towles.

I played ball past 8th grade and think the play was not dirty. These are adults playing a contact sport, despite what some may think, and they all know the risks. Albert was sliding in to home to score a very important run for the cards. His slide was directly across the plate, as he should have. He didn’t put his shoulder into him or try in any way to harm Towles

Finally, I agree with several others who say much to much is being made of this play.

Dirty Play c’mon. Obviously anyone who thinks that was a diry play has not played baseball or shy’s away from contact sports…Hmmm. To the gent that a has requested someone to hit Albert in the back. I GOT AN IDEA; why don’t you stand up at the plate, have few 90-95 MPH fastballs go under chin, make sure you listen for the seams cause the ball will be close enough…and then take one in back. Let me know how that feels. If you dont want to do that, then keep your comments to yourself. Wishing pain and anguish on your own player. Give me a brake!!!!! What if the ball hits him in the head? Then it gets a little more serious, because now you are talking about someone’s life who has a family. My opinion, and probably shared amongst peers…SHUT UP!!! AND KEEP DREAMING.

Nice job Albert…Now that is good hard-nose baseball. That’s the way us athletes play.

Oh his own initiative, Pujols called the Astros clubhouse to apologize before any of this with Backe became an issue. Those of you defending him ask yourselves why he did that if his slide wasn’t bush league and was so defensible. Clueless bunch of homers. And here I thought Cards fans were supposed to be so knowledgeable and classy. So much for consensus, huh.

you know what a dirty play is….. Roger clemens throwing at Mike Piazza’s head many years ago, and then throwing piazza’s bat at him later that same at bat. That was dirty, and a obvious sign of a steriod user. Alberts play happened so fast how can you even call pujols a dirty player. That is unbelievable. If you is anything it is aggressive, when has there ever been a problem with that. People need to get over it now. If our media keeps blowing stuff like this out of the water I bet albert could find another place to play where they will apreciate his agressiveness.

In reading some of these comments, I believe some of you need to get clue or a life or go back and learn about how to play the game of baseball. Albert Pujols is playing the game the way it should be played, hard-nosed. He is not a dirty player. He respects the game. I totally agree with Bernie Miklasz’s column today and glad he wrote it. Right on, Bernie!!!

It is ML baseball, not Little League! It is obvious Backe has never played the game hard.He is just hacked that he and his team COULD NOT get the job done in the World Series.Houston has won how many World Series titles??? Exactly! Backe is a wus,give him some kleenex’s to wipe his nose. Funny thing, but I don’t believe Craig Biggio or Jeff Bagwell would have whined about the play like Backe is. Why? Because they played the game hard and did not cry about things when they did not get it their way. They simply worked harder to accomplish goals and were professionals. Something Backe needs to attempt. Besides who the heck is Brandon Backe??? He will be out of baseball many years before Albert anyway. Go make some excuses someplace else LOSER! AND thanks for waking up the sleeping giant Backe! You did Cardinal Nation a big favor. I am sure that you will be warmly welcomed to Busch Stadium soon.Thanks again!!!

Pujols is a punk….He had the entire plate to slide to….look where he went, he was 2 feet in front of the plate when he slid thru and took Towles legs out.

Albert plays hard.End of story.It is the majors and the rookie made a mistake.Get out of the way if you do not have the ball and if you do, be ready ,because you are going to pay the price.It is MLB. Albert plays hard . END of story.Duncan gave Albert a late sign to slide, the play is behind him and Albert did what was a fundamental play.Those who don’t like the play should maybe watch something with less contact like golf or poker? It is baseball.

I find it hilarious that this is an issue at all. a slide is a slide is a slide. pujols thought he was blocking the plate, so he took him out. after the replay showed he wasnt, he apologized. why are we still talking about this? and those of you who want pujols suspended, or are calling it a dirty play: youre an idiot

“Clueless bunch of homers”….Hey cards_fans_suck, which game were you watching? Pujols took him out for good reason. Nobody here cares nor denies that issue. What IS at issue is was it a dirty play…Answer NO! Even Towles to his credit did not make an issue out of it. I believe he probably feels that it’s part of the game and the style he plays. Good for him. The “clueless bunch of homers” you must be referring to would be the Astros radio team who played it up like it was an assault. Perhaps THOSE guys need to go back to Little League broadcasting until they figure out what baseball is all about.

And Eyeball, watch any footage of baseball games from 70’s on back and you’ll see this play numerous times. It’s obvious you don’t understand what took place there and can do little other than call Pujols a punk. Anybody remember Bob Brenley’s razzing of Ozzie Smith during the ‘87 playoffs? Now that guy was a punk!

I think Albert is probably a little embarassed by the whole incident, though I’m sure he appeciates Backe dragging it on and firing him up a little. To those who like to tell people making negative comments that they never played the game-you didn’t have to play the game very long to have to to make this call. Now I happened to play 12 yrs of baseball and was a top notch baserunner,and frankly, Towles was giving him the plate. There was no reason to take his legs out unless the mission was to agitate-and I think everyone knows(except Backe) that its foolish to fire up the opponent unnecesarily. Yeah Albert is awesome, but let us not have blind faith in our heroes and leaders. We can play Gashouse Gang Baseball without taking cheapshots.

Typical Astros sour grapes. How is Pujols slide any different than when Carlos Lee into LaRue earlier in the game?

They’re just upset that they got beat, again.

It was a cheap play by Albert. He totally went right at Towles and Towles had given him plenty of the plate. La Russa is also an idiot for not seeing it that way.

For my part, I think Backe is a whiny idiot too.

Anyone that says it was dirty is completely wrong. It was a great baseball play.

If they have the ball, the catcher can try to block the plate but at their own risk. The runner still has every right to the baseline and the base itself as long as they can reach it legally. Which Pujols did.

It’s simple. Don’t want to get hit? Don’t block the plate. Or sign up for the softball team.

The wus need to grow a pair.

Anyone that says it was dirty is completely wrong. It was a great baseball play.

If they have the ball, the catcher can try to block the plate but at their own risk. The runner still has every right to the baseline and the base itself as long as they can reach it legally. Which Pujols did.

It\’s simple. Don\’t want to get hit? Don\’t block the plate. Or sign up for the softball team.

The wus needs to grow a pair.

you obviously didnt see the play, because he wasnt even clost to blocking the plate. i agree, if he is in the baseline…mow him down…but Pujols went out of his way to get him.

For the person asking what if it were Molina who got slide into, well it did happen to Molina. I believe in his rookie year, Pirates substitute third baseman gave him a very dirty shoulder and knocked him down extremely hard. He got up and waved off the trainers and gave a smile to the crowd in Pittsburgh. Cards got the toughest catcher in baseball –he’s got brothers that probably played more rough with him than any sissy Houston player! In 2008, if a guy tried to slide into home, he would be out because Ankiel’s throw would be right on target.

Towles needs to move on…so he got knocked down, so what, its baseball. Get up and stop whining! And what is Backe doing getting involved…can’t Towles fight his own fights!

Backe did Cardinals Nation a big favor by foolishly riling Albert up. He’ll know to keep a low profile next time, around Albert and all the other MLB players he happens to hate.

Hey Aztec
I have played this game at a higher level than anyone posting on this site, to think I don’t know what I am talking is absurd. Last time I checked you slid to avoid a tag, not directly into it. If the catcher is inside (which he was) you slide to the outside, that is fundamental baseball.

This may be seen as playing hard by some of you but in no way was it good fundamentals.

Backe disrespecting Albert? Backe’s mouth writing checks his body is unable to cash.

It was a close enough play that the catcher caught the ball while falling down after being taken out of the play by Pujols. The play, being that close, merits the catcher being taken out. The catcher was close enough to the plate to be able to tag out the runner had the ball been there even a half second earlier. It was a clean baseball play. Its not like ARod slapping at the glove of the pitcher to avoid being tagged out by making the pitcher drop the ball.

This is a total non-story.
If you don’t like collisions at home plate, take up cricket.

No big deal! Backe should just play the game. Its over just forget about it and move on. there was nothing wrong with that good, hard slide by Albert.

This is absolutely crazy. The only reason this was ever even news worthy to begin with was because the no name pitcher decided to flap his jaws at Pujols the next night. Had he not done that, it would have made the highlight real on Sportscenter as an awesome slide and that would have been the end of it. But because a heated exchange took place it all of the sudden became the hot topic. It’s baseball. People slide into each other. Get over it. Pujols is a class act but he will always be targeted by the media and fans in other cities regardless of how he plays. Superstars that are super-competitive always are. This is a non-issue and if you think otherwise, I hear the Professional Knitting League is looking for more fans.

My take on the play is that it wasn’t the smartest play in the world for Pujols simply because, by instigating physical contact when he didn’t absolutely have to, he risked injury to himself. He did the catcher a favor by providing him an important lesson on positioning, but he should have let someone else provide the lesson. He had a guy accidently step on his hand the other day - it could have been a lot worse. I am not saying Albert has to play soft or that he ought to be coddled or that he ought to avoid playing the game hard. I am only saying that he need not go out of his way to teach others how to play the game.

The fact that he called the other catcher is exhibit ‘A’ that he was uncomfortable with what he had done. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Albert is the only one that knew what he was thinking and he called the other catcher with an apology.

Want to thank Towles for stopping by and dropping down a comment. Good sport. In fact, an excellent thread has developed here as I navigated from flight to flight to find my home. I find this a little more than a “non-story” because it does speak to how teams choose to play the game, how players choose to play the game … and what that says about both of them.

Always found the Cardinals “sliver-of-the-plate” policy interesting, and I found especially candid when La Russa said Towles was “going to get smoked one of these days” because he didn’t give that sliver of the plate.

Hard slides are part of playing the game hard.

Message slides are also part of playing the game hard.

Stand down, Ty Cobb. I don’t mean like that.

And then we have a cricket reference. Can’t beat a comment thread that spans far enough and digs deep enough to get a cricket reference. Though, it should be noted, while the crowd at a cricket game is the tea-and-scones set the game is hardly a pillow fight. That ball is hard and bowlers will throw it through a batter to get that wicket. Things can get bloody.

dg
-30-

Eyeball,
I doubt you ever gathered enough speed to have to slide - you were either in your home run trot, or your jog back to the dugout after hitting a can of corn.

Willie

It was a perfectly legal slide. He did the right thing. When running the bases on your way to home plate you are suppose to pay attention to the third base coach, once past third, the batter on deck is suppose to give you a signal as to whether you should slide or not. Duncan indicated he should slide. At no point during this stretch is Pujols suppose to be watching where the ball is in the field. That is the responsibility of the base coaches and on-deck hitter. Therefore, when he slides into home he would normally not know how close the play is. So as long as he can reach the plate during his slide, it is perfectly legal to knock over the catcher when you have the belief that the play may be close at the plate. Once Duncan gives the slide signal, Pujols should be allowed to presume that the play will be close. If it is not going to be that close, it is the responsibility of the catcher to get the heck out of the way. That is how baseball was meant to be played.

Hey Eyeball,

With a comment like that - Number 89 on the blog. I seriously doubt if you have played at a higher level than me. I am not talking college either. I mean that sounds like something a bullpen catcher or a bench coach would say. Since when did baseball become a pansy sport..

Fundamentals. Here you go high level. - The game is 90% in your head and 10% fundamentals. You can teach fundamentals, but you can’t teach HEART. Which is what our team finally has this year

Big Daddy!!

So was I only one who seen Houston’s catcher block the plate against Glaus… and Glaus have to take the brunt of that hit… Pujols should have knocked him on his ass for that alone… Anyone remember Lankford… Players should take care of players… bust one of ours and we’ll bust one of yours…

So we seem to think this was a dirty play? Get over it people! If you want to know what a dirty play is ask Fernando Vina and he will tell you how Albert Bell almost killed him up the second base line. Get over it people its apart of the game.

Like was said before anybody who has a problem with this play needs to either watch more baseball or stop watching. To quote Will Ferrell from Talledega Nights ” I like it when he plays like that because he’s a winner and that’s what winners do”.

Who cares so much? It’s baseball. Hard slides happen. Big freaking deal. Don’t like it, don’t play.