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…