Dallas Keuchel latest to rip sliding rules after call costs Astros
For the second time this week, baseball’s new sliding rules impacted the final play of a game and perhaps altered its outcome.
On Tuesday, the Tampa Bay Rays benefited when Toronto’s Jose Bautista was called for a violation on the final play of the game, resulting in a Rays win. Bautista’s slide was determined to have interfered with Logan Forsythe while breaking up a double play, leading to an automatic double play being awarded.
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On Friday, the Milwaukee Brewers were awarded a game-ending double play when Houston’s Colby Rasmus’ went the past the base on a slide, resulting in a Brewers 6-4 victory.
It was actually a pretty easy call to make under the new guidelines. Rasmus didn’t attempt to maintain contact with the base, which is a violation. His feet may have come up above the knees as well, which is also a violation. The problem, at least for the players, is that this slide would have been perfectly legal last season. Many of them are struggling to adjust, as to them they’re simply making a good baseball play. And the frustration only mounts on a play like this, where the slide at second base had no impact on the outcome at first.
Several players and managers have been voicing their discontent as they deal with their frustrations and seek a better understanding. And now we can add 2015 AL Cy Young winner Dallas Keuchel to the list.
Though rarely a runner himself, Keuchel obviously feels the sliding rules have gone too far. His frustration is understanable, but this is where the game is. MLB is determined to make the game safer, especially in light of injuries that occurred on similar plays last season. Most notably, Chase Utley broke Ruben Tejada’s leg on this type of play during last year’s NLCS, hence why many are calling it the “Chase Utley Rule.”
Ultimately, this is more about the adjustment period rather than the rule itself. it will take time to digest the rules. It will take more time to adjust to the rules. In the meantime, there’s this awkward transition period that’s inevitably with any rule change. Hopefully we won’t see it this frequently in the ninth inning with a game still in the balance, but that’s bound to happen too.
It was an excruciating call for Houston considering where they were to begin the ninth inning. The Astros entered down by six runs, but rallied to score four and had runners at first and second with one out. That’s when Jose Altuve hit a grounder to the right side of the infield. Colby Rasmus slid into Brewers shortstop Jonathan Villar, and the game became history. Second-base umpire Dan Bellino immediately signaled for a double play, and that was that.
“It was interpreted right, but the rule needs clarification because I think it’s wrong,” Astros manager A.J. Hinch said. “Especially when you’re asking athletes to compete at the highest level as fast as they can in last-minute decisions. It is a joke we lost the game based on that when there wasn’t intent or contact. It was a baseball slide.”
It will be interesting to see MLB gives the new rules a tweak, much like they did on the home-plate collisions, or if they’ll this to the players to figure out. We’re guessing they’ll leave as is for now, but either way, get ready for a season of awkward slide and even more awkward endings.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
