Sarge Sr. disagrees.

I don't know how Giles has been playing the last 2-3 weeks, but if it's anything like he's played the rest of the year, Ruiz may have done the Padres a favor.

it was a dirty play, ruiz didnt even try to slide he just threw his body at him. at least they called it a double play and it cost the phillys a run.

Reminds me of ARod v. Pedroia, only a bit more obvious.

arod actually slid then, ruiz didnt even try for the bag, but about a foot and a half to the side of it.

That's why it was more obvious. ARod slid first before popping up for his body block. This guy went straight into the WWE routine. I'm surprised he didn't have a chair.

absolutely NO question a dirty play

i don't hear any of the phillies defending ruiz neither

Any video?

I don't know how Giles has been playing the last 2-3 weeks, but if it's anything like he's played the rest of the year, Ruiz may have done the Padres a favor.

Yeah, that's true. It embarrassing enough that he lost the starting job to Geoff Blum.

#8 - The video is at mlb.com

Just saw the video , the announcers kept defending the playing even going as far to call Giles out saying that if you want to dry you should pick a new game.

Just saw the video , the announcers kept defending the playing even going as far to call Giles out saying that if you want to dry you should pick a new game.
Yeah, you could tell those were the Phillies announcers. "I don't see anything wrong with it, he was over the bag, it was just more of a body block than a slide." Freakin' homers.

I saw this in a bar last night, and couldn't believe it. About as dirty a slide as it gets not involving spikes.

you could tell it was a dirty slide because they showed ruiz standing at the dugout all by himself - even his own teammates obviously knew it was dirty

yeh, the philly announcers sound like d-bags. more of a body block???!!!

i'd bet that actual baseball players watching that would all agree it was dirty

That was a horseshyt slide if you ask me. I don't know if ANYONE in baseball would defend that crap. Kinda surprised that I didn't see a Ruiz HBP in that game....

so chad

if a guy on your team pulled this kind of horsestuff, what would the other guys say to him? even if it didn't cost them an out and a run?

Kinda surprised that I didn't see a Ruiz HBP in that game....

I think the umps handled the situation well, and part of that was preventing it. Since tensions came near a boil immediately after the play, the umps warned both dugouts. More importantly, the umps called interference, gave the Padres the DP and took the run off the board, and the Pads escaped the inning unscathed.

I think the Padres felt they came out OK, and Maddux didn't want to escalate things, get thrown out, etc.

It's very rare to assume the double play in that case and call the runner out at first, isn't it? I think that the umps doing that prevented the Padres from feeling they had a big grievance.

It's very rare to assume the double play in that case and call the runner out at first, isn't it? I think that the umps doing that prevented the Padres from feeling they had a big grievance.

It is also rare for a guy to make a tackle on the middle infielder. It was clearly the right call.

agree with khalil and i got no dog in this fight

i need to stop using that expression don't i???!!!

ok here goes
agree with khalil and i am not a person who got a bias for anyone on either team

if a guy on your team pulled this kind of horsestuff, what would the other guys say to him? even if it didn't cost them an out and a run?

I think Ruiz knew he was out of line. I don't think much needed to be said. I wonder if someone came to Ruiz and said to him "I don't want to get hit because of you."

I may have related this story before in BBTF, but in '03 we're in Berkshire, MA (IIRC) and we're up 8-0 or 9-0, out pitcher has a no-hitter or a 1-hitter going and it's late, maybe the 7th or 8th, no chance we lose this one....yadayada.

Our 2nd baseman lays down down a surprise bunt and of course beats it out, cuz NO one is expecting it and it's "against the code."

Our next hitter, our 3rd baseman, and I'll always remember this, he was counting on getting thrown at. You should've seen him take that 0-0 pitch from the other pitcher for a strike down the middle of the plate, because he was bailing out, fully expecting to wear one.

That 3rd baseman was one of my roommates and a seasoned vet, so he said he went up to the 2nd baseman (who, by the way, was also a seasoned vet) and let him know that it wasn't cool to do that crap.

I think the umps handled the situation well, and part of that was preventing it. Since tensions came near a boil immediately after the play, the umps warned both dugouts. More importantly, the umps called interference, gave the Padres the DP and took the run off the board, and the Pads escaped the inning unscathed.

I think the Padres felt they came out OK, and Maddux didn't want to escalate things, get thrown out, etc.

I'm not saying I advocate throwing I people. I detest that culture of retaliation and hated to do it myself (as I've stated many times over on this site). I'm just surprised that it didn't happen, although Maddux is a true pro. I tell you this. I would guess that Ruiz was expecting to wear one and if it would've happened, I would have expected him to take his punishment and go to first without saying a word. A "true" pro knows when he f's up

Reminds me of ARod v. Pedroia, only a bit more obvious.

What was funny about ARod's slide was that he missed. Ruiz at least made contact. ARod missed with the body-block, then threw an elbow at Pedroia as he side-stepped.

Ruiz's slide was directly over the base, so it was just as legal as ARod's in intent. The only difference is (a) Ruiz didn't miss and (b) Ruiz didn't throw an elbow after he missed.

It's very rare to assume the double play in that case and call the runner out at first, isn't it?

No. The bit about "don't assume the double play" is for official scorers and assigning errors, nothing to do with umps as far as I know. This is the standard call whenever the ump feels like the runner interfered with the 2B or SS on a DP. Now generally, the runner has to be truly egregious (miss the bag by a couple feet or so) for the ump to call interference, but you see this a few times a year it seems.

Ten bucks says Clay Hensley gives Ruiz the message tonight. They can lose him for 5 games.

I'm not taking that bet, Luis.

Doug Brocail hit Ruiz w/ one out, no-one on in the 6th. Padres were down 2-1 at the time. I expected Brocail to get tossed, but the Ump (Laz Diaz) just warned both benches. To Ruiz's credit, he kept his head down and walked to first, with Diaz shadowing him down the line.

See? There IS a good purpose for keeping Doug Brocail on your roster!

i think ruiz he got the message

compare his dirty slide to ty wigginton's slide tonight where he took out jack wilson. now THAT was a clean play

Marcus Giles to the dl.

I'm surprised no one has speculated about what [expletive] Maddux used. Since its Maddux, I would be surprised it was anything harsher than "tiddlywink"

oh, and that was a truly dirty play. Ruiz's butt didn't hit the ground until after he'd hit Giles. That's when it stops being a takeout slide and becomes a tiddlywink play

I can't believe the tiddlywink Padres won tonight. I'm convinced now that the Phillies are destined to suck forever, no matter how many good players they have.

By the way, after the game Myers got all friendly with a reporter:

After the game, Myers got into a shouting match with a reporter and had to be restrained by teammate Pat Burrell.

When Myers was asked about the two home runs, he said they were really "just pop ups."

A reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer questioned whether Myers really thought they were pop ups, and Myers got angry.

"You're not even a beat reporter, you're a fill-in, you don't know anything about baseball," said Myers, who then called the reporter "retarded."

The Inquirer reporter asked if Myers could spell retarded, and Myers stood up. Burrell then restrained Myers, and Myers refused to speak any further.

Hilaripus.

The Inquirer reporter asked if Myers could spell retarded

Zing! I used to love using that comeback in fifth grade too!

Since its Maddux, I would be surprised it was anything harsher than "tiddlywink"

Never spent any time in the Greg Maddux School of Reflexive Profanity, have you? Maddux has got a dirty mouth, although it doesn't come through in the media very often. He's portrayed as the mild mannered, glasses wearing, professor of pitching.

Never spent any time in the Greg Maddux School of Reflexive Profanity, have you? Maddux has got a dirty mouth, although it doesn't come through in the media very often.

... and just when I thought I could have started a "tiddlywink" running joke. Thanks for stamping on my mojo, Polonium.

I believe Myers when he says a home run was a popup. It happened in Friday's game too.

Milton Bradley thought he hit a popup, it turned into a homer.

I believe that blogger when he says the Phillies will never get a good free-agent pitcher in this ballpark, too. Of course, a huge number of free-agent pitchers turn into pumpkins, so that may be a blessing in disguise, as long as they can develop their own pitchers from time to time.

Maybe they should do something to change the wind currents in the stadium.

If the Phillies offer a good free agent pitcher more money than anyone else, they will get him at least 90% of the time. End of story.

I thought the home run by Sledge was a pop-up. I also thought a couple of the Phillies pop-ups in the bottom of the ninth were possible home runs because of the previous shots. I'd hate to live in fear of every flyball as a fan.

Never spent any time in the Greg Maddux School of Reflexive Profanity, have you? Maddux has got a dirty mouth, although it doesn't come through in the media very often.

It's been my experience that it comes across in the media every time he misses his location.

If the Phillies offer a good free agent pitcher more money than anyone else, they will get him at least 90% of the time.

I think that's true if the contract is going to be the pitcher's last big payday. But take something like the standard 3- or 4-year contract for a pitcher's age-29 through age-31 seasons. He knows he'll be in the market for another contract when this one expires, and playing for the Phillies is going to screw up his numbers and maybe even make him into a worse pitcher because of having to pitch with the knowledge that any fly ball could break the game open.

In order to get even Adam Eaton they probably vastly outbid other teams. And look, Eaton's numbers have gone from mediocre to horrible. It's going to be even harder to sign pitchers now.

I know this is largely irrational but I would like to see those Phillies announcers be fired or at least suspended for their comments after the collision. What complete and utter jackassery.

Any word on if there's been any follow up articles written about them and their response and whether or not they've retracted any of the?

It appears from recent events that most teams want their announcers to be blinding homers. Announcers who aren't have been shown the door, and newcomers have largely been--quite self-consciously, as though specifically instructed.

The whole thing with Myers plays into my theory--which I still need to think through and do what research I can before I set it down in print--that playing in a hitter's park/small park (like the Rockies, Rangers and now Phillies have) is a serious-to-severe handicap on building a winning team, and that it's easier to do so in a pitcher's park (such as the A's, Mets and Padres have), because the effect the park has on pitchers is severe: The difference in a pitcher's margin for error in the home park is so small that not only does it make it extremely difficult for all but the very best pitchers to succeed in a bandbox, but it also tends to affect pitchers psychologically, for the better (if they're confident they can make a mistake without it turning into a home run) or the worse (if they feel like every pitch has to be perfect). You could call it the Darryl Kile effect; the interesting thing about the Rockies guys is that, after joining Colorado, they sucked almost as badly on the road as at home, indicating either injury or being messed up in the head.

Does that make any sense?

Why did this surprise anyone? Ruiz showed what a dip-#### he was when he tripped Delgado and flipped Wright earlier in the season. Poor Giles. I hope that cheap shot bastard gets his. Soon.

Yeah, saw that game; what a cheap shot by Ruiz. Giles has every right to get up in his face.
And he was just starting to hit and take pitches, you could see he was coming around. I was starting to think I didn't had to see Blum in 2b everyday anymore... #### you Ruiz!