OAK@KC: Hard slide injures Escobar, benches clear

4/17/15: Brett Lawrie slides hard into second, injuring Alcides Escobar's left knee and emptying the benches on a play that is reviewed


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Join the conversation!

[michaelhorvat]

the irony in that slide is if Lawrie slid for the base instead of the leg, he would have been safe.

[samherb]

I'm an A's fan and I thought that slide was BS.

[joshsutton]

For all of you saying it was a clean slide pause around 0:42. His foot is not going to the base, he slid late, and his leg is higher than it should be for a normal slide

[themushybrain]

He probably didn't mean to hurt him badly but it was clearly purposeful. He slid for Escobar's leg, not the base. Look at 0:43.

[loganharter]

No way they were gonna turn a double play. Dirty slide.

[kimkunkle]

I am an Oakland A's fan and proud of it; however, I am NOT a fan of players who intentionally injure opposing players and I don't care what uniform they are wearing. Not being blessed with the ability to read minds, I have no idea what Lawrie was thinking on this play but if he was deliberately trying to injure Escobar I say shame on him. I would really love to ask the Royals broadcasters if they would still be calling this a "borderline dirty slide" if a Royals runner had injured an Oakland infielder on the exact same play. I would be willing to bet that the answer would be no.

[NWAWskeptic]

0:41 definitely trying to spike Escobar's leg that is on the side of the base. If you made a baseball movie and wanted a dirty "sweep the leg" moment from the "bad guy" team, it would look just like that.

[ahtartersauce]

Dirty play all around even by today's standards: 1) Does not hit the ground until AT the base. 2) No "bona-fide" attempt at the base. Both arms AWAY from the base and the cleat is HIGH aiming right at Escobar's SHIN. And 3) unless the player is positioned behind the base, there's no reason to go over it THAT FAR.

Proof: Just freeze it at 0:43 and tell me how ANYTHING in that slide in that moment is legal.

[Roman]

I like hard slides, but you don't go in spikes high. My father was a big leaguer and 2 things he made sure to impart on me as a kid. If you throw at someone you keep it below the shoulders, and if you slide to break up a play you keep the spikes down.

[DMalltheway]

Billy Beane really had immediate remorse trading away Donaldson to get a cancer of Lawrie.

[jmoneymaker]

the difference between lawrie's slide and utley's slide is that lawrie at least was aiming on the base while utley completely missed the base.

[hondadude]

kc is such a clean team that takes a lot of shit on the chin ... when they finally do decide to take a stand all of a sudden ventura is dirty or wtf-ever they want to call him or the team ... don't fuck with us and there won't be a problem

[jacobbeltz]

lets go royals dont hurt my favorite team in the mlb players

[ryandavis]

Clean slide? No. Coming from a fan of Brett, he knew it was a bad slide. If you can't tell, this is a heat of the moment slide and knew he did wrong. He stayed next to Escobar and obviously showed remorse.

[AlexJames]

that must've been so awkward for billy lol

[generalnutcase]

I'll admit right off the bat that I'm a Royals fan, but the reason why I think it was a dirty play, or at least a dumb play by Lawrie, is that he slide to break up a double play that was never gonna happen in the first place, they were lucky just to get the out at 2nd, and that only happened because Lawrie over slid the base. The reason it looks dirty is because it appears his spikes are up and went into Escobar's leg/knee. It's obvious from the replay that Lawrie would of been safe just sliding to 2nd, and not thru 2nd into Escobar. Lawrie may not of had bad intentions, but I would argue that it was poor "situational running", if you will, since the ball bounced off the pitchers foot slowing it down a little, bounced a couple times before even being fielded by Moustakas. The ball was slowed enough that, at best, all the Royals were gonna get one out on the play, and if Lawrie simply stops at second, he's safe, no outs recorded, and the A's would of had runners on 1st and 2nd, with no outs in the inning, with the game tied.

[whoyou]

And this is why Brett Lawrie is not the most hated person in Kansas City, but the second most hated person in KC. The first? Madison Bumgarner.

[keith]

I swear the roylas thing there hot shit just because there in first place, i mean they have gotten into a ton of fights this year

[redbirdsndbase]

as much as i hate the royals, that slide was definitely targeted

[omNom]

"He wasn't trying to hurt anyone. He was just trying to be safe."
Do me a favor, everyone who thinks this. Go ahead and pause the video or take a screenshot anytime between 1:26-1:27. For those who don't know (and Brett Lawrie seems to be one of these people), a runner is safe when he is touching the base. Not the opposing team's player.

How about at 0:42-0:44? With a slide like that, does he even look like he has a prayer at staying on the bag? Of course not. Honestly, look at his eyes right before he hits Escobar. He's not even looking at the bag. He's assuming he's going to be out, so why not take out Escobar with him?

As for the "body language"? Please. Lawrie knew what he was doing, and although he may not have intended to "injure" Escobar, he knew his only hope at being safe was to, at the very least, make contact and knock him over. Upon realizing that he injured Escobar more seriously than he meant to, his natural reaction was to feign ignorance, so that he could later play the "I was just doing my job" card and pull the sympathy from all non-KC fans. 

So yes. People are clearly gunning for us. Trying to deny this fact just makes you look ignorant. If you don't like our "small-ball" tactics, then get better. Find ways around it. Don't target our players just because you're pissed that we are better than you. There are ways to win baseball games without physically injuring other players.

This whole fiasco can be summed up by a single phrase, coined by the great James Franco: "They hate us, cause they ain't us."