Matt Holliday has quickly become Public Enemy No. 1 in the Bay Area.
Holliday slid hard into second base in Game 2 of the NLCS on Monday night, taking out Marco Scutaro while trying to break up a potential double play. The slide was rather late and left Scutaro in pain, forcing the Giants second baseman out of the game with a hip injury in the sixth inning.
The Giants were clearly pumped up by the play, and Scutaro even took matters into his own hands and delivered a big two-run single in the fourth inning before eventually exiting the contest. After the game, some of Scutaro’s teammates admitted that the questionable slide got them a bit riled up, although it wasn’t exactly complete anger toward Holliday.
“I was angry, but not because I thought it was dirty,” outfielder Angel Pagan said. “You get angry when you lose a player like Scutaro. He’s a huge piece of the puzzle. You don’t want to lose a guy like him. I’m praying he’s OK.”
Giant manager Bruce Bochy said he thought the slide was illegal, and he too expressed concern for Scutaro, who Holliday called a “good guy.”
“I’m not a dirty player,” Holliday said after the game. “Like I said, I wish I had started my slide a step earlier. When you’re out there in the heat of the moment, you’re trying to keep your team out of the double play. I play hard and was trying to break up a double play. That’s all it comes down to. I’m trying to break up a double play.”
The Giants eventually won the battle that was Game 2, but the war is still very much developing.
Check out the controversial slide below.
