Matt Holliday is a Dirty Birdy and Other Bullets

Remember that time Matt Holliday slide late and high into Starlin Castro in order to “break up a double play”? (Of course you remember – it was during the first BN Blogathon!) It obvious immediately that it was a bush league play, and one that should have drawn some retaliation from the Cubs. Castro could have been seriously hurt.

This was Matt Holliday last night:

Marco Scutaro stayed in the game (before leaving late) and initial x-rays were negative, but is now undergoing tests for his how-can-it-not-be-injured leg and hip. At some point, a player stops being a “hard-nosed baseball player,” and simply becomes a “dirty baseball player.” With that slide, Holliday officially flipped over that line for me.

  • At least the Giants slapped the Cardinals down with a 7-1 win, evening the NLCS at one. Game Three is on Wednesday at 3pm CT.
  • Arizona Phil over at TCR wraps up the stats from this year’s Instructional League, which stats you have to take with the largest grain of salt possible (a grain imbued with the power of both the instructional nature of the games and the tiny, tiny sample sizes at issue).
  • Prepare yourself for two more years of Dusty Baker reminiscing about just how bad it was to be in Chicago when the Reds come to town – he got a two-year extension from the Reds. Good for all of them, I suppose.
  •  Anthony Rizzo gets a great deal of love from all comers in a piece by Patrick Mooney. You can help give him some love by donating to his charity, which will have its first “Walk Off for Cancer” on December 9 in Parkland, Florida. Details here.
  • Paul Sullivan looks at the Cubs’ past (2012 season) and future in center field, and it’s all pretty ugly. Their best option might be to keep David DeJesus in center field to start the year, and try to acquire a heavy-hitting right fielder.
  • Doug Padilla looks at third base in 2012, and it’s even uglier than center field. It doesn’t look to get a ton better in 2013, either, without a pleasant surprise.
  • In the spirit of pimping all things BN, you are hereby reminded that you should check out the Message Board. With the offseason rolling over soon, that’ll be your home for those whacky trade ideas that everyone loves to drop. Also: how to destroy an oncoming asteroid.
  • written by

    Brett Taylor is the Lead Cubs Writer at Bleacher Nation, and you can find him on Twitter at @BleacherNation and on LinkedIn here. Brett is also the founder of Bleacher Nation, which opened up shop in 2008 as an independent blog about the Chicago Cubs. Later growing to incorporate coverage of other Chicago sports, Bleacher Nation is now one of the largest regional sports blogs on the web.

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