I found the blog post that the .gif KC Connection posted was from - here's a quote from Billy Martin in there:
Quote:
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"Two guys tried that on me when I first came up," said Randolph's manager, Billy Martin, after the game. "I hit the first guy in the mouth with the ball, and I hit the second guy in the face with the ball and broke his nose and his glasses. But my second baseman is a gentleman. I didn't play as a gentleman all the time."
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That's. What. You. Do.
Sure, Holliday slid late - that's why the 2b puts your ass on the ground. It's easier to do from SS, but the 2B can do that drop-down as well and it gets the baserunner's attention really quickly.
To me it's kinda like a batter that dives over the plate every AB and finally gets hit in the head with a fastball. Sure, the pitcher shouldn't have come that far up and in, but if the batter wasn't diving into the plate, he wouldn't have gotten hit either.
Sometimes guys need to take responsibility for failing to protect themselves and this is absolutely one of those times. Next time Scutaro will do a better job.