Larry Brown Sports

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday feels that the current penalties for performance-enhancing drug users are not deterring players from cheating, therefore harsher penalties are needed to help clean up the game.

Holliday appeared on MLB Network Radio’s “Inside Pitch” with Casey Stern and Jim Bowden Wednesday, the day after several top MLB players were implicated in an alleged drug scandal.

“I’d go first time (you get caught) you miss a full season, 162 games you’re out,” Holliday said, via The St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “And then the second time I think you are suspended for a lifetime with the eligibility after two years maybe to apply for reinstatement. That’s what I would do. I feel like that’s pretty harsh but I think that’s what we need. I think we need harsher penalties. I think that would be a good start.”

Holliday said he was surprised that so many players risk getting caught despite the current suspensions in place.

“… I thought (a 50-game suspension) was pretty harsh,” Holliday continued. “I thought that might be enough with 50 and then, I think it was, 100. But it clearly is not enough. There are guys getting caught and there’s a paper trail and all this stuff going on now. It’s clearly not enough to deter guys from trying to find ways around it, trying to find ways to beat the system or whatever they’re doing. So I’m all for making it harder.”

The current penalty for a positive test or proof of PED possession is 50 games for a first-time offense, 100 games for a second, and a lifetime ban for a third.

Holliday used Melky Cabrera as an example of players having a lot to gain from using drugs.

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Matt Holliday went out of his way to wish Marco Scutaro well before the Giants and Cardinals played Game 3 of the NLCS, ending what appeared to be some bad blood over a harsh takeout slide in Game 2.

Holliday slid well beyond second base on Monday in an attempt to take out the Giants second baseman and prevent a double play. Scutaro stayed in the game long enough to get a clutch hit, but he exited with a hip injury.

The Giants were pretty heated about the slide, though Scutaro and manager Bruce Bochy recognized Holliday had no intent to injure. Pitcher Matt Cain indicated before Game 3 that he might throw at Holliday in retaliation, but that never happened. Maybe that’s because the St. Louis left fielder went out of his way to reconcile before the game.

“Play good,” Holliday could be seen telling Scutaro before the game.

Holliday also said “my bad,” in reference to the slide, and gave the Giants second baseman thumbs up.

Scutaro batted second and went 2-for-5 in a 3-1 loss while Holliday went 0-for-4. St. Louis leads the series 2-1. I think we can consider this issue over.

Matt Holliday has become a hot topic of discussion during the NLCS after his take-out slide of Giants shortstop Marco Scutaro in Game 2 on Monday while breaking up a double-play. While he remained in the base path, the slide was certainly very late and began well after Holliday reached the bag. Scutaro suffered a strained hip on the play and is battling a sore right knee, so it is unclear whether or not he’ll be able to play in Game 3.

Though Holliday has apologized and said he in no way intended to hurt Scutaro, there has naturally been speculation that San Francisco will retaliate on Wednesday night. When asked if he will plunk Holliday, Giants starting pitching Matt Cain didn’t exactly give a firm denial.

“You’ve got to go out there and pitch your game,” Cain said according to FOX Sports. “If something gets away from me inside, that’s kind of part of the game. You can’t have a fear of doing that.”

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St. Louis Cardinals left fielder Matt Holliday misplayed a ball in left center during Game 2 of the NLCS on Monday night, leading to an extra run for the Giants.

Giants second baseman Marco Scutaro laced a line drive to the left-center gap with the bases load in the bottom of the fourth. The hit would have scored two runs, but Holliday let the ball go through his legs allowing Angel Pagan to score the third run on the play.

The error by Holliday allowed the Giants to go up 5-1.

Some people considered Holliday’s fielding error to be karma for the left fielder’s hard slide into second base in the first inning that took out Scutaro.

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Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday called into St. Louis radio station KFNS Monday to dispute one of the host’s claim that he’s injury prone.

Holliday missed 38 regular-season games last season and four more during the playoffs. He battled finger, quad and wrist injuries, and also had an appendectomy in April. He even had to leave a game early when a moth flew into his ear.

Prior to the injury-filled season, Holliday played in at least 155 games four of the five previous seasons. That’s why he called into The Press Box to defend his reputation.

Here is the audio where Holliday respectfully challenges the host, leaving him lost for words like Ed Rooney:

I wouldn’t consider Holliday a model of health like, say, Prince Fielder, who has only missed one game the past three years, but calling him injury prone seems inaccurate.

“I think sometimes those things get thrown around a little too loosely based upon maybe their recent memory of me being a little nicked-up the last month of the season,” Holliday said. “But to say I’m injury prone or get hurt all the time, I think is out of line.”

The host admitted he was wrong and apologized for his poor characterization. The ironic part is that the player the host wanted the Cardinals to add, Carlos Beltran, has missed 199 games over the past three regular seasons because of injuries.

Hey, at least we can always count on pundits to do their preparation before speaking, right?

The umpires missed a call during the fourth inning of Game 3 of the World Series Saturday night that led to a big inning for the Cardinals. With Albert Pujols at first, Matt Holliday grounded a ball to short. Elvis Andrus made the putout by flipping to Ian Kinsler at second, who threw to first for the double play. Kinsler’s throw pulled Mike Napoli off the bag, but the first baseman managed to tag Holliday.

One problem: Umpire Ron Kulpa didn’t see the tag and called Holliday safe.

The Cards ended up with a runner on first and one out instead of nobody on and two outs.

The next five batters reached base (one on a throwing error by Napoli), and the Cardinals scored four runs. You can say that the Rangers made plenty of mistakes after the blown call, but it’s extremely difficult to have outs taken away when you’re in the World Series.

As we’ve said many times before, baseball needs instant replay so they can review plays like this to ensure accuracy.

Pic via @Jose3030

We really aren’t trying to beat this weird injury thing into the ground — honestly.  For some reason the theme just keeps coming up.  It’s like an epidemic in the MLB this year that is wiping a solid chunk of the league.  Playoff rosters should expand to 42 players instead of 40 to leave room for the bizarre injury bug.

Although you may not consider the incident Matt Holliday had last night to be an actual injury, it was arguably the strangest thing that’s ever forced a baseball player from a game.  If you thought Rafael Furcal’s tripping incident, Chris Narveson’s scissor mishap, or Chris Davis’ bedtime bruising were strange, get a load of what happened to Holliday during Monday night’s game against the Dodgers.

The Cardinals outfielder had to be removed from the game in the eighth inning after a moth flew into his right ear and became lodged in the canal.  Holliday rushed off the field pulling at his ear and appeared to be in pain.  The creepiest part about the whole thing is the moth was still alive inside his ear. Here is a video of the incident:

The Cardinals trainers brought Holliday into a dark room hoping that the moth would fly toward the light and out of his ear. No, this is not a joke.  When that didn’t work, the trainers used tweezers to reach inside his ear and pull the moth out.  It was still alive.  Naturally, Matt took the insect home for a souvenir.  Your move, Rafael Nadal.