When most baseball fans read this article without seeing the game last night, they'll think what Amezaga did was dirty and done on purpose, however, that is completely false. While trying to turn a double play, Amezaga, trying to throw a runner out on first dropped his arm down a bit to a sidearm position and hit Posada in the face when he released the ball. However, what you don't get out of the article, and you'll never know without seeing the actual play, is that Posada was outside of the imaginary base line, he was running full-bore at Amezaga and he had yet to slide, even though he was near the base.

Is it completely Posada's fault? No - the play at first would not have been close, so Posada really couldn't have done much, except hope to cause Amezaga to completely throw it away, which is a good tactic to use. Is it completely Amezaga's fault? No - he did drop down a bit too far when releasing the ball, but almost all shortstops do that as they come across second base as they show the ball to the runner, trying to get him to slide and/or get out of the way. However, Posada did not slide immediately, he continued running for Amezega, and when the ball was released, it bounced off Posada's shoulder and got him on the nose.

At the time, it was a close game and Posada was just doing his job trying to take out Amezega and Amezega was just doing his job trying to complete the relay - however, with the way the game ended (11-2 Angels win), one can only think that both Posada and Amezega would have played that one differently if given a second chance.

Oh yeah, congrats to the Dodgers, now tied statistically with the Angles for best record in the majors.

URL: ESPN.com - MLB - Posada's nose broken