We'd never fault a player for going all-out in the playoffs, but Matt Holliday might have crossed a line in taking out Marco Scutaro in Monday night's loss to the Giants. Scutaro had to leave the game as a result of Holliday's hard slide, which Giants manager Bruce Bochy called "illegal." You can see video of the slide above -- was it simply a hard play that saved an out, or something more?

Which team will win Game 3 of the Cardinals-Giants NL Championship Series?

•  
  38%
  Cardinals (Kyle Lohse, 16-3, 2.86)
•  
  62%
  Giants (Matt Cain, 16-5, 2.79)

(Total votes: 103,107)

• TheHud18: "Where are the "he should have jumped" or "he was in the wrong position" statements coming from? Have you all not seen the play? Scutaro threw the ball AS his body was hit. He had no time to jump, and - as they teach little leaguers - he kept the bag between himself and the runner on a late throw to second. This one is all on Holiday for a dirty, dirty slide!"
• gpovt: "Don't know that it was intentional or just caught up in the play but that was about a cheap a shot as you can have in baseball."
• MisterDeltoid1955: "If you really watch baseball, you know that that's the way the game is played at the highest level. Neither illegal or dirty."
• psbdo23: "That slide was way late and at least Holiday's intentions were to play the game hard, but he was late. Dirty? Depends on who you root for."
• 2006Cliff: "That was a late slide, not a dirty one. Definition of a dirty slide was when Posey got knocked out of the game last year. Going at someone's head is a lot different than going low on an infielder. Holliday didn't go feet first and try to injure him."

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The New York Daily News reported that Melky Cabrera attempted to avoid his 50-game suspension for a positive testosterone test by organizing a scheme that included a bogus website and a phony supplement product. Should Cabrera suffer a stiffer penalty for trying to dupe Major League Baseball?

• Jhohn160: "Getting caught taking a banned substance is bad enough but adding this on top it? He should be kicked out of MLB for good. They will never eliminate these banned substances until they get serious about the penalties. By not taking additional actions, they will be setting a bad precedent."
• ypahu89: "50 games & loss of pay is not enough to deter players from cheating as Melky has shown no disregard to the rules. MLB should vacate all wins that an illegal player played in. By doing so the player can feel the wrath of his organization, teammates, & fans for ruining their great season. This will in turn become a career killer for any player who cheats the game because no one will want them on their team or organization."
• bwp2bruce: "He did what? lol. He should be fined another 50 games for even attempting that stunt. What a joke."
• odditie: "I felt like his statement apology was a cop out and this just further proves that. He never wanted to face and never regretted the decision to cheat, he only regretted being caught."
• beergoggles45: "They should give him an additional 162 game penalty for the fake website."

Melky Cabrera was having a stellar season, putting up a .906 OPS and trailing only Andrew McCutchen in the NL batting title race with a .346 average. He even managed to win accolades as the 2012 All-Star Game MVP. That's all in the past now, as he has been suspended 50 games for violating Major League Baseball's performance-enhancing drug policy. Cabrera was one of the big reasons for the Giants' success this season -- they sit in a tie atop the NL West with the Dodgers. Will they still make the playoffs without him?

Barry Bonds has no doubt that he's a Hall of Famer, and if you just went by the numbers, there would be no question. Bill James once said of Rickey Henderson that if you split him in two, you would have two Hall of Famers, but with Bonds, it might even work if there were three of him. The only issue is, there's all that other stuff to consider: the allegations of performance-enhancing drug usage and the like. It's affected Mark McGwire's Hall of Fame case, but will it affect Bonds' as well?

The Phillies have begun trading off some of their component parts, sending Hunter Pence to the Giants and Shane Victorino to the Dodgers before the trade deadline. Which outfielder will have a bigger effect on the National League West pennant race?

• dm_schulte: "Love this move by the Dodgers. Gives us a lot of versatility in our lineup. Also liked getting League from the Mariners. Another hard throwing righty to shorten the game."
• mrbez27: "I'm staying in my seat when they introduce Victorino. He needs to make an impact to ease my hatred for him. He was the only player I felt the urge to boo at ballgames."
• RonTuna: "Victorino will ROCK with the winning Dodgers. Pence won't hit squat in huge Giants yard vs. Philly short porches and short right field."
• There is no crying in ESPN: "finally someone to get the Giants over the offensive hump. Pennant anyone?"
• KB358: "Pence has 17 home runs in 400 at bats, which means he averages about 1 home run a week, the Giants need a lot more power than that."



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Does Matt Cain's perfect game belong among the greatest ever pitched? According to Bill James' Game Score method, Cain is tied with Sandy Koufax's perfect game (1965) and Nolan Ryan's seventh no-hitter (1991) for the second-best pitching performances of all-time -- behind Kerry Wood's 20-strikeout game (1998). But many believe Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series trumps them all. How do you rate Cain in the pantheon of great pitching performances?

• KidBlackthorn: "Greatest of all time? Was this during the World Series or the playoffs? Sorry. Despite it's ultimate awesomeness, that places it second automatically. That being said, nothing can be taken away from this perfection. Great game, great pitcher, great guy. Congrats, Mr. Cain! "
• dparks45: "As much as I hate the yankees, Don Larsen gets the nod for this one. Perfect game in the world series. Extremely hard to top that. "
• Patriot5150: "Simple answer.. Yes. Tied koufax's feat but did it against far superior talent. With todays hitters, batting coaches, supplemets, ect. Cain is, was and will be a BEAST. Cy young candidate"
• JWill2847: "That's a hell of a game, but it doesn't touch the 20K's by Wood. In terms of sheer dominance, there has never been a greater performance than Wood's. Including the defensive play made on the 1 hit, only a maximum of 8 balls were put in play! The defense only had to make 8 plays the entire game. Not even 8 throws the entire game. Just 8 plays."
• abermen: "As far as the greatest of the performances listed, Kerry Wood's is my choice. 20 strikeouts, 1 hit allowed, in a high-offense environment, against the NL's highest-scoring team."
• jbhill23: "It turns out that no hitters and perfecto's were thrown in every era, respect the game. Cain was dominant, PERIOD! It's a major league team regardless. If this were against the Cubs who have several/former All-stars would we be mentioning how terrible of a team they were? It's pointless to compare individual perfection...it's perfect, let it be."
• jaythescrub: "When Larsen pitched his perfect game against a slew of future Hall of Famers (Reese, Snider, Robinson), only one batter even got to a 3-ball count. And, oh yeah, it was in the WORLD SERIES! Cain's was impressive but who was it against, when did it happen. Against a terrible team in the first half of the season. "
• IrishFlyer247: "look up Harvey Haddix's 12 inning perfect game performace. he gave up one hit to end the game but had retired 36 straight batters. greatest performance ever"



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The Baseball Project, a collection of musicians united by their love of the game, wrote a song called "Harvey Haddix" that included the lyric, "Now in history/only 17/have thrown a perfect game." That was back in 2008. Were they to sing it today, they'd have to update it to 22, including Matt Cain, who seriously threw the second perfect game of the season on Wednesday night. This is, quite frankly, absurd. Perfect games are supposed to be events that happen once a decade, not once a month. It has gotten to the point that we're yawning at mere one-hitters and barely acknowledging no-nos. What's next -- 27 pitches, 27 groundouts? Or maybe 27 strikeouts on 81 pitches? There are only so many songwriting hours in the day.

What do you make of the relatively large number of perfect games thrown in the past few years?

•  
  24%
  Fluke
•  
  76%
  Sign of some underlying change in the game

(Total votes: 38,365)

Who do you think would be more nervous in attempting to make the final out of a perfect game?

•  
  74%
  An infielder facing a grounder
•  
  26%
  An outfielder facing a fly ball

(Total votes: 40,478)

Which would you rather see in person?

•  
  36%
  A player hitting four home runs in one game
•  
  12%
  A player turning an unassisted triple play
•  
  52%
  A perfect game

(Total votes: 39,521)

Barry Bonds has been in talks with the Giants about the possibility of coming back to work for them. Would you have a problem with this?

• roosley: "Now Barry Bonds wants to showcase his ability to work with other people, apparently he was hiding that during his career"
• Jays 11: "Would be good to see Barry back in baseball. He is one of the best of all time. The history of baseball is full of players pushing the envelope, trying to get an edge. Steroids weren't actually against the rules until 2005. Now its different, but back then it was commonplace. He was the best of his era and deserves a place in the Hall of Fame."
• ksech313: "dont really care for his steroid years, but it is hard to ignore what he did before. he would be a great hitting coach. he had a perfectly balanced swing and had the best plate discipline ever. steroids dont affect those things."
• crackafreeze "Barry Bonds ought to be welcomed back to baseball with open arms!"
• Dawg404040401122: "Barry Bonds and others want new opportunities after acting like idiots most of their playing careers. Good luck."
• texasluva: "In his mind no one ever disliked Barry. "
• thisbodega: "never was a "team player" which should be a prerequisite for being a coach."



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Opening Day -- well, Opening Night, really, and we technically already had one of those in Japan, but who's counting? -- is finally here, as the Cardinals will take on the Marlins tonight in the first stateside regular-season MLB game. It's bound to be an exciting season with so many players having changed teams, but has the power structure been altered significantly?

Vote: Pick each division and pennant, and the winner of the World Series

Rank: Baseball's best teams? | Top players in the game?

Which team is more likely to make it back to the World Series?

•  
  21%
  Cardinals
•  
  79%
  Rangers

(Total votes: 63,581)

Which of these players would you most want on your team?

•  
  6%
  Miguel Cabrera
•  
  17%
  Roy Halladay
•  
  6%
  Felix Hernandez
•  
  39%
  Albert Pujols
•  
  32%
  Justin Verlander

(Total votes: 64,564)

Which of these AL East teams is most likely to miss the playoffs?

•  
  54%
  Red Sox
•  
  15%
  Yankees
•  
  31%
  Rays

(Total votes: 38,308)

Which is the best team in the American League?

•  
  23%
  Yankees
•  
  14%
  Another team
•  
  21%
  Angels
•  
  21%
  Rangers
•  
  21%
  Tigers

(Total votes: 66,943)

Which is the best team in the National League?

•  
  10%
  Marlins
•  
  10%
  Giants
•  
  46%
  Phillies
•  
  8%
  Reds
•  
  26%
  Another team

(Total votes: 63,887)