AP Photo

The story goes something like this: Chase Utley was a kid, raw as sashimi, green as wasabi, and he was covering second base on a steal. The runner, his name forgotten to the years, had a pretty good jump, and he slid spikes first. Against just about every second baseman in the National League, he would have had the base easily, and eased into a pop-up slide.

Against this second baseman, he never even reached the bag. He only reached flesh, the flesh belonging to Chase Utley’s leg. A half-second later, Utley’s mitt came down with the ball, and the runner was out, and blood started trickling out of Utley’s leg as he trotted off the field.