Red Right 88

The Cleveland Indians placed Matt LaPorta on the disabled list after the first baseman injured his ankle during a rundown between second and third base on Friday night against Pittsburgh.

“He will be out two to three weeks with a mild high ankle sprain,” manager Manny Acta said of LaPorta, who is hitting .242 with eight homers and 32 RBIs in 59 games.

Clearly, the rundown is an inherently dangerous play and must be immediately outlawed.

That’s the new protocol, right? At least that’s what happened when San Francisco catcher Buster Posey was hurt in a play at the plate last month. His agent and Giants general manager Brian Sabean both cried about the injury and how the rules should be changed.

Thankfully the Indians are move level-headed about such things.

Of course, this could have all been avoided if LaPorta, who doesn’t seem to have good baseball instincts, would have not tried to go to third on a groundball to the short stop.

“It is safe to say I didn’t want him to go to third base whether or not he was getting injured,” Acta said in published reports.

(Photo by The Associated Press)