When I write about baseball here, and I've been doing it since the start, it's always meant to be light-hearted, fun, playful, humorous, philosophical, soulful, traditional and loving. That's the way I feel about baseball. Look at Mr Met in the right margin. That corny dude perfectly reflects the way I feel about the sport.

But last night it got serious. What happened at second base in the seventh inning not only changed the outcome, but it made it no longer a game. It took the focus off pitching and hitting and base-running, which is where it should have been, and threw it into a discussion of payback.

The Mets should not have to be in the position they are in. MLB must make the Dodgers pay for what they did. As a Mets fan, I would like, in a perfect world to have the game end at that play, and the Mets go into tomorrow night's game up 2-0. I'll settle for Chase Utley being suspended for the rest of the season. Otherwise you're going to have an ugly game on Monday and Tuesday, and on and on. It won't end with last night's game.

It's all been said elsewhere. That wasn't a slide, it was a tackle. That play is prohibited in football because it's so dangerous, and in football the players wear helmets and shoulder pads to protect their head and neck. It could have actually been much worse than a broken leg. And reality-check -- there are almost never broken bones in baseball. It isn't that kind of sport.

One more thing, to Dodgers fans, if my team pulled a bullshit stunt like that, they wouldn't be my team anymore. Honor is more important than winning. And in the end it is just a sport.

PS: Cross-posted on Facebook without links.