Posey on painful slide: ‘Feet first the rest of the year'

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MIAMI -- For most of a five-hour, 34-minute marathon at Marlins Park, this looked like the night we would point to if Buster Posey wins a Gold Glove Award (as he should) this November. Posey threw Dee Gordon out in a huge spot in the ninth and he nearly had him in the second. Gordon took off on a bounced pitch and Posey whipped a perfect throw around Christian Yelich. A review overturned the call, but it was still a remarkable throw. 

And then the slide happened.

"I went from making the coolest play of my career at the beginning of the game to the worst," Posey said. "I always say this game will humble you."

The slide left Posey with a raspberry on his chin and a jammed right index finger. Moments after it happened, it appeared Posey told third-base coach Roberto Kelly that the finger might be broken, but it loosened up throughout the rest of the game. Posey stayed in and took an awkward, half-swing in his next at-bat, grounding out. He looked more like himself in the 14th as he drew a walk.

"Once I started moving around it felt better," he said. "I made an effort after that (groundout) to keep the hand moving."

The Giants were able to laugh about the moment because they won the game in the 14th. Posey's slide was shown over and over again on MLB Network, which was on all the clubhouse TVs. Brandon Crawford didn't mind some attention being taken off his seven hits. 

"I'm OK with it," he said. "It was pretty funny,"

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As Johnny Cueto addressed reporters, the slide was shown again. Cueto didn't need an interpreter. 

"Oh my god," he said in English, laughing. "Sorry for that, Posey."

Posey didn't mind the laughter. "Rightfully so," he said of the jokes. He had a good night even with that slide, and he enjoyed talking about a throw that was pure instinct and arm talent. When Gordon was initially called out, Posey looked toward the bench, raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"It'll probably never happen again, and I sure hope that slide never happens again," Posey said. "Feet first the rest of the year."

Posey knew he had to wear this one, but he did shift some blame on the throw that didn't turn into an out. 

"I blame Crawford, it was a bad tag," he joked. "I told him it was a bad tag. He said, 'Throw harder.'"

--- The game story goes into Crawford's huge night at the plate. The previous San Francisco Giants record was six, held by Jesus Alou (1964) and Mike Benjamin (1995).

--- Ron Wotus indicated that Cueto might have had some sort of travel issue that caused him to arrive late Monday and have a long day of some sort. Cueto denied that anything strange happened. This is probably one for Bruce Bochy, who is expected back tomorrow. Bochy will address his health, too. 

--- If you missed it, here's my recap of July. Look, it was a bad month. You know it, I know it. But there's a hell of a Brandon Crawford play tucked in there if you take the time.

--- You can't get to everything on a night like this, especially when guys are rushing to a 1:25 a.m. bus. But the bullpen was excellent. Derek Law and Hunter Strickland made Giancarlo Stanton look silly in consecutive at-bats. 

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