Utley batted. 212 with eight homers and 39 RBIs in 107 games with the Phillies and Dodgers this season.
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If the applicable rule had been applied correctly during Game 2, the Mets would have been awarded a double play, and the inning would have been over, with the Mets up 2-1.
The Dodgers won Game 2 by a 5-2 score, evening the best-of-five series at a game apiece. He didn’t stand up to his agent Scott Boras.
Utley said there was no intent to hurt Tejada: “I was trying to put a body on him to break up the double play”.
But the one play that cemented Utley in the hearts of Philadelphians came in 2006 when he scored from second on a bouncer to the pitcher in a game at Atlanta. “We will be appealing this suspension immediately”.
“I recognize that there has been much commentary and many questions regarding the unfortunate play in last night’s game in which Ruben Tejada was injured”, Major League Baseball Chief Officer Joe Torre said in a statement.
And Torre, after saying he reviewed the play for every conceivable angle, finally did.
Torre said Major League Baseball has been talking with the players’ union this year about potential rules changes to better protect middle infielders.
“They thought that it’s pretty hard to rule that he didn’t touch the bag when he hit the shortstop and nobody was tagged, so they have no other call”, he said, “so they handled it right”.
“Obviously the replay, everybody saw that it was more of a tackle than anything”, Harvey said.
“I think history has kind of shown that he’s kind of been in situations like that before”, said Harvey, who will be pitching a postseason game for the first time. And I think the “neighborhood play” is there to protect players…. “You have to try and break up the double play”. Despite his anger at the play, Randolph says the Mets need to avoid retaliating against Chase Utley and Dodgers. And to be suspended for doing something that is allowed in the rules is a gross overreaction by the league and a blatant caving to public pressure.
Flores also endeared himself to Mets fans when he cried on the field on July 29 thinking he had been traded to the Brewers along with Zack Wheeler for Carlos Gomez.
“If Matt’s not hurting, he needs to pitch as hard as he can for as long as he can”. Torre said second base umpire Chris Guccione ruled it was a legal slide on the field. And, they probably will. But until that happens, suspending Utley for doing something that he was taught to do growing up and throughout his borderline Hall of Fame career is just flat-out wrong.
First David Wright has never been accused of being a dirty player. It’s hard to imagine a rule change for takeout slides into second base, as it is a huge part of the game and has been for 100 years.
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Were getting to the point now where its like, are we going to wear shoulder pads when we play? Presumably, Tejada believed the only way to turn the double play was to follow the leftward momentum, into an improvised pirouette and spin around with a throw. He can’t appeal his fractured leg. He’s gone for a significantly longer period of time and unlike Utley, he can’t do anything about it. The Mets are left without their shortstop because of the reckless actions of a player who hasn’t been held accountable.
