The latest Utley-Tejada collision may finally be the impetus. The play proved pivotal in the game.
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Of course, by the same token, because he was ruled out, the Mets had no reason to try to retrieve the ball and step on the base, which they could easily have done because Utley slid so far past it. In fact, he didn’t even start his rolling slide until he was even with the bag. Well, it also saved the Los Angeles Dodgers’ season and left the New York Mets without their starting shortstop for whatever remains of their postseason run. It was later found out that Tejada suffered a broken fight fibula. It cost us potentially this game. And we don’t have anything to show for it. That’s not the issue. He hit the ground first. The question is at what point is that illegal? Brett Anderson gets the ball, and he’s 10-9 with a 3.69 ERA and 116 strikeouts this season.
Mets manager Terry Collins said it was over and done with, but when asked about how his team felt, replied: “Yeah, they’re angry”.
However, Utley slid hard into second base, upending Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada and preventing him from making a throw to first.
Joe Torre, the MLB’s chief baseball officer, was at the game and said he would review the incident.
Video of the Ruben Tejada injury is causing a fierce debate online, and now you can judge for yourself – was Chase Utley’s slide dirty? As it was, the Dodgers tied the game on the play and then went on to break the game open before the Mets escaped the inning.
“I feel like it was a must-win game”, Wood said Saturday.
“There was no intent to injure Ruben whatsoever”, Utley said. He’s not intentionally trying to hurt anyone. That concerns me. The lateness of the slide.
“From my assessment of it, you know, I look at it as a baseball play”, the manager said. I think it was a little late. “Being a 2nd base man he needed to think how to break the DP not his leg”, said Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez. “You’re correcting the umpire’s mistake”. His legs were directed in the opposite direction of the base, straight at Tejada, who was a few feet away from the bag by the time of impact. The Mets were angered during a takeout slide by Utley when he played for Philadelphia against them in September 2010. “In that situation, going to replay and they see the runner never touched the base, but the umpire called him out, by replay rules we can correct the situation and put the runner on the bag”. Just play the game the way he knows how. It’s within the rules.
“He was unbelievable right from the get-go”, Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud said.
This certainly isn’t the first time a play of this nature has taken place, especially in the playoffs when stakes are much higher. He last pitched October. 1, and he was not particularly sharp in his last three starts, yielding 13 earned runs and 24 hits in 16 1/3 innings. He did not allow any walks and struck out eight. Yoenis Cespedes and Michael Conforto both hit solo home runs. He got on in the fourth inning with a double and Andre Ethier followed with another double, scoring Turner. In the bottom of the 7th inning, with the Dodgers trailing 2-1 but the tying run at third, Howie Kendrick hit a soft line-drive up the middle. He struck out nine and walked four. Yet even though they cut the Mets’ lead in half, Syndergaard still seemed to be in control for the next two innings. “That’s all I know”.
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Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Chase Utley has been suspended by Major League Baseball for two games following a controversial play in Game Two of the NLDS.
