Torre got pitcher’s message too
NEW YORK — Noah Syndergaard owned his purpose pitch on Friday, saying he had intended to throw high and tight to Alcides
Escobar and inviting the Kansas City Royals to charge the mound if they objected.
Joe Torre, who oversees player discipline for the commissioner’s office, said Saturday he was well aware of Syndergaard’s comments.
“My feeling on that is, the game is played on the field and not in the press room,” Torre said. “It’s the World Series. Let’s enjoy the short time we have.”
Torre would not say whether Syndergaard might be subject to suspension, or whether he considered the matter closed. Any suspension now could significantly alter the course of the series, since Syndergaard would be the Mets’ Game 7 starter. On Oct. 1, Mets pitcher Hansel
Robles was suspended three games for “intentionally throwing a pitch in the head area” of an opponent, albeit with warnings already in place. No such warnings were in place Friday or Saturday.
The Royals were particularly upset by Syndergaard’s comments after the game, according to Manager Ned Yost, because Syndergaard told Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez during the game that the pitch was not intended to be up and in. Yost said the Royals would not retaliate by throwing at one of the Mets batters.
“But we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves too,” Yost said.
Mets Manager Terry Collins said he was not concerned by Syndergaard’s comments.
“I don’t muzzle anybody,” Collins said. “You’ve got to be able to back it up. He backed it up.”
Utley remembered
Ruben Tejada was on the field at the World Series on Saturday, albeit with a cane decorated in the colors of the Mets. The Dodgers’ Chase Utley might have broken Tejada’s leg with a slide later deemed illegal, but the Mets shortstop was happy to note that Utley’s team is not the one that advanced to the World Series.
“We’re here and he’s at home,” Tejada said to a group of Mets beat writers.
Utley was suspended two games for the slide, but his appeal hearing has been postponed indefinitely.
Tejada said he accepted the apology Utley extended — via a text message to Mets captain David Wright — but said he had no interest in discussing the matter with Utley.
“He knows what he did,” Tejada said, “and he has to do something to figure out how to play the game the right way.”
Tejada is expected to be ready for spring training. Utley is eligible for free agency and is not expected to return to the Dodgers. If his suspension is upheld — all or in part — he would serve it next season.
Catching up
Paul DePodesta might have been ahead of his time. The Harvard-educated DePodesta was 31 when the Dodgers hired him as general manager in 2004. That is this year’s model for general managers: a 30-something out of the Ivy League.
In DePodesta’s first year, the Dodgers won the National League West, the team’s first postseason berth in eight years. In his second year, the team lost 90 games, for the first time in 13 years.
Former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt fired him in 2006, when DePodesta wanted to hire Collins as manager.
DePodesta, in his 20th year in professional baseball, might now win his first ring — in New York, with Collins.
DePodesta, the Mets’ vice president of player development and amateur scouting, said he has been contacted for about “half a dozen” general manager vacancies since leaving the Dodgers but agreed to an interview only once, then withdrew from consideration.
“It has never been about the title, especially after having it,” DePodesta said Saturday. “At some point, I aspired to that. I got there. Maybe it wasn’t all I expected it to be.
“I took a step back and said I wanted to do what I really enjoy. What I have here has been great. It satisfies what I’m looking for.”
Including a robust frequent-flier account. DePodesta and his family still make their home in San Diego.