It’s still Ut-ter mayhem with
LGETTY OS ANGELES — It was the perfect moment, everyone at Dodger Stadium seemed to think. In the seventh inning of Monday night’s game, the first meeting between the Mets and Dodgers since last season’s emotional NLDS, Hansel Robles was called on to pitch, and the Dodgers countered with Chase Utley.
After seven months, with a large contingent of Mets fans in attendance, the chance for revenge seemingly presented itself. And Robles, who coincidentally served a suspension this year for an incident in which no player was hurt, passed.
Terry Collins was aware that in a four-game series here there would be plenty of chances for the Mets to think about Ruben Tejada, even if the shortstop is no longer a part of the organization.
It was here on this field that Utley, not the most popular player in the Mets clubhouse beforehand, took out Tejada with an aggressive — and some would say malicious — slide. He fractured Tejada’s leg, ending his season and effectively his tenure with the Mets.
Seven months and a bunch of rules changes later, not much is settled in the rule books or on the field. Baseball acted to try and eliminate the hostility during the NLDS. Utley was suspended for the slide, which came after he’d passed second base. But after the dust cleared and emotions were cooled, the suspension was overturned by the league.
Still, nothing was really settled in the Mets clubhouse. And baseball, by overturning Utley’s ban, has put these pitchers in this position of deciding whether to retaliate or not. And nobody can seem to agree on what the correct play should be.
One Met pointed out Monday night that Robles served his two-game suspension for a quickpitch incident in Philadelphia and did not hurt a player.
“If the league wants to be about player safety after this, then how do they uphold Robles’ suspension and overturn Chase’s,” the player asked. “Something isn’t right there.”
A former veteran Mets pitcher said that “back in the day,” Utley