Chase Utley Slides Intentionally Into Ruben Tejada, Suspended For Two Games

A lot of drama has been surrounding the MLB postseason as of late, especially in the NLDS matchup between the New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers. After the Mets shut down the Dodgers in Game 1 on Friday night with a 3-1 victory especially over Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw, Saturday night’s Game 2 brought in uproar that has not been heard by Mets fans in quite sometime.

During the top half of the seventh inning with runners on the corners and the Mets leading 2-1, Dodgers hitter Howie Kendrick hit a grounder to Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy. What happened next is where the drama started when Dodger baserunner Chase Utley came sliding into second base to break up a double play put together by Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada, only to hit Tejada while he was in the air to have him land on his lower leg and not being able to get up. After some dispute between umpires reviewing the play and having Tejada being carted off the field because of the injury, umpires concluded that Utley was safe because of Tejada never touching the bag with the ball in his glove. After this, the Dodgers scored four more runs to eventually the game to tie the series at one game each.

Yesterday, Joe Torre, who is executive vice president of baseball operations, issued a two-game suspension on Utley for what Torre called it an illegal slide. “After thoroughly reviewing the play from all conceivable angles, I have concluded that Mr. Utley’s action warrants discipline,” Torre said in a statement. “While I sincerely believe that Mr. Utley had no intention of injuring Ruben Tejada, and was attempting to help his Club in a critical situation, I believe his slide was in violation of Official Baseball Rule 5.09 (a) (13), which is designed to protect fielders from precisely this type of rolling block that occurs away from the base.”

Utley has appealed his suspension and currently will be eligible to play tonight for Game 3 since his hearing for the appeal will not take place today. Game 3 of the NLDS will be in Citi Field in Flushing tonight at 8:37 p.m. with Mets ace Matt Harvey taking the mound.