Again, Mets massacred by Utley, a familiar foe
Chase Utley tormented the Mets for years as a member of the Phillies, but his ownership of them was taken to another level Saturday night.
After Noah Syndergaard threw behind Utley in the third inning, and was ejected as a result, the Dodgers second baseman answered with a two-home run, five-RBI destruction of the Mets in Los Angeles’s 9-1 victory, ruining the 1986 reunion celebration in front of a sold-out crowd.
“For him to answer the bell and to perform and put us on his shoulders not only speaks to him as a baseball player but his character, and for me, there’s no one better,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “He was unfazed after the dust settled.”
The Mets waited until the sixth game against the Dodgers to attempt retaliation, after Utley’s late and dirty slide in Game 2 of the NLDS fractured the right leg of then-Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada. That led Major League Baseball and the Players Association to change the rule regarding sliding during the offseason. Slides now must start before reaching the base.
But Syndergaard missed with the bean ball, throwing behind Utley. He didn’t seem to mind it. Asked if he thought it was intentional, Utley said: “Possibly, but I understand it.”
When given a chance to answer, Utley didn’t miss. Vociferously booed, he seemed to use the harsh treatment as ammunition.
“I think a loud energizing environment gets the best out of you,” Utley said. “We had a lot of games in Philadelphia in the playoffs and crowds were into it. It kind of gets the adrenaline going a little bit. It makes you kind of dig in deeper.”
Utley struck out in his first at-bat against Syndergaard and fanned against Logan Verrett, Syndergaard’s replacement, in the third. But he made his presence felt the rest of the evening. He cracked a solo home run in the sixth to snap a scoreless tie off Verrett and added a grand slam in the seventh off reliever Hansel Robles, turning Saturday night into his personal highlight film.
In two games in the series, he has eight RBIs. He belted a game-tying, three-run double off Mets closer Jeurys Familia on Friday, before Curtis Granderson hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth.
The 37-year-old Utley is off to a fine start. He’s hitting .296 with a .839 OPS, one of the most consistent hitters in the Dodgers lineup.
But against the Mets this weekend, he has looked like his old self.