The Mets are furious and rightfully so.
Chase Utley’s takeout slide – if you want to call it that and Daniel Murphy sure doesn’t – that broke Ruben Tejada’s leg and opened the door for the Dodger to win Game 2, has angered the Metropolitans in a way which may carry over to the rest of the series.
And on Monday, the Dark Knight himself, Matt Harvey needs to right the wrong for the people of Gotham. It’s now Harvey’s turn to the tables back in the Mets favor.
“We set this up a long time ago as you know coming into the series,” said manager Terry Collins. “Certainly we were hoping to get in, and the postseason was going to be in our plans and we had Matt in Game 3 because I thought it was going to be a pivotal game, which it is now going to be. So I think we have the right guy going. I think he’s handled it great. He’s fired up about it. You know, certainly there are no limits, obviously, outside of we’ll be very cautious of the pitch counts because he really hasn’t thrown a lot of pitches in the last month. But I think we have the right guy on the mound for us on Monday.”
Now, we’re not advocating that Harvey literally become Batman and dish out vigilante justice. No, but it’s up to No. 33 to come out and shut the Dodgers down. No ifs, ands. or buts.
Major League Baseball has a problem here. They know they screwed the Mets. Just look at the grilling MLB’s Executive VP of Baseball Operation Joe Torre received yesterday and he just about admitted it was a dirty play bordering on the lines of illegal.
“t saddens me and I think everybody else that Tejada gets hurt here,” Torre said. “There is no question. The runner, just from my experience, situation, ball hit on the ground, trying to break up a double-play. I’d hate to think that Utley tried to hurt somebody. It certainly was late. That concerns if he me. The lateness of the slide.”
Torre said MLB was looking into possible discipline for the slide, but that is essentially a hollow victory for the Mets. What are they going to do? Suspend Utley? Fine him?
None of that will put the teams back on the field with the Mets leading 2-1 in the seventh. It won’t miraculously heal Tejada’s leg.
That’s why the Mets are furious and rightfully so.
“Only Chase knows what his intent was,” David Wright said to reporters. “There’s a way to play the game hard. In my opinion he wasn’t anywhere near the bag.”
And of course Murphy said: “To call that a slide would be generous.”
Those were some of the printable quotes.
So without MLB and the Dodgers essentially laughing under their breath, the Mets need some of to protect Gotham.
“He’s the ace,” Collins said of Harvey. “This guy loves pressure. He loves the big stage. He’s shown he’s pitched great when he’s had to pitch on the big stage in a big game. You go back two years ago when he was just the rookie, and I mean the games he pitched that season that meant a lot, he stepped up and was outstanding, and we need him to step up and give us another one.”
It’s time for the Dark Knight of Gotham to rise.
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