10/12/15

The Morning Report 10.12.2015 | Utley Suspended for Slide; Enters John Rocker Territory, Maintaining Composure, Flores is Next Man Up



Seth Berkman New York Times- On Sunday night, Torre said he was suspending Utley, 36, for Games 3 and 4 of the Mets-Dodgers series, stating that Utley was guilty of an illegal slide into Tejada that warranted discipline. “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, which is designed to protect fielders from precisely this type of rolling block that occurs away from the base,” Torre said.

(Chris Soto: Good....he 100% deserves to be suspended...but you know what? I'm glad he's appealing the decision. I want LA manager Don Mattingly put Chase Utley in tonight's starting line-up. Justice will be served tonight, not in the form of a beanball, but in the form of Flushing's Dark Knight Matt Harvey zipping 9 8mph fastballs by him as goes 0 for 4 with a Golden Sombrero. You messed with the wrong team Mr. Utley! You best believe that these flamethrowers are not going to let you come within 90 feet of 1st base again this series.)



Ken Davidoff New York Post- He spent the prime of his career being disliked but respected in New York. If not for Chase Utley’s Phillies, Citi Field might have a different vibe to it, for the suffering wouldn’t have been as severe. And now, just as the Mets prepared to launch a new era of good feelings, their old rival has assumed a far greater place on the enemy scale. Yes, Utley, suddenly finds himself as the most hated man in New York. 

(Chris Soto: Everyone has already talked about "SlideGate" so I'm not going to do that here. We all saw it, we know the result, and the MLB office has stated that it was in fact illegal. This is the kind of situation that can INSPIRE a team, give it's players that extra boost they need to go above and beyong what they are capable of. This Mets team is going to come out tonight motivated to hit, motivated to field every ball, and Harvey is going to be extra motivated to strike out the world. Mr. Utley, Thank You...... because of your "illegal slide", you may have woken up the beast sleeping within this Mets team.)



John Delcos New York Mets Report- There are many, myself included, who believe Terry Collins should be NL manager of the year for all his team had to overcome this summer. However, for as good a job as Collins did, his most important work will come now as he attempts to temper his team’s raw emotions in the wake of Chase Utley’s hard take-out slide that broke Ruben Tejada’s right leg. “Yeah, they’re angry,’’ Collins said. “You lose in a playoff series to that serious of an injury, yeah, they’re not very happy about it. We received a bad break, but the best way to respond is to win.’’

(Chris Soto: Mr. Delcos makes a very legitimate point. As motivated as the Mets are going to be as I stated above....it needs to be a controlled motivation, one that can be channeled through the players bats, not their mouths. This is the biggest stage of the year, so everything is going to be under a microscope. Collins needs to make sure that his team is aware of this and maintains their style of play.)



Ken Davidoff New York Post- He just overcame both back spasms and a case of strep throat that caused him to lose 10 pounds, and now he reassumes the Mets’ starting shortstop job thanks to a teammate’s traumatic injury. In the life of Wilmer Flores? Sounds like just another week at the ballpark. “I’ve been ready since we started the postseason,” Flores said, “So I don’t need to change anything.”

(Chris Soto: It has certainly been a wild ride for Mr. Flores. That said, this isn't just some random replacement for Tejada, Flores is entering a situation that can be extremely favorable for him. The next 2 SPs for the Dodgers are LH Brett Anderson followed by LH Alex Wood. Against LHP, Flores is hitting a monstrous .310 AVG with a .955 OPS. Add that to the fact that in 6 games against the Dodgers already this season....he's batting .524 AVG with a 1.143 OPS. We could be adding another wonderful chapter in the book of Flores over the next few days.)

10 comments:

Mack Ade said...

Morning all.

Sorry I missed all the discussion yesterday.

It still upsets me that you can name six of your top umpires to a playoff game and ask them to do the one thing they are paid to do, and the only one that understands the sliding rule is Joe Torre the next day.

I guess the Mets have to move on and I only hope the suspension of Utley is upheld through the two home games in NYC. I for one don't want to see any retaliation, brawl, etc. over that guy.

Anonymous said...

I don't think Torre "understands" anything, beyond crisis management. Tey are afraid of Utley on the field today, and the black eye it will give baseball in general. It could get very, very ugly tonight. That they stopped at two games tells you all you need to know about why they made this decision. He should be out for the postseason, number one. Moreover, Torre's comments practically pinned a badge of honor on Utley. Disgusted with the umpires, the review process, and Torre's weak response, which had nothing whatsoever to do with doing the "right" thing.

James Preller

Michael S. said...

I don't think there will be a brawl. Winning is what's most important. I think Harvey now uses this to his advantage to keep throwing up and in but not at anyone. The Dodgers are expecting retaliation so keep them afraid but don't strike. Retaliate next year.

bgreg98180 said...

The Mets and Harvey can do both.
They can focus on the win as the main goal and retaliate if and when the opportunity arises.
I would not waste retaliation on Utley however.

Instead I would make my target Gonzalez (as their biggest hitter) or Seager ( ss for ss)

If Harvey is having one of his dominating games, retaliation should not get in the way of a win.

The game has to be about the win though first and foremost on every player's mind.
Even better, domination should be the goal if every Met tonight. From first pitch to last out.

Tom Brennan said...

Utley should have been made to miss as much time as Tejada. Period.

Alexander Han said...

I agree, Tom - although it's hard to implement, when you injure another player through reckless or deliberate play you should serve time until they are better.

The stage is set for Harvey. Tonight is the night you want a pitcher with a Manhattan-sized ego. There's a wounded teammate, an insulted team, a city that is baying for revenge. He can put down a legendary game tonight. I don't particularly like Harvey as a person, but if anyone is the kind of pitcher that will step up for a chance like this, it's him. Just hope he doesn't come out of the gates with too much adrenaline. Look what happened to Noah the other day.

I'm not sure that anger helps bats, in fact it may hurt them. I always think batting is best done relaxed, detached, etc. But who knows. In any case, the Mets got 1 game from the "animals" so still looking good. We might see Kershaw tomorrow but we know we can beat him.

Let's Go Mets

Ernest Dove said...

Other than the first inning I don't really see any other opportunity for Mets to get their 'retaliation'.......they need to win the game.
If they're up 4 runs in the 9th then hey send out Robles to start inning. ............and see what happens ;)

Tom Brennan said...

Time for a Harvey Party, folks

Stubby said...

James is right. Toirre doesn't care about justice, the rules, the integrity of the game or doing what's right. He's just trying to head off something worse. And, Thomas, what good does it do to suspend a guy who hasn't had a lick of talent for at least 5 years? Does it balance the scales? Hell, no. Does it punish the Dodgers? Not a bit. Suspend him longer? His friggin' career was long over already. He is the very, very, very last guy on the Dodger bench, on the posy-season roster to play Designated Goon. We lost our starting shortstop and, oh yeah, the game.

If anything, Torre made it worse. It's like going to court because you were beaten and robbed and the judge finds the person who committed the acts guilty as charged and, as remedy, he lets the mugger keep your stuff and kick you in the balls on the way out of the courtroom (and, oh yeah, two days of community service...but that's subject to appeal). Its total bullshit. As is Torre. Honestly, I think the guy has money on the Dodgers winning. And to make things even worse, he's just totally pissed off the umpires by saying, in essence, they blew it. How many close calls do you think are going our way the rest of this series? And, by issuing a pre-emptive warning, in essence, retaliation equals instant ejection. So now the first field justice (cause we didn't get any from MLB) we try to administer, we're out a there. Harvey just pitches inside, he's gone. Torre set it up to make it even harder for us to win tonight. I think intentionally.

Look, Mr. Torre. You've determined that this was an illegal and dirty play. One of the biggest games on your biggest stage was determined by an illegal and dirty play. Do the right thing, man. You can't return Tejada to full health, I get that. It does no good to suspend a low life no-talent scuzzball like Utley. Even if you banned him for life. He's done anyway. But you CAN return integrity to the outcome of the game by resetting to what should have been and resuming. Dirty, illegal slide? That's a double play, under the rules you were quoting. Side retired. Game to resume in the top of the eighth, Mets leading 2-1.

Unless Torre has the balls to do that, to do the right thing, then he should have stayed out of it. Because, as it is, he just made it worse. He's playing people for stupid and adding insult to injury. He's no better than Utley, in my opinion.

Christopher Soto said...

OF Cory Vaughn has been released by the club.