The New York Mets may have just become ‘America’s Team’ for this postseason. In a crushing game 2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers, decided by an incredibly controversial play, the Mets find themselves heading home tied 1-1 in their division series.
But the real story is much deeper than that.
Mets Loss Brutal in More Ways than One
With one out, and runners on 1st and 3rd, Bartolo Colon came in to face Howie Kendrick in a crucial spot during the 7th inning. Kendrick laced a line drive up the middle that bounced in front of Daniel Murphy who in turn flipped the ball to Ruben Tejada. That’s where things got ugly. After initially appearing to tag the bag, Tejada spun off and began to attempt a throw to first. The play would go no further.
Chase Utley slid directly into Tejada’s planted leg as he was attempting his throw to first. Utley was not really even close to the second base bag as the slide appeared to be a clear take-out attempt. Many will argue in fact that Utley’s ‘slide’ was really not even a slide and more of a tackle. I’ll leave that debate to the viewers.
But regardless of your opinion on the quality and intent of Utley’s slide into Tejada, one thing is clear: the MLB messed up last night, and in a major way.
After reviewing the play and determining that Tejada’s foot never touched the second base bag, Utley was ruled safe, in spite of the fact that he himself never touched the base either (and clearly had no intent to for that matter). By rule, that was the correct decision, but as many fans, players, and experts pointed out during and after the game, shouldn’t the play have been deemed a ‘neighborhood rule’ play?
For those unfamiliar with the neighborhood rule, it is essentially a rule designed to protect the receiver of the ball at second base, in this case Tejada. The rule states that in order to avoid a dangerous take-out slide, the ball receiver does not have to actually touch the bag, but must be close or at least have made it appear as if they did. By all means, Tejada did indeed make it appear as though he made contact with the base. Neighborhood plays are by rule not reviewable meaning that Utley would’ve been out at second at the very least.
Unfortunately, the neighborhood rule is a bit of a grey area, and over the years has caused a great deal of confusion with umpires and players alike. On Saturday night it was clear that the umpires did not believe the neighborhood rule was applicable here as the MLB stated the throw drew Tejada off the bag, not his own effort to avoid the impending Utley collision. Again, I’ll allow you to take a look at the video to determine for yourself if you think Murphy’s flip forced Tejada to miss the bag.
But once again, regardless of your opinion over the decision not to use the neighborhood rule, that still leaves one key aspect of this play out that is not debatable in any sense.
Without sounding like to much of a rulebook nerd, Rule 7.09(e) in regards to interference on the base paths states:
“If, in the judgment of the umpire, a base runner willfully and deliberately interferes with a batted ball or a fielder in the act of fielding a batted ball with the obvious intent to break up a double play, the ball is dead. The umpire shall call the runner out for interference and also call out the batter-runner because of the action of his teammate. In no event may bases be run or runs scored because of such action by a runner.”
That doesn’t seem to leave much grey area does it? In accordance with this rule, both Utley and Kendrick should’ve been out and the run scored by Kike Hernandez would’ve been rendered mute.
It is difficult to argue that Utley did not “willfully and deliberately” interfere with Tejada on the play. Considering how far away from the base he was, and the simple fact that he didn’t touch the base at all, his intent to go straight for Tejada instead of the bag would seem to fall under that “willful” and “deliberate” category.
None of this even addresses the fact that Ruben Tejada will miss the remainder of the playoffs and will very possibly not be ready by the start of next season with a fractured Fibula. The injury in and of itself is a tragedy, but even if he hadn’t been hurt on the play, the decision by the umpires to not enforce a rather simple rule on this play has cost the Mets a critical game and put life back into the Dodgers’ season.
While the series will continue Monday night in New York, all tied up at one game apiece, Mets fans have every right to be upset with the outcome of game 2. Chase Utley broke a whole lot more than just a rule.
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