After dropping Game 1 of the 2015 National League Division Series to the New York Mets at home, the Los Angeles Dodgers were staring a 2-0 series deficit in the face in Game 2. That was until Chase Utley provided a spark and created quite the controversy with his seventh-inning slide into second base.
Utley prevented then Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada from completing an inning-ending double play, resulting in the tying run scoring on the fielder’s choice. However, Utley’s late slide also broke Tejada’s leg, immediately ending his season.
Utley received a two-game suspension, but appealed and remained eligible to play throughout the NLDS; his lone appearance after the slide was as a pinch hitter in Game 5.
Major League Baseball dropped the suspension prior to the 2016 season, though new rules for slides into second base were implemented.
Monday marked the first meeting between the Dodgers and Mets since the NLDS, which prompted questions as whether New York would seek retribution during the four-game series. “I don’t (expect it),” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
“I think it was last year and is something that obviously happened, but we’ve turned the page on it. It was very unfortunate. It wasn’t the intent Chase had. I don’t expect anything, we’re just trying to win a baseball game.”
Utley wasn’t in Monday’s lineup, but he did enter as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning, and logged two at-bats. He twice grounded out without incident. While the Mets got their first look at the veteran infielder, Utley’s at-bats came late in a two-run game — far from circumstances to fully gauge whether the Mets indeed will pass on taking action.
Roberts was noncommittal when asked if it would prompt the Dodgers to respond. “We’ll approach it if or when the situation happens,” he said. “But again, I don’t see anything happen.”
Along with the months that have passed since Utley’s slide, perhaps also defusing the situation is Tejada now being with the St. Louis Cardinals. The Dodgers begin a three-game series against the Cardinals on Friday.
