Who should be suspended after Utley Butt Gate?

[Guest Mets Guy in Michigan]

There's a chance that some discipline will be handed down in wake of Thor's attempt to injure the backstop on Saturday.

Joe Torre's got nothing but Jeter-loving Yankee blood surging surging through his veins at this point, so who knows what he'll do.

But here are some candidates was for suspension:

Noah Syndergaard: Took Crash Davis' advice and hit the bull. Clearly he wasn't aiming at Utley, or he would have hit Utley. Syndergaard can mount a Shawn Estes defense. Estes missed Roger Clemens' butt by a foot and remained in the game. Hit a homer, too, I think.

Chase Utley: Utley broke Tejada's leg, keeping the now-designated for assignment Ruben out of what might be his only chance to play in a World Series, and still hasn't served any time. Heck, his actions sparked a whole new rule. How is this guy not a Yankee?

Terry Collins: Knowing that Syndergaard tried to break the backstop in the World Series -- and remained in the game, I noticed -- TC should have told Thor to go easy on the message pitches. But given TC's bullpen management the night before, sending Terry to the showers might have helped the team. Heck, Davey was in the house. He should have been allowed to finish managing that game.

Umpire Adam Hamari: Trigger-happy punk umpire forgot that a warning generally comes before an ejection. Then again, usually a pitch has to come within a foot of a player to be warrant a warning or ejection.

[Gwreck]

In all seriousness, I think Terry could possibly get a game as he may have made too much physical contact with the umpires there.

It was actually kind of funny, in that Terry absolutely was going to get himself thrown out, but the umpires had to let him go on quite a while as it so obvious that they had screwed up.

[MFS62]

The ump should be suspended.
Utley should be disemboweled.

Later

[RealityChuck]

Syndergaard also said at first that his first pitch in the World Series got away from him. I don't believe his story.

I don't like Utley, but the umpire made the right call. It's not that Syndergaard is known for his lack of control

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I gotta be honest here. What Utley did last year was shifty but pretty much what ballplayers have been doing for 150 years. Tejada got hurt because Muffy gave him a terrible throw and Tejada made a poor decision to turn his back on an oncoming runner, especially a known scumbag like Utley. The Mets' revenge ought to have been complete when they beat those dirty fucks in the NLCS fair and square.

Syndy's macho revenge act came with risks. What if he really hurt him? What if the umpire was also a dick? He badly overreacted but nobody believed anything slipped.

It was terrible because it effed up the whole rotation and bullpen, and it had the added benefit of allowing Buttley to dig in as he liked 3 more times. Basically we did him a huge favor.

At that point I'd have brought a guy like Eric Campbell in to pitch expressly to drill Utley and take the suspension!

In the end Syndergaard gets no further punishment than he made for himself and Hamari earns a lifetime of boos at CF. Utley'so legend as a "baseball player" only grows.

[Edgy MD]

That's pretty close to where I'm at.

Syndergaard is getting way too close to Harvey territory for my comfort. Why are you trying to prove something? Just pitch and let your legend assemble itself.

I really don't want to read about the Mets "showing balls" on the Internet one more time. I tuned in for a baseball game, not gay porn.

[Zvon]

Gimme a couple of days to calm down. Okay, hours. I'm still verklempt.

[Zvon]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: At that point I'd have brought a guy like Eric Campbell in to pitch expressly to drill Utley and take the suspension!

lmao, I would have oh so loved if they did this.

[batmagadanleadoff]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I gotta be honest here. What Utley did last year was shifty but pretty much what ballplayers have been doing for 150 years. Tejada got hurt because Muffy gave him a terrible throw and Tejada made a poor decision to turn his back on an oncoming runner, especially a known scumbag like Utley.

This is exactly, exactly what I've been saying since like 10 minutes after the play happened. Only with a heck of a lot of resistance to follow.


Preach on.

I also agree with you about Synd's actions. In hindsight, especially with hindsight, it was a stupid, stupid thing to do. What the hell did he think he would accomplish by throwing the ball six feet behind Utley where the pitch was likelier to strike someone in the Mets dugout instead of Utley? Even without the ejections, all that pitch does is to let the Dodgers know that the incident is now over without them having to fear any meaningful retaliation.

[Zvon]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I gotta be honest here. What Utley did last year was shifty but pretty much what ballplayers have been doing for 150 years. Tejada got hurt because Muffy gave him a terrible throw and Tejada made a poor decision to turn his back on an oncoming runner, especially a known scumbag like Utley. This is exactly, exactly what I've been saying since like 10 minutes after the play happened. Only with a heck of a lot of resistance to follow. Preach on. I also agree with you about Synd's actions. In hindsight, especially with hindsight, it was a stupid, stupid thing to do. What the hell did he think he would accomplish by throwing the ball six feet behind Utley where the pitch was likelier to strike someone in the Mets dugout instead of Utley? Even without the ejections, all that pitch does is to let the Dodgers know that the incident is now over without them having to fear any meaningful retaliation.

If I was Noah and looked into trying to come up with a way to throw at Utley, I would have arrived at the same conclusion. Actually, I may have thought "chin music" and that kind of brush back is 10 times more dangerous than what he actually did.

So he figured the best chance he had of giving Utley a message (& not get tossed) was to just let him hear one go by. Don't have to be close at 99. He'll hear that whistle blow. And it would instill fear in, yes, even in my mighty personal nemesis, Chase Ugley. < spl chek knows

[Zvon]

Going by the rules of the game, with an experienced umpire, this never would have been an issue.

Okay, I'm ready to vote. Where's that thread? Oh, this is it...

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Zvon wrote: Going by the rules of the game, with an experienced umpire, this never would have been an issue.

This.

Syndergaard made a dumb decision. It wasn't a dangerous one. He was a vandal punished as if he had committed aggravated assault. So, yeah, blah blah blah... maybe he was just trying to rattle a guy who looked WAY too confortable the night before, against their closer. (Think Escobar.) Either way, in about three different ways, Blue's decision was crap.

[Fman99]

Edgy MD wrote: That's pretty close to where I'm at. Syndergaard is getting way too close to Harvey territory for my comfort. Why are you trying to prove something? Just pitch and let your legend assemble itself. I really don't want to read about the Mets "showing balls" on the Internet one more time. I tuned in for a baseball game, not gay porn.

Wow, this took a turn.

Adam Hamari should be launched out of a cannon. Into a pizza oven.

[Zvon]

Fman99 wrote: Edgy MD wrote: That's pretty close to where I'm at. Syndergaard is getting way too close to Harvey territory for my comfort. Why are you trying to prove something? Just pitch and let your legend assemble itself. I really don't want to read about the Mets "showing balls" on the Internet one more time. I tuned in for a baseball game, not gay porn. Wow, this took a turn. Adam Hamari should be launched out of a cannon. Into a pizza oven.

A red hot pizza oven. Then that oven should be buried for no more than a 24 hour period, then dug up, and re-launched, finally, to the moon.

[Ceetar]

I was glad the Mets hadn't hit Utley. That was good. don't hit human beings with 90mph baseballs and don't give your enemies free bases. I'd only be slightly peeved if they'd ejected Syndergaard had he hit him. But not only did he not hit him, it was like the 6th AB since last year that Syndergaard had faced Utley. Nevermind the other dozen AB against Mets pitchers. There was no reason to assume intent there.

And you can't auto-eject pitchers like that. Utley is the ACTIVE LEADER in HBP. So what, Utley can basically break everyones' legs and show-boat all he likes, and it's just going to get his OBP up and other teams pitchers ejected for no reason?

[Vic Sage]

i agree with Darling.

Syndy did absolutely nothing wrong with a pitch that basically said "I have pretty damn good control, but i'm gonna through this 3 feet behind you just to show i could have thrown at you, and i SHOULD throw at you, but i won't, so lets all move on now". But the asshat ump overreacted and what should have been a warning got our starter tossed. So now resentments continue to build and i won't be surprised if there is an Utley-related brawl at some point, thanks to this ump's stupid and unnecessary intervention which has INCREASED the possibility of injury, rather than letting the situation be resolved by the players on the field.

[Guest cooby]

Vic Sage wrote: i agree with Darling. Syndy did absolutely nothing wrong with a pitch that basically said "I have pretty damn good control, but i'm gonna through this 3 feet behind you just to show i could have thrown at you, and i SHOULD throw at you, but i won't, so lets all move on now". But the asshat ump overreacted and what should have been a warning got our starter tossed. So now resentments continue to build and i won't be surprised if there is an Utley-related brawl at some point, thanks to this ump's stupid and unnecessary intervention which has INCREASED the possibility of injury, rather than letting the situation be resolved by the players on the field.

Yep. I think a brawl is brewing too. When is the next series with the Dodgers? (I've gotta print out a schedule...)

[TransMonk]

cooby wrote: Yep. I think a brawl is brewing too. When is the next series with the Dodgers? (I've gotta print out a schedule...)

The Mets are done with LA during the regular season this year. I don't know that they would brawl if they were to meet in the postseason.

That means this would likely spill into next season if further action by the Mets were going to be taken. Utley is 37 and is on a one-year deal with the Dodgers for 2016. I'm not sure what the odds are that Utley is even a Dodger next season...50/50 at best?

[batmagadanleadoff]

TransMonk wrote: Utley is 37 and is on a one-year deal with the Dodgers for 2016. I'm not sure what the odds are that Utley is even a Dodger next season...50/50 at best?

If I ran the Dodgers, I'd, at the very least, give Utley two five-day contracts next season so that he can play the Mets. If I was Utley's agent, I'd try and get him revolving three, four or five day contracts with whoever happens to be playing the Mets at the time. If I could pull that off, Utley'd finish the season with 85 HR's and a record setting batting average. And the Mets would have no chance of finishing above .500.

[Frayed Knot]

Utley's lifetime numbers against the Mets aren't all that far off from his overall career norms: more power vs NYM but the BA & OBA about the same [.282/.376/.528 vs .281/.365/.477]
Put another way, 15% of his HRs and about 12% of his doubles came against the Mets in 11% of his PAs

[batmagadanleadoff]

Frayed Knot wrote: Utley's lifetime numbers against the Mets aren't all that far off from his overall career norms: more power vs NYM but the BA & OBA about the same [.282/.376/.528 vs .281/.365/.477] Put another way, 15% of his HRs and about 12% of his doubles came against the Mets in 11% of his PAs

Who the hell asked you to mess up my little joke with facts?

[Frayed Knot]

It's what I do.

[nymr83]

Vic Sage wrote: i agree with Darling. Syndy did absolutely nothing wrong with a pitch that basically said "I have pretty damn good control, but i'm gonna through this 3 feet behind you just to show i could have thrown at you, and i SHOULD throw at you, but i won't, so lets all move on now". But the asshat ump overreacted and what should have been a warning got our starter tossed. So now resentments continue to build and i won't be surprised if there is an Utley-related brawl at some point, thanks to this ump's stupid and unnecessary intervention which has INCREASED the possibility of injury, rather than letting the situation be resolved by the players on the field.

Exactly.