On Oct. 10, Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Chase Utley was suspended for games three and four of the National League Division Series (NLDS) in Major League Baseball (MLB) for his controversial slide that resulted in a collision with New York Mets shortstop, Ruben Tejada.
Tejada fractured his right fibula on the play and is now out for the remainder series.
Uproar of comments by Dodgers fans at California State University, Stanislaus (Stan State) and across the nation have emerged in anger, claiming that Utley meant no harm and Tejada was in his way.
The rule states:
“It is interference by a batter or runner when… e) 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.”
“When I found out about it I was really upset,” Tommy Moreno (Junior, Marketing) said.
“He didn’t meant to hurt the guy that bad but like I don’t think he was wrong. Any other baseball player would have done the same thing (…) He [Utley] was just trying to break up the double play.”
As the ground ball was hit down middle field, the Dodgers hitter Howie Kendrick was making his way to first base while Utley raced from first to second. Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy threw the ball to Tejada.
Tejada seemed to have stepped on second base and turned towards first base to attempt to feed the ball to first base to complete a double play, but was interrupted by Utley’s slide.
Mets fans are also outraged because after a review from the umpire, Utley was safe even though he never touched the bag but, likewise, it turned out that Tejada also never laid a foot on second.
MLB rules indicate that in the case that the fielder and runner fail to touch the base, the runner is considered safe.
“I have concluded that Mr. Utley’s action warrants discipline,” Joe Torre, Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations for Major League Baseball, said in a statement release.
“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 (a)(13), which is designed to protect fielders from precisely this type of rolling block that occurs away from the base.”
Utley plans to appeal his punishment on Oct. 19. MLB offered a one-game suspension instead of two, but Utley turned it down.
In result to the Dodgers falling out of the best-out-of-five NLDS, their season is over and will be continued Spring 2016.
What do you think? Did Utley deserve the punishment? Should the rules be altered?
Watch for yourself if the ruling was injustice or fair here.