Chase Utley will go down as one of the best second baseman in Phillies history, there's no doubting that. He was definintely one of the most liked during his time in Philadelphia for his style of play and his part in the 2008 World Championship and 2009 National League Pennant. While with the Phillies, Chase Utley always hit well against the Mets. Since he's gone out west to the Dodgers, that hasn't changed one bit. In fact, Utley has become somewhat of a villain to Mets fans.
During last year's NLDS, Utley went in to second with a hard slide to break up a double play, a slide that will be debated as to whether it was clean or dirty for years to come. Chase went right into former Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada, who broke his right leg on the play.
Obviously after this play, the hatred for Utley in New York grew exponentially. This weekend, Chase and the Dodgers are in New York for the first time since that play happened in the playoffs and the former Phillies second baseman has been showered by boo's during every single plate appearance.
In the third inning of last night's game, Noah Syndergaard threw behind Utley and was immediately ejected from the game followed by Terry Collins getting thrown out. No warnings to the teams, just an ejection. After the game, Syndergaard said the pitch "got away" from him and it wasn't intentional.
If you thought something like that would get into Utley's head, well…you are mistaken. Utley went about his business and had himself a heck of a night at the plate, hitting two homers, including a grand slam, after the pair of ejections. See Syndergaard and Collins get tossed along with Utley's two blasts right here:
After the game, Utley caught up with Ken Rosenthal, who asked him numerous questions on whether or not he thought Syndergaard should have been tossed, if he thinks it will continue and what it's like to play in the hostile atmosphere at Citi Field. Utley did what he normally does, commenting very little on the bad blood between the teams, but rather focusing on his team's effort in their win against New York.
Chase Utley talks to @Ken_Rosenthal about Noah Syndergaard's pitch behind him, the ejection, #Mets fans & morehttps://t.co/vHTaSVeQh8
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) May 29, 2016
Utley has 38 career home runs against the Mets, the most against any team, seven more than his 30 against the Marlins. He has a career .296 average with 13 homers and 47 RBI's at Citi Field in 52 games. According to ESPN, no primary second baseman has hit home runs more often than Chase Utley has against the Mets. As of Sunday, his HR per AB rate against New York is 17.8.
If this adds any salt to the wounds of Mets fans, Ruben Tejada, the player Utley injured in last year's NLCS, was designated for assignment by the Cardinals on Saturday.
