New York Mets right-hander Noah Syndergaard was ejected in the third inning of Saturday night's game against the Los Angeles Dodgers for throwing a pitch that sailed behind Chase Utley.
The 99-mph fastball was assumed to be retaliation for Utley's take-out slide on Ruben Tejada during last season's NLDS, the result of which broke Tejada's leg. Home plate umpire Adam Harami wasted no time signaling that Syndergaard's night was over. He also ejected Mets' manager Terry Collins, who vehemently argued his decision.
Syndergaard's complete intentions were unclear, but it is safe to assume he at least wanted to send a message. The league will now have to decide if he meant to hit Utley with that message, or if he simply wanted to make Utley uncomfortable.
Based on his history, it was probably the latter. Syndergaard also famously buzzed Kansas City's Alcides Escobar with a head-high fastball on the first pitch in Game 3 of the World Series. Syndergaard wanted to set the tone that night by ending the trend of Escobar swinging at the game's first pitch. The message was received, and that would be the only game New York won in the series.
As for Saturday, Syndergaard flatly denied there was any intent behind his pitch, which comes as no big surprise.
 | @MarcCarig | |||||||
Syndergaard says the ball slipped. He was "dumbfounded" at ejection. It got away. Yep.
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We're going to guess the league will disagree. It shouldn't be a steep punishment, but this is something baseball wants to clean up.
Also worth noting, Mets manager Terry Collins also refused to admit that Syndegaard's pitch was intentional. More telling though might be his comment that followed.
| @MarcCarig | |
TC walking the line. Won't say it was intentional. But talks about a time when teams in Mets' position "had a shot."
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That would indicate Collins and company may have thought was a freebie was due, but that wasn't the case on Saturday.
Regardless of his intentions, Syndergaard still left the field to a hero's cheer form a raucous crowd at Citi Field. The fans were already hyped from celebrating the 30th anniversary of their 1986 World Series championship team. The animosity of baseball's newest and hottest rivalry only fueled them more.
Unfortunately for the Mets, it also seemed to fuel Utley. It his next at-bat against Logan Verrett, he crushed a solo home run that opened the game's The next inning, Utley stepped up with the bases loaded and launched a grand slam. The Dodgers went on to win the game 9-1, so it's safe to say they got the final word on a volatile evening at Citi Field.
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