Common sense prevailed. It just so happens common sense technically flies in the face of the new sliding rule to break up a double play.
It also was another example of Chase Utley getting the better of the Mets when teammate Corey Seager slid past second base and made contact with Neil Walker, allowing Utley to score a run on the play. But Seager wasn’t ruled to have interfered, despite the unofficially named Utley Rule that was instituted after he broke Ruben Tejada’s right leg with his violent body block of a takeout slide in last October’s NLDS.
With runners on the corners and one out in the third inning Sunday following singles by Seager and Utley, Justin Turner hit a ground ball toward Wilmer Flores. The third baseman dove to field it, then threw Walker to force out Seager at second base. Turner easily beat the relay throw to first, allowing Utley to score the Dodgers’ first run. But the Mets felt Seager violated the new slide rule by sliding late and past the bag and making contact with Walker on the other side of the bag. However, after a two-minute umpires review, the call was upheld, and the run stood.
“As a sliding runner, we have to make an attempt to stay on the bag, and he clearly didn’t do that, but obviously they felt he was close enough to the bag,” Walker said after the Mets’ 4-2 loss to the Dodgers in the series finale at Citi Field.
Terry Collins said he challenged the call because Seager didn’t stay on the second-base bag, slid past it and made contact with Walker. He was under the impression the play should result in an automatic double play.
“That’s why I challenged it,” the manager said. “I know that they’re saying you got to use a little more common sense: Was there really a legitimate double play? To me, the letter of the law says you can’t do this, you can’t do that. Well, two of the three things you can’t do, he did.
“The interpretation is not really here. The interpretation of what’s going on is in a control tower in New York.”
The call also marked the second time this weekend a big decision didn’t go the Mets’ way. On Saturday, Noah Syndergaard was ejected in the third inning for throwing behind Utley, a game the Mets went on to lose 9-1. The end result was the same Sunday night.
