Last night’s game had to leave emotions of anger and frustration for both the Mets and their fans. With Ruben Tejada getting taken out by Chase Utley, the Mets lost their starting shortstop and the game. Social media was buzzing about this slide, as posts came out defending Utley for his hard play, while many more posts claimed the slide was dirty. Rule changes are being called for by the fans, as many fans have pointed out that collisions at home plate are illegal, but tackling a middle infielder is not illegal. Either way that is for the higher ups in baseball to discuss and act on it moving forward. The Mets have lost a player on their roster, and will be forced to play without Tejada.
This season has been quite a roller coaster for the Mets and their shortstop position. Wilmer Flores was the first one to get a start at the position, but then was moved so Tejada could get some playing time. Both players would rotate back and forth depending on Terry Collins‘ decision.
With Tejada injured, Flores will return to being the starting shortstop, no matter who is on the mound for the opposing team. Flores has become quite a hero for the Mets, ever since the night where he thought he was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers, but the deal did not go through. Flores shed tears that night, and fans around the league will remember him for that. A couple of days later, Flores hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 12th to give the Mets a victory against the Washington Nationals.
These moments stick out, and now Flores has a chance to grow his season’s story when it matters most. We know that the Mets may have an increased chance of scoring runs with Flores playing short, but the defense is sacrificed without Tejada. This may be the reason why the Mets have decided to add Matt Reynolds to the NLDS roster.
Although he has never played in the big leagues, the addition of Reynolds will provide another bat off the bench, and a backup to Flores at shortstop.
Even though it was a smaller sample size, Flores experienced success in the second half, as he hit .280 and slugged .429 in 54 games. If the Mets are going to compete against the Dodgers, they need Flores to perform at a high rate, both defensively and offensively. The Mets have struggled to put together quality offensive attacks against the Dodgers so far in the first two games, and will need to string together hits to score runs. Granted, the Dodgers have two of the best pitchers in baseball with Zack Greinke and Clayton Kershaw, but the Mets could easily have been up 2-0 thanks to tremendous starts from Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard.
The loss of Tejada is heartbreaking, especially considering how long he has been on the team, and all the adversity he has overcome. The Mets have to move on, and believe in Flores’ abilities. The 24-year-old shortstop has a chance to add to his folklore with a tremendous playoff run, and we look forward to seeing what the Mets will do moving forward.
The defensive downgrade is negligible. Hopefully Flores has a big game with the bat tomorrow.
I heard on TV that Flores had strep and lost 10 lbs. Another broadcaster said he lost 15 lbs. WTF? That’s an impressive weight loss just for strep, dontcha think?
Hopefully he can rally and continue his storybook season. I like this article, James, because you placed Flores’ role for the balance of these playoffs in proper context and reminded us (me at least) that his 2015 narrative is pretty amazing. Given the beloved heroes of Mets of yore, he almost has to come up big, right?
LGM.
PS/FWIW: I don’t want to see Harvey hit Utley. I would like to see Kirk take him out at 2nd, have Utley throw the first punch and then watch Kirk pummel him ala Ryan v. Ventura. Then Kirk goes down as a Mets hero too.
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Thanks for the kind words Aging Bull. Wilmer’s storyline season almost represents the Mets’ season as a whole.
Interesting scenario you bring up with Utley and Kirk; although I doubt it will happen since Utley won’t see much playing time at second base.
Utley is a bit player in this drama. Sure he focused the lights on himself and it revealed an aging dinosaur playing the sport from Ty Cobb’s era. In severe decline as an athlete, even hitting him in the jaw with a 98 mph 2 seamer wouldn’t do anything anywhere near in balance. If I’m the Mets, it’s mowing down Kershaw on a very hard run to first base when he covers. Then, it’s a full knee blowout for Seager on a slide at second, even if that means beginning the slide 5 feet past the base. And it’s ear flap time for A-Gon. Payback has nothing to do with Utley; he’s just going to watch it happen from the bench.
I can’t believe how that slide was being considered “clean” when Utley made no attempt to even touch second base. He slid directly at Tejada and never even made an effort to touch the bag! I hope it galvanizes the Met’s and Harvey drills the first batter of the game while Flores hits the game winning homerun. Now that would be a statement. No point in hitting Utley since he’s not an integral part of the Dodgers. Just another hard nose player. Yeah, right.
I agree with you Pete. It is mind boggling to hear former baseball players say the play was clean. Granted there were plenty of players saying it was dirty, but anyone saying it was clean has to be called out.
The best revenge would be a Flores walk-off homer at some point this series.
I just want to thank the writer for the positve note put forth toward Tejada. Both Met shortstops overcame tremendous criticism and adversity this year. This was not the way Tejada deserved to go out this year. He has improved and become a different player from the one we met after Reyes departed. He will be missed.
Thank you for the compliment Andy B. We can complain about the slide all we want, but luckily the Mets have a backup plan for Tejada. Hopefully Flores will come up clutch throughout the postseason!