LOS ANGELES -- The New York Mets passed at any payback against National League Division Series villain Chase Utley on Monday.
Facing the Los Angeles Dodgers for the first time since that playoff series, Mets pitchers got Utley to twice ground out after entering the game as a pinch hitter in the seventh inning.
Utley had broken Ruben Tejada’s right leg on an aggressive takeout slide at second base in Game 2 of the NLDS.
Utley was on the bench at the beginning of Monday’s series opener because the Mets were starting a left-handed pitcher, Steven Matz. Utley entered the game as a pinch-hitter to lead off the seventh inning with the Mets holding a two-run lead, grounding out against Hansel Robles. Utley again grounded out in the ninth inning against Jeurys Familia, who closed out the Mets’ 4-2 win.
If the Mets are intent at getting payback against Utley, putting him on base in the latter innings to bring the tying run to the plate probably would not have been the right call anyway.
So stay tuned the rest of this four-game series.
Mets manager Terry Collins agreed postgame that the Mets’ best retribution might have been winning that NLDS.
“That was brought up,” Collins said. “Look, what happened, happened. We won the series. Let’s not get anybody hurt, including our guys.
“But again, I only control ...” the manager added, before pausing.
“There’s only so much control you can have," Collins continued. "So we’ll just see what happens as we get through this."
