After countless articles about how the Mets would retaliate against second basemen Chase Utley once they’d meet again, including lot’s of tough talk from half of the players in the Mets clubhouse, the just completed four game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles ended without even a whimper.
Before the series, Kristie Ackert of the Daily News reported that “there are people in the Mets clubhouse who are not ready to move on.”
“There are some players who still feel hot about the play that they consider dirty and not a first-time offense for Chase Utley.”
Manager Terry Collins admitted that several of his players were not going to let Utley go unpunished, but feared for the safety of his guys. “That was brought up,” Collins said of the talk about retaliation. “Look, what happened happened. We won the series, let’s not get anybody hurt, including our guys.”
“But there is only so much control you can have,” Collins said. “We’ll just see if we can get through this.”
They got through it alright although not in the way you might expect.
Utley played in all four games and basically had his way with the Mets as he’s done his entire career. Utley went 4-for-14 in the series including a double, a home run, four RBIs, and three runs scored. Utley ranks second among all active players in both hits (188) and homers (36) against the Mets.
Look, I’m glad they got through this series without any suspensions or injuries. But geez, for all the tough-talk about retaliation in the last six months, it turns out that the Mets’ bark is worse than their bite. At least where Utley is concerned.
