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Utley suspended 2 games for takeout slide

NEW YORK - On the eve of a pivotal Game 3 of the National League division series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, Major League Baseball announced it suspended Chase Utley for Games 3 and 4 for his illegal slide during Saturday night's Dodgers win.

New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada (11) collides with Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley (26) at second base during the seventh inning in game two of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium.
New York Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada (11) collides with Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman Chase Utley (26) at second base during the seventh inning in game two of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium.Read more(Jayne Kamin-Oncea/USA Today)

NEW YORK - On the eve of a pivotal Game 3 of the National League division series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets, Major League Baseball announced it suspended Chase Utley for Games 3 and 4 for his illegal slide during Saturday night's Dodgers win.

Utley will appeal the suspension, meaning he might still be eligible to play Monday night. In a statement, Utley's agent, Joel Wolfe, called the suspension "outrageous and completely unacceptable."

The late, double-play-disrupting takeout slide by Utley, the longtime Phillies star now playing for the Dodgers, resulted in a broken leg for Mets shortstop Ruben Tejada. The ugly play also changed the complexion of the series and will serve as a backdrop for Game 3.

Joe Torre, MLB's discipline czar, said in a statement released Sunday night that Utley's slide violated the rule "designed to protect fielders from precisely this type of rolling block that occurs away from the base."

Torre also said he believed Utley "had no intention of injuring" Tejada and "was attempting to help his club in a critical situation."

After Saturday's game at Dodger Stadium, Utley told reporters in Los Angeles he was "going hard to try to break up the double play" but "had no intent to hurt anyone whatsoever."

Said Torre in his statement: "We have been in discussions with the Players Association throughout the year regarding potential rule changes to better protect middle infielders, and we intend to continue those discussions this offseason."

Replayed over and over Sunday on televisions and computer screens across the country, Utley's slide was a polarizing topic of debate throughout the day after the game. At Citi Field, where players from both teams trickled in for workouts, Mets ace Matt Harvey was asked his take on Utley's slide.

"I think history's kind of shown that he's kind of been in situations like that before," said Harvey, who will make his postseason debut in Game 3. "I know personally, after watching in 2010 and hearing about it with Ruben [on another Utley slide] as well, there's some situations that need to be taken care of. I think the league's going to do their best to do that and take charge.

"As far as where we were [in the dugout], it was kind of hard to see at first where exactly the slide started. But after obviously the replay, everybody saw that it was more a tackle than anything. We're all feeling for Ruben. We're going to pick him up, and we're excited to be back at home."

Utley did not start either of the first two games for the Dodgers. The six-time all-star reached base Saturday on a pinch-hit single. Then came Howie Kendrick's soft line drive up the middle, and Utley's breakup of the potential double play. Tejada was turning to unleash his throw to first when contact was made.

Utley, ruled safe on the play after a challenge because Tejada did not touch second base, scored the game's go-ahead run after Adrian Gonzalez's key two-run double.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly staunchly defended Utley earlier Sunday night after the team arrived in New York. The Los Angeles skipper also said Tejada was "courageous" for attempting to turn two when he could have taken just the sure out at second. Utley was tested for a concussion after the collision and passed, Mattingly said.

"I look at it as a baseball play," Mattingly said. "It was a hard, aggressive, legal slide to me. . . . Our organization is proud of the way Chase plays. We love the way he plays. He's got a reputation for playing the game right, playing it hard, and we're behind him 100 percent."

Before the 2014 season, Major League Baseball implemented new rules regarding home-plate collisions to protect catchers. That was in part a response to the 2011 broken leg suffered by San Francisco Giants star catcher Buster Posey on a play at the plate.

Utley's slide could have a similar effect for second basemen and shortstops. In the Arizona Fall League that begins this week, MLB already was planning to experiment with having base runners work on sliding directly into second base, Torre revealed when speaking to reporters at Dodger Stadium after Saturday's game.

In Tejada, the Mets lost "a pretty big piece of the puzzle," manager Terry Collins said. Wilmer Flores will man shortstop in his place.

"Needless to say, [the players] were quite upset with the whole situation," Collins said on Sunday afternoon, hours before the suspension was announced. "We don't need any more motivation, but that certainly gives us some extra motivation going into [Monday] night."

kaplanj@phillynews.com

@jakemkaplan