Chase Utley is still persona non grata with the New York Mets faithful, but booing him didn’t exactly work out in their favor this time around.
The Mets hosted the Los Angeles Dodgers for a weekend series at Citi Field, where Utley always gets heartily booed ever since his infamous takeout slide that broke Ruben Tejada’s leg in the 2015 NLDS. The veteran infielder started Saturday’s game (an 8-3 win for the Dodgers) and entered Sunday’s contest in the ninth inning as a pinch hitter, hearing the usual chorus of boos both times.
Enter Dodgers utilityman Enrique Hernandez. Sunday’s game (an 8-7 victory for the Dodgers) saw Hernandez homer twice as part of a three-hit afternoon. Afterwards, Hernandez said that he was motivated by the Mets fans’ rough treatment of Utley, according to Pedro Moura of The Athletic.
Kiké Hernández said the way Mets fans treated Chase Utley motivated him to homer twice. “I really don’t like the way they boo him here,” he said. “That adds a little bit to my game.”
— Pedro Moura (@pedromoura) June 24, 2018
The Mets also lost the series-opener on Friday by the final of 5-2, making for a quite forgettable sweep at the hands of the visiting Dodgers. In the past, Utley himself has also turned the Mets fans’ boos into a serving of humble pie, so maybe they will rethink their approach the next time that he comes to town.
