Noah Syndergaard Ejection: MLB Umpire Did The Right Thing

Noah Syndergaard’s ejection from the game against the L.A. Dodgers was deserved. Syndergaard got ejected midway through the third inning as the New York Mets took on the Dodgers on Saturday, May 28. The ejection took place after Syndergaard threw a 99 mph fastball behind Dodgers infielder Chase Utley. A report from ESPN.com states that he denies it was payback for a rough slide that Utley made during the 2015 NLDS. This is where the debate among baseball fans has begun (again).

Did Syndergaard throw at Utley intentionally? Is it possible that a pitcher ranked among the best in baseball for his control could really throw a pitch so badly that it would go behind a hitter? Even though that hitter is none other than Chase Utley? The circumstantial evidence here doesn’t support what Syndergaard is claiming. Even if he did it on purpose, though, he can’t say that to the media, because intentionally throwing at a batter could lead to a suspension. Lying about it would likely mean it gets brushed under the carpet.

Whatever the plan was before Noah Syndergaard got ejected, it certainly riled up Chase Utley. He would finish the game with two home runs and five RBIs as the Dodgers beat the Mets 9-1. That’s probably going to lead to Mets fans despising Utley even more than before, especially with how social media was buzzing following the ejection. Home plate umpire Adam Hamari is also receiving a lot of that disdain now, especially since he had a quick trigger in the third inning.

This was the first time that Chase Utley has returned to play at Citi Field since shortstop Ruben Tejada was injured during an aggressive slide into second base. There were no incidents when the Mets visited the Dodgers earlier in May. Crew Chief Tom Hallion spoke about the ejection and what took place immediately following it. It’s not something that will please Mets fans, as he stated that no official warnings were given to the teams before the series started. He did note that it was within the rules that the home plate umpire could eject Syndergaard on the spot.

“The ruling was that he intentionally threw at the batter. We can either warn or eject. And with what happened in that situation, we felt the ejection was warranted. We take each game individually. We have to make a snap decision. We can’t think about, OK, well this guy did this or he did that in Game 6 of whatever. We don’t have enough time to think that way. We make a decision on what happens in the game.”

Mets manager Terry Collins didn’t take kindly to the ejection either, letting the umpires know it through an on-field tirade. He made contact with one of the umpires while he was yelling, which may be something that gets addressed later — unless bumping an umpire is now going to be allowed. Collins spoke about the situation after the game, noting that he had never seen a pitcher ejected without a warning.

“My argument was, nobody got hit. There was a time when, in this game, where you had a shot and nothing happened, the ball went to the backstop. So that was kind of my argument.”

Had Noah Syndergaard not been ejected, it’s highly possible that he could have thrown another pitch at Chase Utley. If he had hit him the second time around, it certainly could have led to another brawl on the field. Home plate umpire Adam Hamari avoided that entire situation by ejecting the main culprit on this day. That’s not something that Mets fans are going to agree with, but there was no indication that a warning would have cooled things down as much as the ejection did.

Major League Baseball has an image problem, especially when many fans still feel it is ok to throw a 99 mph baseball at someone, but not ok to slide hard into a base. This Noah Syndergaard ejection also sends a message to every pitcher in baseball that throwing at batters simply isn’t going to be tolerated. And it shouldn’t be.

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