Citi Field PA Announcer Pauses to Let Chase Utley Hear the Boos

The Citi Field faithful let Chase Utley know how they feel about him. So did the the scoreboard operator and public address announcer.

The Bronx Cheer in Queens for the Los Angeles Dodgers second baseman, who broke shortstop Ruben Tejada’s leg with a rough slide to break up a double play in Game Two, lingered as a result of a prolonged stay of the player’s picture on the jumbotron and the announcer’s delay in moving on to the next player’s name.

Whereas audio and video introductions generally moved on after a two-second pause between players, the transition from Chase Utley to Justin Ruggiano lasted a good nine seconds.

The Mets provided group catharsis to 44,276 people with a 13-7 beatdown of the Dodgers to take a 2-1 series lead. Utley remained in the dugout, far away from bean balls and any D-batteries flying out of Section 506, for the entire game despite appealing MLB’s two-game suspension for the hard slide.

While he stayed out of the box score, Utley remained present in his absence. Mets fans gave him the John Rocker treatment for the entire evening. “We want Utley,” they chanted. But, as the song says, you can’t always get what you want. But with the win the Mets fans get what they need.