The 3 biggest Mets playoff villains who played for the Dodgers

Orel Hershiser, Mike Scioscia, and Chase Utley are the three players who did the most to hurt the Mets in the post season.

Los Angeles Dodgers v Chicago Cubs
Los Angeles Dodgers v Chicago Cubs / Focus On Sport/GettyImages
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The New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers have had long and storied paths that are often intertwined. And that includes when they have met in the post-season. There have been some dramatic moments for both teams, but who would Mets fans consider the three biggest playoff villains who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers?

1) Orel Hershiser

Orel Hershiser broke Don Drysdale’s record of 58 2/3 scoreless innings streak, reaching 59 on the last day of the season. He led the league wins (23), shutouts (8), and complete games (15). Believe it or not, even with that scoreless innings streak, he was only third in ERA with 2.26.

Orel Hershiser started Game 1 of the 1988 NLCS against the Mets and took a 2-0 lead into the 9th. He blew the lead and the Dodgers lost 3-2 when the Mets scored 3 in the ninth inning. So the Dodgers lost the first game he started.

Hershiser started Game 3 and gave up 3 runs, 1 earned, surrendering a 4-3 lead in the 8th inning, and the Dodgers lost the game 8-4 when the Mets scored 5 in the eighth inning.

Then Hershiser entered Game 4 with two out in the bottom of the 12th inning with the Dodgers clinging to a 5-4 lead that they grabbed in the top of the inning,

Hershiser started Game 7 and threw a 5-hit complete game shutout of the Mets and the Dodgers won 6-0 to clinch the series.

So although the Dodgers actually lost two of the three games he started, he was awarded the MVP of the series.

2) Mike Scioscia

Mike Scioscia was an unexpected hero for the Dodgers in Game 4 of the 1988 National League Championship series.

Doc Gooden was cruising along with a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the 9th inning. The Mets were on the verge of taking a 3 games to 1 lead in the series and he should have breezed through the bottom part of the Dodgers order. Today it would be an automatic no-brainer to bring in your closer for the save. But this was still Doc that we are talking about.

Doc began the inning by issuing a lead-off walk to weak-hitting John Shelby. And then he quickly got ahead of Scioscia 0-2. And then the Shea Stadium crowd…went from electric to a power outage…as Scioscia, a career .180 hitter against Gooden, hit a dramatic homer that would change the course of the series.

Although Kirk Gibson hit the game-winner later on in the 12th to even the Series at two games a piece…it was Scioscia’s homer in the bottom of the 9th inning off of Gooden that got them there in the first place.

3) Chase Utley

To be honest, Chase Utley was the type of player that you would love to have on YOUR team. He was a clutch, hard-nosed player that always seemed to have the Mets number. During his career, he hit 39 home runs of his 259 career homers against the Mets.

By 2015, Utley was winding down his career at age 36 and he was traded to the Dodgers for a much-needed support player down the stretch. As fate would have it, he would be there with the Dodgers to face the Mets in the National League Division Series.

And while an opposing player hitting a dramatic home run, or blowing a pitch by a Met for Strike Three would be enough to invite the ire of Mets fans, physically hurting someone with a malicious intent would seem to put them into the Pete Rose Hall of Shame.

The Mets were not the best team in 2015, but they were certainly the hottest team, riding the bat of Yoenis Cespedes and arms of their young rotation. They had the momentum.

And Utley had plenty of momentum when he slid hard into Ruben Tejada to break up a double play in the seventh inning of Game 2 of the NLDS. Utley upended Tejada in such a way that the result was a broken fibula for Tejada that ended his season right there.

Utley would be suspended by MLB and he would eventually send an apology through Mets captain David Wright. But he will always be the ultimate playoff villain in the eyes of New York Mets fans.

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