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Full disclosure before I start this post: I am a lifelong, die-hard Philadelphia Phillies fan. It isn't easy being a Phillies fan, in fact most of the time it down right sucks. Kind of like right now this season. Anyway there are two things deeply ingrained into all of us: we must prepare for a life full of mostly misery and we hate the New York Mets.
Now you may be thinking to yourself, "Geez Chops, hate is a pretty strong word. Do you really hate the Mets?" Yes I do. In fact one of the greatest nights in my Phillies fandom came late in September 2007, when I ventured to Citizen's Bank Park to watch the Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves. That win combined with a Mets loss to the St. Louis Cardinals tied the Phils with New York for first place in the NL East with three games left in the season.
As myself and the rest of the 45,000 fans started to leave the park, a loud chant begun among many of the Phillies faithful that I was proud to join in: Phuck the Mets! It was beautiful. Even more so when I saw kids joining in.
You have to understand that even though the Phillies seem to give us little joy, we can take great pleasure in the failures of the New York Mets. Those pleasures are often abundant and never more so than yesterday as I saw the New York Mets turn on their own fans.
Like most of the teams in the National League East, the Mets have had an up and down season. A slow start turned around as the summer began to heat up and entering August the Mets found themselves in first place with a 4 game lead. Having just acquired a big bat in Javier Baez at the trade deadline, it was looking good for the Mets to return to the postseason.
Then everything went to hell. The hitters couldn't score, the pitchers couldn't stop the opposition from scoring and the team tailspinned down the standings. The Mets went 8-19 in August (with one game left to play) and trail the division leading Atlanta Braves by 7.5 games. Ouch.
Naturally Mets fans, who saw a 174% increase in ticket prices this season, weren't going to take this lightly. They did what all fans do when their team stinks, boo them out of the park. It's the nature of professional sports. When a fan takes the time to travel to the ballpark and shell out big bucks for tickets and concessions, they expect positive results from the multi-millionaire athletes they came to root for. If not they let their displeasure be known. Most athletes accept this as part of the job they are paid outrageous sums to perform.
Apparently not all the athletes on the New York Mets feel the same way.
Several Mets have taken to giving the fans a thumbs down whenever they do something good. Supposedly this started a week ago, but the Mets rarely do anything good so nobody noticed. On Sunday the Mets had their best game in over a month (9-4 win over the awful Washington Nationals) and the thumbs down became more noticeable. Javier Baez, Francisco Lindor and Kevin Pillar were all seen giving the fans a thumb down.
According to Baez "When we don't get success, we're going to get booed. So they're going to get booed when we have success.''
Congrats Baez, that is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard. The dipshit went on to complain the fans are putting too much pressure on the team. Poor Babies!
What the hell do these clowns think the Mets pay them millions in salary for? Because the owners like them? Because they look good in the uniform? No. They get paid to perform and win. When that doesn't happen, the fans are going to boo. Loudly. Especially at players who are truly stinking up the joint.
Let's take a look at the numbers of these three guys who think they are being treated unfairly by the fans. Javier Baez, who just recently joined the team, is batting .210 with 22 strikeouts in 62 at-bats with the Mets. Kevin Pillar is batting .212 with 12 homers and 31 RBI's in 97 games. He has a WAR of 0.0, which means it isn't any better than a AAA player. Francisco Lindor, who signed a 10-year, $341 million dollar contract before the season, has chipped in with .224 batting average to go with his 11 homers and 38 RBI's in 93 games.
Wow! Can you imagine the gall of the Mets fans who would boo that kind of production?
Fans aren't dumb. They know how hard it is to make it to the major leagues. They want the players to succeed. But they also want to win. Fans do enough losing in their own lives, they come to the ballpark to get away from that even though it costs a small fortune to attend a professional sporting event. When the team stinks, even though they love them, the fans will boo.
Athletes who lead a very pampered life while being showered with millions of dollars have to expect some boos when things aren't going well. To turn on the fans who support you with their own hard earned bucks when you are playing like crap is juvenile. And embarrassing. My advice for these clowns is to man up and grow a set of balls.
While I love shitting all over the Mets, I have to give their team president Sandy Alderson some props for his reaction to this situation. This was his statement to the media:
''Mets fans are understandably frustrated over the team's recent performance. The players and the organization are equally frustrated, but fans at Citi Field have every right to express their own disappointment. Booing is every fan's right. The Mets will not tolerate any player gesture that is unprofessional in its meaning or is directed in a negative way toward our fans. I will be meeting with our players and staff to convey this message directly."
Now whether or not he really means that is unknown. He has to do damage control to try to encourage fans to spend their money at the ballpark as the Mets continue to stink. Still it was a nice statement to support the people who make having a team possible.
I guess I'll have to watch the Mets next home game to see the fans response to Baez and company's hand gestures. If it's less than thunderous boos I will lose what little respect I have for Mets fans.
