Even though he’s been with the New York Mets for one month, infielder Javier Baez seems to be as fed up with the team’s fans as some of his teammates.
The Mets beat the Washington Nationals 9-4 today to earn just their second series win since July 25. Their other one also came against the Nationals; overall, the Mets are 8-19 in August and have plummeted in the standings.
Not surprisingly, fans are unhappy with the underperformance, and they’ve been letting the team know about it. The booing has increased of late, as the Mets finished off a 2-11 stretch against the Dodgers and Giants and dropped the first game of this weekend’s series against Washington on Friday.
Some Mets players have begun flashing a thumbs down gesture to fans after big hits, and Baez explained the meaning behind it today. Apparently, it is the team’s way of getting back at the crowd for the booing.
Javier Baez on the thumbs down sign Mets players have been flashing to the crowd after big hits: “To let [the fans] know when we don’t get success we’re going to get booed, so they are going to get booed when we have success.”
— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) August 29, 2021
Javy Báez said the Mets’ new thumbs down celebration is a response to fans booing the team.
“We’re not machines, we’re going to struggle. … It just feels bad when I strikeout and I get booed. … We’re going to do the same thing to let them know how it feels,” he said. pic.twitter.com/CYkHVpE2KH
— Deesha (@DeeshaThosar) August 29, 2021
Yikes. Needless to say, if you’re the Mets’ front office, this is not the type of comment you want to hear from any player, especially not a rental you acquired at the deadline in exchange for a well-regarded prospect (Pete Crow-Armstrong).
Baez has heard it from fans personally, as he’s gone just 13-for-62 since coming over to New York, though he did homer twice this weekend, including a two-run shot today. We certainly understand that booing will never be fun for any player.
However, considering how poorly the Mets have played and how far they’ve fallen in the last month, these comments are pretty tone-deaf.
Take away these six games with the bare bones Nationals and the #mets have lost 20 of their last 24 games. And this team has the nerve to boo back the fans, who really have not been that bad all things considered. What a joke.
— Zach Braziller (@NYPost_Brazille) August 29, 2021
After today’s win, the Mets are 63-67 and 7.5 games behind the first-place Atlanta Braves in the NL East.
The post Javy Baez Has A Brutally Honest Message For Mets Fans appeared first on The Spun.