Rhys Hoskins. Jesse Winker. Chris Paddack.
Slow homerun trots, waving to fans, Twitter beefs. It seems like the Mets have become Public Enemy Number 1.
That’s fine. It would just be a lot more fun if we were number 1 in the NL East standings.
It would have felt a lot better to laugh at Chris Paddack last night. Maybe throw a “talk that shit now” at him as he walks off the mound after the Mets put up a crooked number on him.
Instead, he simply dominated us. He struck out 11 over 7 and two thirds and didn’t allow a run. In fact, he didn’t even come close to allowing a run. You know what? We have to eat that. We have to watch him pump his fists and yell after strikeouts.
It sucks, but we are just gonna have to sit there and take it. Hey, that’s what the Mets did, isn’t it?
A young pitcher took shots at our rookie phenom. And what was the response? 4 hits? 2 of them by Jeff McNeil who can’t drive himself in because he is the leadoff hitter now?
So, yeah. Chris Paddack has earned the right to say whatever the hell he wants. Maybe he’s arrogant. Maybe he’s a jerk. His attacks on Alonso were definitely unprovoked. But, Met fans don’t have the right to act like victims here. And you can thank your General Manager for that.
“ We are the team to beat.”
“ Come and get us.”
Remember those quotes? Brodie Van Wagenen didn’t send those to us in private messages. He stood on the top of the mountain and shouted it for the world to hear.
So, we can act like Rhys Hoskins is Hitler for admiring a homerun. Or we can take our GM to task for putting a target on our backs.
It would be a different story if we were running through the league like the 86 Mets. It’s just not wise to shout “come and get us” and then come out and play like the 17 or 18 Mets.
Mets have a minus-27 runs differential. Only the Marlins and Giants are worse in the National League. I know you have to sell tickets, but how about putting the best product possible on the field?
It seems there is a thin line between being the bad guy and being a laughingstock. Let’s hope we aren’t the latter.