The Mets put together back-to-back wins on Sunday for the first time in weeks to close out a brutal month of August that saw their NL East lead completely evaporate. And yet, the Mets still managed to make their entire fanbase upset.
During that win over the Nationals, fans and media members noticed a new celebration gesture from the Mets players. After big hits, players like Javy Baez, Francisco Lindor and Kevin Pillar would signal “thumbs down” towards the dugout.
Baez, who hit the go-ahead home run, was asked about the gesture after the game, and he admitted that it was essentially the Mets players trolling the Mets fans who have spent much of August booing them at Citi Field.
Javier Báez says the thumbs down celebration is in response to the fans booing the team
"I play for the fans and I love the fans but if they're gonna do that, they're putting more pressure on the team" pic.twitter.com/cjUER4M2Pt
— SNY (@SNYtv) August 29, 2021
That didn’t go over too well with Mets fans, considering they had every reason to be upset with a team that fell out of playoff contention at a stunning pace. Team president Sandy Alderson even spoke out against those celebrations in a Medium blog.
But how are the Mets players taking this latest controversy? A few players have addressed it on social media, and the reactions have varied.
There was pitcher Taijuan Walker who appeared to laugh about the whole ordeal with a cryptic emoji tweet. To be fair, the Alderson blog post was funny.
😂😂😂
— Taijuan Walker (@tai_walker) August 30, 2021
And, of course, some Mets fans didn’t take kindly to the tweet.
You think this is funny? The team totally falling apart and being embarssed once again on the national stage and you think it's funny. Unreal
— LGM (@LGMSAM21) August 30, 2021
What’s funny about this situation
— Baseball talk NY (@metstalkNY) August 30, 2021
Pillar, who was among the players to do the thumbs-down celebration, tried to explain on Twitter that the players weren’t actually booing the fans. They were just having fun.
Love y’all too! Felt nothing but love in NYC. No I’m not booing the fans. We are having fun. No different than earlier this year when we were churving 👌🏽. please don’t look to much into this. https://t.co/0jwnnN8mZ1
— Kevin Pillar (@KPILLAR4) August 29, 2021
Pitcher Marcus Stroman blamed the media for looking for something to cause controversy — though Baez was the one who made it about the fans. Had Baez simply dismissed the gesture as an inside clubhouse joke, it wouldn’t have turned into the kind of issue that drew public condemnation from the front office.
FACTS! Media always searching for anything to cause controversy. Stop playing into these narratives. It’s all fake bullshit. We won today. That’s all that matters. On to the next not dwelling in the past…same mindset we’ve had all year! Thankful for this squad! @mets
— Marcus Stroman (@STR0) August 30, 2021
Mets pitcher Trevor May took a different approach and tweeted that he appreciates fans and wants to make an effort to be better with interacting with them. So, that was nice.
Just been thinking about perspective and gratitude a lot lately and want to be better. Felt relevant.
— Trevor “IamTrevorMay” May (@IamTrevorMay) August 30, 2021
The Mets are off on Monday before hosting the Marlins Tuesday at Citi Field. So, they’ll have to deal with this controversy for another day.