Tag: lolMets

Mets announcer Gary Cohen had an all-time announcer jinx just seconds before the D-backs’ go-ahead HR

The Metsiest of Mets sequences.

Truly, no MLB team manages to turn disappointment into comedy quite like the New York Mets. And even when SNY announcer Gary Cohen tries to inject some optimism into a broadcast, the Mets find a way to remind him that they’re still the Mets.

The timing of that couldn’t have been any better (or worse, if you’re a Mets fan) on Sunday.

With the Mets leading by a run in the top of the ninth inning against the Diamondbacks, Cohen pointed out that the Mets had lost five games this season that they had led through eight inning. He said that they were hoping to avoid a sixth such loss, and he could hardly complete the sentence before Ketel Marte blasted a go-ahead home run.

If that isn’t an all-time announcer jinx, I don’t know what is. It was the Metsiest of Mets sequences.

That was also Marte’s second home run of the game, and the 439-foot shot secured the D-backs’ 5-4 win.

The Mets lost due to an embarrassing walk-off balk because the pitcher forgot his PitchCom device

This was a rough way to lose.

August 1, 2023 may be the nadir for the New York Mets after so many trades set them up for the future, but marked the near-end of a disappointing season that had so many expectations ahead of it.

It also marks the day in which the team lost in pretty bad fashion: A walk-off balk gave the Kansas City Royals a win.

Now, we’ve seen walk-off balks before: There was the Rays’ balk to give the Reds a win in 2022. There was Keone Kela in 2015 doing the same.

Still: Quite a way to lose. This time, it was Josh Walker who came in with the bases loaded. While standing on the rubber, his back leg flinched. Francisco Alvarez called time to discuss, but it was too late:

What happened? Per NorthJersey.com:

Walker forgot to pick up the PitchCom and as he struggled to relay that he was missing the device to Francisco Alvarez, the lefty reliever’s knee buckled off the rubber. …

“I just was up there, I didn’t have a PitchCom in my ear, so me and (Francisco Alvarez) didn’t have communication,” Walker said. “Basically, I was trying to relay that to him and then I went to step off and my foot was kind of in the footprint where the guy’s been throwing and I think my knee buckled a little bit before I stepped off and that was what they got me.”

Oof.

Mets fan screams at Starling Marte not to swing at everything. SPOILER: He swung at everything.

He swung at everything.

“DON’T SWING AT EVERYTHING!”

That’s sound advice for a baseball player, right?

That was what a New York Mets fan was caught on camera screaming at Starling Marte, who was at the plate at the bottom of the ninth against Devin Williams, who is a really good reliever.

With the bases loaded, Marte didn’t hear the advice. He swung at two balls that were out of the zone before waving at a third straight changeup for a game-ending K. What a bummer.

Welp. If you want a summary of what it’s like being a Mets fan right now, here ya go:

The Mets brought out a very good dog after owner Steve Cohen’s underwhelming press conference

Brilliant strategy honestly.

Heading into the 2023 season, few would have expected the New York Mets to be 16.5 games back in the National League East on June 28. This was a team that came off a playoff appearance in 2022 and spent its way into MLB’s highest payroll. Expectations were deservedly lofty.

So, on Wednesday, owner Steve Cohen decided to break his silence and meet with reporters from a lone high-top table and baseball-mitt-like chair. But the most noteworthy moment from the appearance might have occurred immediately after the 23-minute press conference: A dog took the podium!

OK, while Cohen did express his disappointment in the season thus far and take responsibility as the owner, he didn’t make any managerial or front-office changes. He also said that he was looking to hire a president of baseball operations. It was a confusingly underwhelming press conference from the billionaire owner who had his fanbase expecting something.

It was so bland that a scheduled photo op with a veteran service dog, Seaver, managed to steal the show. Reporters particularly noted how the mood shifted from confusion to “aw, what a good dog!” in seconds.

If the Mets intentionally planned that Seaver appearance to win over the room, it might have been the smartest move the team made all season.

MLB fans amazingly uncovered a tweet telling the Mets to sign Shohei Ohtani back in 2012

They really should’ve listened.

It’s an absolutely brutal time to be a Mets fan right now. Despite boasting MLB’s largest payroll by a large margin, the Mets have regressed considerably in 2023 and haven’t won a series in the month of June. They’re bad — so bad.

Right now, there’s not much that can turn around the Mets’ luck. But really, all they had to do was listen to The Draftnik on Twitter 11 years ago. He saw the future.

With Angels two-way star Shohei Ohtani coming off an unbelievable night where he hit two home runs and struck out 10 on the mound, fans took notice to a random 11-year-old tweet from a Mets fan. He tweeted at then-Mets GM Sandy Alderson, telling him to sign an 18-year-old named Shohei Ohtani before another team had the chance.

Just an amazing tweet.

At that point, Ohtani hadn’t even made his NPB debut in Japan, but The Draftnik apparently knows a special talent when he sees it.

To be fair to the Mets, they wouldn’t have been able to sign Ohtani in 2012 even if they wanted to. Japan has its own set of posting rules when it comes to homegrown talent making the move to MLB. And we often don’t see players leave Japan until they’ve played between six and nine seasons in NPB. Ohtani was a rare exception who posted a few seasons early, but he had to take considerably less money upfront to do so. It’s the same system that could delay pitching phenom Roki Sasaki’s arrival to MLB.

By 2017, Ohtani was a widely known phenom, and the Mets weren’t among his top 7 finalists.

Still, fans were impressed with that tweet and deservedly so. The Mets should have listened and taken an early start on the Shohei sweepstakes.

Jeff McNeil practically threw a mid-game tantrum about the grass at the Brewers’ stadium

The Mets were down 10-0 at the time.

I guess we should all be happy that Jeff McNeil didn’t play in this year’s Super Bowl because he appears to be very passionate about field conditions. And he’s not afraid to let everyone know about it either.

Monday’s game at American Family Field against the Milwaukee Brewers was a rough afternoon for the Mets. They didn’t get to see a pregame flyover because of a roof. They got a pitch-clock violation before throwing the game’s first pitch. Oh, and they were trailing by 10 runs after five innings.

So while the grass at the Brewers’ home ballpark had nothing to do with the big deficit, McNeil couldn’t hide his frustrations when he lost his footing on the field as he tried to make a play.

We won’t be seeing that play on any mic’d-up segments — that’s for sure.

McNeil’s cleats did get caught in the turf, which left a huge divot. So, something about the field impacted his movement. But it would have been a difficult play, and it was already a 10-run ballgame.

MLB fans found the entire sequence hilarious given the score at the time.

Elton John announced at his concert that the Braves swept the Mets and fans loved it

Even Elton John is roasting the Mets.

For Braves fans everywhere, Sunday’s 5-3 win over the New York Mets was a huge deal. And yes, that includes Elton John.

The Braves, who had trailed the Mets by 10.5 games in the NL East on June 1, had gradually chipped away at that lead over the course of four months. Sunday’s win — which included one of the smartest plays of the season — to complete the sweep of the Mets virtually had the division locked up in Atlanta’s favor.

But those who attended Elton John’s concert Sunday night at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium probably didn’t expect to get their Braves updates from Elton John. Yet, it indeed happened in the middle of his farewell show.

Speaking to the crowd during his set, Elton John said:

“And something that makes me very happy tonight: The Braves swept the Mets.”

Now while that might seem random, Elton John is actually a huge Atlanta Braves fan. He’s had a home in Atlanta since the early 90s and was known to stop by the ballpark during the Bobby Cox years. And clearly, he still keeps up with the team.

Fans loved that video from the concert. We should all get our baseball updates from Elton John more often.

Mets president Sandy Alderson joined the search Javy Baez’s lost earring from the walk-off celebration

Baez lost an earring but won the game.

When Mets president Sandy Alderson arrived at Citi Field for work on Tuesday, I don’t think he ever expected to spend the moments following a wild win looking through individual blades of grass near home plate.

But nothing about the Mets has ever been predictable except for their dysfunction.

In the first game since since the team’s thumbs-down celebration drew scrutiny from the fans and Alderson, the Mets rallied to beat the Marlins in a ninth-inning comeback. Javy Baez — who was booed in his first plate appearance of the game because of his role in the thumbs-down saga — ended up scoring the winning run. It couldn’t have ended any other way.

Yet, you can always count on something to go wrong even in the happiest of moments for the Mets.

Amid the mayhem around the plate, Baez evidently lost a piece of jewelry — one of his earrings. The grounds crew spent some time searching for the lost jewelry piece, and eventually Alderson joined in on the search.

It’s no easy task to find an earring on a baseball field, and Alderson didn’t stick around the whole time.

Either way, we know that earring didn’t just disappear. It’s somewhere on that field. But, of course, it would take a lost earring to get Mets fans back to cheering for Baez.

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Mets fans loudly booed Javy Baez in his first at-bat. Then, he scored the winning run.

Mets fans are taking things well.

Ahead of the trade deadline, the Mets made an aggressive move to acquire Javy Baez from the Cubs despite his expiring contract. If the past few days are any indication, the Mets gave up their 2020 first-round pick for a three-month rental who gets booed by their own fans.

On Sunday, Baez upset both Mets fans and the front office when he told reporters that the team’s thumbs-down gestures in celebration were a message to the negativity they’ve heard from fans during August’s collapse.

Baez — along with Francisco Lindor — tried to move past the ordeal by apologizing ahead of Tuesday’s game against the Marlins. Baez was not in the starting lineup for the game (a resumption of a suspended game). But when he entered as a pinch hitter, Mets fans weren’t exactly welcoming.

The small crowd at Citi Field serenaded Baez with loud boos and thumbs-down gestures — a similar scene to what took place during Lindor’s pregame apology.

That probably wasn’t what Baez imagined when he arrived to the then-first-place Mets in July. But it comes with the territory of playing for the Mets, apparently.

Baez would end up reaching on a hit by pitch.

Things would change the next inning as Baez came to the plate with runners on second and third — and the Mets down by two. This time, with fans chanting his name, he’d drive in a run on an infield single.

The following at-bat, Michael Conforto won the game on a hit to left field. The winning run was scored by Baez because of course.

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Mets players reacted to backlash over their thumbs-down celebration for the booing fans

Even when the Mets win, they lose.

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.

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.

And, of course, some Mets fans didn’t take kindly to the tweet.

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.

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.

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.

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.