Meet the Mets
With the Mets off yesterday, the baseball world continued to invest way too much of its collective time and energy into discussing ‘ThumbsDownGate’. Joel Sherman even called Steve Cohen to get his thoughts on the matter.
Tyler Kepner of The New York Times viewed the team as soft and sensitive following the explanation of their latest celebration.
Jerry Beach of Forbes explained how the team could take a lesson from Mike Piazza in 1998 following their reaction to the boo birds.
Dennis Young of The New York Daily News wrote that Sandy Alderson, in releasing his statement, managed to out-clown his players.
Justin Toscano expressed his concern that the Mets’ fans displeasure is occupying the players’ heads as they fight for their playoff lives.
Ian O’Connor of The New York Post warned that the players are making a big mistake by waging war with the fans.
On a day full of ludicrous, over-the-top takes, Joel Sherman took the cake by saying the Mets have a Javier Báez problem, but rather a Francisco Lindor problem, in the wake of the thumbs down ‘scandal’.
Some ex-Mets chimed in on hearing the boos.
Former hitting coach Chili Davis even weighed in, adding “the fans don’t want to watch slop.”
The Wall Street Journal saw this scandal as something that makes perfect sense “for a franchise long trapped in self-parody”.
David Roth poked fun at the Mets’ dysfunction as only he can. (Paywall Alert)
Tim Healey wondered how fans coming to Tuesday’s game would react in the wake of the Thumbs Down.
Howie Rose announced that he has been dealing with a personal medical issue that will require surgery. The voice of the Mets on WCBS 880 will take a leave of absence starting after Wednesday’s game against the Marlins.
The Mets released Zack Godley.
Around the National League East
The Braves fell to the Dodgers 5-3.
The Phillies topped the Nationals 7-4.
The completion of today’s Marlins game against the Mets is 142 days in the making.
Around Major League Baseball
Matt Barnes of the Red Sox has hit the COVID-19 IL, becoming the fourth member of Boston’s roster to go join that list.
The Yankees have placed pitcher Zack Britton on the 60-Day IL. He will need bone chips removed from his elbow.
The Giants claimed pitcher José Quintana off waivers.
San Francisco will need all the pitching they can get, as they had to place Alex Wood and Johnny Cueto on the COVID-19 IL ahead of their upcoming starts. It sounds like Wood is especially feeling pretty bad following the positive test.
Cole Hamels, whose season ended before he could throw a pitch for the Dodgers, said he does not plan to retire and wants to pitch again in the big leagues.
Catcher Salvador Perez of the Royals and second baseman of the Cardinals have been chosen AL and NL players of the week, respectively.
Wilson Ramos has suffered a torn ACL and a sprained MCL.
FiveThirtyEight examined some of the best, the worst, and the weirdest stats from this season.
The Cardinals defeated the Reds 3-1.
The Padres climbed back to within a half-game in the Wild Card Standings with a 7-5 win over the Diamondbacks.
The Brewers beat the Giants 3-1.
The Tigers held on to beat the Twins 3-2.
The Blue Jays won 7-3 against the Orioles.
The Rays topped the Boston Red Sox 6-1.
Behind Shohei Ohtani’s league-leading 42nd home run, the Angels defeated the Yankees 8-7.
The Rangers held off the Rockies 4-3.
The Astros scored two in the eighth to come back and beat the Mariners 4-3.
Yesterday at Amazin’ Avenue
Episode 131 of From Complex to Queens went live for your listening pleasure!
This Date in Mets History
The Mets fell 1-0 to the Phillies on this date in 2002. The loss capped off a month in which the Mets won just 6 out of their 26 games. During that particular August, the club lost all 13 of their games at Shea Stadium. The loss led GM Steve Phillips to proclaim, “I have no theory, it’s just one of those things.”