Willie Speaks Out Against Met Fans
In today’s New York Post, Mets manager Willie Randolph is quoted as saying that the Mets play better on the road, where they can avoid the wrath of the Shea faithful.
Willie Randolph doesn’t think it was an accident that the Mets
looked so relaxed while taking two of three from the Diamondbacks in Arizona over the weekend.
Randolph admitted yesterday that the constant negativity from the fans at Shea Stadium so far this year - an obvious carryover from last September’s epic collapse - has turned the road into a welcome refuge.
“In our mind, we moved on,” Randolph said of last season’s historic meltdown. “Obviously, the fans are having a tough time moving past that.”
Met players and officials were struck by how supportive and mild-mannered the fans were in Arizona, even when the hometown Diamondbacks struggled. It was a far cry from Shea in April, when even 2-1 counts on opposing hitters drew boos.
This is a tough thing, because their are valid arguments in favor of both the fans and the team. Being born and raised in New York, I believe that it’s every fans God-given right to boo whenever they want. There is obviously still a huge carryover from last year’s collapse, especially in the eyes of the fans. The fans are still angry at this team for their historic meltdown, and they are letting them know it by booing. However, while I believe that fans can boo at any time, that does not mean that they should boo. I went to a lot of Yankee games in April 2005, the first season after our unfortunate series of events the previous October. The fans were very supportive of the team, and if anything they cheered for the Yankees more than they had before October 2004.
I’ll admit that I don’t watch many Met games. I watch the Yankees just about every night, and that doesn’t leave me much time to watch the Mets, so I can’t really comment on the extent of the booing at Shea. But what I do know is this: The fans booed Johan Santana after his first start at home, a game in which he wasn’t spectacular but was far from bad. (His final line was 6.2 innings pitched, 6 hits, 5 runs, 4 earned runs, 2 walks and 7 strikeouts.) Like I said, not great but not Lima-esque. Booing that kind of performance is way out of line, especially when weeks earlier he was hailed as the savior of the franchise and this was his first start at Shea. And if Willie Randolph (who has a long history and good understanding of baseball and fans in New York) feels that it’s necessary to comment on the negative impact the fans have had on his team, then the booing must be out of line.
Happy Birthday to Sigmund Freud, Toots Shor, Orson Welles, Willie Mays, Bob Seger, Tony Blair, John Abraham and Chris Paul
Filed under: MLB - Mets, Writer - Bill Slattery
Willie has legitimate beef with the Met fans. The best part is, half the time they don’t even know what they are booing about. It’s one thing to voice displeasure over what happened last year. It is also one thing to boo a reliever who consistently doesn’t get the job done, like Scott Schowenweis last year. But to boo an Aaron Heilman right before he is about to go on the mound, must really have a terrible effect on the guy’s psyche right before he is about to pitch. I don’t know if this is a product of past demons as well, such as Armando Benitez. I love what I saw when David Wright told Delgado to stay in the dugout after his two home run day. It is either feast or famine.
Your point about the Yankee fans rallying around the Pinstripes after the 2004 debacle is quite interesting. If anything, I always felt that Yankee fans were worse then Met fans, and would really beat up the team after such a letdown. To see them step up like that shows a lot to me.
As much as it hurt all of the fans last year to see the Mets collapse the way they did, imagine what it felt like for the players. There really is no reason to dwell on the past anymore. Shea is supposed to be where these players are drawing energy from to beat up on opponents, not a whipping ground for past mistakes. The point is Met fans, pick your spots to boo.
Nothing like hearing from a Yankee fan about the Met fans. Mr. Chiavetta was better writing the blog. Least he is a Met fan.
Angel, Your comments never cease to amaze me. I’m sure you’re one of the fans Willie Randolph was talking about.
This just in: today is May 7th and we’re 31 games into the season so the big question remains, WHY ARE YOU BOOING? Atleast wait for the annual September Collapse to start booing.