Many Mets fans would echo the sentiment that in the midst of the team’s freefall out of the playoff race, a prevailing bright spot remains in the acclaimed broadcast team of Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez.
During game one of Tuesday’s doubleheader against the Marlins, Cohen again gave some valued perspective, this time when it comes to the team’s discourse with its fans amid the “thumbs down” controversy.
Javier Baez, Francisco Lindor, and Kevin Pillar were seeing flashing a thumbs down gesture during Sunday’s game against the Nationals, and Baez later told reporters that the gesture was a response to fans booing the team during their horrid second half of the season, with Baez saying that it was their way of booing the fans back when the team had success.
Baez and Lindor both issued apologies before Tuesday’s game, walking back Baez’s explanation of the thumbs down a bit by saying that it was more geared toward the Mets dugout, and not directly at the fans. Either way, the team clearly hears the booing, is clearly aware and affected by it and didn’t do themselves any favors in getting back in the fanbase’s good graces.
Cohen weighed in on the controversy during Tuesday’s broadcast on SNY.
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“You’ve got players who have been nurtured very differently than players from previous generations, and probably mostly for the good, right?” Cohen said. “Coaches don’t yell, coaches don’t berate, managers don’t flip over the food table. Players are handled much more positively. Their goal is to raise their self-esteem, and in almost every fashion, that’s a good thing.”
Cohen continued to explain how the more modern treatment of players can also come with a catch, which we may be seeing when it comes to the Mets.
“To a certain extent, it also leaves the players perhaps less prepared for the negativity that exists in society, and the negativity that gets expressed now with more vitriol than ever on social media,” Cohen said. “I think that sometimes it could be hard for a player today to separate the ‘nastiness’ that comes your way on social media from the more measured criticism that comes your way from media or fans.”
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The Mets have certain heard a lot both on social media and from in the stands at Citi Field, particularly Lindor, who has been booed for much of the season due to a prolonged slump following a record-breaking contract extension. Fans are much more susceptible to criticism off the field nowadays because of the fan/player interactions on Twitter, and the angry Mets fans certainly made their voices heard after Sunday’s “thumbs down” movement.
“I think it becomes really easy at a certain point for, in a group dynamic, that clubhouse to look at the situation as ‘It’s us against the world, and all those other people out there - whether it’s the vitriol on Twitter or whether it’s the measured criticism of the media or the fans - is all people who hate us, and all we have is us.’ And I think that is part of how we got here.”
Follow Ryan Chichester on Twitter: @ryanchichester1
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