Photo: USA Today Sports
It took 18 games and nine home games for Mets fans to finally boo Francisco Lindor.
It happened in the eighth inning of a Mets’ 2-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox on Tuesday night at Citi Field. The Mets offseason centerpiece acquisition grounded out to Red Sox reliever Matt Andriese for the second out of the game. Eventually, the Mets went down meekly in that inning. They could not muster anything going offensively from the seventh inning as the Red Sox retired the final 10 Mets batters in a row.
Instead of creating his first Met moment in the eighth inning, he serves as an example of everything that’s wrong with this Mets offense in April. He plays an important part of the Mets being last in the majors in batting with runners in scoring position (.193) and runs per game (3.0). In 79 plate appearances, he is hitting .212 with two extra-base hits, three RBIs, one home run and eight strikeouts to show for it.
The Mets are not just booing Lindor for his own subpar play, but they might as well boo the entire team in the process by booing him. This offense continues to scuffle, which is why the Mets are a .500 team at 9-9.
Yes, it’s April. The pitchers are ahead of the hitters in getting their timing. Hitters don’t get much game action in spring training, so it takes two months for them to hit the stride. Plus, hitters normally peak when the warmer gets warmer which aids in more home runs. There’s that along with the fact Lindor is adjusting to hitting in a new league and a ballpark that can psyche hitters out at Citi Field.
Still, hitters need to find a way to get on base and get their fair share of hits. Lindor needs to find a way to beat the shift. He hasn’t done any of that.
In the eighth inning, it was disturbing to see poor at-bats all around by the Mets shortstop. He did not foul pitches off. He was anxious at the plate to create something. He looked like a rookie in a big moment.
In his first two at-bats, he hit the ball towards the infield for outs.
There are games he can’t even make contact at the plate.
We can come up with theories as to why Lindor is struggling. Mets manager Luis Rojas can talk all he wants about Lindor ready to break out, even though what else he can say.
In the end, Mets fans don’t want to hear it when the team is struggling to score runs and waste good pitching performances, especially when Jacob deGrom is starting. If the Mets were scoring runs and winning series after series rather than playing like a middling team, Lindor would have received a grace period at least until Memorial Day.
It shouldn’t be surprising Mets fans booed Lindor this early despite signing his 10-year, $431 million extension. They are more frustrated about the team not scoring runs than his poor production. Plus with the team being a .500 team, they know the Mets can be in last place soon if this offense doesn’t turn it around.
If anything, the fans want to see a sense of urgency not only from Lindor, but from everyone in the Mets lineup. They don’t want to hear it’s April. Who can blame them? By falling behind in April, playing catchup most of the season can catch up to the Mets in the end.
The Mets fans are not stupid. They know the best route for the Mets to make the playoffs is winning the NL East. It may be hard to win a wild-card spot. The runner-up of the NL West division likely wins one wild-card, so the Mets will have to compete with so many teams for that one more wild-card spot, which won’t be easy. By playing like this in April, this isn’t going to cut it.
That’s why fans share their frustration at the game Tuesday night. The fans want players to share it, too rather than them coming up with a cliche it will turn around soon.
Lindor could use a big game for his own peace of mind along with the fans. He can start tonight with deGrom starting for the Mets. He also can use the weekend in a home-run-friendly Citizens Bank Park to get himself going.
If he has another game like Tuesday night at home moving forward, he should get used to more boos from the patrons that pay their hard-earned money to go to the games.
This also goes with the rest of his teammates in the everyday lineup, too.
