Baseball has long shown an intolerance to players enjoying themselves or showing personality, so I must say that I appreciate what Reds outfielder Jesse Winker has done the past few days in New York.
Winker, who hit a go-ahead home run in Monday’s win against the Mets, had spent the series taunting Mets fans by waving goodnight to the crowd.
He did it after Monday’s game.
He did it after he sealed Wednesday’s win with a nifty, sliding catch.
But on Thursday, Mets fans finally got the chance at revenge that they had been waiting for. Winker was ejected in the ninth inning for arguing balls and strikes. The Reds outfielder went 0 for 4 on the day with three strikeouts. But keep an eye on the crowd as he made his way to the clubhouse.
The entire crowd was waving goodbye. That’s some solid awareness from Mets fans to be that well-versed on the drama from an April series with the Reds. This wasn’t Yasiel Puig or Joey Votto — nope. Jesse Winker was the one who managed to have all of Citi Field rooting against him.
Let’s be fair to Winker, though. He had a definite case to be mad about the strike call (robot umps, please).
I don’t think that mattered to Mets fans. They got the revenge they wanted. The Mets would also win, 1-0.
