Cleveland Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams took a no-hitter into the ninth inning against the New York Mets on Wednesday, until Juan Soto broke up the bid with a solo home run with one out. Williams was removed from the game after 8 2/3 innings and 126 pitches thrown, and he received a standing ovation from the crowd at Citi Field as he exited.
WFAN radio host Evan Roberts didn’t appreciate Mets fans giving a standing ovation for an opponent’s pitcher nearly no-hitting the New York offense, and he went off about it during Thursday’s edition of Evan & Tiki.
“Here is what really pissed me off,” Roberts said. “And it’s almost been 24 hours, and I’ve gotta get over it, but I’m still angry at my fellow Met fans. That’s right. I’m angry at my fellow Met fans. When Gavin Williams, the pitcher for the Guardians, gave up the home run to Soto, stayed in the game, issued a walk, got an out, and was pulled, okay, with two outs in the ninth, he got a standing ovation from Met fans.”
Co-host Tiki Barber asked, “What’s wrong with that?”
Roberts responded, “What’s right with that, Tik?”
Barber explained why he felt it was fine for Mets fans to acknowledge and applaud a terrific effort from Williams, and the back-and-forth continued before Roberts referred to such fans as “losers.”
“This is nothing personal to Gavin Williams or anybody else,” Roberts said. “But if you’re in that building and you’re a Met fan, you’re appreciating his greatness?! Since when do we do that?! Since when do we say, “Oh, you know, that Derek Jeter! He kicked the Mets’ ass! Let’s give him a standing ovation!’ What kind of losers are we that we’re cheering the opponent?!”
“I was sitting in section 122, which was field level, last row,” Roberts added. “It’s my go-to when I don’t have my tickets. I didn’t have my tickets yesterday. And so, why I describe it is everyone was in front of me. I was in the last row of a section. So, I got to see the rise of asses and people as Gavin was coming out of the game! And I’m so annoyed; I turn to my wife to complain about it, and what is my wife doing?!”
“She’s standing and cheering,” Barber answered.
Roberts responded, “Yes!”
“Of course, because she appreciates it,” Barber said.
Roberts later added, “You can appreciate it without cheering an opponent in your own building!”
If the Mets weren’t 1-8 over their last nine games, perhaps Roberts wouldn’t bother bringing up such a trivial matter, but frustration can boil over after a very rough stretch of baseball from a title-hopeful team. It’s been a very normal occurrence for fans around MLB to applaud no-hit bids from the opposition. That’s far from just a Citi Field or Mets fan thing; it’s simply baseball fans tipping their caps to a special baseball performance.
You can see the full conversation from Evan & Tiki about Mets fans giving Gavin Williams a standing ovation here:
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.