The circus of the damned continues in Flushing, Queens, but it will go on without deposed hitting coach Dave Hudgens and ex-closer Jose Valverde, who were both dismissed after a disheartening Memorial Day loss.
On his way out, Hudgens blamed the relatively small number of fans who still come to the games for the Mets’ struggles at home.
“I think the fans are really tough on the guys at home. How can you boo Curtis Granderson? They have no idea how hard this guy works and how he goes about doing his business, doing his job. He gets off to a slow start and they’re booing him? Come on,” Hudgens told MLB.com “It’s tougher at home to play than it is on the road, there’s no doubt about it. And they’re trying really hard at home.”
I don’t advocate booing your own players unless they show a clear lack of effort or otherwise disrespect the fans, but Hudgens sounds clueless. How can you boo Curtis Granderson? Well, he made an awful first impression. In 25 games in April, Granderson had a .136 / .252 / .216 slash line with one home run and seven RBI. And you can’t expect fans to look at his track record without remembering that Granderson used to be a New York Yankee and played a lot better for the Mets’ crosstown neighbors.
It’s wonderful that the Mets players are “trying really hard” at home, but in the real world, effort is only rewarded in relation to the tangible results that are produced by it. The results in May have not been pretty: 17 losses and just 7 wins.
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