Atlanta Braves: Pete Alonso reminded fans why he is a total goober last night
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The rival New York Mets are not short on guys that hear a lot of boos when visiting the Atlanta Braves in Truist Park. Between Brandon Nimmo sprinting to first after a walk, Jeff McNeil fouling off a thousand pitches per AB, and Buck Showalter complaining after seemingly every pitch, the Mets offer plenty of reasons for Braves fans to roll their eyes. Last night one guy in particular had a moment go viral across social media outlets and left Braves fans everywhere in a grumpy mood.
Now before I start down this path let me just point out for any disgruntled Mets fans that may be reading this, Pete Alonso is a good baseball player. I’ll dive more into that momentarily, but for now just know Braves fans aren’t going to have many nice things to say about him any time soon. The viral moment mentioned occurred in the top of the third after Alonso took starter Bryce Elder deep for a 448 ft home run. However things got a bit chirpy to say the least after in the opposing dugout.
Here's Pete Alonso yelling out to Bryce Elder: pic.twitter.com/AoUfQvTm5w
— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) June 7, 2023
As we know, there certainly isn’t any love lost between these two squads. Regardless of the trash talk between rivals; this was just the latest example of how Alonso can be a bit..,cringy to put it kindly. I mean we are talking about a guy who treats the home run derby like game seven of the World Series.
Pete Alonso deadlifts in full uniform in between Home Run Derby rounds https://t.co/1Mo2bWnVym pic.twitter.com/CbBs7PhUyB
— New York Post (@nypost) July 19, 2022
That is what made what happened next even better and turned Alonso into a meme.
Pete Alonso is a worthy villain
Now without piling on here it has to be said Alonso did hit that hanging slider from Elder a very long way, so if he wants to celebrate via trash talk then so be it. But he can’t be upset when the Braves chirp back, and it was no other than the legend himself Tyler Matzek that decided to let the Mets dugout hear it once momentum swung back into the Braves dugout.
The response from @TylerMatzek. pic.twitter.com/JmFug9pY7n
— Bally Sports South (@BallySportsSO) June 7, 2023
Pete Alonso leads all of baseball in home runs. He is a very feared hitter in this league and this post isn’t at all a suggestion that he doesn’t obliterate baseballs. You aren’t in the 95th percentile of barrel rate by an accident. But yelling at a rookie who was leading the league in ERA entering the ballgame, and telling him to throw what has statistically been one of the better pitches in all of baseball “again” isn’t the most flattering look for Alonso.
Alonso and Lindor both homered against a slider. Opponents entered today hitting .149 (14-for-94) with three doubles and a homer against Elder's slider.
— Mark Bowman (@mlbbowman) June 7, 2023
With the way the rest of last nights ballgame played out it felt like a reminder to everyone that early trash talk to the competition can certainly come back to bite. It’s as if the baseball gods themselves decided to put the cherry on top when Braves closer Raisel Iglesias blew Alonso away with a 98 mph fastball to start off the ninth. What followed was a look of pure defeat on Alonso’s face and enough memes on Braves Twitter to remind us why we love rivalries in sports.
Below are some of our favorites.
✅ Request submitted
— Bally Sports: Braves (@BravesOnBally) June 7, 2023
✅ Request granted pic.twitter.com/Yn71CNkTnr
Drew Smith gives up tying run on slider...
— Baseball Doesn't Exist (@BaseballDoesnt) June 7, 2023
Tyler Matzek tells him to "THROW IT AGAIN"
2 minutes later he actually listens, throws it again and gives up the lead... pic.twitter.com/qjVIwGzIrh
Me, a Braves fan, watching Carlos Carrasco in the 6th inning
— Trent (@Trenciarte) June 7, 2023
pic.twitter.com/L4lOGzM73T
legend has it Jeff McNeil is still out there trying to pick up that ball
— Stephen (@b_outliers) June 7, 2023
Have a feeling that “Throw it again” is gonna become a Braves thing more than a Mets thing now after that L.
— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) June 7, 2023
Throw it again 😎#ForTheA pic.twitter.com/t9Yjz1CvvJ
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 7, 2023
In the end, it was a 6-4 victory for the good guys, but don’t think Alonso and the Mets won’t come out geared up tomorrow. This certainly has the feel of a series that will have a ton of fireworks.