There are just some moments in sports that result in pure karmic perfection. On Thursday night Pete Alonso of the Mets was on the right side of that cosmic energy.
Everything looked bleak for New York’s season. Down 2-0 in the 8th inning of their Wild Card game against the Brewers, with seemingly nothing going their way, Alonso dropped a routine popup in foul territory at the worst possible time.
It was a jaw-dropping moment that encapsulated the Mets’ night up to that point. Alonso was 0-for-3, there was no offense to speak of, and with runners on second and third it set the table for the Brewers to run away with the game. Fans near Alonso were awestruck by the botched catch, and mercilessly mocked the Mets’ player for it.
There’s just one problem with letting a player have it in the 8th inning: There’s still a 9th.
Alonso took the plate with runners on 1st and 3rd, the in-game graphic had the Brewers with an 83% chance of winning. Then this happened.
The three-run homer led to a 4-2 Mets win, and I swear after watching this clip a few dozen times it sounds a lot like a fan cries in anguish “OH MY GOD!” as soon as the ball leaves Alonso’s bat. As if it was a realization that the Mets player would have the last laugh, and there was nothing they could do about it.
Make no mistake: Alonso really relished that last laugh, directing a chef’s kiss right at the fans who laughed at him minutes earlier as he rounded the bases.
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Does this mean fans shouldn’t mock opposing players when they screw up? Absolutely not. It is an inherent responsibility of the home fan to make fun of a visiting player when they both something as easy as a routine popup. That said, if you’re going to dish it out then you better have thick enough skin to take it on the back-end.
Simply a stunning moment of sports karma.
