Washington Nationals star outfielder Bryce Harper isn’t happy with Nationals fans apparently leaving during Monday’s 8-5 loss to the New York Mets.
When asked what he thought of the atmosphere at Nationals Park, Harper responded (as reported by Eddie Matz of ESPN), “They left in the seventh, so you know, that’s pretty brutal.”
Monday’s game had huge implications for both teams. The Nationals entered the day trailing the Mets by four games in the NL East, and began a big three-game series with their division rivals. With Max Scherzer on the mound, the Nationals held a 5-3 lead until the Mets blew the door open in a three-run seventh inning — when Harper says all the Nats fans left — leading to a victory and an all-important five-game lead in the division.
Harper isn’t the first Nationals player to voice his displeasure with the D.C. fans. As Matz noted, vocal closer Jonathan Papelbon called out the fanbase following the club’s 5-2 win over Atlanta on Friday.
“I got a little bone to pick with fans,” said Papelbon, who pitched two innings and was credited with the win on Friday. “I saw a few of ’em sitting down. We need to stand up in those situations. ‘Cuz this is playoff baseball.”
Whether true or not, it’s not a good look by either player — especially Harper, who’s the face of the franchise — to be calling out fans in the midst of a disappointing season. The Nationals were pegged as World Series favorites by many pundits entering the season, and with the club trailing the Mets by five games, their chances of making the playoffs becomes more and more slim each day.
I’ll leave you with a chart by Neil Greenberg of the Washington Post on the Nationals’ chances of winning Monday, with his own edit, showing how it was not all that bizarre for Nats fans to leave.
I think I got it. pic.twitter.com/W17CR4HCee
— Neil Greenberg (@ngreenberg) September 7, 2015
