WASHINGTON — Nationals’ shortstop Ian Desmond called out Mets fans — or an apparent lack thereof — for their turnout at Citi Field on Friday.
Perhaps looking to ignite the rivalry among fans for the three-game weekend series, Desmond told reporters after the Mets’ 2-1 win: “This is no knock on Mets fans, but at home this is a sold-out crowd going crazy. They weren’t quite sold-out here tonight. Maybe tomorrow when they get [Yoenis Cespedes]. We love our fans back home, so I hope they’re ready to get loud like that for us.”
To be clear, 36,164 raucous fans witnessed Matt Harvey face Gio Gonzalez on Friday, according to Baseball-Reference*, which is 86 percent of Citi Field’s listed capacity (41,800). The next day, 42,996 fans packed the park to see Jacob deGrom throw against Joe Ross as Cespedes made his debut in the Mets’ lineup.
Here’s what Nats’ right fielder Jayson Werth had to say about Saturday’s sell-out crowd (via Adam Rubin):
“I think it’s great,” said Nats left fielder Jayson Werth, who last had battled the Mets for first place as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. “It’s been a long time since we’ve come to play the Mets and had a packed stadium. It’s good for baseball. It makes it fun. It’s fun playing in games like this. Fans are into it. There’s a bunch of people there.
“I don’t think it adds any pressure or anything like that. It just makes for an exciting night of baseball and a good atmosphere. We welcome the challenge.”
On Sunday, 35,374 fans watched the Mets complete their series sweep of the Nats on national television, giving Citi Field an average attendance of 38,178 (114,534 total) for the weekend. That weekend average, by the way, is greater than the 33,967 average attendance at Nationals Park this season (8th in the league). Although, the Nats are averaging more fans than the Mets’ (30,253) on the year (16th).
This is not the first time Desmond has been critical of fan turnout. In 2012, he took a swipe at Nats fans after Nationals Park had averaged 19,535 fans for a mid-week three-game series against Arizona. Entering that series, the Nationals were coming off a four-game losing streak, but a Braves loss the day before had given them back sole possession of the division lead by a half-game.
“I absolutely thought we’d see more [fans] this week,” Desmond said in May 2012. “I thought when we were in first place, playing great baseball early on, they’d start coming out. I thought after the offseason acquisitions that people would start coming out. It’s obviously something we have to work on as an organization. We’ve got to play better as players and continue to show them it’s not a fluke.”
In a strange bit of coincidence, those comments came in the same season the Nationals overtook the NL East for the first time. After their 5-2 loss on Sunday, the Nationals now share the division lead with the Mets.
[Follow: @ChrisLingebach | @1067TheFanDC]
*All figures according to ESPN.com unless otherwise noted.
