New York Mets announcer Ron Darling couldn't stomach what he saw from Oakland Athletics pitcher Joey Estes in the two teams' latest meeting, and he called out the opposing pitcher for his poor sportsmanship on live television. After Mets third baseman Mark Vientos' line drive went past the Athletics' third baseman Darell Hernaiz's glove, Estes berated the young infielder in the bottom of the second inning of the Mets' 9-1 win over the Athletics on Wednesday night.
Estes' attitude struck a nerve with the former MLB pitcher Darling, who played 13 seasons with the Mets and the Athletics before working for SNY as a Mets TV commentator.
“One thing I cannot stand as a player, and I can't stand it in the booth, is one showing up your infielders,” Darling said via SNY's X, formerly known as Twitter, post. “Everyone is trying to make the play [there's] not one person in the history of the game that tried to make an error. And two, when you give up a shot like that, and it gets by, you should never have that reaction. And you should never rebuff him when coming into the dugout. You give him a slap on the fanny and say, ‘Hey, good try, we'll get them.'”
MLB fans praise Ron Darling's criticizing Athletics' Joey Estes
For many baseball fans, watching Darling defend Hernaiz reminded them why the Mets announcer is one of the best in the MLB, as users flooded the above video's comment section praising the former pitcher.
Darling, while still leaning into Estes for his poor attitude during the top of the third inning, took time to point out how Estes walked past Hernaiz in the Athletics' dugout and gave him the cold shoulder in between innings. For Darling, this was a missed opportunity for Estes to apologize to his Oakland teammate, considering Estes' visible response to the infielder's error was on live TV.
“Just say, ‘Hey, listen, I lost my mind out there,' whatever because everything is seen now. As we know, we're part of the problem,” Darling said. “But, when you come on the bench, part of being a good teammate as a pitcher is making sure you're on their side, they're on your side, and we're trying to battle together. This is not me against them. It's us against them. Drives me coo-coo.”
As Darling pointed out, perhaps this is a very teachable moment for Athletics manager Mark Kotsay and his staff.
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