Noah Syndergaard beat Indians on mound, then owned them on Twitter
After shutting them down on the mound Thursday night, Noah Syndergaard followed up by owning the Cleveland Indians on Twitter.
The New York Mets completed a three-game sweep of the Cleveland Indians on Thursday night, with Noah Syndergaard carrying a perfect game into the sixth inning and allowing just two hits over those six shutout frames in a rain interrupted and abbreviated game that was called after eight innings. Both teams have had surges into playoff contention, and seem poised to stay there as September approaches.
The Mets are nine games back in the NL East, so winning the division is not happening. But they are just 1.5 games back of the second Wild Card entering Friday’s action, and a legit playoff contender until further notice.
The Indians were three games back of the Minnesota Twins in the AL Central going into Thursday night’s game, and they are in the thick of the Wild Card race besides that. In an attempt to re-rally the fan base, the team’s preview tweet for the finale against the Mets took a hopeful tone.
It's a long season.
— Cleveland Guardians (@CleGuardians) August 22, 2019
We didn't erase an 11.5-game deficit to roll over. We split a series with one of the best teams in MLB at their home ballpark. We lost the last 2 to a fringe postseason team.
We understand your frustration.
Get it out here, but let's renew the perspective. pic.twitter.com/qddlITqsjZ
It can be assumed someone alerted Syndergaard to the Indians’ pre-game tweet, and a couple of words that were not especially complementary to the Mets. He easily went into full Thor mode and dropped the hammer.
We got some FRINGE for you right here, we call it a SWEEP in NYC. #LFGMhttps://t.co/d2OtJLujaz
— Noah Syndergaard (@Noahsyndergaard) August 23, 2019
Whoever runs the Indians’ Twitter account, however harmlessly and buried in the middle of a long message, referred to the Mets as a “fringe postseason team.” Marcus Stroman backed Syndergaard’s dismissal of the Mets as “fringe.”
https://twitter.com/MStrooo6/status/1164762071554121730?s=20
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The Mets have the best record in baseball since the All-Star break (26-10). Syndergaard has been a driving force during that run, with a 1.82 ERA, a .207 opponent’s batting average and a 55:12 K/BB ratio since July 13 (eight starts-54.1 innings). So after beating their hitters as he has done regularly to everyone lately, Syndergaard jumped on the opportunity to own the Indians on Twitter too.