From JOEL SHERMAN
Good for Carlos Delgado. Take the ballplayer out of this. Imagine being roundly criticized over and over again in the most public forum for poor work results. Then imagine having a particularly good day of work.
Would you then publicly acknowledge in gratitude the same people who had been razzing you who were now — momentarily and almost certainly temporarily — cheering you? Not a chance.
So why are we holding Delgado to a higher standard just because he is an athlete. The mere announcement of Delgado’s name with the lineups has been bringing boos at home. He was booed walking to the plate Sunday before his first homer.
I think there is a pathology now in place at Shea where large swaths of the crowd are so miserable that it irrationally takes the smallest incident — a 2-0 count on the first hitter of the game — to trigger verbal disenchantment. I understand from talking to Met fans that — as a group — there is a lot of frustration.
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