Max Scherzer threw catcher James McCann under the bus after Yankees loss

The New York Yankees topped the crosstown-rival Mets on Monday night, winning their second straight extremely improbable game. Staring down the barrel of Alek Manoah/Max Scherzer/Jacob deGrom in three straight massive contests following a three-game losing streak, the Yanks took the first two and watched the Mets remove their ace from the third start, replacing him with fellow stud Taijuan Walker.

But don’t try to blame Scherzer for losing the second game of that slate. Sadly, it was all catcher James McCann’s fault. Damn that McCann for his one fatal catching mistake, as well as his bizarre decision to put on Scherzer’s jersey and throw all his pitches!

In the postgame, instead of keeping their business secret, Scherzer went right to the media and detailed an instance where he and McCann had a miscommunication, resulting in a mid-windup adjustment.

According to Scherzer, the two-run home run he nearly allowed to Aaron Judge in the fifth came because McCann moved his glove high when he was readying himself to throw a low fastball.

That fly ball was caught by Starling Marte, of course, but that didn’t stop Scherzer from making it known that he and McCann had hit a bump in the road. Think Tomas Nido’s going to be behind the plate for Scherzer’s next start, or no?

https://twitter.com/FrankiesTwoLoud/status/1561927541388107777

Mets’ Max Scherzer threw James McCann under bus after losing to Yankees

Not to play the, “What if This Thing Was Something Else?” Game, but … what if this were Gerrit Cole making a statement about Gary Sánchez, Kyle Higashioka, or fill-in Rob Brantly? What if this were the Yankees’ ace, who’s become well-known for placing the blame on external forces like Billy Crystal rather than himself?

Instead, this quote came from the ultimate bulldog competitor Max Scherzer, who just takes the ball and SHOVES every five days. His life is EASY. He will DESTROY you. He’s … thrown off completely by his catcher making motions and it’s totally cool to pin a tough start on that, got it.

As Anthony Rizzo once said to Francisco Lindor…

McCann is hitting .181 this season with a 44 OPS+, cementing himself as one of the biggest free agent busts in recent Mets history, despite the overall success of the team as a whole.

Scherzer took full responsibility for some of his other mistakes (eg, the cutter he left up to Andrew Benintendi), but his decision to single out McCann here for a play that resulted in an out/could’ve been kept hush-hush forever would’ve been more highly scrutinized if the Yankees’ ace had been the one laying the blame on his battery mate.

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