Juan Soto's horrible hustle play already inspiring uncomfortable Mets conversations

Ok, now that the dust has settled and 1,000 cacophonous things happened to embarrass the Mets and raise the Yankees' (regular season) banner on Sunday night ... what the hell was that Juan Soto plate appearance to lead off the eighth all about?

Somehow, getting completely frozen by a Max Fried curveball wasn't Soto's most embarrassing moment of the weekend. Neither was getting frozen out by his former supporters in right field. Neither was coming up short against Luke Weaver (and any number of other pitchers) when it mattered most.

No, Soto's very worst was saved for his at-bat leading off the eighth inning against Devin Williams in a 2-2 ballgame Sunday night. Soto, rarely fooled, ended up way ahead of an Airbender, taking a half-swing but still rolling it in the exact perfect spot. DJ LeMahieu turned back the sands of time, dove, held on, and threw to first ... catching Soto by a significant margin, who was late out of the box. And "late" is generous.

In the moment, Mets fans found themselves finally unable to defend their pricey acquisition after months of ignoring the obviously great player's plain faults. It's alright. We've all been there. Both of our fanbases have been there.

Juan Soto's terrible hustle play had even his cringiest trolls questioning his effort vs. Yankees

Eventually, Soto's fit will probably be fine. Almost definitely. Right? But once the score went final, panic set in for a wide swath of Mets fans dreading this week's water cooler conversations. What happened to last October's aura and energy? Was that just because of the intensity of a playoff run? No ... no ... Yankee fans were quick to point out that Soto was on a pure pinstripe high last April playing comparatively meaningless games.

So why is he so uncomfortable and caught in between? Was the weekend a too-heavy reminder of all he left behind and wrecked when he (and his family) chose the Mets? Did he finally realize that what he had in the Bronx is gone gone? Did he realize on Sunday that "tipping his cap" did nothing to endear him to the people he abandoned?

The conversation is unlikely to persist for much longer now that the Mets have left the Bronx. Soto is too good a player for his rhythm to permanently disappear. Certainly, though, even if you're not willing to go so far as to compare Soto to Jason Bay, the doubt about being Soto's second choice had to have crept in a bit during the Subway Series. Soto himself has said that the Yankees were "No. 1" all along. If true, what changed? Outside familial influence? Money? Neither of those things have anything to do with his current teammates, and neither of those things will paper over the loss of his old ones for very long.

This discomfort probably will not last. By midsummer, Soto should be shuffling and inspiring crowd-wide cheers as he punches his chest and says, "I got this." But Sunday night, he most certainly did not have it, and even his most ardent defenders were left wondering where "it" went as he took a leadoff baserunner off the board in a tie game all by himself, his disconnection poisoning the well for everyone.