Same stadium, different night, somewhat different response to a drug-cheat. A contrite Guillermo Mota, returning from his 50 game drug suspension expected boos from the Shea faithful. Unlike Barry Bonds, who the night before suffered frequent jeers, Mota returned to an indifferent crowd of scattered boos and cheered. Later he was heartily cheered as he pitched well against Bond's Giants in his first relief appearance. Story with the NY News:
When the bullpen door opened last night, Guillermo Mota was nervous. Making his season debut after serving a 50-game steroid suspension, Mota expected to be booed.
"But I wanted to go into the game," said Mota. "I wanted to see how the fans reacted. It was pretty good. I expected more (boos). It was 50-50. So it was pretty good."
Mota ran in from the bullpen in the top of the eighth inning to some half-hearted boos, a few cheers and loud music from the Mets' PA system. The crowd of 41,395 that had loudly and passionately booed Barry Bonds was largely indifferent to Mota in last night's 3-0 Mets loss.
The crowd turned friendly as Mota pitched well in his first appearance in over 8 months:
That is, until Mota quickly retired Bengie Molina and Pedro Feliz and began to win the fans back. The crowd's approval continued to grow even after right fielder Carlos Gomez stumbled on a Daniel Ortmeier short fly and it dropped in for a single. The crowd cheered when Mota got Omar Vizquel to pop out to right field.
Mota and Bonds, both used anabolics to cheat; interesting difference in crowd reaction, albeit one stadium over two nights.
Right or wrong, America forgives cheaters and sinners, who show appropriate contriteness and humility. Lesson learned by Mota. Lesson apparently never learned by Bonds.
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