Daniel Murphy prepares to throw out the first pitch at NLDS Game 4 as the Mets hope no one googles his comments about gay people. | Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Welcome back to Talkin’ Gaysball where I disagree with anyone who still calls being gay a “lifestyle.”

Oh, New York Mets.

They were so close to being an LGBTQ feelgood story this season.

When they changed their Twitter avatar to a rainbow logo for Pride Month, their online followers rechristened them “The Gay Mets” and reposted it after every win as the Amazin’s climbed out of the Marlin-infested abyss of the NL East.

Then they invited genderqueer fast food icon Grimace to throw out a first pitch and immediately launched a seven-game winning streak. 

Inspired by their team’s return to relevance, the fans embraced Grimace as an unofficial Mets mascot one year after Grimace inspired McDonald’s to introduce a purple birthday shake. And if there’s one thing Kelis taught us about milkshakes, it’s that they bring all the boys to the yard.

In other words, the Mets had fully embraced their gay selves and the team responded, putting up the best record in MLB since June 1.

Everything was right there for gay baseball fans to embrace the team from Queens and await the Sophie Ellis-Bextor remix of “Meet the Mets.” 

And as the playoffs got underway and ratcheted up their fanbase’s emotions, Citi Field turned into something of a McDonaldland Steamworks…

Let the Grimaces kiss!

But then just before their crowning moment of triumph in NLDS Game 4 eliminated the Slutty Phillies, the Mets decided to do this…

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That’s former Met Daniel Murphy throwing out the first pitch. He won the 2015 NLCS MVP for that year’s pennant-winning Mets only seven months after listening to Billy Bean tell his story and then telling a reporter, “I disagree with his lifestyle. I disagree with the fact that Billy is a homosexual.”

This is who the Mets chose to honor before their biggest game of the season.

It’s been a while since I looked at Murphy’s words in full but just the act of typing them out again calls up a familiar mix of anger and dread that every LGBTQ person who has ever been bullied knows all too well. 

It’s that half-nausea/half-suffocating pressure feeling that sits at the bottom of your chest and won’t leave, no matter hard you try to process those emotions.

I remember that feeling from watching Murphy be celebrated by the baseball world after his NLCS hot streak defeated my Cubs in the 2015 playoffs. And even more acutely when the Cubs slapped my fandom in the face by acquiring Murphy two years later.

LGBTQ Mets fans had to feel that pain even more acutely, knowing that the team that held such a grip on their hearts would callously put them through those emotions all over again.

Honestly, I didn’t expect them to hit me when I began writing this column. But that’s the lasting impact of Murphy’s words and the fake “love the sinner, hate the sin” piousness that disguises their insidiousness for others outside of our community.

Again, that is what the Mets chose to pay tribute to on Wednesday night.

Every team has employed players at some point in their history who fall somewhere on the scale between cringe-worthy and full-on bigotry when it comes to their views of the LGBTQ community. That’s not just a Mets problem, that’s a societal plague.

But even so, the Mets knew exactly what Murphy thinks of our community and decided to honor him anyway. That’s how little thought they gave to the impact that doing so would have on LGBTQ baseball fans everywhere. 

All the marketing tricks in the world can’t make that hurt go away.

So anyway, Mets…for your NLCS first pitch, stick to fast food furries.

MLB Playoff Thirst Trap of the Week

That got a little heavy so here’s a palette cleanser.

San Diego’s Jurickson Profar has put on a defensive clinic in left field during the NLDS, robbing Mookie Betts of a home run in Game 2 and coming inches away from doing so again in Game 3.

Of course, you can be forgiven for not paying attention to his glove since leaping over the Petco Park wall also showed that Profar clearly doesn’t skip squat day at the gym…

Hey guys, the ball is up here!
Credit: Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

I don’t know what Agramont World Logistics is but I kinda wish I was its logo right now.

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