Joe La Rocca, young Mets fan, has catch with Nationals’ Max Scherzer
Mets fans may have a natural disdain for the division rival Nationals, but one Mets fan now has a lifetime memory, thanks to Max Scherzer.
The Nationals righthander took some time out of his warm-up routine before Wednesday night’s game at Citi Field to play catch with a young Mets fan in the stands.
Joe La Rocca, a Mets fan from Brooklyn, posted the video of his 11-year-old son, also named Joe, playing catch with Scherzer from the lefttfield stands. At the end of the video, which the elder La Rocca posted to his Twitter account Thursday morning, the younger Joe La Rocca calls the moment “amazing” and says “I’m not giving this ball away. There’s no way.”
Scherzer had pitched in Tuesday night’s series opener, allowing two runs and striking out 10 in 6 1/3 innings as the Mets won a 2-0 pitchers’ duel. In his previous start, he became the fourth pitcher in MLB history to strike out 20 batters in a game.
The elder La Rocca, 50, told Newsday that he and his son go to about 20 Mets games per season. They plan on going to Sunday’s game against the Brewers.
Said the elder La Rocca of young Joe’s newfound Internet fame: “I may need to get my son some glasses and a mustache.”