The New York Mets have been among the teams in MLB hit by the most pitches this season, and another hit-by-pitch during Friday’s 9-6 loss to the Atlanta Braves provided an opportunity for the Mets broadcast to break out a new special effect.
With the Braves up 8-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning and one out, Atlanta starter Ian Anderson threw a pitch that just missed hitting Pete Alonso in the face. After Alonso got up from the ground, the SNY broadcast switched to a close-up of Mets manager Buck Showalter glaring out from the dugout.
While Showalter was on camera, the screen went red and slowly zoomed in on the manager’s face as the infamous Ironside Siren sound from the movies “Kill Bill: Vol. 1” and “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” played for close to 10 seconds. The siren was sampled from the intro to Quincy Jones’ theme song for the 1967 film “Ironside.”
In the two “Kill Bill” movies, the siren is played whenever Uma Thurman’s character, “the Bride,” sees someone who has wronged her. The siren indicates that there will be trouble ahead.
Thurman’s character would takes matters into her own hands in a violent manner, but Showalter and the Mets have not often retaliated.
SNY may have been playing off of Showalter’s probable frustration with the number of his players who have been hit this season. The Mets led the majors entering Friday with 70 hit-by-pitches, five more than the second-place Cincinnati Reds.
While Alonso was fortunate that the ball just missed him on Friday, he was hit in the face during Opening Day on April 7 against the Washington Nationals. The following day, Mets shortstop Fransisco Lindor was also hit in the face. That scary hit-by-pitch resulted in a wild brawl.
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