The worst Royals fans can say above the Mets dugout: It’s not that bad

OK, Royals fans, cover your children’s ears because here comes the trash talk.

Kansas City World Series style. Caustic castigation, harsh words straight from the malicious mouths of the brood in sections 121 and 122, only feet from the entire New York Mets team, just above their dugout.

This is enemy territory. All is fair in hate and baseball war, yes?

Second inning. Mets outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, who is partial to neon green jewelry, hits a flare to the short stop. Quick out.

That’s when one of the ruffians in Section 121 rises to his feet, cups his hands to his mouth, and let his ugly words fly.

“Like the neon green jewelry,” he shouts, and then with emphasis, “Loser!”

Nearby, fan Kristen Yates, 35, of Overland Park, hears the insult and is so unimpressed she all but sighs.

“We’re not very creative,” she concedes.

Hard to know what the Mets players think. Mets fans said that while Royals fans may roar, their insults are meows compared to what the Royals players are likely to face when they head to New York and Citi Field for Game 3 of the 2015 World Series on Friday.

Don’t get them wrong. Mets fans not only are impressed, they’re also appreciative.

“These fans. Fantastic,” said Steve Trost, 62, a Mets fans since childhood in Flushing, Queens. “Never been treated better in any opposing stadium in my life.”

Trost said he had been rooting for the Toronto Blue Jays to win the American League Champion Series only because it was a shorter airplane flight from New York.

“But I was worried about those fans when they threw the beer,” he said. “Kansas City, completely opposite experience.”

None of which is a surprise to Kansas Citians, who take a kind of pride in the city’s reputation for kindness. “Midwest,” Diann Hurt, 68, offered in explanation, and who, in Game 2, had already befriended the Mets fan seated in a single seat next to her.

“Last week, we were sharing popcorn with the guy from Toronto,” said Hurt, of Overland Park.

Tom Allessandrello, 50, had come from New Jersey. During Game 1, the Kansas Citians seated next to him not only didn’t shun him, they gave him a list of restaurant recommendations.

He seemed half-ashamed to concede what the Royals players will face from Mets fans above their dugout at Citi Field.

“They’re not going to be well liked,” he said. “They’ll be booed. There will be obscenities. Name-calling. It’s definitely totally different.”

Local fan David Block, 62, seated in seat 1, first row right behind the Mets’ dugout, said he can’t recall any trash talk of significance.

“We really do try to do as much as we can to make them feel comfortable ... as long as they’re losing,” he said.

Yates does remember one instance when the talk got particularly trashy, when a fan starting making fun of an opposing player’s, well, private parts.

“Bad,” Yates said, “it was bad.”

The fan quickly got tossed out, she said. As he left, they heard him say he had just been released from prison.

“We thought, probably too soon,” Yates said.

This story was originally published October 28, 2015 at 9:40 PM with the headline "The worst Royals fans can say above the Mets dugout: It’s not that bad."