After last night’s loss, the media spoke with Pete Alonso about Chris Paddack, and when he was asked specifically about what Paddack said, Alonso said he “didn’t take kindly to it.” During the post-game interview by his locker, Alonso would also take a swipe at Paddack saying,

If he was upset about it, I’m assuming he could’ve been a little jealous. I’m happy to win it and I mean, if he was mad about that, there’s five other months. Also, he said something about winning Rookie of the Year. That’d be nice but, I’m trying to win a World Series.

What should be noted was what Paddack actually had to say about Alonso. If you read what he actually said, you have to really wonder what about the comments really got to him:

He’s a great player, no doubt. Does he deserve (the Rookie of the Month honor)? Absolutely. But I’m coming for him. We’ll see Monday who the top dog is.

That’s something I’m looking forward to, for sure. And I’m not saying that in a cocky way. I’m saying that because I know what I want, just like I’m sure he knows what he wants. It’ll be a fun little matchup.

Do I wish it was me? Yeah. But the way I look at it is, do you want to be Rookie of the Month or Rookie of the Year? We’ll see, man. We’ve got a long season and I’m looking forward to Monday, competing against him.

Essentially, Alonso was bothered by Paddack calling a great player who deserved an award more than he did. He was bothered by Paddack saying he was looking forward to facing off against him and proving himself against Alonso. In the end, Alonso took issue to being challenged.

There are many ways you can take this, but it is really just odd.

From day one, Alonso has been a fun guy. He’s brought energy to the team, and he has not been shy from celebrating on the field. When you are as boisterous as he is, and frankly, when you have been as good as he has been, you are going to get noticed, and players are going to challenge you the way Paddack did. It goes with the territory.

We can make something out of Alonso going 0-for-3 with two strikeouts and a pop out against Paddack. Mostly, that was about Paddack being a great pitcher, and Alonso slumping.

Since April 23rd, Alonso is hitting .184/.241/.347 with a triple, two homers, and six RBI. He is striking out in 35.2 percent of his plate appearances. He’s struck out in 14 or his last 15 games, and he has had multiple strikeout games in three of his last four games.

Things are going about as poorly as they can for Alonso right now. Certainly, Paddack challenging and then beating him is a symptom, not the problem, so is bizarre response in not taking kindly to being called a great player who other players want to measure themselves.

For Alonso, this was just round one. No, it was not round one against Paddack. It was round one in his being a feared slugger who has gotten other team’s attention. He didn’t do well in round one, but he’s still standing, and he stiill has a lot of fight left in him. We will see how he responds both tonight and the rest of the season.