WITH A SMILE!

Photo of grinning Lindor flipping the bird is an Amazin’ mystery

It was the type of question that is too good for Zoom.

Francisco, to whom were you giving the middle finger and why?

Fortunately, on-field access was restored for MLB beat reporters recently. So when we saw a delightful photo of Francisco Lindor flashing a megawatt smile while giving the middle finger to someone — presumably a teammate — in the first inning of a Mets-Diamondbacks game earlier this month, the Daily News’ Deesha Thosar was able to ask him about it privately.

He claimed not to remember flipping off an unknown party.

The photo has been sitting unappreciated in the Associated Press archives. We tracked down the photographer who took it, Phoenix-based Rick Scuteri, but he didn’t have much more to say.

“I honestly don’t know what happened,” Scuteri said. “He was getting in the batters box and he turned and flipped the finger. I don’t know why and who he aimed at. It wasn’t the ump or he would have been thrown out.”

According to Scuteri’s caption, it took place in the top of the first inning on June 1. It was an eventful game: The Mets lost 6-5 after blowing two leads and benches cleared at one point. I checked the broadcast — the same game broadcast better-known for Bob Brenly making a racist crack about Marcus Stroman’s durag — but if anyone noticed Lindor going birding, they didn’t mention it. Imagine the field day Brenly would have had.

Phil Bohn, an Arizona-based Mets fan who says he was at the game in question, offers a compelling explanation. Lindor didn’t flip off a single teammate while batting; he flipped off the entire Mets team while in the on-deck circle. (In Arizona, the visiting team sits in the first base dugout.) Jonathan Villar fouled off several balls in the game’s first atbat. According to Bohn, one of them landed near Lindor.

“He was trying to throw it to a fan in one of the very first rows and it would hit the very top of the net and come back down to him,” Bohn said. This happened three times, according to Bohn; the crowd cheered his repeated attempts and then heckled him when he eventually tossed the ball into the dugout.

When Lindor gave up and threw it in the dugout, that’s when Bohn says the Mets dugout jeered him and Lindor responded accordingly.

“This was my first time seeing Lindor in person, so I was watching him,” Bohn said. It paid off almost immediately.