Former Phillies slugger shows his new team how to troll the Mets like a true Phillie

While Opening Day didn't go according to plan for the Philadelphia Phillies, one former fan favorite did his best to provide entertainment from afar. 

In his first game with the Milwaukee Brewers, first baseman Rhys Hoskins proved that while he might've left Philadelphia, his dislike for the New York Mets remains as strong as ever. 

In the top of the eighth inning of Friday's game, the 31-year-old walked before Willy Adames grounded into a fielder's choice. That's when things spiraled. 

Hoskins' aggressive slide past the second base bag to break up a possible double play resulted in an out, but Mets second baseman Jeff McNeil was none too happy with the play. The infielder stood over Hoskins immediately after the slide, voicing his displeasure. 

McNeil, who had bobbled the ball on the transfer, started chirping while Hoskins was still on the ground and continued as the first baseman made his way back toward the dugout as the benches and bullpens cleared. Before he could get there, though, Hoskins stopped, and the two players exchanged words across the diamond as players, coaches and umpires surrounded each of them. 

The trash-talking wasn't done there, though.

Before he walked off the field, Hoskins hit McNeil with the crybaby motion, and then he repeated the gesture from the dugout as the two players continued to go back and forth:

As the SNY announcers pointed out, there's no love lost between Hoskins and the Mets.

On the broadcast, they referred back to 2019, when Hoskins logged the longest home run trot after taking a couple of pitches close to his body — dragging the moment out to savor it for 34 seconds: 

After the game, McNeil talked with reporters and mentioned some of that past history between the two.

According to Mike Fitzpatrick of the Associated Press, he said: "We've had a little bit of a past, so I knew there was a chance that he'd be coming in like that. … He's had some pretty questionable slides at second base, for sure. Definitely remember looking at some in the past that were definitely not OK. So I knew there was a possibility that might happen. And it did."

McNeil took it a step further, bringing up Hoskins' ACL injury that kept him off the field for all of 2023: "You get a guy who misses a year and that's horrible to see. And then you go right back and try to put a spike into someone's leg. It's tough."

For his part, after the game, Hoskins talked to reporters about McNeil, simply saying, "He just seems to be complaining when things aren't going well."

Todd Rosiak of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel relayed more comments from Hoskins: "A certain someone took...McNeil took [exception] to my slide, but I didn't really think much of it, to be honest. I ended up hitting him, but that's what happens with a slow-developing play. ... But I love the win."

While the players yelled back and forth, the umpires reviewed the play and determined Hoskins' slide was indeed legal, meaning the Mets weren't awarded an automatic double play.

And when all was said and done, the former Phillie and the Brewers walked out of Citi Field with a 3-1 win. Hoskins, who spent the first seven years of his big league career with the Phillies, went 0-for-3 with one walk in his Brewers debut. 

In his career, Hoskins has faced the Mets 86 times. As a part of the NL Central now, though, this is the only regular-season series scheduled against New York until late September, so Hoskins won't have many more opportunities to taunt and trash-talk with the Mets players like he did Friday.