Former Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins had an interesting weekend when his Milwaukee Brewers opened the season on the road versus the New York Mets. On Friday, Hoskins was called out on a hard slide at second base that caused Met's infielder Jeff McNeil to take exception, with benches clearing on both sides and Hoskin's mocking McNeil with gestures from the dugout.
Fast forward to Saturday's contest, and Hoskins simply owned Mets pitching with a 3-for-4 showing, including a two-run homer and two walks. Having established himself as a nuisance in Friday's match-up, Mets pitcher Yohan Ramírez had seen enough of Hoskins and let loose a 94 mph fastball that sailed well behind Hoskins' back in the seventh inning.
The pitch in question, which was suspiciously high and behind Hoskins, was deemed suspect enough that Ramírez was ejected by umpires. After the game, Hoskins had little doubt that the pitch was intentional when he spoke with the media via The Athletic's Will Sammon.
"Big-leaguers don't miss by eight feet," remarked Hoskins per Sammon. "Whether it was on purpose or not is really not for me to decide. But this game has had a way of policing itself for many, many years. So let's focus on doing it the right way if we're going to do that."
For their part in the skirmish, Mets pitcher Yohan Ramírez was suspended three games by Major League Baseball but has since filed an appeal to have the suspension thrown out or the number of games reduced. Mets manager Carlos Mendoza was also suspended one game, which he served on Sunday, and levied a fine.
Mets fans already sadly trying to compensate for upcoming season with … ice cream?
The life of a Mets fan is surely all about celebrating small victories. When your team hasn't won a World Series in 38 years and recently was hit with a $100,781,932 luxury tax bill for fielding a fourth-place baseball team, searching for ways your ball club is better than its division rivals can sometimes include comparing the size of food items at the stadium.
That's the tact one Met's fan took recently when he posted about his pre-season excitement over the ice cream being sold at Citi Field this year. Apparently, Mets fans are too sophisticated now to eat ice cream out of a plastic baseball helmet.
Philadelphia suffers with little baby portions of ice cream while the far superior New Yorker enjoys a big ol bowl in the home run apple https://t.co/gNgTMwF6wt pic.twitter.com/wFsTn2gI6o
— Matt Coggins (@MattCoggins) March 26, 2024
Mets fans seem to have more pride in their stadium's ice cream offerings than on-field product to begin this season. Apparently news has yet to hit Queens, New York about the newly updated Schwarburger 2.0. that is now being served at Citizens Bank Park in 2024. Phillies fans are hoping the Mets can dig themselves out of another luxury tax bill one ice cream bowl at a time.