For years and years, I’ve always felt like the New York Mets made it too easy to get shoved around by opposing teams and particularly their division rivals; the Braves, Nationals and Phillies. Time and time again, Mets batters would get thrown at or hit at the plate without so much as a whimper in response – let alone any kind of retaliation. In that regard, the Mets had become the doormat of the NL East.
However, is it possible that these new Mets are no longer willing to take it on the chin and are now ready to push back whenever necessary – a significant departure from past Mets teams? I think so…
With the Mets up 9-0 against the Phillies on Tuesday night and two outs in the ninth inning, Jacob Rhame sailed a first-pitch 96 mph fastball over the head of first baseman Rhys Hoskins who quickly ducked and then took a couple of steps toward the mound while calling out the Mets reliever.
Both the Mets and Phillies benches cleared and even the bullpens rushed to the center of the diamond, but order was quickly restored by home plate umpire Scott Barry and neither team suffered any casualties.
After the dust had settled and Hoskins resumed his at-bat, Rhame would sail another pitch over Hoskins’ head for ball four, prompting the Phillies slugger to furiously slam his bat to the ground and step toward the mound again.
[iframe]<iframe src=”//vplayer.nbcsports.com/p/BxmELC/philly_embed/select/media/_fWSbAKxNkeb” width=”624″ height=”351″ frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen=”allowfullscreen”>Your browser does not support iframes.</iframe>[/iframe]
Mets catcher Travis d’Arnaud blocked Hoskins from going after Rhame, but he had a few choice words for the Mets reliever as he glared toward the mound and jogged to first base.
After the game, Rhame said he didn’t throw at Hoskins intentionally and he was not trying to send the Phillies a message after they had hit both Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil the previous evening.
“I was just trying to work inside,” Rhame told reporters, but nobody was buying it – much less Rhys Hoskins and the Phillies.
“Oh, he just said they were trying to go inside, and I laughed,” Hoskins said. “He didn’t miss up and in the rest of the inning, so I’ll let you decide.”
“I don’t get it,” Bryce Harper chimed in. “I understand that two of their guys got hit yesterday. But, I mean, if you’re going to drill somebody, at least hit him in the ass. Not in the head. You throw 98, it’s scary now. You could kill somebody.”
Give me a break… What a drama queen…
Believe me, if Jacob Rhame really wanted to hit Hoskins he would have. Clearly, and despite his denials, Rhame wanted to send the Philadelphia Phillies a message and I applaud him for it.
So he threw a couple of purpose pitches in retaliation and in defense of his teammates, so what… Finally, the New York Mets showed some backbone and I loved and savored every scintillating second of it.
That’s baseball… Baseball like it oughta be.
