Thursday’s Hot Clicks: Rhys Hoskins Got Revenge on the Mets With the Cockiest Home Run Trot

He ran around the bases four seconds slower than Bartolo Colon.

Success is the best revenge

With two outs in the ninth inning of Tuesday night’s blowout win over the Phillies, Mets reliever Jacob Rhame threw two pitches up near the head of Rhys Hoskins. The benches emptied half-heartedly and warnings were issued but there were no serious confrontations. Hoskins and manager Gabe Kapler thought it was intentional, but Rhame insisted he was just working inside.

Fast forward to Wednesday night. Rhame is on the mound again, Hoskins is at the plate, and the Phillies slugger gets his revenge in a major way.

Not only did Hoskins take Rhame deep to extend the Phillies’ lead, he took his sweet-ass time rounding the bases. You could have timed his home run trot with a calendar.

The tiny little steps onto the plate were also a nice touch, and I think the hand signal he flashes is to say “that’s two homers I’ve hit this series” (he also had one on Monday). 

How slow was his trot? This slow:

“Look, I think that if a ball goes over your head the night before, the best way to sort of get back at the pitcher is to put the ball in the seats,” Phillies manager Gabe Kapler said. “I thought that it was worthy of [Hoskins] having that moment and really taking it all in, soaking it all in. He deserved that. I thought he earned it.”

Rhame, meanwhile, was very much Not Mad about Hoskins showing him up. 

“He got me,” the pitcher said. “If I make a better pitch he doesn’t get to run the bases.”

If the Mets want to get revenge on Hoskins, it’ll have to wait—that was the series finale and they don’t meet again until June 24 in Philadelphia.

The Clippers are giving the Warriors everything they can handle

Who predicted Golden State would lose two games at home and the Clippers-Warriors series would go to six games? It wasn’t as stunning as the 31-point comeback in Game 2, but the Clips’ win Wednesday night did stave off elimination and send the series back to Los Angeles. 

Kevin Durant dominated with 45 points but that was no match for Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell, who combined for 57 off the bench. 

Here’s how the final four minutes of the game played out:

Vlad Jr. is finally coming up

It should have happened a long time ago, but the Blue Jays are finally done suppressing Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s service time and will promote him to the MLB roster on Friday.

Get ready to be amazed by the way he can just obliterate a baseball, but also be prepared for the fact that this kid is in the big leagues to make you feel like you are actively turning into dust.

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I was reminded Wednesday of this incredible 30 Rock scene

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A good song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.