Rhys Hoskins, with his three-hit, four-RBI performance to lift the Brewers to a 7-6 win over the Mets on Saturday, added to his resume as one of New York’s chief active tormentors — less because of his mediocre overall numbers against the Mets and more based on how he’s responded to controversies against them.
Hoskins still has a ways to go to join the modern Mount Rushmore of Mets villains. He’s in a secondary category, alongside the likes of Yadier Molina, Pat Burrell and anyone else who played for the 2007 Phillies.
But he’s making up ground quickly.
On Friday, second baseman Jeff McNeil took issue with Hoskins’ hard slide into second base, confronting him on the bases for it. McNeil contended that Hoskins has a history of such slides, and that while the play was deemed legal, the slide was late. Hoskins said McNeil was just complaining like usual, and he mocked the infielder with a boo-hoo motion.
Yohan Ramirez has endeared himself to fans in his Mets debut by throwing behind Rhys Hoskins.
— Tim Britton (@TimBritton) March 30, 2024
On Saturday, booed lustily by the Citi Field crowd of more than 30,000, Hoskins lined a two-run double in the first and a two-run homer in the third. The damage had already been done by the time Yohan Ramírez threw behind him in the seventh inning to earn an ejection.
If form holds, watch out for Hoskins on Sunday. This was not his first run-in with the Mets. The last time a Met, Jacob Rhame, threw at him in 2019, he responded the next day with a homer off Rhame and the longest home-run trot you’ve ever seen.
Few fan bases hold grudges like the one in Queens, and Hoskins has earned himself boos for years to come. They still boo Jesse Winker every time he comes to Citi Field, and he just waved sarcastically at the crowd a few times.
Could Hoskins move up on the Mets’ modern enemy list?
I’ll admit off the jump that my perspective on this is limited by my lifespan. I know Willie Stargell hit a ridiculous 60 homers against the Mets, but I don’t know how the fan base felt about Stargell during that time. I’m also going to keep this to Mets opponents, rather than discussing in-house candidates for villainy.
This is the top tier of players Mets fans hate. It’s in alphabetical order, so you can determine how to rank them.
Roger Clemens
Resume: 11 GS, 3-6, 4.89 ERA
Pivotal moment: Game 2 of the 2000 World Series
Clemens’ lack of regular-season success against the Mets was part of the story in the summer of 2000, when he gave up a grand slam to Mike Piazza in June and hit the Mets catcher in the head with a fastball in July. That was the preamble for Game 2 of the Subway Series, when Clemens was facing Piazza for the first time since the beaning.
In the first inning, Piazza broke his bat while fouling off a Clemens pitch, and the right-hander tossed the sharpened barrel of the bat in Piazza’s direction. A confused Piazza walked toward the mound as the benches cleared, but nothing further materialized. Clemens proceeded to throw eight shutout innings in a 6-5 Yankees win.
Chipper Jones
Resume: 245 games, 49 home runs, .309/.406/.543
Pivotal moment: September 1999
The Mets entered the final fortnight of the ’99 regular season within one game of Atlanta, with six contests between the teams remaining. Jones famously provided both Atlanta runs in a 2-1 win in the opener on a pair of solo shots, then hit two more homers over the next two days in two more wins to finish off the sweep.
That series kicked off a seven-game losing streak for the Mets, who lost any chance at the division and fell behind the Reds for the National League’s lone wild card. After Atlanta took two of three at Shea Stadium the following week to push New York two behind Cincinnati with three to play, Jones said, “Now, all the Mets fans can go home and put their Yankees s— on.”
The Mets rallied to make the postseason but fell to Atlanta in a memorable NLCS. The Yankees beat Atlanta in the World Series for the second time in four years.
John Rocker
Resume: 19 games, 1.93 ERA
Pivotal moment: October 1999
Rocker had, ahem, endeared himself to the Queens faithful over the course of his breakout ’99 season, never holding back his distaste for the denizens of Shea Stadium or New York City as a whole in postgame interviews. By the time he was back at Shea for the ’99 NLCS, he was showered with more than just boos.
The lefty closer had also been especially effective against the Mets, holding them scoreless in seven appearances during the regular season and his first three of that NLCS. John Olerud finally cracked that armor with a game-winning hit in Game 4 to score two inherited runners.
That offseason, a Sports Illustrated profile showed Rocker doubling down on his hatred for New York and most anyone who didn’t look like him.
Chase Utley
Resume: 194 games, 39 home runs, .281/.374/.526
Pivotal moment: Game 2 of the 2015 NLDS
Utley built his reputation as a Mets villain with Philadelphia but cemented it as a Dodger. Late in Game 2 of the 2015 NLDS, Utley’s hard slide into second base broke up a potential double play and broke shortstop Ruben Tejada’s leg. To add insult to that injury, Utley was ruled safe on the play upon review despite never touching second base; he’d score the go-ahead run later in the inning.
The following season, Noah Syndergaard earned an ejection by throwing behind Utley, prompting the now viral exchange between Terry Collins and umpire Tom Hallion.
(Photo of Rhys Hoskins: Frank Franklin II / Associated Press)
