The Mets, and fans everywhere, were not expecting Edubray Ramos to throw directly towards Asdrubal Cabrera‘s head.
But that’s what happened in Monday night’s game in the top of the eighth inning. Cabrera stepped up to the plate. Ramos then threw a pitch over and behind Cabrera’s head. There was no shot that that pitch was not intentional — even those who don’t watch baseball could see that Ramos meant for it to be thrown there.
Cabrera almost charged the mound, but he was held back by Phillies catcher Cameron Rupp, who is quite the large man. You could even see Rupp looking at Cabrera and going “I know, I know, I know” while he was holding him back.
Ron Darling, however, said what every Mets fan was thinking at the time — and made it known that he thought Cabrera should’ve gone after Ramos.
Do I think that Cabrera will get his revenge? I do. Especially after his troll act during Spring Training after getting ejected from the game, Cabrera will not be taking this lightly.
Now, why did Ramos throw at his head? Well, many think that it was retaliation for Cabrera’s epic bat flip post hitting his walk-off three-run homer off of Ramos last September, when the Mets and the Phillies went into 11 innings. Some others suggested that it was bad blood due to the WBC drama when Cabrera did not make the Venezuelan roster, as both Ramos and Cabrera are from Venezuela.
Cabrera obviously addressed this post game:
"“What happened last year, still last year, you know. I think when you hit a home run to win the game, it’s not like do something to make him feel like it was worse, so I was just enjoying the home run. What he did today, was bad. You want to hit somebody, you make sure you throw the ball down, not at the head.”"
As did Jay Bruce, who hit a homer after this, allowing Cabrera to score:
"“It just gets the competitive juices flowing. We’re trying to play baseball and win baseball games, not be worried about stuff like that. Obviously no one likes getting balls thrown up at their head. I also can’t say it was on purpose.”"
And of course, Terry Collins had something to say about it as well:
"“I think after it happened, guys were talking about it. Certainly didn’t expect it. Hit a game winning home run, you over-react. As we all know the game is changing today, it’s a celebration. I was surprised by it. I really was.”"
I honestly didn’t expect this either, as I’m sure many Mets fans didn’t. If you didn’t like the bat flip, maybe you shouldn’t have given up a home run. No need to throw it at the guy’s head over six months later.
Next: Terry Collins completely tone deaf regarding Michael Conforto
Oh, and let’s not forget how during this whole little debacle, Phillies manager Pete Mackanin was the one who got ejected. Your guy threw it at someone’s head. Come on, what are you doing going out there to yell at the ump?