Frazier: Phils hit me one too many times
Todd Frazier didn’t fan the flames while explaining his Saturday blowup, but he didn’t back down either.
Challenged by Jake Arrieta after the Mets’ comefrom-behind win the night before, Frazier said the Phillies’ right-hander can “say what he wants.”
“I’m just sick of getting hit, especially by this team,” Frazier said Sunday before the Phillies hammered the Mets, 8-3, at Citi Field in the final game before this week’s All-Star break. “At the end of the day, he can say what he wants. A little overboard, but just got to keep playing. Hopefully some things change.”
Frazier was thrown out in the fifth inning after he was plunked by an Arrieta changeup, barking at the pitcher and home plate umpire Tripp Gibson. Afterward, Arrieta said if Frazier was so mad at him, he would “dent his skull.”
“It probably wasn’t on purpose, I’ll be honest with you,” Frazier said. “But I’ve gotten hit too many times by the same team. My reactions were warranted.”
It was the second straight day a Phillies pitcher hit Frazier and the third time this season. He grew incensed when Gibson warned both teams, because it didn’t allow the Mets a chance for retribution. Two batters later, Arrieta hit Amed Rosario, but wasn’t thrown out, because Gibson deemed it unintentional, and manager Mickey Callaway was ejected for arguing.
“If you’re going to warn both sides, go through with what you’re saying,” Frazier said.
On Sunday, Mets reliever Wilmer Font hit Rhys Hoskins in the back with a 96 mph fastball in the seventh inning. Two innings later, Hoskins responded with a home run. But otherwise, tensions remained low.
There is history of bad blood this year between the two sides. In April, after Jacob Rhame threw a fastball behind Hoskins in the ninth inning of a game the Mets were ahead big, the dugouts cleared and warnings were issued. Hoskins went deep the next night and took his time rounding the bases, finishing in 34.23 seconds, the longest trot in the Statcast era. In 12 games between the teams, 12 Mets have been hit by the Phillies.
“I don’t think all of them are out of coincidence,” Frazier said. “You do it 12 times, there’s a couple of those that are done on purpose.
“We’ll see what the commissioner wants to do. He saw what people were saying [on Saturday]. We’ll see what happens after this.”