By Harvey Hoffman
The Phils beat the Mets last night at CBP, but all anyone wants to talk about is the glove-dropping confrontation between Phils reliever Jose Alvarado and the Mets Dominic Smith.
After Alvarado struck out Smith with the tying run on third and the go-ahead run on second for the third out in the eighth inning, he celebrated on the mound, then said a few things and made a few aggressive gestures at Smith.
Smith said a few things back. Alvarado dropped his glove. Smith did not back down. Phillies catcher Andrew Knapp stepped in front of him. The benches and the bullpens emptied, but no punches were thrown.
“I don’t mind people pimping strikeouts, pimping stuff on the field,” Smith said. “I’ve never been a player like that, but I don’t mind it. I love it. But him pointing at me, coming after me, stuff like that? I’m a grown-ass man. Come meet me then if you really got a problem, and we can really handle it. So that’s how I look at that issue. He waited for his team to grab him and stuff, but I’m right there. And he can meet me in the tunnel tomorrow if he really wants to get after it.
“I said a couple of things. I’m ready. I’m walking toward you. You don’t got to walk toward your bench. If you’re going to [expletive] me and follow me, then come get me then, because I’m 60 feet away. So that’s all I was saying. And obviously it didn’t escalate that far, but like I said, I’m a grown-ass man, so I don’t take none of that [stuff].”
