PHILADELPHIA — Years from now, when they roll highlights from the 2022 Phillies’ postseason run, the clip of Rhys Hoskins demolishing a ball into the left-field seats, raising both arms, and spiking his bat — and let’s be clear: this was a Jalen Hurts-quality spike — will play prominently.
As it should. Aside from being the biggest hit of Hoskins’ career and sending the Phillies on to a 9-1 thrashing of the Atlanta Braves in pivotal Game 3 of the best-of-five National League Division Series, it may have been the blast that broke the defending World Series champions.
But if we’re talking about the moment when playoff baseball truly returned to Citizens Bank Park after an 11-year absence, when the decibel levels at the yard in South Philly rose like they hadn’t since, what, Roy Halladay’s no-hitter in the 2010 NLDS, you have to rewind the tape by two batters.
