April 09, 2024
Michael McLoone/USA TODAY Sports
Rhys Hoskins will make his return to Citizens Bank Park in June.
Safe to say that Rhys Hoskins has June 3 marked on his calendar, plenty of fans, too.
The longtime and fan-favorite former Phillie is fully settled in as a Milwaukee Brewer now, but his return to Citizens Bank Park isn't too far off on the horizon, and appearing on Monday's Foul Territory podcast, he was asked about the reception he might receive from the CBP crowd when the time finally comes.
With the question posed by show co-host and former Phillies catcher Erik Kratz, Hoskins said he'll be bracing for boos.
"My guess is yes," Hoskins told the show. "I'm hoping – I don't know if hope is the right word, but if I'm getting booed it probably means that the Brewers are doing something to be winning the game or to win the game, so I'll kinda root for that as a way to make sure that we, the Brewers, are coming out on top.
"But I'm excited to go back. I'm excited to see all those guys, the relationships that I talked about. I'm excited to compete against them wearing a different uni. But I said this when I signed: I hope the Brewers win at the end of the day."
.@rhyshoskins says he thinks he's going to get boo'd when he comes back to Philadelphia
— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) April 8, 2024
▶️ https://t.co/90K4BHWf1f pic.twitter.com/CERyfcuiGB
A diplomatic answer looping in his new club, but also nonsense. A standing ovation, and a long one at that, is waiting for him when the Brewers come to town, and fans are absolutely going to lose it the second the tribute video on the left-field board shows the clip of the bat spike.
After the 2007-11 golden era came crashing down only for it to be followed by years of awful baseball, Hoskins emerged as a piece of the Phillies' new core and one of the key faces in their next era. He was streaky, yeah, but his commitment and compete never wavered, and when the Phillies finally broke through to get back into the postseason in 2022, you could tell it meant everything to him.
Then the unforgettable happened.
The Brewers will come to Philly for a three-game set on June 3-5. Hoskins, after missing all of last season because of a torn ACL, is hitting .207 for them after nine games with two homers and a .728 OPS.
He also royally pissed off the Mets in New York on Opening Day, then proceeded to crush them the very next game. How is anyone in Philly going to boo that?
The full Foul Territory episode with Hoskins can be checked out below or on YouTube:
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