The San Diego Padres made easy work of the New York Mets on Sunday night, but their victory didn’t come without controversy.
At one point while they were getting trounced, the eventual losers stopped the proceedings to investigate whether pitcher Joe Musgrove had a mysterious substance behind his ears.
The umps just checked Joe Musgrove’s… ears for a foreign substance? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/VeAE5mNe9e
— Tim and Friends (@timandfriends) October 10, 2022
Nothing suspicious was ultimately discovered, and Musgrove was permitted to proceed.
That said, some eagle-eyed fans wondered why his ears looked so shiny if there was nothing amiss.
The fact that nothing was found has me concerned for the health of Musgrove’s ears. pic.twitter.com/tOl9xgj4T3
— Zach Ciavolella (Cha-vo-lel-la) (@zciavo) October 10, 2022
@Mets Musgrove has got a vaseline substance all over his ear. He’s been going to it early in the start of the inning. Check his ears. #cheating pic.twitter.com/Hodxndbpnb
— Aloysius (@JDuuuuuuBs) October 9, 2022
An answer later emerged courtesy of ex-NL MVP Andrew McCutchen.
“Here we go,” he wrote on Twitter. “I guarantee Musgrove has Red Hot on his ears. Pitchers use it as mechanism to stay locked in during games.
“It burns like crazy and IDK why some guys thinks it helps them but in no way is it ‘sticky.’ Buck is smart tho. Could be trying to just throw him off.”
So there you go. Mystery solved. Not only does that explain why Musgrove’s ears looked like they had something on them, but it also clarifies why officials didn’t care.
Hilariously enough, even Mets announcers were critical of the decision to investigate Musgrove in this fashion.
Strong words from Gary Cohen here. The crowd didn’t like it. pic.twitter.com/wmf2BSOSFQ
— Sports TV News & Updates (@TVSportsUpdates) October 10, 2022
“It smacked of desperation, and it was fairly embarrassing, I thought, for Buck to do that in that spot,” Gary Cohen said.
“It was not necessary. As it turned out, Musgrove was not cheating. I think If you’re going to pull a stunt like that, you better be right, and Buck wasn’t right.”
This has been a wild year in baseball. Between Aaron Judge’s wife causing a stir with her outfits, fans getting frisky in the stands and Olivia Dunne going wild at New York Yankees games – it has been one bizarre occurrence after another.
In a lot of ways, the Mets going out the way they did (drama and all) was just par for the course.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Dolphins today. https://t.co/Ru8zP3GhUe
— Game 7 (@game7__) October 9, 2022
How will the franchise ultimately rebound from this year’s humiliating collapse?
And will the Padres be able to build on the momentum gained from this series to do serious damage throughout the playoffs?
Answers to both questions will emerge soon enough.
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