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He was out by the skin of whatever part of your body has the thickest skin

The most exciting play in baseball is the play at the plate, hands down. There’s nothing like darting your eyes back and forth between the guy rounding third base and the outfielder playing the ball and gathering to throw. This play at the plate from Tuesday night’s Mets-Phillies game had all the drama of an automatic intentional walk, though.

With two outs in the fourth inning, Cesar Hernandez slapped a single into leftfield. Maikel Franco, who was on second base, got the green light from third base coach Dusty Wathan and headed toward home.

Dead in the water is an understatement.

Franco hadn’t even reached third base by the time Mets leftfielder Jeff McNeil fielded the ball! He would have had to be the fastest player in baseball to score on that one. But no, he’s the 263rd fastest player in baseball, or the 59th slowest, depending on how you want to look at it. He is also the slowest player on the Phillies.

So yeah, Dusty Wathan made a brutal decision to send Franco there, and Phillies fans noticed.

It didn’t really matter in the end, though. The Mets won 9–0 behind a stellar pitching performance by Zack Wheeler.

Damian Lillard hit one of the best game-winners ever

Damian Lillard went off in the Trail Blazers’ series-clinching Game 5 win over the Thunder. He scored 50 points, but none more audacious than the final three. His buzzer-beating three came from nearly midcourt, right in Paul George’s face.

The call was even better in Korean.

Dame even rubbed salt in the wound by waving goodbye the Thunder before his teammates even had a chance to mob him.

George said after the game that it was “a bad shot” and Dame had only one thing to say to that.

The best thing in sports, x2

The NHL treated us to not one but two Game 7s Tuesday night, which is basically like Christmas.

In the first, the Bruins beat the Maple Leafs rather easily, 5–1, in Boston. Toronto is still the only Canadian team not to win a playoff series in the salary cap era (post-2004 lockout).

The key goal was this one by Sean Kuraly, who pushed the Boston lead to two goals early in the third period.

That game pales in comparison to the nightcap between the Sharks and Golden Knights, though. After a questionable major penalty call against Vegas’s Cody Eakin, San Jose took a one-goal lead by scoring four goals during the ensuing five-minute power play opportunity.

The Knights scored one more to force overtime but the Sharks won it in the extra period and advanced to the next round.

Vegas’s Jonathan Marchessault said the call was “a f---ing joke” in a three-minute rant after the game.

Oh god, Melo is still trying to come back

Being cast aside by the Rockets just 10 games into the season and failing to catch on with another team all year would appear to be a pretty clear sign that nobody in the NBA is interested in employing Carmelo Anthony any longer.

But no, Melo was back in the gym Tuesday getting some shots up—and judging by his trainer’s caption, it wasn’t just for fun.

View this post on Instagram

After a great weight room session, Melo putting in work. Drop a “7” in the comments if you want to see Melo back in the League next year #StayMe7o

A post shared by Chris Brickley (@cbrickley603) on Apr 23, 2019 at 1:18pm PDT

Melo looks thin and he certainly hasn’t lost his sweet shooting stroke, but his best chance of playing in the NBA again is probably a farewell tour with the Knicks on a 10-day contract.

Oh, and don’t sleep on the fact that he’s wearing a beanie indoors on a 75-degree day in New York.

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This made my brain hurt

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A good song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.