If spring is when a young person's fancy turns to thoughts of love, then summer -- and its endless, sweltering, sweat-inducing heat -- is when our thoughts turn to ice cream, only ice cream.

That proved true on Monday night when the Phillies' Jean Segura stepped to the plate in the top of the ninth. Philadelphia had two on and were trailing, 3-2, when a fan shouted to Segura, "What's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

Now, baseball players are used to tuning out the background noise. But even in this tense situation, Segura took a moment to respond. His answer: Vanilla. Perhaps inspired by the thought of some delicious soft serve -- presumably with rainbow sprinkles (simply because that's the best combination) -- Segura laced a game-tying double.

It was just the cherry on the sundae (sorry) of a very strange day in baseball. A praying mantis found itself with a starring role atop Victor Robles' cap in the same game:

And in New York, Yankees fans started an "MVP" chant for a cat that raced across the field.

Too bad no one asked the cat what its favorite flavor of ice cream was. That would have brought the whole thing full circle.