Bryce Harper. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images)
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(WSCR) With two outs in the first inning of yesterday’s Nationals-Phillies game, Philadelphia pitcher Cole Hamels plunked rookie Bryce Harper in the back with a 93-mph fastball.
After the game, Hamels admitted he threw at Harper on purpose.
“I was trying to hit him,” Hamels said. “I’m not going to deny it. That’s just — you know what, it’s something that I grew up watching, that’s what happened, so I’m just trying to continue the old baseball — I think some people kind of get away from it. I remember when I was a rookie the strike zone was really, really small and you didn’t say anything just because that’s the way baseball is. Sometimes the league is protecting certain players and making it not that old-school, prestigious way of baseball.”
The admission didn’t sit well with Nationals general manger Mike Rizzo.
“Players take care of themselves,” Rizzo told the Washington Post. “I’ve never seen a more classless, gutless chicken [bleep] act in my 30 years in baseball.
“Cole Hamels says he’s old school? He’s the polar opposite of old school. He’s fake tough. He thinks he’s going to intimidate us after hitting our 19-year rookie who’s eight games into the big leagues? He doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.”
Harper got the last laugh though, as he stole home later in the inning.
