Washington Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo took exception to Cole Hamels intentionally throwing at his young star hitter Bryce Harper (seen below) in Sunday's game against the Phillies.
The pitch was a 93-mph fastball right in the small of the back in the first inning of yesterday's game. Harper later stole home in the inning, which was the only run of the game for the Nationals until the ninth. After the game, Hamels admitting intentionally throwing at Harper (something his manager wishes he hadn't admitted so openly, via Tim Kurkjian's Twitter).
The Phillies went on to win the game, 9-3, and Hamels was also hit by a pitch from Jordan Zimmermann in the top of the third inning. However, Zimmermann claims he didn't intentionally throw at Hamels. End of story? Not where Rizzo is concerned.
Rizzo went on to say
Rizzo responded Monday morning, telling the Post's Adam Kilgore: "I've never seen a more classless, gutless [expletive] 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-old rookie who's eight games into the big leagues? He doesn't know who he's dealing with." (via MLB)
Rizzo also added
"This goes beyond rivalry and all that stuff," Rizzo told the Post. "This points to, you take the youngest guy in baseball. He's never done a thing. And then Hamels patted himself on the back. Harper's old school. Hitting him on the back, that ain't old school. That's [expletive]."
The next series against Washington is scheduled for May 21-May 23, if you want to mark your calendars.
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