After hitting the Nationals' Bryce Harper in last Sunday night's game, he didn't provide any of the usual coy "That one got away from me" explanations that pitchers usually give when they bean someone. No, Hamels bluntly admitted that he had hit Harper on purpose.
Naturally, this became a huge national story and drew both praise and scorn from members of the national media. It also earned Hamels a five-game suspension from Major League Baseball.
As a result, Hamels is this week's featured Phillie.
Featured Phillie of the Week: Cole Hamels
Despite his honesty about the situation, Hamels hasn't made his motivation for the plunking completely clear.
He seemed to feel that Harper wasn't showing the proper amount of modesty for a rookie. There were allusions to Harper's cockiness in the minor leagues, as well as some complaining about the strike zone.
Whatever the motivation, Hamels felt that old school baseball code dictated that Harper should be "welcomed" to the major leagues. This is nothing new. Harper isn't the first rookie to be treated in this fashion, and he surely isn't the last.
The unusual part about it was that Hamels openly admitted what he did. I guess he felt that the message wouldn't get across otherwise?
Naturally, his admission got quite a few people up on their soapboxes to declare him a horrible person. Most notably, Nationals General Manager Mike Rizzo unloaded on Hamels calling him "fake tough" and other unflattering names.
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| Who determines if a player is tough or not? Mike Rizzo does! |
Oddly, some people seem more upset about Hamels' admission rather than the act itself. I guess it is somehow better to lie about hitting someone rather than being a man and admitting it?
I'm not sure where Rizzo is coming from. After all, later in the game, Hamels had to come to the plate and bat. And sure enough, a ball "got away from" Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann and hit Hamels.
For his part, Hamels seemed perfectly okay with the retaliation. He also seemed fine with Harper getting a little revenge of his own by stealing home against him.
The suspension that Hamels received was essentially meaningless. Due to an off day in the schedule, Hamels didn't have to miss a start.
More importantly, after his suspension was complete, Hamels turned in yet another dominant outing. He held the Padres to one run in seven innings. The win allowed the Phillies to win the series, and gain some momentum after what had mostly been a bad week.
Ghost of Phillies Past: Reggie Harris
In 1997, the Phillies had another pitcher intentionally hit an opponent with a pitch. And much like Hamels, the pitcher openly admitted it after the fact.
In June of 1997, the Phillies were in a huge slump. In one particular game, the Braves were absolutely crushing them, and reliever Reggie Harris had had enough. He wanted to send a message, and so he beaned the Braves' Andruw Jones.
Unlike the Harper incident, people didn't make a big deal about this plunking. That was mostly due to Harris being a journeyman relief pitcher and not a multiple-time All-Star like Hamels.
After the game, Harris admitted that his beanball was intentional. People were absolutely shocked by this. They weren't necessarily shocked by Harris' honesty, but rather because Harris was actually able to hit his intended target.
Harris was not known for his control. In fact, he might have had some of the worst control ever witnessed. In the 1997 season, Harris managed to walk a whopping 43 batters in 55 innings. During one particularly bad outing, he threw 14 pitches, and only two of them were strikes.
The most telling sign of how bad the 1997 Phillies were is that Harris actually pitched 55 innings for them.
If he had just given the standard "that one got away from me" excuse after hitting Jones, I don't think anyone would have doubted him.
Pennant Year Song of the Week
This week's song might have been sung by Bryce Harper to Cole Hamels this week. From the year 1983, it is Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? by Culture Club.Random Phillies Image Found on the Web
This is a picture of Turkey Hill's Phillies themed flavors:
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