Don’t make Bryce Harper mad.
Home plate umpire Mike Winters made that mistake Saturday afternoon when he rung up the reigning National League MVP on a called third strike. The strikeout came at a crucial time in the ballgame, with the game all tied up at 4 in the bottom half of the 10th inning.
One can understand Harper’s frustration in that situation. He wants to be the hero, wants to be the guy who sends everyone home and delivers a victory for the Nationals. But as the 2-2 fastball zipped through the zone at 95 mph from southpaw Jake McGee, Harper was caught watching with the bat on his shoulder as his opportunity passed him by.
What makes this at-bat and ensuing ejection bizarre, however, is the fact that McGee threw a good pitch. From the naked eye it appears as if the fastball did indeed catch the outside corner of the strike zone. After all, there have been plenty of calls that were far more egregious than the one Winters made against Harper.
And credit to the umpire for keeping a calm composure. Out of the two Harper was the far more animated one, which was amplified when he spiked his helmet into the dirt. Yeah, you can disagree with umpires, and challenge their calls to a certain extent, but when you mistreat equipment it often signifies an end to your night. But Winters never tried to match Harper’s rage with rage of his own, even as the hulking bearded mass got right into the umpires face.
“It was off the plate,” Harper said after the game. “I could possibly see one more pitch and maybe hit a homer or a double or walk — I could even strike out. But I just wanted to see that last pitch, and I never got there.”
Nationals’ manager Dusty Baker, however, attributed the outburst by Harper to mounting frustration over the course of the year.
“Everybody blows up from time to time,” Baker said. “These things happen this time of year when tempers are short. It’s hot, you’ve played a lot of games, you’ve been around the same people for a long period of time and this is the time of the year when tempers do flare up.”
For the type of year Harper has been having, one can understand that perspective. After hitting 42 home runs, driving in 99 runs, and slugging a robust .330 batting average, Harper has been a shell of his former MVP self. This year he is only hitting .254 after a dismal first half. His 24 home runs, 74 RBI’s, and .387 on base percentage are respectable enough, but this is Bryce Harper, and those are not Bryce Harper numbers.
Despite his own personal struggles, his team has flourished in the National League East. The Nationals (75-55) sit 8 games over the second place Miami Marlins (yes the Marlins are in second, you read that correctly) as they travel to Philadelphia to play the lowly Phillies.
