Cole Hamels was suspended today by Major League Baseball for five games. This past Sunday, Hamels and the Phillies were playing against the Washington Nationals. Washington's newly promoted young phenom, Bryce Harper, came to bat and Hamels hit Harper in the back with the first pitch he threw. Now the fact that Hamels hit Harper wasn't the reason for the suspension, because pitches get away from guys every once in a while, and it is just a part of the game. So after it happened, Harper winced, took a few seconds to walk off the bruise, and went on down to first base. The reason for the suspension, however, was not the act of Hamels hitting Harper, it was for what Hamels did about it after the game.
The act of losing control of a pitch does not warrant a suspension. What does warrant a suspension though, is the act of being an idiot. When asked about the pitch after the game, Hamels admitted to throwing at Harper on purpose, saying, "I was trying to hit him...[the Nationals] probably aren't going to like me for it, but I'm not going to say I wasn't trying to do it."
Baseball is a sport that has all kinds of "unwritten rules." Sliding in hard to second base while trying to break up a double play is acceptable as long as the runner is within reach of the second base bag. Running into the catcher on a play at the plate is okay as long as the play is close and the catcher is in the path of the runner. I never understood the "unwritten rule" of throwing at other batters though. First, you are giving the other team a free base runner. It's as if the pitcher told the hitter, "I don't like you, so how about I let you reach first base?" Then, because it's baseball, and everyone has to follow the secret codes of the game, the opposing pitcher has to come back the next inning and intentionally hit a guy on your own team. If you are a National League pitcher, the next time you step up to bat, you can expect a pitch to be coming straight at you. If you pitch in the American League and don't have to bat, that means someone else will have to step up and take a pitch in the back because of the stupidity of his own pitcher. So you are hurting the chances of your own team to win by giving the other team free baserunners, and also asking for yourself or one of your teammates to get thrown at as well.
Now in some cases, throwing at a guy is at least somewhat understandable. If a guy hits a home run off of you and taunts you as he runs around the bases, I could see the thought process in hitting the guy the next time he comes to bat. I still think this is stupid though, because I always thought that the best way to stop a guy from showing off after hitting a home run was to actually not throw him a crappy pitch so he doesn't get the chance to hit a homer off of you.
This wasn't the case on Sunday though. Harper didn't get a chance to hit a home run off of Hamels because Hamels hit Harper with the first pitch he threw to him in the game. Hamels had never faced Harper before, and most pitchers in the big leagues have never faced Harper before because he was called up from the minors less than two weeks ago. However, Hamels thought he should be the one to "welcome Harper to the big leagues" by hitting him in the back.
As a minor leaguer, Harper was known for being somewhat brash and a bit of a showboat, but he never did anything too bad. And as I said before, if the pitchers in the minor leagues didn't like the way he may have acted after getting a big hit, they should have just thrown him a better pitch instead of complaining about him after he took them deep.
None of that had anything to do with Cole Hamels though. And no other pitchers that Harper has faced so far during his short major league career felt that they needed to throw at Harper because of that. Hamels, I suppose, thought he was the exception, and that he was "old school" in throwing at Hamels for no reason aside from his being a rookie. Hamels himself was a highly touted prospect when he arrived on the scene in Philadelphia, but no pitchers threw at him just because he was a rookie. No batters tried to hit one of his fastballs straight back at him just to "welcome" him into the big leagues.
In the short time that Harper has been a major leaguer, he has done nothing but hustle on every play, and handle himself exactly how a professional should. It isn't as if Harper said something about Hamels or the Phillies before the game to stir up some sort of controversy, Hamels just decided to take it upon himself to hit Harper. Harper actually even came around to steal home and score later in the inning, which was great because it made Hamels look even stupider.
If Hamels didn't say he threw at Harper on purpose after the game, he wouldn't look as bad, even if it was pretty obvious what was going on because Hamels hit Harper squarely in the back on the first pitch he threw to him. However, since he admitted it, he forced the Phillies organization to come out and have to make a public statement saying that they didn't condone Hamels throwing at Harper on purpose, which I'm sure made the Phillies executives happy. Hamels will now also miss his next start because of his suspension, which again, just like giving the Nationals a free baserunner, will hurt his team because whoever pitches in Hamels' rotation spot for that game will not be as good as Hamels.
Baseball is a game that has all kinds of history, and I respect players that respect that history. There comes a point though, when you can't just try to emulate guys like Bob Gibson and Ty Cobb. Gibson trying to end someone's career with a fastball up and inside is unacceptable, no matter how great a pitcher he was. Ty Cobb "sliding" into second base with his spikes aimed at the knees of the shortstop is something that you just can't do either.
So in the end, Harper is fine and Hamels looks like an idiot. This will probably be forgotten by 99% of baseball players and fans, but you can bet that it won't be forgotten by the Nationals, so the next time Hamels steps up to the plate against Washington, he might have to pay for his "old school" attitude. At least for now though, we can all cheer for the Padres this Saturday when Hamels' rotation spot comes up and he can't pitch because of his five game idiocy suspension.
Daily Rangers Update: Last night was "one of those games." Down 2-1 with about 20 seconds left, Joel Ward took a double-minor penalty, the Rangers pulled Henrik Lundqvist to get an extra attacker on the ice, and with 6.6 seconds left, Brad Richards tied the game at 2. Then 1:35 into overtime, with Ward still in the penalty box, Marc Staal scored the game-winner. Games like that don't happen too often and they don't happen to mediocre teams. Madison Square Garden has not been that crazy in a while. The series heads back to Washington tomorrow night with the Rangers needing only one more win to get to the Eastern Conference Finals. Let's Go Rangers!
Daily Diamondbacks Update: A wild game ended in a loss last night for the DBacks. Joe Saunders came back down to Earth, which had to be expected because he wasn't going to pitch a shutout every time he took the mound. St. Louis was up 7-0 at one point, Arizona had a six run inning to make it 7-6, but Bryan Shaw gave up back-to-back home runs the next inning, and it meant a 9-6 loss. After 30 games, the record stands at 14-16, which is not exactly where I had hoped. There is still plenty of season left to make that better though.
Daily Giants Update: Justin Tuck was in the first row behind the Rangers bench going wild after Marc Staal scored the winner last night, which was really cool to see. Eli Manning supposedly got a bunch of good-natured ribbing for his appearance on Saturday Night Live, which I'm sure he saw coming. Nothing new to report on the field though, except that the defending champs are getting closer and closer to getting back to work.
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