MLB Daily: Bryce Harper on Ejection: "I don’t think 40,000 people came to watch him ump tonight"
By Mike Cardillo
Welcome to MLB Daily where it’s always nickel beer night in spirit …
On Harper’s Ejection…: Let’s put it this way, if it wasn’t Bryce Harper and it wasn’t a game against the New York Yankees I tend to doubt the name “Marvin Hudson” would have spent a long time trending Wednesday night on social media. But it happened. Hudson took exception to Harper stepping out of the box — spurred on by the umpire walking toward the Nationals dugout to jaw with Matt Williams, et al. Like most of this arguments the old “two wrongs don’t make a right” axiom is worth remembering.
This is Harper’s second ejection in a week, fifth in is career, and not the first time he and Hudson have had their issues.
Fine.
Bigger picture the ejection is once again bringing back the “#UmpShow” idea, under the valid premise nobody buys a ticket to see the umpires work. Now, I’m leery to jump to the conclusion that Hudson ran Harper and Williams from the game to show them up and stroke his own ego. Again, once everyone starts yelling the “heat of the moment” takes over. All it takes for the umpire to do is lift his hand up over his head and its over — hit the showers. Done. No appeal. No review. No nothing. You are the weakest link, goodbye. #timelyreference!
Here’s what Harper said afterward:
"“I don’t think 40,000 people came to watch him ump tonight,” added Harper, after his fifth career ejection. “Plain and simple. Especially when we’re playing the Yankees. The Yankees are a good team, we’re a good team and we’re rolling. I don’t want to get tossed. There’s no reason for me to get tossed in that situation. I don’t think I did anything bad to get tossed. Maybe he just had a bad morning or he didn’t get his coffee.”"
Agreed, nobody pays to attend a baseball game — or any sporting event — for the officials. In this particular case, the Nationals and Harper are mostly in the right since Hudson himself instigated the situation. That said, Harper and every other player regardless of their prominence isn’t immune to respecting the umpires or falling prey to their hot-tempered whims. I like Harper. He’s fun to watch and plays with an edge, which doesn’t rub me the wrong way. Whatever his fame and talent might be, he’s not immune from the often arbitrary decisions of the umpire. How much good does arguing balls and strikes net a player in the end? At best maaaaaybe you influence the ump’s zone at worst you piss the guy off or get ejected. It feels like a no-win situation.
Hudson said the reason behind the ejection stemmed from words Harper said, not the going in-and-out of the box stuff, like it initially seemed.
Anyways, the Nationals still won the game. Williams provided a fantastic homespun quote afterward.
"“Doggone it, he’s our best player and arguably the best player on the planet right now,” Williams said. “And we need him in the game. And I don’t feel as if there was any need to throw him out. So that’s why I went out and argued.”"
And to play Devil’s Advocate, given the amount of games there are in the season, in the long run Nationals fans are probably going to remember they were there the night Harper got tossed and Matt Williams kicked dirt all over home plate.
Gordon being Gordon: Remember when Alex Gordon came up as a third baseman?
Yeah, me neither.
That’s a winner: Joe Mauer’s first homer of the season gave the Twins a win in extras vs. the Pirates.
Thanks so much for daily interleague play, Bud!
#TBT: Here’s Lou Pinella getting tossed while manager of the Cubs.
1. This video was uploaded in 2007, well before everyone had an iPhone hence it’s not filmed with two black boxes around it. 2. See, the fans are cheering and having fun. Granted it’s the Cubs and there usually isn’t much to get excited about, but manager ejections are entertaining.
This & That: Dallas Keuchel won again for the first-place Astros. He is having arguably the best year of any starter in baseball. Lisk and I have a post coming up sort of tied to this. Wait and see! … A.J. Pollock stole home in Arizona’s win over Miami. Reckon this is the lowest ebb, so far, of the Dan Kennings era with the Marlins.
[Yardorama]