Washington Nationals: Bryce Harper fights Hunter Strickland

After getting plunked by a 98 mph fastball in the hip, Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper charged the mound at Hunter Strickland, igniting a benches clearing brawl.

On October 3, 2014, during Game 1 of the National League Division Series between the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants, Bryce Harper stepped in in against Hunter Strickland. Harper went on to hit a moonshot home run into the third deck at Nationals Park, and Strickland was visibly upset.

Four days later, the series had moved to AT&T Park, and Harper faced Strickland once again. Harper once again hit a moonshot off of Strickland, this time into McCovey Cove.

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Fast forward 969 days later, the Nats returned to AT&T Park and Harper faced Strickland in the eighth inning. Apparently Strickland had been holding a grudge for a little over two and a half years, and hit Harper in the hip with a 98 mph fastball.

Harper immediately knew that Strickland intended to hit him, and charged the mound. He then threw his helmet in Strickland’s direction, possibly attempting to hit him and then the two got into a bit of a fist fight.

It didn’t take long for the benches to clear and a brawl quickly broke out. One notable blow other than the main scuffle between Harper and Strickland was coincidentally between two Giants players; Michael Morse was accidentally laid out by Jeff Samardzija. Both players are burly; Morse is a former National who was known as “Beast Mode”, and Samardzija is a former Notre Dame wide receiver.

After the brawl began to simmer down, Strickland’s teammates attempted to hold him back and get him to the dugout. Strickland is pretty burly himself, standing at 6’4, 220 pounds, and it took four players to escort him to the dugout. One of the Giants attempting to escort Strickland was Hunter Pence, who is currently on the disabled list. It is extremely irresponsible to put your own grudge before the health of your teammate.

It is fairly obvious that Strickland purposely hit Harper. First of all, the Giants catcher, Buster Posey, signaled for a slider. He also has excellent control and has only hit four batters in the last four seasons, including one this year. He is also a bit of a hot-head, and has a history of starting fights.

In the 2014 World Series, Strickland gave up a home run to Omar Infante and began shouting at Salvador Perez. This began a minor scuffle, and Strickland was widely criticized for starting a fight for no reason whatsoever.

It appears that Strickland’s teammates may be getting tired of him and his anger-management issues. While Harper was charging the mound, Posey never budged from behind the plate. Most catchers would’ve attempted to get in between the batter and pitcher and stop the brawl, but Posey let Strickland take his beating.

Harper charging the mound looked bad, but he’s not entirely at fault. A pitcher throwing a baseball at a batter is dangerous, and the batter can get seriously injured. Just ask Giancarlo Stanton. Here’s what Harper had to say after the game:

Early on, Harper has been backed by many of his teammates. In Dusty Baker‘s post-game press conference, he gave an interesting quote with a boxing analogy:

Unfortunately, suspensions will be handed down from the league office and there will most likely be some sort of retaliation. This was just the first of six games between the Nats and Giants, and the Nats can’t be happy about their star getting plunked. These next five games between the two should be interesting to keep an eye on.

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Harper and Strickland were both ejected after their incident and both will almost certainly serve suspensions, but Harper is not necessarily at fault. Nevertheless, this is definitely a match-up to keep an eye on.