In the top of the fourth inning of today's Nationals-Marlins series finale in Miami, the fourth inning was disrupted by an verbal altercation between Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen and Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper.
As Bryce Harper came to the plate, the 19-year old Harper made a gesture with his bat to veteran manager Ozzie Guillen, reports Marlins beat writer for MLB.com Joe Frisaro. Guillen was none too pleased. His reaction? Complain about some pine tar on Harper's bat. In Frisaro's piece, Nationals manager Davey Johnson was none too pleased:
"Ozzie complained that the pine tar was too high up on Harper's bat. So we changed it. Then, he was still chirping about it. It got on the umpire's nerves, it got on my nerves. He was trying to intimidate my player, I guess. He was hung up on our player. He does what he has to do. One of my pitchers complained one time, and it was the first time I saw him do it all year. Some strange things go on out there."
Hung up? In the broadcast, Guillen clearly yells some obscentities to Harper as he is up to bat. Guillen tried to resist talking about Harper, but was unable to abstain. Was it about pine tar?
"Something like that. But for the first time, it's going to stay between us. I could say a lot of sh– about this kid. I've been praising this kid. The last three times [the media] asked me about him, I said he is a great player. What he did today was unprofessional. I'm not going to tell you guys what he did. I'm not going to be talking about this guy on ESPN or Baseball Tonight or everywhere. I'm going to talk to his manager in a little while."
Phillies fans certainly remember Cole Hamels' beanball and when Harper gave himself a bloody eye smashing a bat into the wall. All I know is this: even when the Phillies are playing poorly, as long as we have Ozzie Guillen and Bryce Harper in the division, we are in for some entertainment.
Check out Frisaro's full article here.
Bryce points his bat:
Ozzie gets angry:
Ozzie yells at Harper, imitating him:
