Cole Hamels claimed he was playing some old school baseball. But new school baseball didn’t see it that way and suspended the Phillies’ youngest ace for five games. Hamels intentionally drilled Nationals rookie Bryce Harper in the back during Sunday’s 9-3 win.
Hamels could have said that the pitch got away from him, but he uttered something surprising: the truth.
“I was trying to hit him,” Hamels said after Sunday’s game. He was unavailable for comment Monday.
Like most pitches thrown by the potential top free agent, Hamels’ offering was right where he wanted it to be. The admission is as surprising as the mob admitting to a hit. Charlie Manuel wishes that Hamels kept his mouth shut.
“He could have been a little more discreet about it, Manuel said. “He could have been a little less honest.”
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo called Hamels the “polar opposite of old school.”
“I’ve never seen a more classless, gutless chicken s— act in my 30 years of baseball,” Rizzo told The Washington Post.
Major League Baseball agreed by suspending Hamels and tacking on an undisclosed fine for drilling the most prominent rookie in baseball. Manuel believes that the Nationals got back at his team.
“They got even [when the Nats Jordan Zimmerman hit Hamels],” Manuel said. “There was no warning [after Hamels beaned Harper]. That’s baseball.”
The Phillies’ skipper believes the incident could help his team.
“I think that can help bring the team together,” Manuel said.
