Rob Thomson hopes Bryce Harper isn’t suspended for dust-up with Rockies
Both Harper and Colorado Rockies pitcher Jake Bird were ejected over the interaction, but never actually made direct contact with each other.
SAN FRANCISCO — One day after leading a dugouts-emptying dust-up over what he perceived as over-the-top taunting by an opposing pitcher, Bryce Harper took his familiar No. 3 spot in the Phillies’ lineup Monday night.
Was it a sign that Harper won’t be suspended by MLB?
”I hope so,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson, who noted that he had not heard Monday from the commissioner’s office. “Boys will boys. No punches were thrown. I hope everything comes out clean and nobody gets suspended for it.”
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Harper stormed the field in the seventh inning of a 4-0 loss Sunday at Coors Field in Colorado after Rockies reliever Jake Bird slapped his mitt, shouted, and smiled at the Phillies’ dugout, even appearing at one point to stick out his tongue, after getting out of a jam.
”I understand getting fired up for an inning and stuff like that, but once you make it about a team or make it about yourself and the other team, that’s when I’ve kind of got a problem with it,” Harper said. “You guys saw my reaction. I wasn’t very happy.”
Harper and Bird were both ejected from the game.
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