The Philadelphia Phillies are limping into Memorial Day weekend having lost seven of their past nine games. It’s been a particular struggle at the plate for basically every Phillies player not named Bryce Harper and Nick Castellanos. So, leave it to Harper to try to fire up his teammates on Wednesday.
He was just fortunate to avoid an early ejection.
During the first inning of the Phillies’ game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Harper saw a first-pitch cutter from Zac Gallen called a strike despite missing the zone inside. Harper had some words for home plate umpire Junior Valentine, and that frustration carried over into the rest of the at-bat.
El umpire marca un strike muy adentro en la zona y se enoja Bryce Harper.#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/2e5tZm3ZDE
— Francisco Juárez ⚾ (@iamfrankjuarez) May 24, 2023
On an 0-2 count, Harper would ground out to end the inning. But instead of turning towards the dugout, Harper shouted at Valentine presumably to complain more about that first-pitch strike call.
You don't want to see Bryce when he's angry … pic.twitter.com/PgCLDg88NQ
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) May 24, 2023
Harper was clearly trying to send a message to his struggling teammates, but at the same time, it wouldn’t have helped the Phillies out much if Valentine had decided to eject Harper. We’ve seen umpires toss players for much less.
We’ll have to see how Harper handles the rest of the game as the Phillies faced a five-run deficit by the third inning.
