Why hamels hit harper

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Phillies reportedly interested in reunion with Aaron Loup. Phillies showing interest in Diamondbacks starter Merrill Kelly. Newsletter signup. The White Sox, however, retaliated nonetheless. On May 14, two of last year's best pitchers in the National League—Clayton Kershaw for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Ian Kennedy for the Arizona Diamondbacks—faced off against each other, and the duel turned out to be not so friendly. In the first of 18 matchups between the division rivals, Kennedy and Kershaw exchanged brush-back pitches just two innings apart in the Dodgers' , clearly promising more sparring between the two in the future.

Kershaw was still upset following the game. Old-school baseball's one thing, and I understand what the manager's trying to instill over there, but there's no place for that here. It's obvious what they were trying to do, but I don't agree with what they did. It just felt wrong. He Kennedy is a good pitcher, he had an awesome year last year and I have a lot of respect for what he does on the hill. But if that's how they want to do it, that's fine.

He missed anyway, so no big deal. That may have prevented even more fireworks from happening. Last Sept. Parra had doubled off Kershaw in the third, but Kershaw was still upset by Parra's "styling" on a home run he had hit the previous night against the Dodgers. The Dodgers and D-Backs play each other quite a few more times this season, so the flames for this heated rivalry could be stoked once again. Lopez hit Ramirez with an offering in the seventh inning, drawing a long glare from Han-Ram in the process and prompting an umpire to escort Ramirez to first base.

Astros manager Brad Mills claimed after the game that there was absolutely no intent, but apparently Lopez and other teammates were upset at Ramirez for gestures he had made towards the team in a matchup earlier in the season.

After the game, Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen, always one with a way for words, offered his take on the incident. I would have chased his [rear] all the way to Puerto Rico. Um, Ozzie? Lopez is from Nicaragua. At least Ozzie didn't say anything about Cuba this time. Winning two of three from the Phillies and keeping them at distance from first place in the NL East at least for now was an important statement for the Nationals.

But the Phillies showed they still intend to be the big bullies of the division and still tried to go for the Nats' lunch money on Sunday night.

Cole Hamels threw his very first pitch to Bryce Harper right into the rookie's back. Maybe the plunking was intended as a statement for those who think Harper has gotten way too much attention thus far.

Watch video of the play here. Or perhaps Hamels' pitch was a message to the year-old: Welcome to the big leagues, kid. But I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't trying to do it. Hamels went on to say that nailing Harper with his first pitch was a nod to the old ways of the game via the Daily News ' David Murphy.

I'm just trying to continue old baseball, because I think some people get away from it. I remember when I was a rookie, the strike zone was really, really small and you didn't say anything, because that's the way baseball is.

Maybe I'm not the baseball historian that other writers are, but I missed the part that said all rookies should be struck with a baseball at 90 mph as an initiation to the big leagues. Even cocky first-timers with bad haircuts and Natitude like Harper. That's pretty different from getting a tight strike zone before earning a wider one, to use Hamels' comparison.

Hamels hit him safely, it could be argued, plunking him in the small of the back.