Bryce Harper hit a home run. Bryce Harper took his time watching his home run. Julio Teheran may or may not have construed this as disrespect, and he then may or may not have retaliated by hitting Harper.
Braves, Nationals sound off after benches-clearing incident
Featuring passive-aggressiveness, lack of internet-ing knowledge, and much more!
Greg Fiume
And the apparent retaliation:
When asked after the game, Harper clearly was still worked up about the incident:
Bryce Harper, asked if he was surprised Teheran hit him: "I hit that ball pretty far off him, so, no."
— Amanda Comak (@acomak) August 7, 2013
Teheran’s response was more dismissive towards the incident:
Teheran (on Harper's slow home run trot): "I didnt watch. I was getting concentrated on the next batter and I didn't watch it" #Braves
— Kevin McAlpin (@KevinMcAlpin) August 7, 2013
With that said, both teams would not go home without making some remarks about Tuesday’s game.
Nationals manager Davey Johnson:
Davey said Zim swinging for the fences after the benches cleared was the proper response in the moment. 'You file it for future reference.'
— Chase Hughes (@chasehughesCSN) August 7, 2013
Braves first baseman Freddie Freeman:
Freeman on when Harper got to first: 'Once he got down to first base he said nothing... Usually I talk to everybody, but I left him alone.'
— Chase Hughes (@chasehughesCSN) August 7, 2013
#Braves Freddie Freeman: 'I think after the Harper situation we really wanted to win this game.' #Nats #MLB #NationalsTalk
— Chase Hughes (@chasehughesCSN) August 7, 2013
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez, denying any intent:
Fredi Gonzalez on Harper's reaction: 'I don’t know Bryce. Nobody likes to get hit with a ball, but it definitely wasn’t on purpose.' #Nats
— Chase Hughes (@chasehughesCSN) August 7, 2013
And then dropping the obligatory old gritty manager “I don’t do internetz” quote:
Fredi Gonzalez on Twitter back-and-forth between @Braves and @Nationals: 'I don't talk about Twitter, I don't even know what that is.' #Nats
— Chase Hughes (@chasehughesCSN) August 7, 2013
Braves pitcher Kris Medlen had better things to talk about:
While the media was talking to Teheran, Kris Medlen walked by and yelled 'quit stirring the pot, get over it, we won.' #Nats
— Chase Hughes (@chasehughesCSN) August 7, 2013
And to end with some sanity, here is Braves outfielder Jason Heyward:
Heyward on the series so far: 'Whoever didn’t come to see this series from this area here, they kind of blew it... It’s a lot of fun.' #Nats
— Chase Hughes (@chasehughesCSN) August 7, 2013
Heyward is probably the winner of all the quotes, but it should be interesting to see if the Nationals decide to retaliate after the Braves hit the face of their franchise. With the way Washington’s season is going, and with the Braves being in first place, the series could take an ugly turn.
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