Bryce Harper violated one of baseball's unwritten rules before being victimized when infielder Jung-Ho Kang of the Pirates violated another—or so say the Nationals. What ensued was basically unwritten rules anarchy on Sunday afternoon at PNC Park. Harper got injured as a result of Kang's breach of etiquette, and the teams later engaged in a bench-clearing disagreement.Harper was forced to leave the game in the third inning because of a jammed left thumb, which occurred on an awkward slide he made into third base after Kang pretended the ball was coming to him for a possible tag at the last minute. After rounding second base on a hit to the right-field corner, Harper took his attention away from coach Bobby Henley, who was advising him not to slide into third. Harper turned his eyes to Kang, who was giving misinformation prompted by an errant throw from the outfield. Harper's confusion led to a stumble and fall. He will get X-rays today.
An inning later, Nationals right-hander A.J. Cole threw a pitch behind Kang, prompting players to swarm the field (at a leisurely pace) and yell at each other. The angriest players seemed to be Jayson Werth of the Nats and mortal enemy of the Gatorade cooler, Sean Rodriguez of the Pirates, who needed to be restrained by his side after Nationals manager Dusty Baker pointed Pittsburgh's way in disapproval. Rodriguez, doing the "yap, yap, yap, big talker" thing with his hands at Dusty, was the only soul ejected.The Nationals considered Kang's phantom tag to be poor form, a violation of baseball's honor code and its unwritten rules, and dangerous besides. Nationals broadcaster F.P. Santangelo, a former major leaguer, said of Kang's fake tag: "You don't do that."Here's Dusty on Harper's status in WaPo:"Who knows how long it could be," Baker said, unwilling to establish a timetable for Harper's return. "We're going to take care of it. He's day to day."Harper had come on strong in the last week, spraying line drives around the outfield—like the ball he pulled down into the right-field corner that led to the injury at third in the first place. Harper is hitting .244 with a .375 on-base percentage and 24 home runs this season, numbers far below the figures he tallied during his MVP season—but production the Nationals desperately need when the playoffs begin a week from Friday.The Nats are angry because Harper is hurt, but Harper is also responsible for himself. He also had the benefit of Henley's vision of the play, and did not avail himself of it. Pick up your coach, son. Trust your coach. Harper didn't. Cardinal baseball sin. (Not Cardinals baseball sin, that's different.)Further, as Pirates manager Clint Hurdle noted, Kang's wasn't the first fake tag in history and it won't be the last. Perhaps "that doesn't make it right" to some, but the Nats should stop acting like he invented this dirty little trick. More than that, Kang wasn't just being a dick in trying to trip up Harper; the errant throw might have gotten past teammates and put Harper position to score if he hadn't slid. Kang was trying to prevent a run from scoring. That might even be in the written rules—the first one, the one stating that when you outscore the opponent, you win.[MLB]
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