The Washington Nationals phenom threw a bat off a wall on the way to the clubhouse, and the bat didn't like it, caroming off the wall into Harper's face. Ten stitches later, he retook the field with a bloodied face.
What a brash, young fool!
You might have also tuned in last Sunday night and seen the kid steal home before the Phillies exerted their will during a 9-3, nationally televised thumping of the Nationals.
So, if you live in the Bay Area or Gary, Indiana, what do you think of the Washington Nationals?
Well, you're entitled to your opinion, but from living just a couple miles from Nationals Park here in the District and from following the club even more closely than the team, you know, that I like — that would be my hometown Tigers — I can tell you that the Nationals are the present and future of baseball.
The Nationals will be in the playoffs this year.
They'll likely be in the playoffs next year.
And they'll be in contention for the playoffs probably for the next decade.
No hyperbole here.
No other team can match what the Nationals have, assembled by the brash GM Mike Rizzo:
The best starting rotation in baseball — not a single starter older than 28 (that would be Edwin Jackson), with four of them 26 or younger.
A middle of the infield, in Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa, which has struggled but is young and promising — Desmond is 26, Espinosa is 25.
And speaking of middles, a middle of the batting order in Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Morse, Jayson Werth and Adam LaRoche that packs plenty of punch — when healthy.
Oh, and that Harper kid.
(Not to mention what many consider to be one of the best farm systems in the game.)
And the Washington Nationals are winning now. This isn't, as many have posited, a team of the future, a team we'll see in contention two to three years from now. This is a team ready to win the division and compete in the playoffs this year.
Consider this: The Nationals have been without their slugger Morse the entire year and their best hitter Zimmerman for the last few weeks. The Nationals lost Werth on Sunday for at least a couple months and were without LaRoche for almost a week. The Nationals haven't had their closer Drew Storen all season and lost Brad Lidge, their closer No. 2, a couple weeks back. The Nationals are scoring the 26th most runs in the majors.
The Nationals are 20-12 and in first place.
If these guys all get healthy, I have a hard time seeing the Nationals losing any particular game. In other words, if I were in Vegas and betting on baseball (don't worry; I've never been to the Vegas), I'd take the Nationals every time.
Every night, a Nationals starter gives the team a chance to win. All the offense has to do is score three, maybe four runs. When they put up seven against the Reds last night, it was over — and 26-year-old Gio Gonzalez didn't even pitch that well, giving up two runs in five innings. By this rotation's standards, that's not a quality start.
When you have that luxury, a burden is lifted from the offense. There's not a pressure to score a certain amount of runs each game. Just do what you can do.
Enter Harper, a 19-year-old who doesn't seem to feel pressure or even realize he's in the big leagues. In his first game under the national spotlight, he only stole home, turned a single for any other major leaguer into a double, and made a diving catch in left field.
After the game, he wasn't at all fazed by the fact that Phillies starter Cole Hamels admitted to pegging him before that theft of home.
Harper isn't a rising star — he's a star. He'll go through his struggles, like yesterday's 0-for-5, bat (err, face) bashing performance, but he'll get better, more mature and flat-out dangerous every time he's at bat or on the base paths.
As people who know a lot more about baseball than I have opined, Harper isn't a hitter or a fielder, he's a "hellbent ball player." That ought to scare plenty of opposing teams.
Speaking of scary, that's what the Nationals are.
This is a team built perfectly for now, five years down the road and 10 years away. This is a team with an owner in Ted Lerner willing to spend, a GM in Mike Rizzo who's made the right moves, and a manager in Davey Johnson who's handling his hungry club the right way.
Get used to seeing the Washington Nationals at the top of the standings, because they're not going anywhere anytime soon.
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