There is no love lost between Bryce Harper and fans of the Washington Nationals.
OK. There’s a little love lost.
Harper and the Phillies stunned Washington Thursday night after trailing 5-0, with Harper hitting the go-ahead two-run home run in the ninth inning to cap a seven-run rally. The Phillies have now won seven out of 10, and moved to within four games of the Atlanta Braves in the NL East.
Remember, this is the same team that fired their manager two months ago after an abysmal start. Not a bad little run, I’d say.
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Anyway, back to Harper …
The former Nationals star has been on an absolute tear lately, hitting .429 over the past week with three home runs. His 18th homer of the season Thursday night came after hearing vulgar, “F–k Bryce Harper” chants from the Washington crowd all night.
Naturally, Harper made sure to salute them as he rounded the bases … twice:
Are Nationals fans really still mad at Bryce Harper?
“Ring finger, though, just want to make sure that’s out there,” Harper said after the game, adding that he’s used to hostile environments even though this one still surprises him.
“It’s all part of it. It’s weird coming from a fanbase, obviously, that I sweated for seven years, but there’s a lot of people around here that enjoy me. It’s all fun.”
Couple takeaways here …
Bryce Harper has not yet won a World Series, so the ring finger confuses me. In fact, the Nationals won the World Series the year after they traded him!
I assume he used his ring finger purely to avoid getting fined by Major League Baseball. That’s the only explanation, unless he wanted to remind them that he’s a two-time MVP?
Doubtful.
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My second question, though? Are Nationals fans really still mad at Bryce Harper for leaving? It’s been nearly a DECADE. A decade! Can you believe that? Harper played for the Nationals from 2012-2018, and then left for Philadelphia in 2019. He’s been with the Phillies for eight seasons now.
That’s insane. I can remember when Harper was in high school and was, truly, the “next big thing.” It’s all baseball people could talk about for years.
And then he made his debut in 2012 and actually panned out. That’s the crazy thing. Most of these phenoms never pan out, but Harper absolutely has. He will be a Hall of Famer one day. He’s been everything he was supposed to be as a high school phenom out of Las Vegas.
He’s now 33, but the fire is still burning … clearly. He may be a husband and a father, but he proved Thursday night he’s still more than happy to bark back when the time is right.
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Just with his ring finger, though!
Not the nasty one next to it that costs a lot more money.