During the fifth inning of the Phyllis-Mets game on Saturday (PHI-NYM Gametracker), Philly Sluger Bryce Harper First Base Umpire Roberto Ortiz takes place on the right field. Check out the relevant color television footage here:
In the first half of the inning, Harper checked in with a fair-bad call. Harper pulled a Seth Lugo curveball from the first-base line, but Ortiz called it wrong. Harper fell to the ground to finish the frame. So, when Phyllis came on the field at the bottom of the fifth, Harper allowed Ortiz to hear about it – in excess, in Ortiz’s opinion.
Harper had some disappointments due to a mistake he made on the field during the fourth inning. Andres Gimenez popped to the shallow right, but Harper failed to take charge of the game despite having an easy way to the ball. Second baseman Neil Walker had to play back-pedaling on the ball, which allowed Todd Frazier to tag up and score from third. Here is a form:
Coincidentally, it was Walker who later tried to block Harper for an inning.
Of these, Harper was the most productive, second season with Phyllis (he batted.271 / 429/523), but Saturday night was not Vintage Harper.
On second thought, Vintage Harper was in this sense:
Bryce Harper is good at playing baseball and is good at telling people to stop playing baseball.
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