Phillies Hamels Suspended 5 Games For Beaning

Cole Hamels has been suspended five games by Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig for admitting that he threw intentionally at Nationals rookie Bryce Harper Sunday night in Washington (see story). He will not appeal the ban, according to general manager Ruben Amaro. 


Hamels hit the 19-year-old Harper in the back with a 93-mile per hour fastball in the first inning of a game the Phillies wound up winning 9-3. Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann in turn hit Hamels with a pitch two innings later but avoided a suspension.

Hamels allowed one run in eight innings to improve to 4-1 and after the game, he admitted to a group of five reporters that he was throwing at Harper.

“It’s just, ‘Welcome to the big leagues,’” Hamels said. “I was trying to hit him. I mean, I’m not going to deny it.”

He continued: “I’m not going to injure a guy, and they’re probably not going to like me for it, but I’m not going to lie and say I wasn’t trying to do it. I think they understood the messages, and they threw it right back, and I think that’s the way it [should be done], and I respect it.”

In an interview Monday with the Washington Post, Nationals GM Mike Rizzo dared MLB authorities to suspend Hamels.

"I've never seen a more classless, gutless chicken[bleep] act in my 30 years in baseball," Rizzo said. "With all the bounty [incidents] in professional football, the commissioner better act with a purpose on this thing."

In reality, the five-game suspension only means that Hamels’ next start will be pushed back a day. He was scheduled to pitch Saturday in the middle game of a three-game series against the Padres, but thanks to an off-day on Thursday, the suspension will have little affect on the Phillies' rotation. 

Roy Halladay, Joe Blanton and Cliff Lee will start the Mets series and Vance Worley will start against the Padres on Friday. The off-day means Halladay can pitch Saturday on normal rest and Hamels can come back Sunday.

Hamels did not speak with reporters in the clubhouse before the Phillies-Mets game Monday evening at Citizens Bank Park.

Amaro said before the game he was disappointed that Hamels admitted throwing at Harper.

Before the suspension was announced Monday afternoon, manager Charlie Manuel declined to comment when asked if he expected Hamels to be suspended.

“Do I expect it? I don’t know,” he said. “I hope not. It’s not up to me to judge that. We’ll see what happens.”

Hamels is third in the National League with four wins and leads the NL with 44 strikeouts. Overall, he’s 4-1 with a 2.45 ERA.

(More coming...)