Cole Hamels hit Bryce Harper on purpose

The Nationals and Phillies seem to have a new rivalry being jumpstarted this season, and this should help:

Hamels: "I was trying to hit him. I'm not going to deny it."

— Matt Gelb (@magelb) May 7, 2012

That was a tweet from Phillies beat writer Matt Gelb, concerning Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels hitting Bryce Harper with a pitch in the first inning Sunday night. It would appear Hamels was going with a little hazing on the 19-year-old phenom in a "welcome to the bigs" type display. Give Hamels credit for not doing the whole "it just got away from me" bit, which is so tired.

I'm sure some will get all riled up about this, but I like it. I also like that Harper didn't seem mad about it. In fact, check this out, from a Nationals beat writer:

Told Hamels admitted plunking him, Harper laughed. "He's a great guy, great pitcher, knows how to pitch. He's an all-star. It's all good."

— Adam Kilgore (@AdamKilgoreWP) May 7, 2012

After getting hit, Harper came around and stole home, making Hamels pay for it. And then in the third inning, Jordan Zimmermann hit Hamels with a pitch -- and there wasn't a fight. Hamels was masterful the rest of the way, throwing eight innings and giving up only five hits and that one run in a big Phillies' win.

Simply: This was just a few baseball players taking care of business on their own. That's old school. Gotta love it.

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