Better To Take High Road After HBPs

Last night Kyle Kendrick was a bit wild against the Nationals and hit two batters, including Nats’ third baseman Ryan Zimmerman. He left the game with wrist pain.

Now, if ya’ll remember last year, John Lannan threw one in on Chase Utley, knocking his wrist, and taking him out for a month.

Lannan, of course, was on the hill last night, and didn’t throw at anyone. But Jesus Colome threw at Utley, and Utley seemed to growl, before heading to first base.

After the game, these quotes:

Utley: “It’s part of the game. No big deal. The important thing is, we won.”

Manuel: “The catcher set right in behind him. Yeah, he threw at him. No doubt about it.”

The unspoken rule in baseball — no sport has as many unspoken rules — is if a pitcher hits a batter, it’s brushed aside. If he hits a second, retaliation is necessary. That Kendrick knocked Zimmerman out means the Nats had the liberty to hit a comparable player. Utley is the comparable one to Zim (both are foundation players), thus, he got the bruise.

And Charlie said what he said; Jimmy Rollins said “there’s a little more to that.” Hopefully these words don’t come back to bite the Phils the next time they play the Nats. Face it, it’s good the Phils didn’t lash out — they don’t need to fight the meaningless Nationals while getting set for a big stretch run. Take the high road. Hopefully the Nats don’t act like children next time out, either.