Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said before Wednesday’s game he would be surprised if tensions resurfaced in the series finale against the Nationals Wednesday, the day after benches cleared when Bryce Harper reacted to being hit by a Julio Teheran pitch.
“I think the way (umpire) Joe West handled it - we played another five innings and nothing happened,” Gonzalez said. “I think those things are boys being boys and sandlot, playground stuff. I think it’s going to be baseball as normal.”
Harper took Teheran to be retaliating for Harper’s long look at the home run he’d hit two innings before, though Teheran maintained he was trying to pitch inside.
There were matters to address Wednesday, though, and Braves general manager Frank Wren responded to one of them. The Braves official twitter account had tweeted “Clown move bro” during Tuesday’s game, referencing Harper’s well-documented response to a reporter’s question last year. The tweet prompted a response from @Nationals saying, “Which part, giving up the home run, or drilling the 20-year-old on the first pitch his next time up?”
“I think it was simply an inappropriate attempt at humor from our social media department,” Wren said. “And it doesn’t reflect how we feel or how we want to do business or who we are. You shouldn’t ever be directing anything unless it’s positive or uplifting at another team or opponent. I think that’s kind of plain and simple.”
Wren said he hadn’t reached out to the Nationals on the Braves’ behalf but would if he ran into Nationals GM Mike Rizzo.
Twitter was the cause of another issue after a photo circulated that showed McCann flashing a sign with only his middle finger showing, when Harper was at the plate. McCann said he had two fingers down but his index finger was blacked out.
“I hope those guys know it was photo-shopped,” said McCann, who spoke to at least one Nationals player during batting practice. “I wouldn’t do that.”
McCann doesn’t have a Twitter account and he pointed to Tuesday’s misunderstanding as another reason why.
“That’s why I don’t deal with Twitter or Facebook,” McCann said. “Stuff is pointless. It gives people a voice to do whatever they want to do. That’s why I don’t get involved in it.”
