Take me out to the brawl game as Harper erupts

Washington Nationals Bryce Harper could be facing a suspension after his part in a spectacular bench-clearing brawl against the San Francisco Giants on Monday. Harper unleashed a flurry of punches after appearing to be deliberately targeted by Giants relief pitcher Hunter Strickland in the eighth inning of the Nats' 3-0 win at AT&T Park. It was the first meeting between the two men since the 2014 playoffs, when Harper blasted Strickland for two consecutive home runs. In Monday's Memorial Day game, Strickland made his intentions plain with his first pitch, plunking Harper with a stinging ball to the midriff. Harper immediately responded, ripping his helmet off in disgust and charging the mound to exchange punches with Strickland. As the two players slugged it out, both benches cleared and Harper was eventually pulled away as the ugly melee continued. Harper later expressed incredulity that Strickland could still have been nursing a grudge after being hit for consecutive homers in 2014. "It's not even relevant anymore," Harper said of his 2014 exploits. "They won the World Series that year. He's got a ring on his finger. He shouldn't be worried about what happened in the first round." Meanwhile, Nationals manager Dusty Baker defended Harper for his fiery response to a plunking he believed was intentional. "What's a man supposed to do? He's not a punching bag," the manager said. Both Strickland and Harper were ejected from the game and are now likely to face disciplinary action from Major League Baseball chiefs. Last year, Baltimore Orioles slugger Manny Machado received a four-game suspension for charging the mound after being hit in the back by Kansas City Royals pitcher Yordano Ventura, who died in January in a car accident. But Baker said he would be disappointed if Harper is suspended. "If anybody gets suspended, the pitcher should get suspended," Baker said. "Our guy just responded to getting hit. We don't start anything, but we don't take anything."