Bryce Harper Ejected, But Nobody Knows Why

Bryce Harper was tossed from tonight’s game against the Yankees for ... well it isn’t exactly sure what he was tossed for. Home plate umpire Marvin Hudson made a (bad) strike call that Harper disagreed with, and he said a few words before digging in for the next pitch. But then manager Matt Williams began jawing with Hudson from the dugout. Harper stepped out of the batter’s box as Hudson walked over to Williams, and then all of a sudden he was ejected.

You can watch the confusing scene below:

It sure looks like Harper got run for stepping out of the batter’s box, and Matt Williams is certainly yelling at Hudson about the batter’s box, but according to Hudson he did not eject Harper for stepping out of the batter’s box:

For whatever it’s worth, Harper and Hudson have a bit of a history. Back in 2013 the Nationals lost a game when a Harper check swing was ruled a third strike by Hudson, who was the third base umpire. While Harper wasn’t ejected, he did did scream plenty of bad things at Hudson:

What exactly was Harper shouting down to Hudson?

“I just told him how good he was and how good he looked,” Harper said, tongue planted firmly in his cheek.

It is hard judge the merits of the ejection without knowing what exactly Harper said to Hudson, but the Nationals are making it pretty clear how they feel:

E-mail or gchat the author: kevin.draper@deadspin.com | PGP key + fingerprint | Photo via AP