The dugout skirmish between the Washington Nationals’ Bryce Harper and Jonathan Papelbon elicited a common reaction around the majors Monday: Yes, these kinds of scraps take place. Not always in front of TV cameras, perhaps, but teammates do get into fights with each other.
“Everybody’s adrenaline and emotions are all over the place, and it happens,” said David Ortiz, who played with Papelbon on the Boston Red Sox.
“It’s not like they happen a lot, but they happen. We spend way too much time together, away from our family. You’ve got 25 different mentalities together at once, 25 different men in the same room,” Ortiz said before Boston’s game at the New York Yankees. “Even between big brother, little brother – fights happen. The most important thing is figure things out and go back to normal, which is what I’m pretty sure will happen over there.”
Papelbon, Washington’s closer, was suspended for four games by the Nationals on Monday, a day after he and Harper, the slugging outfielder considered a leading NL MVP contender, tangled during a game.
“My boy Papelbon is legit. He’s a trooper, a great teammate,” Ortiz said. “At some point, hopefully they figure things out, because Harper is a pretty good kid, too.”