Long before he was perfecting the position of third base and smacking home runs against National League pitchers, Mike Schmidt was a college baseball player trying to win a College World Series. The former Ohio Bobcat was elected in to the Mid-American Conference Hall of Fame yesterday, with the induction ceremony scheduled for next Thursday, April 17.

"We couldn't be happier for Mike and his family," said Ohio Athletics Director Jim Schaus. "Mike truly is one of the legendary figures in the game of baseball, but also at Ohio University as he helped lead our program to the 1970 College Baseball World Series. We are so proud to have him as one of our alumni and we look forward to a special evening."

Schmidt was a four-year letterman for Ohio from 1967-71 and was named All-American in 1970 and 1971. In 1970 Schmidt helped lead Ohio to the College Baseball World Series and he earned First Team All-MAC in three seasons.

Joining Schmidt in this year's class are Ben Curtis (Kent State, men's golf), Herb Deromedi (Central Michigan, football), Wayne Embry (Miami, men's basketball), Karen Fitzpatrick (Ball State, field hockey) and Bob Nichols (Toledo, men's basketball).

"Playing with Mike Schmidt during my collegiate career was a true honor and I am thrilled that he will be recognized as one of the all-time greats in the history of the Mid-American Conference," said Ohio Baseball head coach Joe Carbone.

Schmidt, of course, was inducted in to the National Baseball Hall of fame in 1995, along with Richie Ashburn and a year after Steve Carlton.

Photo courtesy of Ohio University Athletics.

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I know I said earlier that I was done talking about Cole Hamels and his bean ball incident against Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals, but when news breaks it changes plans quickly. Hamels has been suspended five games by Major League Baseball, and he will begin serving the penalty without contest immediately. As I said earlier today, by openly admitting to intentionally hitting Harper Sunday night Hamels automatically loses any right to appeal he would have had otherwise.

Of course, as Todd Zolecki points out, the way the schedule plays out, the suspension really means nothing other than a loss of some pay. The final game Hamels will have to serve on his suspension would be scheduled for Saturday, which should see Roy Halladay take the mound. Hamels could then pitch on Sunday, losing virtually no playing time.

In the end the suspension does little to hurt the Phillies as a team, and Hamels will be right back in action.

It looked ugly right away, and Jayson Werth's reaction told the story well enough. The Nationals confirmed last night that their star right fielder suffered a broken wrist while trying to snag a ball in the outfield last night against the Phillies. His slide looked like it would result in a nice catch but Werth's wrist got caught and twisted in a bad way, forcing the outfielder to grimace in pain and go right to holding his wrist in great pain.

This afternoon Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports that Werth will undergo surgery today, forcing him to potentially miss ten to 12 weeks of the regular season. The good news is that the wrist injury apparently does not have any ties to his previous injuries that once threatened his pro career. That is very good news, at least relatively speaking.

If nothing else, it looks clear that Bryce Harper's stay in the big leagues will certainly be extended. The Nationals will platoon a few players in right field, and with the injury to Werth will almost have to keep Harper up in the majors. Nobody is really complaining about that, because it looks like he is capable of handling his own right now.

The one and only Meech just tweeted this video, which is somewhat ironic today.

Hopefully Werth can get back on the field as quickly as possible. The Nationals will be hurt for a while in the outfield, but they should be in good enough shape to weather the storm as long as Ryan Zimmerman comes back and is effective. We know that their pitching is legit, but the struggling offense must now get by without one of their top offensive weapons for about two months.

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Has a Roy Halladay start ever been as overshadowed as tonight's? While the baseball world is still buzzing over the Cole Hamels vs. Nationals incident, with Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo chiming in Monday morning, the Phillies return home for an important home stand. Tonight Roy Halladay looks to snap his winless drought, and he wil do so against the New York Mets.

Image credit: Reddit

In his last three starts the Phillies offense has failed Halladay, but you can't say the same about last week's meltdown in Atlanta. The bats came alive against the Braves in game two of the three-game series, building a rare 6-0 lead for the ace pitcher, but something went wrong in the bottom of the fifth inning, as the Braves fought back with a six-run outburst keyed by a grand slam by catcher Brian McCann. Halladay was pulled in the middle of the sixth inning and was charged for two more runs. It was a rare type of outing for Halladay, who has earned the right to have a bad outing based on his body of work. But even a bad outing raises questions when the offense gives you a six=run lead in the fifth inning. No matter how gassed you may be, that is a game you have to win. Blame Halladay, and blame the bullpen. That game was not on the offense.

Prior to the start in Atlanta Halladay came up on the short end of losses to two of the National League's worst teams, the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs. Halladay allowed five runs in 14 innings against San Diego and Chicago, but the Phillies were only able to muster one run in each game.

Halladay will make his first start since blowing a six-run lead and being charged for eight runs in Atlanta Wednesday night. After the game Halladay left the team to attend to an unknown family concern, and he rejoined the team a day later in Washington D.C. When he returns to Citizens Bank Park tonight he look to get back on track. With a 9-2 career record against the Mets, with a 2.88 ERA, 1.115 WHIP and 7.0 SO/9 rate you would think that he will be ready to get ack in the win column.

This will be the first time Halladay faces the Mets this season.

The fallout from Cole Hamels pegging Bryce Harper in the backside Sunday night in the first inning continues today, with the Washington Nationals getting in to the mix in ironic fashion. A general manager calling a player gutless? Real smooth move for a man who will defend himself from a luxury box in the stadium while the player has to work on the field. Right?

“Players take care of themselves,” Rizzo said in a phone interview with the Washington Post's Adam Kilgore. “I’ve never seen a more classless, gutless chicken [bleep] act in my 30 years in baseball."

Really? More classless than this? Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Heck, I may be in the minority with the usual readers here but I'll even tell you this move by Chase Utley was more of a classless act than what Hamels did. And I'm even trying to be fair without even touching this, although I just did.

Just checking. Anyway, you can understand where the general manager of the Nationals is coming from, and he really is doing nothing more than defending his own player that could become the face of the franchise down the road. Hamels admitted after last night's game that he did in fact throw a ball at Harper intentionally, and even though he should be suspended for the move you have to give Hamels at least an ounce of respect for coming out and not hiding from his intent the way a number of pitchers have before. Hamels did not duck and cover form the incident. He took his own hit-by-pitch like a professional and never once showed any intent to throw at another Nationals player.

“Cole Hamels says he’s old school? He’s the polar opposite of old school. He’s fake tough. He thinks he’s going to intimidate us after hitting our 19-year rookie who’s eight games into the big leagues? He doesn’t know who he’s dealing with.”

This coming from the general manager of a franchise who saw a number of John Lannan pitches make contact with second baseman Chase Utley and other Phillies batters. 

The world chimes in on Hamels beaning Harper

Not surprisingly, Cole Hamels admitting to hitting Bryce Harper in the first inning Sunday night has caused a little bit of backlash in the baseball blogging world.

Hardball Talk says Hamels "decided to open his big mouth after his outing."

The Outside Corner calls out Hamels on his logic behind the decision to plunk Harper while Big League Stew is still trying to figure out the thought process, referring to Hamels as a Jedi at one point. Eye on Baseball also notes that Harper laughed the whole thing off and said "It's all good." Of course, Harper would later come around to steal home on Hamels, so that may have been part of his thinking when discussing it afterward.

As I said earlier, I would have absolutely no problem with Hamels being served a suspension in which he would miss one start. He admitted to going after a player and that should guarantee a suspension. Hamels even loses out on any chance of an appeal because he willingly said he threw at a baseball player.

Expect Hamels to learn of a suspension this week, which means the Phillies will need to plug in Kyle Kendrick for at least one more start. Cliff Lee is expected to return for his next start, removing the need for Kendrick on the mound for that.

Yesterday in the NL East

Phillies 9, Nationals 3

Mets 3, Diamondbacks 1

Braves 7, Rockies 2

Marlins 6, Padres 3

Updated NL East Standings

1. 18-10 Nationals
2. 18-11 Braves (0.5 GB)
3. 15-13 Mets (3.0 GB)
4. 14-14 Marlins (4.0 GB)
5. 14-15 Phillies (4.5 GB)

Elsewhere...

Nationals rookie steals home in retaliation

Cole Hamels hit Bryce Harper in the backside. AP

Yep, this is a rivalry. Get on board.

After losing two straight games to the Washington Nationals this weekend, Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels had seen enough. Hamels took matters in to his own hands by sending a deliberate message to the NL East leading Nationals that the Phillies had enough. With two outs in the first inning and nobody on, Hamels pegged brazen rookie Bryce Harper in the backside with a fastball on his first pitch to the kid. Harper took first base without issue, but would later make Hamels pay for the incident.

“I was trying to hit him,” Hamels said [via Washington Post]. “I’m not going to deny it. That’s just — you know what, it’s something that I grew up watching, that’s what happened, so I’m just trying to continue the old baseball — I think some people kind of get away from it. I remember when I was a rookie the strike zone was really, really small and you didn’t say anything just because that’s the way baseball is. Sometimes the league is protecting certain players and making it not that old-school, prestigious way of baseball.”

But why did Hamels voluntarily throw at Harper, the 19-year old baseball prodigy? Harper didn't exactly do anything over the weekend that would have been bean-worthy, did he?

"The Phillies are worried about them, and Hamels’ beanball showed it," the Washington Post's Adam Kilgore wrote.

Harper ended up making Hamels pay for the beanball. After going first to third on a Jayson Werth single to left field, Harper waited for the rght opportunity to strike, stealing home when Hamels threw to first to keep Werth close. Not paying much attention to Harper, Hamels allowed Harper to get a solid lead off of third. The result...

Waking up this morning still in some awe over the performance of Joe Blanton yesterday. After 400 pitches were thrown Wednesday night in an extra innings offensive explosion, Blanton managed to get through a complete game on fewer than 90 pitches. While Blanton deserves a bunch of credit for doing what he did, you have to pit some blame on the Braves as well. No pitcher, no matter how good they are, should ever get through a complete game without tossing 90 pitches.

Bryce Harper shows his Natitude. AP photo

This weekend the Phillies head to Washington, where the Nationals are set to take back their park. The pitching match-ups this weekend may not be in favor of the Phillies, except for Sunday night with Cole Hamels taking the mound. Tonight will see Stephen Strasburg oppose Kyle Kendrick. You can probably chalk this one up for the Nationals. Of course this weekend will also give Phillies fans a chance to witness 19-year old phenom Bryce Harper, who USA Today is already suggesting will be a big leaguer for life. Harper was batting third for the Nationals yesterday.

And speaking of the Nationals, he may be recovering from injury right now (expected back around the All-Star break), closer Drew Storen has his Twitter handle stitched on to his glove. He is the first MLB player to have his Twitter name (@DrewStoren) on his glove, but he will likely not be the last.

This should be a significant weekend series in Washington, and is perhaps the most hyped series between the two franchises since the Nationals made the move form Montreal to Washington. We all know about the Take Back Our Park initiative, and the uproar it has caused by some, but the Nationals have reason to be confident this weekend. They are a young, up and coming team and they took the season series last year. With young players like Strasburg and Harper becoming the faces of the organization alongside third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, the future is bright for Washington.

They have been struggling lately though, and injuries have played a big role in that. The Nats have nine players currently on the disabled list, including Zimmerman, former Phillies closer Brad Lidge and other key players such as starting pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, Mark DeRosa, Adam LaRoche and Storen. That is a lot of regulars out of commission this weekend.

Yesterday in the NL East

Phillies 4, Braves 0

Nationals 2, Diamondbacks 1

Marlins 3, Giants 2

Astros 8, Mets 1

Updated NL East Standings

1. 16-9 Nationals
2. 15-11 Braves (1.5 GB)
3. 13-12 Mets (3.0 GB)
4. 13-13 Phillies (3.5 GB)
5. 11-14 Marlins (5.0)

"You just knew Joe Blanton was going to be the first pitcher to throw a complete game this year," Chris Wheeler said toward the end of the game.

Of course it was Joe Blanton, the most maligned pitcher on the staff entering the season who picked up the three-hit shutout in his first complete game as a Phillie early Thursday morning.

Of course the Phillies take a 2-0 lead in to the ninth inning after dropping a gut-wrenching 15-13 decision almost 12 hours prior.

Of course Blanton got an infield single in the effort as well.

Of course.

You know why? Because the Phillies once again showed the character that Charlie Manuel has instilled on this team over the last few seasons. Things may not be going so well overall for the team, with Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Cliff Lee, Jim Thome and more on the disabled list, but the Phillies showed just why baseball is a funny sport. After combinging with the Braves for the highest scoring National League game in decades, they got a pitcher's gem from their fifth starter.

The Phillies even gave Blanton a lead to work with before taking the mound, effectively advancing Jimmy Rollins around the bases and across home plate after a lead-off single with a sacrifice bunt from Juan Pierre, a productive fly out by Shane Victorino and a sac fly by Hunter Pence. The 1-0 held until the seventh when Laynce Nix smacked a solo shot to deep center field, and Victorino's two-run home run in the ninth provided the insurance runs needed to give Blanton a little more wiggle room.

He didn't need it of course, and Charlie Manuel didn't even need to call on his closer, Jonathan Papelbon.

Baseball is a goofy game.

The Phillies are once again back to .500 as they move north to Washington D.C. for a weekend series against the Nationals. The chances of finally getting over .500 don't look too good though, with Stephen Strasburg scheduled to start tomorrow night against Kyle Kendrick.

The game took about half as long to play compared to last night's slug fest. Both teams must have wanted to get out of town in a hurry.

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Should you be alarmed? Roy Halladay, fresh off one of the worst starts he has had in years last night, has left the Phillies in Atlanta to attend to a personal family issue. CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury says that Halladay is in good health and that the ace pitcher will return to the team tomorrow in Washington D.C.