And so, as it turns out, following Tuesday's 9-5 loss to the Cardinals in which Harrell appeared in relief for Bud Norris, and gave up 4H/2ER, 0K:2BB in 3IP two days after his move to the bullpen, Harrell and Lyles had a "heated clubhouse confrontation."
Harrell: "It was just a heated argument."
Lyles: "Teammates being teammates."
But Bo Porter got to the heart of it:
It happens. It's part of the game. It actually should never leave the clubhouse. You discuss it. You figure out your differences and you move on.
And there it is. It shouldn't have left the clubhouse. We don't know who talked about the heated clubhouse confrontation first: Harrell, Lyles, or even somebody else. But there is no reason for this to come out five days after the fact. If it comes out Wednesday, then it's a Crime of Passion. For it to happen Tuesday and come out Sunday? That's bush league. And it's not exacty out of character for Harrell to complain to the media.
Remember how Bo Porter found out Harrell was pissed about the defensive positioning? When someone asked him about them. Porter:
Listen, if you have something to say, and you want to voice your opinion, I have a complete open-door policy. I didn't hear about Lucas' comments until I got to the ballpark.
And don't forget how pissed he got a few days after getting sent to the bullpen. That was a week ago today.
In fact, getting all pissed off about something isn't out of character for Harrell: Shifts/defensive positioning, an experiment with a six-man rotation last September, working with Jason Castro last year. When everything's great, Harrell's a pretty good pitcher. Problem is, it never seems to be great.
It seems like Porter and Harrell have a sit-down/clear-the-air talk every few weeks. I'm ready for it to stop.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
