Do you remember when Bryce Harper hit a long home run off Hunter Strickland in the 2014 NLDS and stared it at for a long time? Maybe? Kind of? Yeah, I’d moved on, too. But apparently Strickland remembers it. And he wanted to make a statement.
That was the third plate appearance for Harper vs. Strickland, and this is the first one that didn’t end up with Harper hitting a home run. Progress!
If you’ll remember, Harper stared at one of those homers a little bit:
And when Strickland chirped, Harper stared some more:
It took nearly three years for them to meet again — because, good lord, why would you let Strickland pitch to him again — and when they did, there was a delayed kerfuffle.