The Cole Hamels/Bryce Harper rumpus just got escalated; Nationals GM Mike Rizzo commented on the incident and did not hold back. Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post quotes Rizzo:

“Players take care of themselves,” Rizzo said after I called him this morning. “I’ve never seen a more classless, gutless chicken [bleep] act in my 30 years in baseball.

“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.”

Rizzo went on, according to Kilgore, to comparing Hamels’ comments to the current bounty scandal in the NFL and continued:

“This goes beyond rivalry and all that stuff,” Rizzo said. “This points to, you take the youngest guy in baseball. He’s never done a thing. And then Hamels patted himself on the back. Harper’s old school. Hitting him on the back, that ain’t old school. That’s [bleeping] chicken [bleep].”

You think Rizzo’s a little upset? I’d think so. MLB doesn’t often act swiftly, but it would appear that after these comments and the ones Hamels made, a suspension for Hamels might be in order, and fairly quickly.

For more on the Nationals, please visit Federal Baseball, and for more on the Phillies, please visit The Good Phight.