Bryce Harper is having the best season of his young career, and is the frontrunner for the National League MVP award, but even his stellar play wasn't enough to keep Nationals fans inside the ballpark for a full nine innings against the division-leading Mets. And Harper was not happy about it.
Bryce Harper when asked about the atmosphere of the crowd at #Nats Park: "I mean, they left in the seventh. That's pretty brutal."
— Chris Johnson (@masnCJ) September 7, 2015
Harper was 0-4 with three strikeouts in the game, so that might have been part of the fans' displeasure. Newsday writer David Lennon captured the scene describing it as a "red river" departing the ballpark with the Nats' only down 8-5. Lennon's picture was from the top of the ninth inning, not the seventh, so perhaps Harper was exaggerating. One Nats fan angrily commented underneath that the fans weren't in their seats because they had sought shade, not because they had left the stadium.
Either way the Nationals are collapsing, and Harper would like the fans to lend some support rather than desert them. He has done his part to help Washington live up to exalted preseason expectations, slashing .336/.468/.646 with 34 home runs, 83 RBI and 101 runs scored.
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A day earlier, Nationals' closer Jonathan Papelbon took the fans to task a bit for not being as excited and loud as possible during a huge win.
"I got a little bone to pick with some of the fans here tonight. I saw a few of them sitting down. I'm not gonna lie. We need to stand on up in those situations. Let's get that going. Ya know what I mean. Because this is playoff baseball."
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The Nationals' best course of action is to stop calling out the fans, who are probably less into the games than the players want them to be because they are five games behind the Mets in the division, and 8.5 games out of a wildcard spot. If the Nats give them hope of a playoff run, they'll get loud.
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