Nats GM calls Hamels 'gutless'

WASHINGTON — The blowback from Cole Hamels drilling Bryce Harper on the back has already begun. Count Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo as one who believes the lefthander should be suspended.

Mike Rizzo called out Hamels in comments to The Washington Post on Monday morning. He held nothing back.

"Cole Hamels says he's old school? He's the polar opposite of old school," Rizzo said. "He's fake tough. He thinks he's going it intimidate us after hitting our 19-year rookie eight games into the big leagues? He doesn't know who he's dealing with."

Rizzo said he has "never seen a more classless, gutless chicken [bleep] act in my 30 years in baseball."

"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]."

The Nationals come to Citizens Bank Park in exactly two weeks. That will be fun.

Read Adam Kilgore's full interview with Rizzo.

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