Bryce Harper booed heavily in return to D.C., strikes out early but finishes with monster home run

Thomas Schlarp

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Bryce Harper booed heavily in return to D.C., strikes out early but finishes with monster home run image

The boos from Nationals fans were loud. The boos were aplenty. And in the end, Phillies fans had a big reason to cheer.

Bryce Harper returned to Washington, D.C., for the first time since signing a 13-year, $330 million contract with Philadelphia in March, and Washingtonians did anything but give the player who spent seven seasons in the Nationals' outfield a warm welcome.

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After rain delayed the game's first pitch by 45 minutes and spectators warmed up their vocal cords during a tribute video for Harper, the new Philadelphia right fielder walked to the plate in the top of the first inning to thunderous boos with teammates on first and second and no outs.

Nats starter Max Scherzer blew two pitches by Harper for a quick pair of strikes. A foul ball and two balls later, with thousands of fans still screaming and videotaping the moment with their cell phones, Scherzer sent one final pitch past a swinging Harper for a very loud strikeout. 

The boos evaporated and turned to cheers as the former face of the franchise marched back to the dugout. Nationals fans will be more than happy to make that a regular occurrence. 

Harper's second at-bat didn't go much better. It was yet another swinging strikeout, followed by more Nationals Twitter fire to match. The tweet is a reference to "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and Harper's new walk-up song. 

Harper's night finished on a much brighter note: He doubled off Scherzer, singled off Matt Grace and hit a 458-foot home run off Jeremy Hellickson as the Phillies won 8-2. Probably not how Nationals fans wanted to welcome back the superstar.

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"That's sports. That's part of the game, I guess you can say," Harper said of the reception in an on-field interview with MLB Network's Tom Verducci after the game. "I'm excited to be a Philadelphia Phillie, I'm excited to be a part of this team, I'm excited to go out here and compete with these guys every single day and, for me, that's all that matters."

Thomas Schlarp