Baseball is a sport where you're considered a success if you fail 70 percent of the time, so it's understandable that emotions will run high at times. It's important to keep them in check, though, and that's something that Washington Nationals phenom Bryce Harper needs to learn quickly. 
 
 According to Amanda Comak of the Washington Times, Harper needed 10 stitches last night after slamming his bat into a wall in the dugout only to have it come back and hit him above his left eye. Harper had a rough night, as he went 0-for-5 and struck out three times, but the 19-year-old has to realize that bad games are going to happen once in a while. 
 
 He had been playing quite well since being called up two weeks ago and the Nationals have continued to roll, but Harper simply lost his cool. Washington beat the Cincinnati Reds quite easily by a score of 7-3 despite Harper's poor game. However, it's no surprise that Harper's tantrum has been the biggest talking point. 
 
 "I just got caught up in the moment," Harper said, "blood still staining the hair on the back of his head after he spent much of the seventh and eighth innings wiping it off his face. "I want to do so well. It just got me." 
 
 While it's nice to see that Harper has a passion for the game and deeply cares about being the best player that he can possibly be, he also needs to act like a professional. Perhaps those antics were tolerated when he was dominating the competition in high school, college and the minor leagues, but now that he's in the majors with the big boys, he has to carry himself better. 
 
 Do you have a problem with Harper's tantrum? Yes, he needs to act like a professional and grow up a little bit No, it shows that he's invested in the game and wants to do well Submit Vote vote to see results Do you have a problem with Harper's tantrum? Yes, he needs to act like a professional and grow up a little bit 60.4% 
 
 No, it shows that he's invested in the game and wants to do well 39.6% Total votes: 1,059 
 
 Emotions get the best of players from time to time, but for Harper to get this worked up after only being in the big leagues for two weeks, it has to throw up some red flags about his temper. There have been plenty of great players with short fuses over the years. Former Cincinnati Reds and New York Yankees outfielder Paul O'Neill comes to mind, but even he was careful about how he expressed himself. 
 
 Had Harper just hit the wall with the bat and not injured himself, then nobody would have given it a second thought. The fact that he was so reckless that he hurt himself is an issue, though. The Nationals already have a lot of money invested in Harper and had he suffered a concussion or some other debilitating injury, it would have been awful for him and the organization. 
 
 Although manager Davey Johnson said that he thought Harper would miss a couple games due to the mishap, Harper contradicted that thought, according to Comak. 
 
 "I think I’m good," he said, adding that he never felt woozy or dazed and didn’t undergo a concussion test. "[The] doctor said I could play, so I’m going to play." 
 
 If Harper's assessment is accurate, then he dodged a bullet. Harper is still just a kid, so it's easy to understand why he may not have the best judgment, but when it comes to playing in the majors, it's important to mature quickly. Whether he knows it or not, Harper is already the face of the franchise along with Stephen Strasburg, and he can't go bloodying it up by making poor decisions. 
 
 Harper looks like he has all the tools to be one of the best in the game, but there are going to be plenty more 0-for-5 nights along the way. Hopefully, next time he refrains from throwing a tantrum altogether, or at the very least does it a lot more carefully. 
 
 Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter. ||||| CINCINNATI — Bryce Harper had the worst offensive night of his 14-day-old major career Friday. He was 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, a fly to center and a weak grounder to the first base side in the Nationals‘ 7-3 win over the Reds. 
 
 But it was the physical damage he did to himself that will leave a mark on the 19-year-old, at least for the next few days. Harper had a golf ball-sized welt above the corner of his left eye and required 10 stitches to close a wound opened when Harper slammed his bat into the dugout wall in frustration and had it bounce back into his head. 
 
 “I just got caught up in the moment,” Harper said, blood still staining the hair on the back of his head after he spent much of the seventh and eighth innings wiping it off his face. 
 
 “I want to do so well. It just got me.” 
 
 After his at-bat in the seventh inning, in which he grounded an 0-1 splitter to first, Harper grabbed a bat and went to take some of his frustration out on the wall in the tunnel leading to the visitors’ dugout at Great American Ball Park. No one in the dugout batted an eye at this act. 
 
 “He was very frustrated that he was not centering on the ball and that’s what ballplayers do,” said Nationals manager Davey Johnson. “[They] break bats down in the runway, throw helmets. That’s not anything new. It’s an easy way to get rid of your frustrations. I hear it a lot. I don’t try to monitor it one way or another. It’s just a way of venting.” 
 
 Johnson said it was “more than likely” that Harper would miss a few games, anticipating that the already full welt would be swollen on Saturday. But Harper said he did not expect to miss any time. 
 
 “I think I’m good,” he said, adding that he never felt woozy or dazed and didn’t undergo a concussion test. “[The] doctor said I could play, so I’m going to play.” 
 
 Harper was in good spirits about the incident, smiling as he summoned reporters to his locker. Shortstop Ian Desmond was already calling him “Bam Bam.” Even Johnson said he didn’t think anything of it until he saw the blood streaming down his face late in the game. He did, however, plan to address it with Harper. 
 
 “I’ll speak to him about it because evidently he went a little overboard,” Johnson said. “Because the bat bounced off the wall and cut his eye and he needs stitches. That’s not what you want to do. The equipment’s supposed to take the brunt of it.” 
 
 “I guess I won’t do it anymore,” Harper said. “But, I don’t know. I’ve done it a million times. It’s just a heat-of the-moment kind of thing and, you know, just came back and got me.” 
 
 He did take his at-bat in the ninth inning, striking out to end the frame, but was then pulled for Xavier Nady for the bottom half of the inning as Johnson wanted the team trainers to take care of the wound. The Nationals will re-evaluate Harper on Saturday before any decision is made on his status for the game. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Copyright © 2016 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission. 
 
 Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. 
 
 Disqus
– Temper, temper: Young star Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals might miss a few games after he a hurled a bat against the dugout wall and it bounced back and hit him near the eye, reports the Washington Times. He needed 10 stitches to close the cut and had a welt the size of a golf ball afterward. "I just got caught up in the moment," said Harper, who slammed the bat after grounding out as part of an 0-for-5 night. One teammate already is calling him "Bam Bam," writes Amanda Comak. The Bleacher Report has more.