In what can only be described as a potential hostage situation, Bryce Harper appeared in a video on the Phillies official Twitter account last night before the Phillies opened up their 3-game series against the Chicago Cubs.

Harper delivered a bizarre message to Phillies fans, asking them to cast their All-Star votes for…. Baltimore Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman.

Bryce Harper Asks Phillies Fans to Vote for Orioles catcher Adley Rutschman

This one is tough for me because if you’ve been reading The Liberty Line, then you know I have a secret love for the Baltimore Orioles.

They are my most-watched team on MLB League Pass when the Phillies aren’t playing. 

Still, it was somewhat bizarre to see the Phillies’ social media account tweet out a vide of Bryce Harper campaigning for a member of the Orioles to make the All-Star Team and then commenting “#Phorioles” underneath the post, right? 

I’m already cheating enough on my Phillies fandom and now I have Harper basically making friends with the Orioles and that fanbase. It really doesn’t sit well with me. 

Plus, the timing was somewhat random. The post happened just before 7PM yesterday evening while the Phillies were getting ready to open up a 3-game series against the Chicago Cubs at 8PM. 

And while I am totally on board with Bryce Harper making the All-Star team, I would much rather see the Philadelphia Phillies official accounts come to the defense of Nick Castellanos, who didn’t make it to the second round of fan voting for the midsummer classic. 

Nick Castellanos Needs to be an All-Star

Castellanos was 1-for-4 last night. He continues to put together an impressive month of June, batting .369 with 31 hits, 4 home runs, and 14 RBIs in 21 games.

Castellanos has 9 multi-hit games in June, including four games with 3+ hits. Castellanos is slashing .385/.416/.588 this month. He leads the Phillies in hits, doubles, total bases, RBIs, AVG, OBP, SLG, and OPS. On the year, he’s batting .312 with 9 home runs and 45 RBI with a .845 OPS. 

Anyways I’m obviously being overly dramatic but it really did feel like Bryce Harper had a gun to his head off camera.

At the very least, someone just threw a camera in front of him and made him read whatever script was necessary. As you can see, Harper is clearly reading off a prompt in support of Adley Rutschman. 

The entire thing just seemed weird. I’m not into it. Sorry Bryce. Even legends miss every now and then. 

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