Screen grab via Nats Enquirer

Ohh, intrigue.

The Phillies and Nationals have traded some off-the-field barbs this year. First, over attendance and Take Back The Park. Then the whole Cole Hamels thing.

Now a bit of gamesmanship.

According to Nationals beat writer Amanda Comak, the Phillies challenged a scoring decision from August 2 that changed a Michael Morse hit into an error. Odd. Here’s the kicker: Morse has (now had) an 18-game hitting streak:





It’s unclear when the challenge was made or why… but we can probably guess.

The Phillies lost the game 3-0 and there was really no incentive to challenge the ruling. Cole Hamels pitched and gave up eight hits, so it’s not like any sort of no-hitter was in play, either.

The official MLB.com scoring of the play has been changed…

but, as you can see in the Baseball Reference box score, Morse was given a hit at the time:

Here’s a screen cap of the play. They probably got the call right, but rarely will you see a team challenge a meaningless play like this:

We’ve reached out to the Phillies to see if there is something we’re missing here. But I don’t think there is. And I can't tell if I like it or hate it.