According to Philly.com’s Matt Breen, a fan threw a beer bottle at Ryan Howard after yesterday’s loss to the Brewers. Howard grounded out to end the game and while he was walking back to the dugout found a beer bottle land by his feet. Here’s what Howard said about it:

I’ve done too much in this town to have that kind of stuff,” Howard said. “If you want to yell out ‘You suck,’ that’s whatever. But when you start throwing stuff, that’s when stuff gets personal.”



A Phillies spokeswoman said the team is investigating the incident.



“We have to be held accountable,” Howard said. “If someone throws something, we’re just supposed to sit there and wear it and get hit. Nah man, we’re human beings first and foremost. People get it twisted. They see the baseball stuff and they don’t see you as a human being. They see you as someone that just plays baseball.”



“I turned around and it was down near my feet,” Howard said. “I don’t play that. To me, that’s crossing the line. It becomes a security issue. It’s not necessary. That stuff infuriates me.”



Howard said it was the first time a fan has thrown an object at him.



“If you’re in the street and you do that to somebody, you might get hauled off on,” Howard said. “But we’re supposed to hold ourselves to a different standard and what not. Somebody has to do something. Somebody should get reprimanded for it. Because if I would’ve done something, if I would’ve went into the stands and tried to beat this dude up, I would’ve gotten in trouble by Major League Baseball. He probably would’ve tried to sue me. But it’s OK for him to throw a bottle and then go home and be on his merry way? Nah, that doesn’t work.”

That’s terrible and embarrassing. I’ve long said Howard needs to be gone from the team, but he doesn’t deserve this. Was the fan drunk? Yeah, probably. But that’s no excuse for hurling objects at anybody, whether they play for our hometown team or not. Howard’s right – he doesn’t deserve that. I don’t think anyone would disagree with his assessment.

Hopefully that “fan” was or will be found and be banned for a long time, if not forever. It’s not just a joke. It’s not just a dumb decision. There’s no place for that.

UPDATE: The Phillies have confirmed this is the guy who threw the bottle. Let us know if you know who he is. H/T to PhillyVoice’s Ryan Lawrence.