If all is well that ends well, it looks like the feud between Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen and Nationals star Bryce Harper may be coming to a close.
Guillen was livid during Miami's contest against Washington on Sunday, as the Marlins skipper thought Harper used an illegal amount of pine tar on his bat. That started a shouting match between Guillen and Nationals manager Davey Johnson which transformed into a post-game war of the words. Guillen called Harper "unprofessional" and Johnson claimed Guillen was trying to "intimidate" Harper.
The saga took a humorous twist Tuesday. After Harper's exchange with Guillen this weekend, several Nationals players had the rookie sign a bat. Then, players smeared the bat with pine tar and first baseman Adam LaRoche wrote "To my hero, Ozzie, love you" next to Harper's signature. Meanwhile, Harper never had any knowledge of the prank.
When asked about the bat on Tuesday, Guillen laughed it off and called the prank "funny."
"To make this thing clear, I don't have anything against the kid," Guillen said. "I don't. Whatever happened, happened. Whatever I say, I say. Whatever my reaction was, it was. But I think this kid is going to be good for the game. No doubt. This kid is very good. We need players like that to come out and play the game right. That's good. I think what he did, maybe he did because he's a kid. I hope he learned from that."
Now it seems like the feud has become water under the bridge. Who ever thought a prank would do this much good?
-- Follow Robbie Levin on Twitter @RobbieLevin.
