Jon Johnson to Bryce Harper: 'Do not be reckless'

Whether you love or hate him, there's not a baseball fan on the planet who doesn't appreciate the level of effort Bryce Harper gives on and off the field.

In Philadelphia, effort given may be the single most meaningful trait any athlete can possess, but when does decision making under the umbrella of effort turn into stupidity?

In the first inning of Saturday's game against the Braves, Harper crashed over the camera well on the first base line attempting to catch a foul ball . To the surprise of many, Harper—who missed time in Spring Training with a back injury—remained in the game, but was not in the lineup for Sunday's opening series finale against the Braves.

Thomson explained the decision to sit Harper against Braves left-handed starter Chris Sale, calling it a scheduled day off.

"It's Bryce. He's gonna play the game hard everytime. It's tough to rein him in. That's just the way he is," Thomson said. "He's probably going to be a little sore tomorrow, I would think. It did not look good."

"It looked like he hurt his neck from my angle," said Aaron Nola after Saturday's loss.

Harper told reporters he will back in the lineup today .

How many times have Sixers' fan yelled about Joel Embiid for diving for loose balls in the first two weeks of an 82 game regular season? Harper did the same in game two of 162. Philadelphia knows all too well what happens to a team when its franchise player is absent for an unknown amount of time. Bryce is too important. That can't happen again.