(USA Today)There's no doubt Bryce Harper is as tough they come.

If for some reason you need a little evidence to back that up, look no further than last Tuesday when he remained in Washington's 8-1 loss to the Braves despite bruising his left side in a collision with the Turner Field wall.

The ailment did end up costing Harper half a game last Wednesday, but his name never disappeared from manager Davey Johnson's lineup card. Even when I said Harper's chances of playing last Thursday should be considered slim, he was out there.

His performance never dipped, either, and by the time the new week began, the injury had all but succumbed to Harper's immense pain threshold.

Of course I'm only building Harper up in this manner because he actually missed Friday's 7-3 win over the Chicago Cubs with an ingrown toenail.

Yeah, I know, dust off your favorite ingrown toenail, hangnail, (insert other perceived soft injury here) joke and get it ready for the comments. But before you post it, you might want to check out the photo Harper tweeted of his toe following a procedure on Friday night.

Warning: You'll cringe and your big toe will immediately start throbbing.

(AP)As the Philadelphia media gathered in the visitor's clubhouse prior to the Phillies battle with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night, they were summoned to the dugout by Roy Halladay.

Halladay, who is scheduled for surgery to remove bone spurs and repair a frayed labrum and partially torn rotator cuff in his pitching shoulder next Wednesday, wished to get a number of things off his chest concerning his injuries and his decision to continue pitching, mostly ineffectively, through discomfort dating back to last season.

[Also: MLB punishes umpires after blown relief pitcher decision]

According to Ryan Lawrence of the Daily News, Halladay spoke uninterrupted for four minutes and delivered what he described as a heartfelt apology to the fans for his recent performance. He also apologized for his forthcoming absence from Philadelphia's rotation.

Here's an excerpt courtesy of Lawrence:

The latest episode of "Weird Baseball" takes us to Tropicana Field, where the Tampa Bay Rays right-hander Alex Cobb pulled off one of the more unusual pitching feats you'll see by striking out four San Diego Padres batters in the third inning of Friday night's series opener.

I say unusual, because it's not necessarily rare. In fact, the last time a Rays pitcher pulled it off was Aug. 25, 2011, when Jeremy Hellickson did it against the Detroit Tigers. Tony Cingrani of the Cincinnati Reds also turned the trick back on April 28, so we've seen it happen with some degree of frequency lately, but certainly not in the manner Cobb did it.

Here's what makes it different and historic: Cobb only faced four batters in the inning — Will Venable, Chase Headley, Carlos Quentin and Yonder Alonso — and struck them out in order. That achievement is not a first, either. However, the fact that Cobb still managed to allow a run in the inning is something that has not happened in baseball since at least 1916, which is when gamelogs were first kept.

As Matt Snyder of Eye on Baseball points out, there have been several occurrences in which one (all four batters in an inning strikeout) or the other (pitcher allows run in same inning as four strikeouts) have happened, but never have they occurred in the same inning. And that's not a bit surprising considering all of the craziness that had to take place for it to happen on Friday.

The Juice returns for season No. 6! It's almost eligible for free-agency! Stop by daily for news from the action, along with great photos, stats, video highlights and more.

A remarkable Friday night for starting pitchers was highlighted by the dazzling performance of St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Shelby Miller. The 22-year-old was basically untouchable, allowing only an Eric Young Jr. single leading off the game en route to his first career complete game shutout and a 3-0 victory for St. Louis.

That's right, Miller retired 27 batters in a row (with 13 strikeouts) and essentially equaled a perfect game, but had to settle for one of the most dominant one-hit performances we've seen in recent history. So dominant, in fact, that according to Yahoo!'s own Jeff Passan, only 18 pitchers have posted a higher nine-inning game score than Miller's 98 since 1916.

I bet that feels pretty good, no?

''I feel really good,'' Miller said. ''It's definitely the best game I've thrown in my life. How it finished was unbelievable. It was a great experience. Yadi (catcher Yadier Molina) was calling a great game and they were making great plays for me. It was a start I'll remember the rest of my life.''

Matt Harvey of the New York Mets also threw a complete game shutout with one hit, no walks and 12-plus strikeouts earlier this week. He's only 24, so I'd say the next generation of terrific pitchers has a pretty strong foundation.

(AP)Not to be outdone: Jon Lester was basically Shelby Miller's equal, retiring the first 17 batters he faced and the final ten in order. His only blemish was Maicer Izturis' double on his way to his own one-hit shutout of the Toronto Blue Jays. Lester, who tossed a no-hitter back on May 19, 2008, struck out five. It was the third shutout of his career and his tenth complete game.

Quality work, but afterwards all Lester could think about was the one pitch to Izturis that ruined his chance at history.

''If that ball's two feet to (the) left, it's right at him,'' Lester said. ''Good pitch, what we wanted to throw especially to an aggressive hitter. He did a good job of hitting it.''

If it's any solace for Lester, he was a still a part of some smaller history. Together with Miller, this is the

(MLB)It was just over one year ago, May 3, 2012 to be exact, that Mariano Rivera sustained a torn right ACL while shagging flyballs at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

On Friday, Rivera returned to the scene of the crime, so to speak, for the first time since suffering the career-altering injury that required complete knee reconstruction and ended up costing him the final five months of the 2012 regular season — including a return trip to Kansas City for the all-star game — plus the postseason.

Naturally, this was going to be one of the bigger stories of the night considering Rivera's stature, the nature of the injury and the remarkable comeback he's made over the past 12 months, but some of his Yankees teammates decided to make the moment a little more light-hearted by playing a classic prank on the legendary closer.

When Rivera took to the outfield to continue his shagging routine — that's right, the injury hasn't deterred him one bit — waiting for him was a chalk outline of the spot he laid crumpled up after his knee gave way on him. There's also a sign declaring the space a "No 'Mo' Zone" with some accompanying caution tape and a stop sign.

Manny Ramirez's tenure in Taiwan has already given us odd signs and crazy home run reactions. And it keeps giving. Because here's a picture of Manny dressed up as the Incredible Hulk earlier this week.

(Videoland Sports)

Apparently, his team, the EDA Rhinos, all dressed in costume for a road trip. We hope he went trick-or-treating too. If we may appeal to the Head Rhino over there in Taiwan, Hulk Manny is great, but next time can we get him to trade costumes with this teammate? 

While the American baseball scene is consumed lately by gaffes and rule-breaking from MLB umpires, here's a funny miscommunication between an ump and catcher in the Korean Baseball Organization.

The result? They both throw balls back to the pitcher, and he reacts hilariously. For a second there, it looked like the pitcher — Im Jun-seop of the KIA Tigers — might get lucky and catch them both. But he ends up with neither, and instead gets this funny video to watch over and over and over again.

Mike Scioscia questions Fieldin Culbreth. (AP)You say you wanted more accountability for the umpires and more transparency from Major League Baseball in terms of how its umpires are disciplined?

Good news. The league made a lot of progress in both areas on Friday as it announced that veteran umpire Fieldin Culbreth, the crew chief during Thursday's night's controversial Angels-Astros game in Houston, has been suspended two games for his crew's misapplication of Rule 3.05(b), which allowed Houston manager Bo Porter to make an illegal pitching change during the seventh inning.

MLB also announced that Culbreth’s other crew members — Brian O’Nora, Bill Welke and Adrian Johnson — have received undisclosed fines stemming from their roles in the incorrect ruling.

[Also: MLB punishes umpires after blown relief pitcher decision]

This is ground-breaking news considering MLB's long, frustrating history of playing it close to the vest when it comes to disciplining its umpires. We know it's happened in the past for various misapplications and misinterpretations, but the public acknowledgement of said mistakes is a welcomed change. We know the umpires will take notice, which is something that needs to happen.