Philadelphia – The Phillies keep seeing it over and over again, but somehow, the game is mind-boggling.
They have no more words, no more ways to describe Bryce Harper anymore.
“I ran out of things to say about the guy,” Rhys Hoskins, the first base officer at Phillies, said Tuesday night. “I don’t think you could write anything better. He’s the most talented player I’ve ever played with. It’s really nice to see him as The Guy. We used to see him as the guy.”
“But it’s great to see him being the guy on the biggest stage in baseball.”
The Phillies set a world championship record, tied five runs, with a total of 1,950 feet, beating the Houston Astros, 7-0, in the most lopsided closing victory in World Series history.
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Never before in the history of a World Championship has a team scored three home runs in the first two rounds of a game.
Never before in World Championship history has a team achieved five home runs in the first five rounds of a game.
Never before in World Championship history had a team hit five home runs against a single pitcher, Astros player Lance McCullers.
But never before in the World Championships has Bryce Harper ever had, and he made a show for the ages in this post-season, hitting 0.382 with six home runs, and 13 RBI with an insane 1.232 OPS.
Harper may have only hit one of five runs, but none of them were bigger as the Phillies kept telling everyone late at night at their club.
“He just activated the entire building,” said Alec Bohm, the third baseman in Phillies.
Harper hit one of the most famous races in Philadelphia history to send the Phillies to the world championships last week, and with his first swing at bat tonight, hitting Homer in the first half, twice, he had 45,712 fans screaming. the night.
The Phillies were 2-0 up after the first half over Homer Harper, 4-0 after the second half over Boomers and Brandon Marsh, and 7-0 after the fifth over Homer’s Kyle Schwarber and Hoskins.
“Bryce was the one who set the tone with that first punch,” said Hoskins, who also has six runs with the Phillies this post-season with his blast in the fifth. “It was crazy. I guess it took [the fans] Until the eighth inning before they sit down. ”
The man who wrote Harper’s paycheck, and gave him a 13-year, $330 million franchise contract four years ago, never sat down.
“He’s the guy who gets paid under $330 million,” owner John Middleton told USA TODAY Sports. “He really is. What he does is unbelievable. He is a special player. A very special player.
“He’s showing everyone what this postseason is. He’s a multigenerational talent. He’s doing everything he can to help us get the World Championship trophy.
“And I want it [expletive] The return of the cup. ”
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It’s been 14 years since the Phillies have been world champion, with only two titles in the last 42 years, but here they are, just two wins away from the championship with two amazing games, one team ahead of the fiercely favorite Astros. .
Perhaps there is indeed something magical going on with this team. Otherwise how would you explain that the team that started at 22-29, and finished third in the NL East, was the last team to reach post-season only because of the extended playoffs, and is now shocking the world?
Bohm, who called up after receiving advice from Harper, said: “I think all year long we’ve known what we’ve got and felt good about our squad, knowing that everywhere you look at our roster we have really good players, some experience. So we have to be confident.”
“I think the more you show yourself that you belong in these situations, I think confidence grows naturally.”
And no one is more confident these days than Harper.
Bohm said: “Price is probably one of the best examples out of anyone in the league, of how to show up and play the game. So just to be in the dugout with him, watch him, be in the field with him, he always shows you how it’s done. So he doesn’t have to That says a lot.But he’s always trying to give that hand and make the team better.
“I think the example he sets every day is what makes him the leader he truly is.”
It was Harper’s strike, which sent McCuller’s 402-foot curve ball into the night into the right center field bleachers, that sent McCuller into a spin on the hill.
“It was insane, one throw, boom!” Middleton said. “Once he hits him, I knew he was gone. That’s crazy. …But for Bryce to open a game like this, 2-0, three hits, that’s so special. Lights up the place. Lights up the bench. He really makes everyone go. That’s really special, wow.” .”
McCullers never recovered. He faced 16 extra hitters, surrendered 4 of them, and was out of the game after only 4 runs.
“Bryce Harper has had a star to his name since he was playing baseball,” McCullers said. “It was a bad throw. I told myself before the bat: Don’t let him hit you here.”
There was a lot of conjecture and theories that McCullers was leaning in the field. He has only ceded one Homer to a left-handed hitter all season. He gave up three of his nine left board backs, made 34 throws, and made only one swing.
It was as if the Velez knew exactly what was coming, a legal version of signal theft.
“I’m not going to sit here and say anything like that,” McCullers said. “I yelled. End of story.”
But, how was the final chapter of the Harper legend.
This is the man who underwent surgery to repair his broken thumb after a pitch injury on June 25 thrown by Blake Snell of San Diego Padres. He’s back two months later, just in time to help propel the Phillies into the post-season for the first time since 2011, and now he’s carrying the franchise on his back.
While the Phillies took advantage of a new collective bargaining agreement to add another wild card team in each league, no new rule has helped them more than the National League’s adoption of the DH rule. If Harper can’t be DH, he will be relegated to the bench, and won’t be able to play on the field until next season.
“I’ve always been in a dead position,” Middleton said. In March 2021, Dave [Dombrowski, president of baseball operations] He asked me for my opinion of DH. I told him: Dave, I’m against it. It’s part of the game. bat pitchers; It’s part of the game’s strategy. ”
Dombrowski, in an effort to persuade Middleton to change his mind because the National League owners would need to agree to the DH, told him that two of their bowlers had already injured their backs during spring training by simply practicing hitting.
He said, “You might want to rethink your position?” I said, “Really, that’s how they got hurt.” So I said, “Well, I support DH.”
So, I flipped into a conversation that lasted about four minutes.
“I think DH has worked well for us.”
Yes, as the entire city of Philadelphia and frantic selling crowds will tell you, this DH party fits nicely into their World Championship dreams.
“We’re all family here, man,” Harper said. “We’re all trying to come here and play the best baseball game we can know that we have an entire city behind us. This whole city is so excited to be there at this moment. We’re so happy to play against them, have this opportunity and be with them. …
“We know there will be 46,000 people here who are screaming and screaming and going crazy.”
Who knows, the way Harper and the Phillies hits these days, the fun may just be beginning.
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