Attaboy! Bryce Harper adds to his legend with two revenge homers, pushes Phillies to a 2-1 NLDS lead
Superman delivered again, twice, in the face of those who mocked him.
Alien. Superhero. Clutch. Showman. Legendary. Heroic. Ridiculous. M-V-3. Amazing.
These were the words Phillies teammates used to describe Bryce Harper after Harper called his shot: a two-run, opposite-field homer in the clinching Game 6 of the 2022 NL Championship Series. They were understatements.
What did they say, then, after Harper rocked a 408-foot, second-deck, three-run rocket over the Toyota sign in the six-run third inning of Game 3 of the NL Division Series? After, in his next at-bat, he hammered a 414-footer to center field to lead off the fifth? After he revived the deflated Phillies in front of 45,798 inflated fans, and made sure starter Aaron Nola couldn’t lose, and put the club 27 outs from a return to the NLCS?
After he stared down Orlando Arcia, the newest Philly villain, not once, but twice?
What should Harper’s teammates have said to him in those moments?
Attaboy!
Alas, they did not. They just melted down in delight, as they did in Game 3 of the 2022 NLDS against the Braves, when Rhys Hoskins bat-slammed his way into Phillies lore.
Harper didn’t need any “attaboys.” It was enough that he got back at Arcia, who taunted him with “Attaboys” after Harper’s Game 2 miscue. Harper said his teammates alerted him to Arcia’s unwise derision.
“I enjoy commentary,” Harper said, now smiling. “It’s part of the reason why we play this game. I really enjoy those moments. Any time anybody says something ... that’s what it’s all about.”
All of it? Including the stare-downs?
“Yeah,” he said. “I mean, I stared right at him.”
The stares were the most iconic demi-taunts since Allen Iverson stepped over Tyronn Lue in Game 1 of the 2001 NBA Finals.
Harper admitted to the stares and to vengeance, but he didn’t own up to the subtler messaging. He wore a Coach Prime T-shirt in homage to Colorado football coach Deion Sanders, whom he says he admires. Before the game the Phillies’ X/Twitter account posted photo of Harper walking into the ballpark with the shirt and a Sanders quote, “They done messed around ... " without the ending, “and made it personal.” Nick Castellanos also wore CU gear to the game.
The pair said their similar wardrobes were coincidental, and that neither meant to send a message to Arcia. They said this straight-faced.
Not that this story needs any more color.
What Harper is doing is the stuff of corny movies and bad novels. He puts himself behind an eight ball, then runs the table. It’s like he walks around with his own theme music.
“You put him in the spotlight,” said stunned Braves skipper Brian Snitker, one game away from a second straight first-round exit, “he’s gonna shine.”
There’s no better spotlight than the one that turns a player from goat to hero.
Two days after leaving Atlanta in disgrace, Harper single-handedly wrenched momentum back from the Braves in Game 3 of the NLDS. He hit two of the six Phillies home runs in a 10-2 win, and Castellanos had two, too, but Harper’s made it 4-1, then 7-1, and they were as massive in relevance as in distance and context. The six home runs tied an MLB postseason record.
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The context:
Harper made an aggressive, egregious baserunning mistake that ended Game 2 on Monday. Afterward, in a relieved, jubilant Braves clubhouse, shortstop Orlando Arcia mocked Harper’s baserunning error that ended Game 2: “Attaboy, Harper.”
Wednesday, both times Harper rounded second base, he stared daggers at Arcia.
The first homer, which followed a solo shot from Castellanos and preceded a two-run double from J.T. Realmuto, came off starter Bryce Elder, an All-Star.
“Everybody just kind of lost it in the dugout,” manager Rob Thomson said.
The second came off lefty reliever Brad Hand, a Phillies teammate last season who gave up one home run to left-handed hitters this season. When Harper’s in Superman mode, you could run out a sci-fi hybrid pitcher — Nolan Schilling, or Cy Clemens, or whoever — and Harper’s still going to crush him.
So yes, it’s more than likely Harper’s teammates gave him “attaboys” in the dugout, because these Phillies have a sense of humor.
Harper’s got a sense of moment.
» READ MORE: Phillies describe Bryce Harper in one word after he calls his shot and wins the NLCS
Last year he rocked the last pitch he saw at Citizens Bank Park in the NLCS.
He then homered on the next pitch he saw at Citizens Bank Park, in Game 3 of the World Series.
He homered in his first at-bat of Game 2 of the wild-card sweep of the Cardinals last season.
He hasn’t played right field this season due to offseason elbow surgery, but he was cleared to play 36 games at first base. In his first game at first base, in Atlanta in July, he made a legendary catch in foul territory, leaping a wall and falling into the photographer’s well.
He answered the boos when he homered in his first game back in Washington, where he spent his first seven seasons.
Harper is more than an inevitable Hall of Fame player. He’s building a legend. A huge, Philly legend. Like Doc, and Dawk, and Carlton, and Schmidt, and toothless Bobby Clarke.
With flair, and wisdom, and, more than anything, with production.
Harper wears Phillie Phanatic suits, and cleats, and headbands. He never whines about the fans. He plays harder than he plays smart, which is the most Philadelphian thing ever.
Such was the case Monday.
Between bad fielding, stranding runners, and questionable managing, the Phillies blew a 4-0 sixth-inning lead and ended Game 2 with a wild double play. With one out, Castellanos drove a ball to center field. Harper believed the ball would either be out of the park or at least out of reach of Michael Harris II.
» READ MORE: Hayes: Bryce Harper, superhero, blasts the Phillies to the World Series with the biggest hit of his career
That’s why Harper ran full-tilt, on contact, instead of cautiously rounding second base, which would have been appropriate.
Harper was wrong. Harris leaped, caught it, and fired it back to the infield. Harper was four steps past the bag, hair on fire, and he slipped when he braked, and he tried his best to make it back to first base. Harris fired a poor throw, and he missed the cutoff man, but third baseman Austin Riley alertly fielded the errant throw and fired to first base, just ahead of Harper’s slide.
Thomson said he believed Harper wanted to atone for the base-running error. Harper said, “I personally don’t think it was a mistake.”
It was, of course, and Arcia reveled in that for two days.
Harper stewed on that for two days.
And then, with two mammoth swings on a cool Wednesday night, sweet, sweet redemption.
Alien. Superhero. Clutch. Showman. Legendary. Heroic. Ridiculous. M-V-3. Amazing.
Attaboy, Bryce.