Bryce Harper stares down Michael Phelps after homer, steals home, grows his legend in Phillies’ NLCS win

PHOENIX — Even in the desert, where nothing really grows, the legend grows, and grows, and then it grows some more.

The Phillies played sloppy, dumb baseball the previous two nights from the dugout to the diamond. They needed juice, and they looked to the guy with the most juice since Michael Schmidt.

And when that guy delivered, he eyeballed Michael Phelps.

Bryce Harper, already the most exciting player in Phillies history, added another layer to his legacy Saturday night. He stole home, the first such play in Phillies playoff history. He hit a homer, then, as he rounded third base he seemed to stare at someone in the stands.

“It was Michael Phelps,” Harper told me, smiling. Harper and the 23-time Olympic gold medalist are buddies. They both represent Under Armour gear. They have a lot in common: Talent. Drive. Fearless hairstyle choices.

Phelps, 38, lives nearby. He threw out the first pitch Saturday. He once was in the swimming pool what Harper is becoming on the diamond:

Mythical.

Does he feel mythical?

“I just want to win,” Harper said, as always.

Harper wasn’t the only reason they won Game 5 against the Diamondbacks, 6-1, and moved to a 3-2 lead in the NLCS, but he was the biggest, and the most powerful.

» READ MORE: Murphy: Zack Wheeler delivers an all-time great performance, saves the season, and makes history

He not only stole home in the first inning, he clobbered catcher Gabriel Moreno on the play. Then, he clobbered Zac Gallen’s sinking changeup 444 feet, at 112 mph, for a home run in the sixth.

The moments weren’t as momentous as some of his others, nor as dramatic, nor as necessary, but they were iconic, because they were him.

The Phillies led 1-0 in the first when, with two out, Bryson Stott broke for second base. Moreno threw down to second. Ketel Marte cut off the throw and fired home. The throw, sloppy, short, and up the line, led Moreno in Harper’s path. Harper’s left elbow collided with Moreno’s head. Moreno spun, flattened. Harper scurried back to the plate, slapped it, then knelt to see if Moreno was badly hurt.

“Big collision at the plate,” Harper said. “I was just making sure he was OK, the way he went down. ... It was a baseball play.”

It was a football play.

A Philly play. One that will grow in fearsomeness as the years pass. One that, in Philadelphia sports lore, make the 1970 All-Star cataclysm between Pete Rose and Ray Fosse sound like a love tap.

Later, the Phillies led 3-0 when, with one out in the sixth, Harper deposited his 11th career postseason homer in the right-field seats at Chase Field. It was a blast, and it was thrilling, but it wasn’t even the deepest or hardest-hit ball of the inning. Kyle Schwarber led off the inning with a 461-foot, 114-mph shot, and Schwarber’s a star.

We will forget that the steal was the second run of the game, not the first. We will embellish the homer, misremember its timing and its magnitude, and maybe even make Harper’s glance at Phelps more sinister than it really was.

That’s how myths work. They grow.

Maybe all this attention isn’t fair.

Not fair to Zack Wheeler, who lasted seven innings, allowed one run, saved an exhausted bullpen, and further cemented himself as one of the franchise’s Mount Rushmore pitchers. Not fair to Schwarber, who, like Harper, has 11 playoff homers as a Phillie. They’re both tied with Jayson Werth for the franchise record.

There are no hard feelings.

“He thrives in those spots,” Schwarber said. “You can’t make it up, right? He’s one of the best in the game. Ever. And he just keeps adding on to that.”

Phillies manager Rob Thomson coached on a championship Yankees team that included Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. They ain’t Harp.

“He’s as good as they get,” Thomson said. “And he might be the best I’ve been around. It’s astounding.”

If it’s not fair to his teammates, then Harper has made it so. We’ve been trained to anticipate Harper drama, and we’ve been spoiled by Harper greatness.

» READ MORE: How does Bryce Harper thrive under playoff pressure? He’s lived with it since he was 16.

Spoiled by an MVP award in 2021.

Spoiled by his drive to win. Harper, who signed for 13 years and $330 million in 2019, insisted that the Phillies retain catcher J.T. Realmuto in 2021, sign Schwarber and Nick Castellanos in 2022, and sign Trea Turner in 2023. It cost owner John Middleton almost a half-billion dollars, but he signed all three. And here we are, again.

Spoiled by his commitment. He insisted that his contract not include any opt-out options for him; he was in Philly for the long haul. Then he started building a Phillie Phanatic wardrobe to prove it.

Spoiled by what has become a second straight, epic playoff run; he’s now hitting .347 with 11 homers and 21 RBIs in 27 playoff games, none of them played completely healthy.

Spoiled by that selfless toughness. Harper played most of the 2022 season with a torn ligament in his elbow and played designated hitter. He got the elbow fixed, returned to play in record time, but with limitations on his throwing ability — then offered to learn first base so Schwarber, the world’s worst defensive player, could act as designated hitter.

And, of course, we’ve been spoiled by his big-game DNA. Like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Babe Ruth, David Ortiz, and Tom Brady, when the lights get brightest, Harper shines best.

We’re spoiled by his game-winning homer in Game 5 of the NLCS last year that sent the Phillies to the World Series.

Don’t forget: He called that shot.

» READ MORE: Phillies describe Bryce Harper in one word after he calls his shot and wins the NLCS

We’re spoiled by his two-homer, two stare-down revenge in Game 3 of the NL Division Series, after Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia, in his clubhouse afterward, mocked Harper’s baserunning mistake — “Attaboy, Bryce!” — that had ensured a Braves win in Game 2.

We’re spoiled by his “31″ homer, a solo shot in the first inning of Game 1 of the NLCS, hit on his 31st birthday, so he made a 3 with his left-hand fingers and a 1 with his right hand and blew them out like candles.

He spoiled us again on Saturday night. On Monday, Harper & Co. will seek to clinch at the most feared venue since the Boston Garden in the 1980s. The Phillies haven’t lost a playoff game yet this fall at the Bank (and they haven’t needed any help from the officials, unlike those stinkin’, cheatin’ Celtics).

Wheeler dealt. Schwarber hammered. Realmuto hit a two-run homer that iced it in the eighth, but he drove in — who else? — Bryce Harper.

Harper has a squad built to win the biggest games, but he’s the biggest reason the Phillies are 27 outs from a second straight National League pennant. It would be just the second time they’ve won it in consecutive years.

You get the feeling that, as long as Harper’s around, it won’t be the last.