As all heck broke loose in the frenzied ninth inning, most of the Phillies stood on the top step of the dugout, banged on the padded railing, and rooted for a miracle comeback that almost happened.
Bryce Harper sat among them near the end of the bench.
Paging Mr. (Red) October.
Has anybody seen him?
Scream all you want about Rob Thomson’s management of the bullpen, or his choice to play for the tie Monday night by having Bryson Stott bunt with nobody out and slow-footed Nick Castellanos on second base, or any of the other half-dozen moves that fuel sports-talk radio.
The Phillies’ season is on the brink of extinction after only two games in the National League Division Series because Harper, Kyle Schwarber, and Trea Turner — the three best hitters in the lineup — are 2-for-21 with 11 strikeouts.
Period. Full stop. Thanks for playing.
“I think those guys are trying to do a little too much right now,” Thomson said, “instead of just being themselves and looking for base hits and the power will come.”
Harper insists that isn’t the case. If he wants, he could point to the first inning in Game 2 when he laid off a two-strike curveball in the dirt from Dodgers starter Blake Snell and worked a two-out walk on six pitches.
But that might have been his best plate appearance in the series, which is why the Phillies’ flight to Los Angeles feels more like a death march. In baseball history, only 10 teams have rallied to win a best-of-five series after losing the first two games.
For the Phillies to be the 11th, they need Harper to don his Red October cape again.
Instead, they’ve gotten a $330 million impostor.
It doesn’t take a long memory to recount the pennant-clinching, bedlam-inducing homer in 2022. Or the in-your-face stares at loud-mouthed Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia after two homers in Game 3 of the 2023 division series.
Entering this postseason, Harper had 17 homers in 53 postseason games. His 1.016 OPS ranked second among 64 active players with at least 100 plate appearances in the playoffs.
Think of what that version of Harper would have done after Turner and Schwarber worked consecutive one-out walks against Snell in a scoreless sixth inning in Game 2.
“I feel like that was going to be the builder there, right?” Schwarber said.
Instead, it was like the Phillies got a Harper impostor.
Predictably, Snell didn’t throw Harper a fastball. He started him with a slider in the dirt for a ball. Harper swung at four of the next five pitches. All four were sliders. Three were out of the strike zone, including a 91-mph slider below the knees and off the plate for his third whiff of the series.
“I thought [Snell] did a good job of mixing it up to both sides of the plate,” Harper said. “He just did a good job and couldn’t really get much off him.”
Harper isn’t alone. The Phillies are built on power and home runs. They didn’t go deep in Game 1 or 2. They’re 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position. They have five extra-base hits in 18 innings, none from Turner, Schwarber, or Harper.
Schwarber is Harper’s co-conspirator in the disappearing act, going 0-for-10 with five strikeouts after bashing 56 homers in the regular season and hearing “M-V-P” chants when he stepped to the plate in Citizens Bank Park.
Like the rest of the Phillies, he heard boos in Game 2.
“I can speak for myself: I know I haven’t [done enough],” Schwarber said. “Especially that first game, I was a little bit disappointed in myself. Tonight, you feel like you want to get something going. You want to get anything going, and I didn’t come through. I can look myself in the mirror and say that I want to be better. I’m going to be better.”
Collectively, they’re almost out of time.
When it’s over — and it’s all but over already — maybe we’ll learn that Harper is limited by the inflamed right wrist that sidelined him for most of June. Thomson said before the series that he doesn’t believe Harper’s wrist is a factor.
“I really don’t think so,” Thomson said. “You get him through the year healthy — he’s going to have his ups and downs — but once you get him to this point, I always feel like he’s in a good spot right about now. This time of year is his time of year. It never leaves my mind.”
Maybe Mr. Red October will show up at Dodger Stadium. If so, history says the Phillies still have a chance.
But Harper didn’t get off the end of the bench in the ninth inning Friday night. The game ended with Schwarber on deck and Harper behind him.
“First one to three [wins], and obviously they’re not there yet,” Harper said. “We’ve got to play the best baseball we can and understand we’re a good team in here. Anything can happen in the next couple days.
“Just got to flip the script.”
