Bryce Harper

PHILADELPHIA -- Bryce Harper has homered so often this postseason that it's becoming a predictable occurrence. Literally. Harper teed off for a two-run ...

The six homers are also tied for the second most in a single postseason in franchise history, trailing only Jayson Werth, who hit seven during the 2009 postseason. Both the six home runs and the three first-pitch homers lead the Majors. "I was just trying to get a good pitch over the plate," Harper said on FOX. If he stays on the breaking ball and gets one in the middle of the plate -- loud noise." "We faced them late in the year, the last time we went back to Houston during the year, and I saw him pretty well. "I'll be kind of shocked if Bryce is not going to the plate sitting on a breaking ball," Smoltz said as Harper stepped to the plate with a runner on first and two outs.

Bryce Harper cut loose on a Lance McCullers Jr. curveball to give the Philadelphia Phillies a 2-0 lead in the first inning.

Citizens Bank Park erupted at the crack of the bat. The superstar is now hitting .404 this fall, alongside a bonkers 1.301 OPS. It was his sixth long ball of the postseason. Harper slammed a curveball from Houston's Lance McCullers Jr, and sent it 402 feet at 103.9 miles-per-hour. All it takes is one player getting hot to power a team to a championship, and Bryce Harper has done just that all postseason long. Bryce Harper gave the

When Bryce Harper was a free agent in 2019, the Dodgers offered him a four-year deal worth $180 million. Harper wanted a longer contract and signed a ...

Limited to designated hitter duties because of an elbow injury, Harper is batting .392 with five home runs and a 1.230 on-base-plus-slugging percentage in the Phillies’ 13 playoff games. The work has been evident in the postseason. Now he’s an elite slugger with the Houston Astros and in the World Series. Five months later, Betts and the Dodgers agreed to a 12-year, $365-million contract extension. “His work ethic, I mean, [is] the best in the game. [Philadelphia Phillies](https://www.mlb.com/phillies) to the [World Series](https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2022-10-26/plaschke-lovable-astros-always-team-cheated-dodgers-world-series-2017), Harper chose not to swing. That next offseason, however, the Dodgers were willing to adjust their strategy after losing in the NL Division Series, offering starting pitcher Gerrit Cole an eight-year, $300-million deal with deferrals. He was, somehow, living up to the dizzying hype that followed him from high school to his major league debut as a 19-year-old wunderkind at Dodger Stadium in 2012. But Harper sought a long-term contract because he sought a long-term home. Harper was a one-time MVP and six-time All-Star in seven seasons with the Washington Nationals. Harper didn’t nudge them in a new direction. The Dodgers wanted that.

Did Bryce Harper expose Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. in Game 3 of the World Series with his secret talk with Alec Bohm?

On his way back to the dugout, he beckoned for third baseman Alec Bohm to come over to where he was standing. Of course, Bohm isn’t going to reveal what his Phillies teammate told him. and the Houston Astros, as he belted a first-pitch home run off of the right-hander to give his squad a 2-0 lead.

PHILADELPHIA – In the first World Series playoff game at Citizens Bank Park in 13 years, Bryce Harper played the superstar the Philadelphia Phillies are ...

And while Bohm did not cop to what Harper told him in a post-homer interview, perhaps it doesn't matter: The Phillies were on McCullers, whether the veteran right-hander was tipping pitches or not. Three innings later, the Astros still trailed just 4-0 and with Phillies starter Ranger Suarez tiring, Houston was very much in it. 9 hitter, hit a classic Citizens Bank ball - popped into right field but carrying too far for Kyle Tucker to corral it. They became the first team to hit five home runs in the first five innings of a World Series game in the event's 118 years. Harper homered on the first World Series pitch he saw in his home digs, launching a McCullers curveball off the facing of the second deck for a two-run homer in the first inning of Game 3, the Phillies' first advantage in regulation this series. McCullers, pitching in his first World Series game since 2017, became the first pitcher in postseason history - let alone World Series history - to give up five home runs in a single game.

In 2020, it was revealed that the Astros were planning to trade pitcher J.B. Bukauskas and two other minor leaguers in the deal. Ultimately, Washington ...

— Emanuel would pitch just 17 2/3 innings for the Astros in 2021 before having to go Tommy John surgery. Coincidentally, Houston was still hot after Harper even following the season. Among the teams that were after Harper's services in 2018 were Oakland, Cleveland and most importantly, Houston, which was looking to add some pop to its outfield to defend its 2017 World Series ring. Say that you guys got four frickin' prospects, a pitcher, a catcher …whoever you guys got, and if you try to sign me back that next year, I'm totally for that. You just made your organization better for the next, whatever years and you possibly sign me back. The Nationals had offered to extend Harper, but the former league MVP was destined to hit free agency and make mega bucks.

Bryce Harper and Alec Bohm both jumped on Lance McCullers Jr. pitches. What intel Bryce Harper shared with Phillies teammate Alec Bohm before Game 3 home ...

Bohm's homer was the 1,000th in World Series history, a notable milestone in and of itself. McCullers went on to give up another two home runs: One to Kyle Schwarber and one to Rhys Hoskins. Bohm is playing it close to the vest, but it's entirely possible it was simply a reminder about the Phillies' approach to McCullers, who has been shying away from his fastballs. He added he had noticed a lot of first-pitch sinkers to right-handed batters. "That's between us," Bohm told Ken Rosenthal on the broadcast in the dugout after the home run. to jump out to a 4-0 lead.

The Phillies became the first team to hit three home runs in the first two innings of a World Series game in the event's 118 years.

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The NLCS MVP made the most of his first World Series at-bat in front of the home crowd in Philadelphia.

Harper holds the club record for most extra-base hits in a single postseason with 12, It was his sixth home run in his 14th game of this postseason. Statcast measured the blast at 402 feet, with an exit velocity of 103.9 miles per hour. It took him just one pitch to recreate some Philadelphia magic in the World Series. [Three World Series Questions for the Next Three Games](https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/10/31/world-series-questions-five-tool-newsletter?utm_source=recommendations&utm_medium=in-article&utm_campaign=end-of-story) [Homers, Handshakes and Hoskins: The Long Road to the World Series](https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/10/31/rhys-hoskins-daily-cover?utm_source=recommendations&utm_medium=in-article&utm_campaign=end-of-story) [The Best of Sports Illustrated’s Coverage of Bryce Harper Through the Years](https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/10/24/best-of-sports-illustrated-bryce-harper-coverage-over-the-years?utm_source=recommendations&utm_medium=in-article&utm_campaign=end-of-story) in the bottom of the first inning of Tuesday’s Game 3, crushing it for a two-run homer to give the Phillies an early lead.

Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins all went deep against Houston starter Lance McCullers Jr. before the game was five ...

The Phillies became just the third team to hit five homers in a single postseason game and just the second to do it in the World Series, joining the 2017 Astros. In the postseason, the place has come alive, just like the team that calls it home. Schwarber drew a leadoff walk against McCullers in the bottom of the first inning. Hoskins followed with a solo shot, his sixth of the postseason. He sniffed out a hanging, first-pitch slider from McCullers and drove it deep into the right-field seats for his sixth homer this postseason and a 2-0 Phillies lead. Houston leadoff man Jose Altuve stroked a sinking liner to right on Suarez' first pitch of the game.

Harper's cannon shot unleashed a five-homer barrage from five Phillies that turned Game 3 into a laugher.

He lobbied for the Phillies to re-sign catcher J.T Realmuto after the 2019 season, and they made him the richest catcher in history. Then he waited for the trash-can curveball that he knew was coming. He hasn’t played in the field since. Harper is the $330 million cornerstone of the most expensive Phillies roster in history. Harper hit a two-run home run on the first pitch he saw as a Phillie playing in a World Series at Citizens Bank Park. The Eagles moved to 7-0 on Sunday. “Just walking into the ballpark,” Harper said. The Phillies are now 6-0 at home in the postseason. from Game 3 of the World Series in a seven-run hole with one out in the fifth inning, his ears ringing. That’s roughly the capacity at Citizens Bank Park, plus the 26 players on the playoff roster. There have at last two more games to play at the Bank. The five home runs tied three other teams for the World Series single-game record.

PHILADELPHIA — At times in his career, they called this arrogance — the slow, meticulous way Bryce Harper finished put pine tar on his bat, ...

This, the slow walks to home plate, the M-V-P chants, and the home runs at big moments, is exactly the kind of theatrics for which Harper always seemed uniquely suited. By the end of Tuesday’s barrage, the Phillies were averaging nearly three homers per postseason home game, a remarkable display of home-field slugging that has propelled them through teams that appeared, on paper, to be more complete. “You look up and down the lineup we got guys that are known as some of the best hitters in our game,” Bohm said. He rehabbed that injury enough to return as a designated hitter but not to throw in the outfield. When Bohm led off the bottom of the second, he swung at the first pitch McCullers threw him, a sinker, and hit it out just over the left center field wall. Astros Manager Dusty Baker speculated the Phillies had been sitting on breaking balls, since McCullers relies heavily on a curveball and slider. He swung at the first pitch Ranger Suárez threw him and dunked it into short right field, home of Nick Castellanos, a slugger not known for his fielding prowess. “Just walking into the ballpark, just being back home, I think is such a momentum swing for us, just for the pure fact of our fan base,” said Harper, who chuckled and smiled more than once when talking about the fans. They don’t need much urging here: The best gift the Phillies could have given their fans was to ensure their first World Series appearance in 13 years against the Houston Astros — the most boo-able team in Major League Baseball, a play to Philadelphia’s strengths. Philadelphia might not have expected to host a World Series this year, but when it happened, the city was ready. PHILADELPHIA — At times in his career, they called this arrogance — the slow, meticulous way Bryce Harper finished put pine tar on his bat, checked his cleats and ambled toward home plate when it was his turn to bat. Four homers and a shutout later, the Phillies were

Bryce Harper bashed a home run on the first pitch he saw in Philadelphia, and then figured out how the Phillies could hit a few more.

He needed only two pitches to get the first two outs of the game and struck out Yordan Alvarez to end the first. Country music star Tim McGraw, son of the late Phillies reliever Tug McGraw, received a huge ovation and wore his dad’s No. “He usually keeps the ball in the ballpark. Marsh took the baton on the long-ball relay and knocked one into the right field seats that was dropped by a young kid from Delaware. Harper has hit four postseason homers that gave the Phillies the lead and showed that, yes, Bryce Bombs do go off in November, the first time more World Series games will be played in this month than October. With leadoff hitter Schwarber on first base, Harper repeated his flair for playoff power when he ripped a two-run shot off McCullers into the right field seats for the fast lead. “Just being back home, I think is such a momentum swing for us, just for the pure fact of our fan base,” Harper said. With a sparkling 6-0 record at Citizens Bank Park this postseason, the Phillies just may not return to Texas. Check the Bat!” for Martin Maldonado. Brandon Marsh also homered, and Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins hit back-to-back shots in the fifth inning to chase Astros starter Lance McCullers Jr. As for those whispers in May that the Phillies were finished? The secret has long been out: these Phillies are for real.

The New York Yankees declined a meeting with Bryce Harper in free agency before he went to the Phillies. Explain that one, Brian Cashman!

Instead, Cashman preferred setting aside money for Judge (which he may or may not use), touting the strength of his now-vanished six-man outfield, and spending $21 million on Josh Donaldson to stare at strike threes ad infinitum in 2022. That’s only $5 million less than it would’ve taken to nab Harper after all, for a far older player on a multi-year deal. At the time, Harper seemed like a bit of a redundant expenditure next to Giancarlo Stanton, but he also seemed like exactly the kind of “redundant expenditure” this team is typically known for — when they’re working right, at least. Aaron Hicks (come on), Brett Gardner (alrighty then), Clint (Jackson) Frazier (later released), and … In no world should the acquisition of Stanton have prevented the Yankees from paying (what ended up being a relative bargain of $26 million per year!) for Harper. Like Justin Verlander on the trade market in 2017, not acquiring Harper directly torpedoed a string of possible World Series runs, removing a perfect left-handed power threat from in between Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton, as well as someone who could pick up the slack in case of injury.

The pitch on the left is a 1-0 sinker from McCullers to J.T. Realmuto in the first inning; the pitch on the right is Harper's homer the next at bat. On the ...

[Phillies 2022 Postseason Walk-Up Songs](https://www.philliesnation.com/2022/10/phillies-2022-postseason-walk-up-songs/) [‘He’s Got Ice In His Veins’: Phillies React To Ranger Suárez Becoming A Playoff Hero](https://www.philliesnation.com/2022/10/hes-got-ice-in-his-veins-phillies-react-to-ranger-suarez-becoming-playoff-hero/) [On Biggest Stage, Rob Thomson Outmaneuvered One Of The Best Managers Ever. It would seem to make sense, if that’s what Harper and Bohm’s conversation was about, that they wouldn’t want to reveal their findings to the entire country. That’s what guys are supposed to do.” Then again, Bohm wouldn’t have needed Harper to tell him that — and besides, he homered on a sinker, not the knuckle curve that Harper did. “That’s what teammates do,” Baker said of Harper. “That’s what good hitters do. On the curveball, McCullers lifts his hands and glove even with his head; it’s considerably lower on the sinker. On the curveball, McCullers’ leg kick carries his left foot quite far from his back leg; it’s noticeably closer to his body on the sinker. The Phillies were expecting a healthy diet of offspeed stuff in Game 3, given that McCullers throws it in some form almost 70% of the time. “I think anytime you have information, you want to be able to give that to your teammates at any point,” he said. Bohm ran it into the first row behind the flowerbeds in left. But Harper had seen something in his brief at bat against Lance McCullers Jr.