Harper slugs two more homers in Phillies' rout of Braves
PHILADELPHIA » When gossip spread among the Phillies that Bryce Harper — of all the superstars to poke — had been laughed at inside the Braves clubhouse, his teammates dared the slugger to deliver.
“They looked at me,” Harper said, “and they were like, `What are you going to do?'”
Well, how about two homers, two staredowns, four RBIs, and one more marvelous game for to his growing October lore.
Harper answered Orlando Arcia's mockery with a mammoth three-run homer and a solo shot, glaring at the shortstop on each trot around the bases, and Philadelphia beat Atlanta 10-2 in Game 3 of their NL Division Series on Wednesday night. Message sent? “Yeah, I mean, I stared right at him,” Harper said.
Aaron Nola (2-0) and four relievers combined to push the 104-win Braves to the brink of elimination. The Phillies can advance to the NL Championship Series for the second straight season with a win at home Thursday.
Nick Castellanos homered twice as Philadelphia rebounded from its disappointing loss at Atlanta on Monday night. Trea Turner and Brandon Marsh also went deep.
Harper and Castellanos are the fourth pair of teammates in postseason history to each hit multiple home runs in a game, a list topped by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the 1932 World Series.
“(Harper's) one of the best in the world for a reason,” Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber said. “When we're in these moments, this is baseball at its best for him. When it's at his best for him, anything can happen.”
Harper continues to make teams pay for any perceived slight, and his eighth and ninth postseason homers in the last two seasons added to the Phillies' pursuit of the franchise's first World Series championship since 2008.
Not that he needs any incentive to go deep, but Harper tried to atone for a Game 2 baserunning blunder that capped an astonishing collapse. Harper had rounded second base on a deep flyout and was doubled up at first to end the game, the final moment in a series of late-inning plays that melted a 4-0 lead into a 5-4 loss.
In the jubilant Atlanta clubhouse after the win, Arcia cracked, “ha-ha, attaboy, Harper.” Faster than Harper rocked his shot off Game 3 starter Bryce Elder (0-1), the barb got back to the twotime NL MVP.
“He can look wherever he wants to look,” Arcia said through a translator. “When you're in the clubhouse, I was under the impression you could say whatever you wanted. He wasn't supposed to hear it. That's when we were talking in the clubhouse.”
Harper and Castellanos seemed to send a message about the wisecrack when they arrived at the ballpark wearing gear inspired by Colorado coach Deion Sanders. Harper wore a “Coach Prime” T-shirt and Castellanos a “Prime” hoodie.
The brash Sanders retorted at criticism earlier this season from a rival coach by saying, “they done messed around and made it personal.”
Harper took it personal. First, though, it was Castellanos — who said after Game 2 that the Phillies “thrive after we get punched in the face” — who delivered the first counterpunch with a homer in the third that tied it at 1.
Rep Deion, hit dingers. That's a Philly fact.
Harper's 10 career homers in the NLDS are now tops in baseball history.
“He's a Hall of Famer,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “He's one of those guys that loves that stage. He's a special player. You put him in the spotlight, and he's going to shine.”