BRYCE HARPER GO-AHEAD HOME RUN DOWNS Nationals 10-5

Not once, not twice, but three times this week the Phillies came back to beat the Nationals in the ninth. In the series finale, it was Bryce Harper's turn to provide the heroics and the last word to the fans in right field! #RingTheBell #PhiladelphiaPhillies #MLBonX

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Well, folks, what did I say last night? So nice. You got to see it twice. I don't know what to say about it three times. But I do hope that for certain members of my family whom back in 2019 had their first Phillies game experience absolutely drenched with Hector Neris giving up a two-run home run to Julia in the top of the ninth, and the Phillies lost the game 4-3. For that being their first experience at Citizens Bank Park for a Phillies game, I hope these last three days certainly let's say set free some of those ghosts of that faithful July night. As Bryce Harper tonight and the Phillies do it to the Washington Nationals once again, coming back down five runs. Down five nothing, and everyone was saying they don't want to be there tonight, they're just looking to get r get on with this season, catch their train up to New York, and what happened? They come back a terrific two-run belt by Brandon Marsh. An awesome job in the seventh where the Phillies just kept the line moving, so reminiscent of that wild card game a few years ago against the St. Louis Cardinals. And tonight they did it in a way that they just continue to pass- I mean, the only way I can describe it is they continue to pass the baton. They noticed that Parker didn't have his stuff. Harper walks in a run, then Marsh, then Boom, grounds into a forced out. Then they probably would have taken the lead if JT didn't trip over his own bat. But regardless, they tie it up at five. The bullpen, hey, give Chase Shugard some credit. Jose Alvarado, ton of credit, and obviously our thoughts are with the people of Venezuela. Orion Kirker in credit. And Mais a credit for going four innings, not allowing a run. And you know what you say? You say that's baseball. Because look at the guy who allowed the runs tonight, Christopher Sanchez. And we can't really get on Christopher Sanchez. But two out of his last three outings, I think it's fair to say, he's left a a lot of a lot more to be desired. Tonight didn't get rocked terribly hard, but just a little unlucky. And past that first inning, he wasn't bad. You know, only gave up one run the rest of the game, but hey, you gave up four in the in the in the first inning. You know, you at least managed to turn into a number five starter and not allow them to do any more damage off of you. But then after Schwarber gets on, it was at one point the I don't want to say the native son, but the hero of Washington baseball, the savior, as baseball returned back to the nation's capital, Bryce Harper's turn to belt a two-run home run. And, you know, after hearing about it from the crowd as he rounded first and f well, flipped his ring finger, which is supposed to be flipping them off. Which, I mean, let's face it. Maybe you'd say number one, if you're gonna do that, maybe don't flip the ring finger, but number two just don't forget about it. You know, forget about it. Although it is a funny thing, and you know, a lot of people eat it up, you know. That stuff doesn't really do it for me. But regardless, he put them up seven five, JT Romuto eight five, Derek Hill ten five. Now, for all the talk all week long about Bryce Harper irritating you, uh, that doesn't necessarily I just want to put point that out. It that's not that's just that'd be the same with anyone. That's nothing to do with Bryce Harper himself. It's not one of my things that I love seeing, but hey. He did it and clearly owned up to it, as here's what he had to say about the national fans, nationals fans after the game. Like you gestured out direct up and wrong the basics that then take down white.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

I mean, obviously. Um ring finger though. Uh make sure that's out there. Uh there's a great uh crazy because I know it's crazy. It's very scary. I love coming here, playing there. I'm very familiar with the ballpark. I love coming here, it's a big over scare. It's a big advanced car as well, it's over. Um it's a definitive familiar place for me.

SPEAKER_00 6:34

Now the big reason why I say that is because you see what their pitcher the other night had to say about the Phillies and how the Nationals, you know, they really want to beat the Phillies, they want to beat the Phillies bad and all this stuff. I don't know if that crept into the Phillies' minds or anything like that, but the next three nights there the Nationals' bullpen looked absolutely feeble. And I don't know if I'd want to poke the bear when you have to see the Nationals down the road by uh, you know, flipping off some ring finger, you know, flipping your ring finger out there. Not my thing, not exactly my cup of tea, but hey. Bryce Harper certainly, in and of himself, and that baseball player, that is my cup of tea. That man right there, and I know what I said in the offseason about how if someone calls you, you don't not pick up the phone. That's what I've said. If if they catch wind of, oh, you know, they're fielding, you know, they they're not turning people away for him. Don't not pick up the phone. But to be honest with you, and I'll own up to it, and I said that. But that doesn't mean I wanted to move the guy. That's just looking maybe down the road and wondering, hmm, you know, what's the future gonna look like around here? But I'll tell you one thing. After these last three days, if I'm Dave Dombrowski, I'm going. You know what? And after what we heard about today with what was submitted by the owners for the proposed CBA, I'm going scream Dave, I'm going, screw it. This is gonna be my last go-around anyways, with this thing. Because I believe, Dave, after this year, because I mean I've been saying it the whole way, I don't think we're playing baseball. I would bet money that we would not we won't play baseball next year. I would for sure bet money we're not gonna play 162 games. If they could get, you know, close to eighty, that would be that would, I guess, suffice. I mean, the COVID year really sucked with the 60 games, but if that's what you get, that's what you get. Regardless, this has to be an example and a message to of saying burn the boats. Whatever you can do to get someone to A add to the starting rotation, B, add to the bullpen, and C, and probably the biggest, the right-handed bat that has been eluding this team for so many years. You get one of those you you you land and I don't know if they can do it because the their farm system probably won't allow them. But you put on a full court press to get those three players to try and get closer and closer to putting this team in position to actually contend for it all. Now that's a long way down the road. You know, the trade of the deadline's in early August. But put yourself in that position because this team has certainly showed you this past week they and against a really good offense. I mean, the Nationals have some thumpers. That's not the Nationals team I know from the last couple seasons. That's a that's a fairly good Nationals team. Is it a postseason team? I don't know about that because you saw the bullpen. But that offense, that's a good offense. And I heard someone say earlier in the week they're thinking about trading CJ Abrams. I know they've got some talent there in the infield. I sure as heck would find a way to keep CJ Abrams. I mean, heck, if they would do at the end of the year, you want Trey Turner back, we'll take him. We'll figure it out in the meantime, in terms of I mean Aiden Miller comes up, he plays third. I mean, you know, but that's totally neither here nor there. And when you think about the last three nights, and you think about who who was the big hero. You know, Homer's in the ninth inning every night, you think about Brandon Marsh, you think about Bryce Harper, Bryson Stott, Derek Hill. Different guys showing up, and Derek Hill, hey, that was a very underrated move. That was an underrated move, and look look at what he's done. And that also goes to show you the Phillies Clubhouse once again showing that, hey, guys come into this clubhouse, they fit. We make it welcoming for everyone here. That's something that they have always prided themselves on in these last couple seasons. That it doesn't matter who you are, we want you to help us win. Now, talking about the comeback wins the last two nights. Last three nights, I should say. Don Mattingley and Bryce Harper.

SPEAKER_02 11:36

Yeah, it's hard, it is hard to describe because you don't see this that often. Um the guys hung in there like we really couldn't get anything going early on Volley. The inning there that we were able to, we finally get, I think March was home running. That's kind of what's been happening. We get that one, it gets us going. So the other night gets us going, it gets us started. And we're able to put this pitch count a little bit there and get him out of there probably an inning earlier than they wanted. We were very patient there in the seven, yeah, you know, in the strike zone. Um We talked about it, you know, hitting there. We wanted to get, you know, hopefully two out of three rides, get some guys off or score our right there. We end up getting a crowd gets a hit, gets a hit, uh gets it started, and then you're in the score that you walk hard. Uh just kind of snowball. I said to turn around in general, I've had some clubs that have been able to do this. Um this little stretch of these games have been a little crazy. You get down to night, you go, how many times can it happen? And then Brandon gets us going and we roll.

SPEAKER_03 12:50

It's been great, never die. I mean, that's uh I mean that's a team we are, right? I mean, going in, uh no matter if we're down or anything, we're just trying to plug, and um, you know, once we got down 5-2, Marshall gets the Homer, and you know, it's kind of we got a chance, you know, we're in striking distance and able to fight, fight, fight, and get back and win that game. Bryce, what are what are wins like this tell you about a team? Yeah, we're coming. I mean, watch out, right? I mean, obviously we're a great ball club. We knew it, we knew we had it in us, and you know, we're playing good baseball right now, and um, you know, it's uh it's a great ball club that we have. We have a lot of fun, obviously, and um, you know, we're we're a great team. We just gotta keep going.

SPEAKER_00 13:26

Again, Bryce Harper clearly showing and sending messages, hey, we're coming. You know, the watch out there at the end, watch out, we're coming. And I think that's the kind of swagger this team has needed to walk. That's the kind of swagger he didn't have last year. And I didn't see out of the back half of 2024. And everyone who was saying, you know, a week ago before the Mets here, oh, he's not elite. See, this is the guy that, you know, he acted like a big baby with Dombrowski's comments, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Zip it. Zip it. People were arguing about, well, this guy didn't save baseball in Philadelphia. Do you remember what baseball here was like before him? This was a ghost town. This was a ghost town for baseball. It honestly was. It was. And I see seeing some people at time reminiscing about the days of Michael Franco. Get a life. Cesar Hernandez. Get off your mom's couch. The man has. I don't want to say single-handedly, because Kyle Schwerber has also added into it, and Zach Wheeler has added into it. And there have been decisions from the front office that have also added into it as well along the way. But he has given them confidence to make those decisions. He really has. And stepping up tonight like he did. Twice, were the walk was great. He didn't get too big. He did it the first pitch of the ep out, he got too big. But you know what? He bared down, he took his walk, and then later, he really made him pay. And he's on right now. Like I said to you earlier in the year, when he's on, now the first pitch of that bat obviously doesn't show it. He'll make contact if it's in the strike zone, he's not late. He's not early. His timing, it's he's at least gonna take a defensive hack and foul it off. He sees the baseball so well. And then he can time one up like that one, as you heard the great Scott Fransky call it, and give the Phillies the lead late. That is his thing. And you know what that was great about tonight, too? You didn't have to burn Johan Duran. Duran these last two weeks has been able to kick his feet up, have a little two-week break. I mean, hell, at one point he could have gone to the Jersey shore and no one would have noticed. Just an excellent, excellent job by this Phillies offense and keep it up because what's on the horizon is another three games with the New York Mets, this time at City Field, and their starters are all TBD for the next three days. I have no idea who it's gonna be. I tried looking it up at the their minor league system, I couldn't even find anyone that I would figure they'd bring up for tomorrow night. So I guess they go with a bullpen game. Now they just had they just had two da two games with the with the double header the other day, and they had to go with a bullpen game with Sean Maniah starting it. So I don't know what they're gonna r who who's necessarily ready, but I know whoever it's gonna be is gonna have to look across and see Zach Wheeler. Who's seven one with the two one one ERA this year, five and two-thirds innings on Sunday, gave up two runs on four hits with three walks and seven strikeouts against the Mets. He's two-and-three with a three-two-eight ERA versus the Mets on the road and eight starts. Uh Phillies offense. Don't quit now. Do not stop now. Now game two is most likely Christian Scott, unless anything goes wrong, he'll be back after injury. Two and oh with a three-one O ER this season. He's never faced the Phillies, and they've never faced him. And we all know what that means. Then it's Alan Ron Hill, who has a 2-2-5 ERA. And you know what's funny about Ron Hell? If you want to sit here and look at, hey, who out of that series? And he didn't start the game on Monday, but he pitched the bulk of that game. So if you just want to say starters plus the Monday pitcher in the using the opener with Tim Aza, who pitched the bulk of that game? Who was the best of the bunch? Alan Ron Hell was. I mean, honestly. Alan Ron Hell. Him and Aranola. Who would have who would have thought? Now I'm not gonna sit here and tell you Alan Ron Hell's actually gonna go out there and turn some heads, but hey, he pitched on the road once. I know it's Mets Phillies, but at this point with the Mets, it's probably gonna be a ghost town, which we'll see what that does for that team. If it wakes them up. But at this point, you know, David Peterson just got shipped out to the Cubs the other day. So they gotta be sitting there going, oof. Might be time for us to think about putting our, you know, apartments up and thinking about where we're gonna be heading soon. Because there's gonna be a lot of wheeling a dealing coming out of uh Flushing Queens, I'll tell you that much. And game three is either gonna be Nolan McLean or Shaw Maniah. Now, honestly, Nolan McLean, who is viewed to be the future of the New York Mets, pitched on Wednesday in that double header. Now that would be pitching on sort rest on Sunday, and Shaw Maniah, who only pitched in two innings, they'll probably go with him. And then it's Jesus Lazardo for the Phillies, who's six and four with a four-three nine ERA. One and one with a three-five two ERA versus the Mets on the road in four starts. So it's lefty versus lefty. We know the numbers of the Phillies with lefties, but praise God in heaven above. The offense keeps up what they've done in the national series. Keeps up what they've done throughout the majority of this month of June. And I'll tell you this much, folks. This is when it becomes fun. This is when the baseball season you and you enjoy it. You know, those close wins, you know, you're winning games and that's great. But when you're sitting nine games above five hundred, and you have all these comeback wins, and you've got guys stepping up up and down the charts, and and you know, you got a big month of May, and then you're coming to the end of the month of June, and the Phillies who are fourteen and seven right now in this month of June, and hopefully they'll at least match their win total in May, which was eighteen and and ten. This is when it's like, man, this is this is fun stuff. This is what makes following 162 games a fun time. Because you look at the crap that you had to go through in April in the beginning of the year when Don Mattingley has taken over. I'll tell you one thing about Don Mattingley. He actually seems to be enjoying himself, and it you know, he started earlier in the week, you know, you see some of the moves he makes in a game, and with Rob, it was always kind of predictable what he would do. With Don Mattingley, it's really not. I mean, sometimes maybe, but sometimes when he pinch hits a guy, it's like, huh. Alright, that's an interesting spot. Pinch runs for a guy, okay, interesting that he's making moves left and right, he uses his bench. It becomes really you know, watching him manage has been definitely one of the more refreshing moments of the season. And again, we're not gonna bash Rob Thompson, not gonna do that. You know, not every person who didn't work out as a coach or manager needs to be villainized. I think a lot of people lose sight of that, especially a lot of fans. He's not Joe Girardi, he's not Gabe Kapler. He did well here, and it just the messaging needed to be different. That's it. But I will say this watching Mattingley manage, it's like, man. You know, it's a shame. It's a damn shame that this wasn't four years ago. That this wasn't however many years ago when he could have come in maybe with a little more wanting to be a manager, because I don't know if he really wants to do it long term. But hey. It's been a pleasure to watch this far. And, you know, these last couple nights and ha Brandon Marsh too. Brandon Marsh was been, I mean, come on. I, you know, and I've never wanted to be more wrong about a player. Honestly, because his personality is very infectious. But his last I mean, because it even goes back to the second half of last season. His bat's been incredible for this lineup. Well, that's gonna do it for me, folks. Thanks so much for tuning in. We enjoy bringing you these episodes, especially when we get moments like this with the Phillies and Bryce Harper and everyone, and let's hope for another three-game series against the Mets where you know what? You stick it to them a little bit more, and they're annoying fans. We'll talk to you next time.

SPEAKER_05 22:34

Anyone know Robert Dream