Inquirer.com – Zurich DR

Category: Phillies/MLB

  • Bryce Harper had his best month as a Phillie, and even he is not quite sure how he’s done it

    Bryce Harper had his best month as a Phillie, and even he is not quite sure how he’s done it

    Bryce Harper banged an opposite-field two-run homer in the first inning Wednesday and doubled off a tough lefty reliever in the fifth.

    Yet he fixated on what happened in between.

    In his second at-bat of a 6-0 Phillies victory in Seattle, Harper lined out to left field on a full-count sinker below the strike zone from hard-throwing Mariners righty Bryan Woo.

    “He was really upset that he swung at it,” hitting coach Kevin Long said later. “That’s something he would do last year, the last year and a half, two years, where it really wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But now he’s back to where he’s making a conscious effort to make sure he’s taking what the pitcher gives him.

    “And it’s showing.”

    ‘The game is where it needs to be’: Bryce Harper wants compromise (and no salary cap) to keep sport thriving

    Is it ever.

    Objectively, without a trace of recency bias, Harper is having his best month in seven years with the Phillies. Entering play Friday, with four games left in August, he has gotten on base in 55 of 108 plate appearances, a mind-bending .509 clip, and reached in 29 consecutive games, the longest streak of his career.

    Some context: Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan has the second-highest on-base percentage among qualified hitters in August … at .463. Harper, fifth among active players with a .387 career mark, has only once carried a .500 OBP through a full calendar month — and not since April 2017 with the Nationals (.509).

    Harper has drawn 28 walks this month for a majors-leading 25.9% walk rate. But it’s not like he’s being overly passive at the plate. He’s batting .338 (27-for-80) and slugging .600 with six doubles, five homers, and an 1.109 OPS.

    Entering the weekend, Bryce Harper (left) reached base in 55 of 108 plate appearances this month, which means he’s seen a lot of first-base coach Paco Figueroa.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Even Long, who has worked with Harper since 2018 in Washington, recently asked him how he’s doing it.

    “And I couldn’t really give him an answer,” Harper said before a game this week in Seattle. “He was just like, ‘Why are you doing what you’re doing right now?’ I just haven’t really thought about it. Obviously the walks have come in bunches the last three weeks. It’s a lot of walks. I’m not trying to walk. I’m not trying to do those things. I’m just trying to play the game, and if I’m walking, I’m walking.”

    Harper chuckled.

    “K-Long’s kind of stopped asking me about it,” he said, “because I haven’t really given him a great answer.”

    Long has some explanations, and we’ll explore those shortly. But Harper’s surge — he’s fifth in the majors with a .971 OPS since the All-Star break — coincided with his move back to right field, which enabled the Phillies to pull off a deadline trade for contact-hitting second baseman Luis Arraez. Harper has also started every game despite a sore left knee.

    Low on prospect capital, loaded with needs, the Phillies’ best asset at the deadline turned out to be … Bryce Harper

    And so, although the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong has emerged as the favorite in the National League MVP race over even Shohei Ohtani, it’s appropriate to wonder if Harper should be entered into the conversation given his value to the Phillies.

    OK, so maybe that’s a September question.

    But with a few days left in August, no less than a former MVP and .307 career hitter who was known as “The Hitman” is marveling at Harper’s combination of patience and aggressiveness this month.

    “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy that does what he does,” Phillies interim manager Don Mattingly said. “The base on balls, the attack with the swing, and being able to control the zone is something that’s rare.”

    Bryce Harper leads the majors with 94 walks entering the weekend.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Walk this way

    Harper’s dad always tells him he’s at his best when he accepts his walks. The logic: Teams don’t want him to beat them, so they walk him or try to get him to swing at non-strikes.

    It’s been that way since he was a kid.

    “I was 10-11 years old, and a coach would try to play mind games of like, ‘Hey, we’re not going to pitch to you today,’” Harper said. “Whack, they’d throw a pitch right down the middle and freeze me a little bit. I never want that feeling. I always want to be prepared to hit.”

    And because he never knows when that strike will come, Harper tends to guard against being overly passive by chasing more pitches that he should lay off. It’s a delicate dance.

    From May: Bryce Harper is off to a strong start. And ‘protecting himself’ has played a key role.

    Last season, Harper saw a lower rate of strikes (43%) than any hitter in the majors, though it was consistent with his previous six seasons with the Phillies (42.6%). But his out-of-zone swing rate climbed to 35.6% last season from 31% from 2019-24, while his walk rate dipped to 12.1% last season from a six-year mark of 14.4%.

    So, Harper went to spring training with a renewed aim to improve his plate discipline and only “hit that ball in that box.” He even set a goal to “walk 140 to 150 times.” It was ambitious. In the last 10 years, only Juan Soto walked that often in a season (145 times in 2021).

    But Harper’s intentions were clear.

    “I just need to make sure I walk and not just want to get hits all the time,” he said in March. “I want to hit. I want to be a hitter, obviously. I want to hit homers and hit doubles and all those things. But sometimes it’s better for me if I walk. I can do that a little bit more this year.”

    Phillies hitting coach Kevin Long has worked with Bryce Harper since 2018 with the Nationals.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Through the end of July, not much had changed from 2025. Harper was still seeing a low rate of strikes (42.2%) and swinging a high rate of non-strikes (34.6%), according to Statcast, and walking at only a slightly higher rate (13.4%).

    But this month, at last, Harper is doing exactly what he intended to. He has swung at only 23.3% of pitches out of the zone and walked at a 25.9% clip.

    It’s hitting nirvana.

    “He’s doing it exactly how you should,” Long said. “It’s not taking away his aggressiveness. He’s still being ultra aggressive, especially in the zone. But the ones out of the zone, it’s almost like he’s not auto-swinging. He’s really making a conscious effort to make sure that the pitch is where he wants it.”

    What makes Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber such unique stars? We asked each about the other.

    It’s not like Harper hasn’t hit like this before. In 2021, when he won his second NL MVP award, he controlled the strike zone with a 24.9% out-of-the-zone swing rate and a 16.7% walk rate.

    To Harper, the road back to achieving those marks was adjusting his mindset.

    “[It’s] me just giving a crap about it, right?” he said in spring training. “Just making sure I do it. That’s a big thing for me. … It’s just buying in.”

    Said Long: “I’ve seen him take several borderline pitches where he goes, ‘Man, I just didn’t think that was a strike.’ Well, that’s what good hitters do, and that’s what he’s doing.”

    There’s another explanation, too, and it can be found in the on-deck circle when Harper bats.

    Luis Arraez (right) has batted behind Bryce Harper since the Phillies traded for him on Aug. 3.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    The Arraez effect

    Even though Harper feels most comfortable in the No. 3 spot in the order, the Phillies didn’t add a cleanup hitter in the offseason.

    And Harper came to camp with lineup protection on his mind.

    “Whoever’s in that four spot,” he said in February, “is going to have a big job to do.”

    But after all these years, Harper uniquely understands that he’s the guy opponents will always pitch around, no matter the situation. Unless the Phillies summon the ghosts of peak Mike Schmidt and Ryan Howard to hit behind Harper, he’ll never get pitched differently.

    Batting practice … in a hotel room? It’s part of the ‘routine’ for Luis Arraez, baseball’s most unique hitter

    So, no, Harper isn’t suddenly seeing more strikes since the Phillies traded for Arraez on Aug. 3 and put him in the cleanup spot. Never mind that Arraez’s ability to put the ball in play is unrivaled in the sport. The rate of in-zone pitches to Harper with Arraez behind him (40%) is actually lower than the overall season rate (41.8%).

    “I think teams are going to pitch me the way they want to pitch me,” Harper said, “no matter who’s behind me.”

    Probably. But just because teams approach Harper with similar caution doesn’t mean that Harper’s mindset isn’t wildly different.

    To wit: In spring training, Harper noted that the Phillies’ “numbers in the four spot weren’t very good last year.” On some level, then, the implication was that he felt a burden to drive in runs ahead of Alec Bohm, J.T. Realmuto, Nick Castellanos, and others.

    Bryce Harper is having the best month of his Phillies career in August.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Now, here’s how he talks about Arraez, who has struck out only three times in 89 plate appearances for the Phillies:

    “Having a guy like that behind me is definitely a different aspect just because I can kind of put all the faith in him to get the job done,” Harper said. “He’s going to put the ball in play; he’s going to have great at-bats; he’s going to see pitches.

    “It’s just a different type of baseball that he plays comparatively to a lot of the game nowadays. He’s an asset to our team completely just because of those reasons.”

    Surely, then, it’s easier for Harper to holster his bat and accept a walk rather than chasing after pitches off the plate and getting himself out.

    Trea Turner isn’t moving off shortstop (yet). The Phillies’ goal for now: Help him get better.

    It isn’t perfect. Harper concedes he must be more productive against lefties (.207 average, .657 OPS). And Long said Harper “was concerned for a minute” over an 11-game stretch with only one extra-base hit. He has three doubles and two homers in his last five games.

    “I’m like, ‘This is really what you want. You’re getting on base every single day, two or three times, you’re making really good decisions,’” Long said. “I told him, ‘I’ve got to believe that the extra-base hits will come with all this — and they have. But it’s really about just making a conscious effort to hit better pitches.”

    For more than a month, Harper has done that as well as ever, maybe even at an MVP level.

  • Phillies Extra: Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen on competing against Dodgers, Phillies, and Ketel Marte situation

    Phillies Extra: Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen on competing against Dodgers, Phillies, and Ketel Marte situation

    With one month left in the season, the Phillies are jockeying for playoff positioning in the National League. And things are about to heat up with a critical three-game series in Arizona. Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen joins Phillies Extra to discuss the wild-card race, the drama involving star second baseman Ketel Marte, and the 2023 NLCS, which left scars in Philadelphia that still haven’t healed. Watch here.

  • This Phillies fan brought corn to every game of the last homestand. Now it lives in the batter’s eye at the Bank.

    This Phillies fan brought corn to every game of the last homestand. Now it lives in the batter’s eye at the Bank.

    Luke Butler’s introduction to the idiosyncrasies of Phillies fans came on Aug. 10, 1999. He was 11 years old, sitting in the upper bowl of Veterans Stadium with his mother, Martha, and one of her friends.

    The two women were there to see Mark McGwire, but Butler was locked in on another St. Louis Cardinal. Or rather, what spectators were throwing at him.

    It was J.D. Drew’s first game in Philadelphia since he’d rejected the Phillies’ attempts to sign him in 1997, choosing instead to reenter the MLB draft the following year.

    While roaming center field in the eighth inning, an irate Philadelphian flung a roll of toilet paper in Drew’s direction. Then, another irate Philadelphian hurled two D-cell batteries.

    A stint in Lehigh Valley allowed Andrew Painter to work ‘freely’ on mechanics and his mind. Here’s what he learned.

    The middle schooler was understandably unsettled. Nevertheless, the moment stuck.

    “The spunky surreality of being a Phillies fan … I feel like the seeds were really planted on that night,” he said.

    Butler’s awareness of his comrades’ quirks only increased from there. As he grew up around the Vet, and eventually, Citizens Bank Park, he continued to witness fan groups like the Wolf Pack and Padilla Flotilla.

    Once, in 2004, Butler and his friends wore matching yellow T-shirts that said “Keith Jones, Corn Boy” on the front, as a nod to the WIP Morning Show host who had a farm in South Jersey.

    This group was a little too obscure to become popular. But 22 years later, during the team’s most recent homestand, Butler’s maize-fueled fandom finally caught on.

    More ears of the corn, in the stands, at a Phillies game last week.Photo courtesy of Luke Butler

    It all started with the Field of Dreams Game in Dyersville, Iowa. Butler, watching at home in Mt. Airy, was captivated by its cinematic elements.

    The stalks seemed to have a sagelike effect; after back-to-back losing series, the Phillies were suddenly playing as well as ever.

    Once the team won their next two games in Minnesota, superstitious fans joked about bringing corn to the ballpark. Butler was one of the few who actually did.

    “You could say my relationship with corn and the Phillies is actually like 20 years old,” he said. “We didn’t bring corn [in 2004]. But this was an extension of that, you could say.”

    AND1’s trash-talking factory was based in the Philly suburbs. It began with a stolen roll of Wawa toilet paper and a dream

    Butler, who works for the city’s health department, stopped at Reading Terminal Market before last Monday’s game against the Marlins. He bought an 80-cent ear from Iovine Brothers, tucked it into his bag, next to his score book, and drove to South Philly.

    The security guards at the gate on Darien Street played along.

    “The guy searching my bag was like, ‘Oh man, I got to take your ear of corn,’” Butler recalled. “And I was just like, ‘All right, well, the bit is up.’ And then he just looks at me, and he’s like, ‘I’m just messing with you. You’re good.’”

    Less-online fans were predictably confused by Butler’s husked talisman. But the Phillies edged the Marlins, 6-5, despite a late rally from Miami, so the fan decided to bring it back on Tuesday.

    This tradition continued for the entire six-game homestand. Butler was at the ballpark every day, corn in hand, often bringing extra ears for friends and family. He said he would wave the corn during pivotal moments, “like a smudge stick or a sage,” and just “rattle it around.”

    The 38-year-old views the Phillies’ recent nine-game winning streak as proof of concept. His most compelling example came in the ninth inning of Sunday afternoon’s game.

    Butler, his friends, and his mother were standing in front of Ashburn Alley, pointing the maize toward home plate. They watched as Bryce Harper doubled, J.T. Realmuto singled, Justin Crawford walked, and Edmundo Sosa drove them all home with a two-out double.

    Then, Schwarber provided a finale too good to be scripted. As he stepped up to the plate, Butler lifted his ear to the sky, and yelled, “Kyle, hit it to the corn!”

    The Phillies slugger obliged, crushing a 459-foot walk-off home run that cleared the batter’s eye, to cap a 6-4 win against St. Louis.

    Lewis Kalb never became a professional announcer. But during a Phillies game earlier this month, he had his ‘moment.’

    “It looked like a howitzer,” Butler said. “We were all fist-pumping the corn and jumping. It was a little — obviously can’t say it full-on — but it was a little like ‘Bedlam at the Bank.’ Pandemonium.”

    As the crowd dispersed, Butler walked to the railing overlooking the bushes and trees. He bent over, peered between the bars, and tossed the ear into the batter’s eye.

    “It was weary,” Butler said. “It was asking to go. But it also felt like, this wild, amazing energy of this streak connected to the Field of Dreams; now that ear of corn is always in the trees.

    “We’ll have more [corn]. We’ll have fun with it. We’ll let it grow and evolve as it wants. But the original one is [there].”

    After Kyle Schwarber hit his walk-off home run on Sunday, Luke Butler and his mother, Martha, paid a visit to Harry Kalas, ears in hand.Photo courtesy of Luke Butler)

    He left his two other ears at the grave site of longtime broadcaster Harry Kalas in Laurel Hill Cemetery, to commemorate a “magical homestand that he would have loved.”

    The lifelong Phillies fan was hoping his team would continue its winning streak out west, and offered to bring a “U-Haul full to the brim with corn” if they did.

    Unfortunately for Butler, they dropped two games in Seattle, before winning the series finale on Wednesday afternoon.

    But regardless of what happens throughout the rest of this Phillies road trip, Butler will be back at Citizens Bank Park next homestand, armed with his favorite vegetable.

    And who knows? Perhaps that original ear will live on; a symbolic slice of heaven, far from Iowa.

    “The dream would be that the seeds are fertilized,” Butler said. “And that next summer, people are like, ‘How in the hell is there corn growing in center field?’”

  • Bryce Harper continues his ‘impressive’ August as the Phillies avoid a sweep in Seattle

    Bryce Harper continues his ‘impressive’ August as the Phillies avoid a sweep in Seattle

    SEATTLE — Take a few minutes, maybe Thursday when the Phillies don’t play, and gaze at the numbers.

    • .338 average
    • .509 on-base percentage
    • .600 slugging
    • five homers
    • 28 walks
    • 19 strikeouts

    That’s Bryce Harper in August.

    “He’s impressive,” interim manager Don Mattingly said Wednesday — before Harper slugged a two-run homer and leaped to make a catch at the right field wall in the first inning of a sweep-averting 6-0 victory over the Mariners. “This section of time has been as good as we’ve seen all year.”

    Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber is the first in the majors to 40 homers this season

    Nine years, actually. Harper hasn’t reached base in 50% of his plate appearances in a month since April 2017 with the Nationals. His best month with the Phillies came in September 2021, when he reached at a .452 clip and sealed his second National League MVP award.

    And, now, he’s doing it while readjusting to right field.

    But that’s all for another day. The Phillies’ objective in a midweek matinee here was to pocket a victory and move on to Anaheim. Considering they arrived on the rocket fuel of a nine-game winning streak — punctuated by a six-run ninth-inning comeback at home Sunday — and fell pancake-flat in the first two games, it was almost an imperative.

    Consider, then, the magnitude of Harper’s first inning.

    Bryce Harper is hitting .338 in August.Lindsey Wasson

    Not only did he take a vintage swing at a 98-mph heater from Mariners starter Bryan Woo and drive it the other way to left-center field for a two-run homer, but his catch at the wall took extra bases from Julio Rodríguez.

    Talk about a tone-setter.

    “Haven’t done that in a while,” said Harper, who moved back to right field three weeks ago after not playing the position since 2022. “It’s pretty cool to get back there and do that again. Felt pretty smooth, pretty relaxed on it. So, hopefully I can keep that going and feeling good out there.”

    Jesús Luzardo didn’t need much more than a 2-0 lead and Harper’s helping hand. The lefty had no-hit stuff — and didn’t allow one until Jhonny Pereda’s two-out single in the fifth inning. It was the only hit against Luzardo in seven innings.

    Zack Wheeler is ‘a click off,’ but the Phillies don’t think big changes are needed

    Don’t look now, but Luzardo has been the Phillies’ best starter since mid-May. In his last 19 starts, he has a 2.11 ERA. And with his fourth-inning strikeout of Cal Raleigh, he reached 200 strikeouts for the second season in a row.

    “I like strikeouts, for sure,” Luzardo said. “It’s a nice accomplishment. But at the end of the day, I think the win is nicer.”

    The Phillies usually win behind Luzardo. They’re 19-8 overall in his starts, including 5-0 this month and 15-2 in his last 17. And he dominated the Mariners. Riding his fastball and signature sweeping slider, he got 18 swings and misses and racked up nine strikeouts.

    Most significantly, he halted the team’s two-game skid and kept the Phillies in possession of the second NL wild card, two games clear of the Padres, and three games clear of the Diamondbacks.

    Phillies lefty Jesús Luzardo has a 2.11 ERA in his last 19 starts.Lindsey Wasson

    “I think that was kind of the goal today,” Luzardo said. “The offense came out hungry, and my job was to go out and put a stop to the losing. I think that everyone that goes out there has the same mentality, especially after a loss. Everyone wants to be the guy that stops it and puts us back on track.”

    Not that Luzardo needed it, but Kyle Schwarber gave him a softer cushion — he became the first player in the majors to reach 40 home runs — with a three-run shot in the second inning.

    But it’s Harper, the Face of the Franchise, who has put the Phillies on his shoulders this month with a laser-focused plate approach. While most of his teammates struggled, especially against tough Mariners starters Logan Gilbert and George Kirby, Harper went 6-for-11 in the series. He has reached base in 29 consecutive games, a career-long streak.

    Harper didn’t feel much like talking about it after the game — “I don’t want to get into depth,” he said — in part because he can’t totally explain it.

    “I don’t really have a reason,” he said.

    Batting practice … in a hotel room? It’s part of the ‘routine’ for Luis Arraez, baseball’s most unique hitter

    But Schwarber found a way to put it into stark perspective.

    “Every time that he steps up to the plate, we don’t ever feel like there’s going to be a negative result,” he said. “And I feel like that’s a really high compliment. Because whenever that pitcher sees him step in, he knows that, if he makes a mistake, he’s able to do something with that mistake and also just stay locked into what he wants to do.”

    No less than Mattingly, himself with a .307 lifetime batting average and “The Hitman” moniker, is slack-jawed by Harper’s month.

    “With the on-base, with the swings, and just staying with it — no matter the score, no matter the game, the at-bats are good — it’s been really good,” Mattingly said. “I don’t know how much you guys appreciate what he really does and how long he’s been doing it, but it’s impressive.”

    And this is almost as good as it gets.

  • Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber is the first in the majors to 40 homers this season

    Phillies’ Kyle Schwarber is the first in the majors to 40 homers this season

    SEATTLE — Kyle Schwarber is the charter member of the 40-Homer Club this season.

    What, you expected someone else?

    Schwarber, only the most prolific slugger in the National League since 2022, became the majors’ first player to get to 40 home runs with a three-run 425-footer to right-center field in the second inning of the Phillies’ 6-0 victory over the Mariners here Wednesday.

    Zack Wheeler is ‘a click off,’ but the Phillies don’t think big changes are needed

    It’s the second season in a row that Schwarber reached the 40-homer mark. He led the NL last season with a career-high 56 homers. He hit 46 and 47, respectively, in his first two seasons with the Phillies.

    “Obviously it’s a good thing because that means you’re hopefully producing runs for your team,” said Schwarber, tied with the Yankees’ Aaron Judge for the most homers (227) since the beginning of the 2022 season. “But it’s not about going out there and trying to achieve and or attain a certain number. I think it’s just more trying to stack as many at-bats as you can to keep trying to help the team win.”

    Kyle Schwarber (12) was the first player to reach 30 and 40 home runs this season.Lindsey Wasson

    Schwarber, who has 380 career homers, was also the first player to 30 homers this season. But his pace cooled considerably through the summer as he dealt with a sore lower back.

    After snapping a drought of 78 plate appearances without a homer on Aug. 9, Schwarber has seven homers in 75 plate appearances over his last 16 games.

  • Zack Wheeler is ‘a click off,’ but the Phillies don’t think big changes are needed

    Zack Wheeler is ‘a click off,’ but the Phillies don’t think big changes are needed

    SEATTLE — Despite how it looked — or how Zack Wheeler sounded — after his latest rough start, the Phillies don’t believe their ace is far away from getting back on track.

    “He’s a click off, but I don’t think it’s big adjustments,” pitching coach Caleb Cotham said Wednesday before the Phillies wrapped up a series here against the Mariners. “It’s small things.”

    The Phillies ruled out pitch-tipping, a theory floated by Wheeler after he allowed a season-high eight runs on nine hits, including four homers, and five walks Monday night to leave his ERA at 8.51 over his last six starts.

    What’s up with Zack Wheeler? ‘I haven’t had a stretch like this in a while’

    Instead, after reviewing recent video and comparing it with previous seasons dating to 2021 when Wheeler threw from a higher arm slot, Cotham identified “some things in the delivery that [opponents] are kind of attacking.”

    “I think it’s just kind of getting back to the basics that we know is like headquarters for him,” Cotham said. “Just making sure we’re getting into the lift and out of the lift and the postures are in a spot where he can be freed up to let the ball rip.”

    Earlier this month, Wheeler drew scrutiny from the Blue Jays for the placement of his right foot. He tends to keep his foot on the farthest edge of the rubber as he goes through his delivery. Toronto contended that he was disengaging from the rubber.

    The Phillies ruled out pitch-tipping as a potential reason for Zack Wheeler’s recent struggles.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Wheeler said then that the Phillies were contacted by MLB a few weeks earlier after a camera angle from a nationally televised game gave rise to questions about whether he was on the rubber. The Phillies provided camera angles to show that he was.

    “I would defend that until I’m blue in the face,” Cotham said. “It wasn’t really for me a thought. He wants to be on the rubber. He’s on the rubber.”

    Regardless, Cotham said Wheeler is “pitching from the same spot he’s always pitched at.”

    Who do the Phillies trust in the bullpen? The bridge to Jhoan Duran is taking shape.

    And upon reviewing video from Monday night, Cotham said Wheeler’s command wasn’t as erratic as it looked. Despite the five walks, he actually threw 61% strikes, not far off his 63% season average.

    “It was a pitch here and there that he normally hits, that he’s hit for a long time, and he didn’t hit that and they put good at-bats and didn’t miss it,” Cotham said. “It’s just a click off enough that one pitch is in the zone when he wants to be out of the zone, one pitch is expanded when he wants to throw a strike, and you lose the count.”

    “So, it might be a little delivery and a little maybe [pitch] mix and targeting and where we’re trying to throw pitches. But I think it’s just a sum of a couple of small things for him.”

    Bryce Harper is playing through mild tendinitis in his left knee.Matt Krohn

    Don’t Harp on it

    It hasn’t stopped him from having the best month of his Phillies career, but Bryce Harper continues to manage a “tendinitis-type scenario” in his left knee, according to interim manager Don Mattingly.

    “Yeah, he’s going to be dealing with it,” Mattingly said. “Any kind of tendinitis-type scenario, every once in a while you take a misstep, you feel a little swelling and soreness.”

    In those cases, Mattingly said the Phillies will continue to look for opportunities to use Harper as a designated hitter. But he has started 13 of the last 14 games in right field, a sign that his knee isn’t flaring up.

    Trea Turner has a pregame chat with Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki to ‘pick his brain’

    Extra bases

    Two weeks into a rehab assignment in triple A, backup catcher Rafael Marchán (knee) was 6-for-24 with five walks and five strikeouts through seven games. It’s likely he will rejoin the Phillies after rosters expand to 28 players on Tuesday. … Lefty reliever Tanner Banks (forearm) began a rehab assignment in triple A. … After a day off in Southern California, the Phillies will open a three-game series against the Angels. Andrew Painter (3-6, 6.04 ERA) is scheduled to start Friday night against lefty Reid Detmers (4-8, 3.62).

  • Trea Turner has a pregame chat with Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki to ‘pick his brain’

    Trea Turner has a pregame chat with Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki to ‘pick his brain’

    SEATTLE — Two years ago, when the Phillies last played here, Trea Turner heard that Ichiro Suzuki was at the games but never got to meet him.

    Turner wasn’t going to miss another chance.

    Before Tuesday night’s game, a 4-1 Phillies loss, Turner chatted with Suzuki, the Mariners legend and Hall of Fame hitting machine with 3,089 major-league knocks after coming over from Japan and a statue outside the home-plate entrance to T-Mobile Park.

    And Turner came armed with specific questions.

    What’s up with Zack Wheeler? Phillies ace struggles in 9-2 loss: ‘I haven’t had a stretch like this in a while’

    “How do you hit the ball the other way?”

    “What are your thoughts, your approaches in certain situations?”

    “If you’re doing this wrong, what would you do?”

    “Just all sorts of stuff,” Turner said. “It was just great being able to pick his brain. I really enjoyed it.”

    Coincidentally, Turner’s chat with one of the most gifted hitters on two continents came at a time when he’s hitless in 13 at-bats, part of a 4-for-25 tailspin entering Wednesday’s series finale.

    Mariners legend Ichiro Suzuki was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame last year.Seth Wenig

    The root of the problem: “I’ve been trying to hit the ball the other way [to right field] and stopflying open.” After working with hitting coach Kevin Long, Turner said he made an adjustment Tuesday night that, despite going 0-for-4 again, represented “progress.”

    And no, Don Mattingly isn’t considering moving Turner down in the order. Doing so would project “panic,” the interim manager said.

    “You’ve just got to hang in with guys over the course of a season,” Mattingly said. “And if there’s a point where it’s like, OK, this has got to go, then you get there. … I think we all know that Trea’s going to come out of this. And when he does, it’ll be hot.”

    Turner went 0-for-4 Tuesday night but lined out in his final at-bat.

    “I didn’t get the results I wanted,” Turner said. “But I feel like today was good.”

    Batting practice … in a hotel room? It’s part of the ‘routine’ for Luis Arraez, baseball’s most unique hitter

    Especially considering how it started.

    Turner grew up in South Florida as a fan of Derek Jeter and Ken Griffey Jr. He didn’t watch Ichiro as often — “Maybe it’s more of like a West Coast-East Coast type deal,” he said — but noted that he’s been told there are similarities in their hitting styles.

    “In the sense that he didn’t walk a lot, he wanted to hit, he hit the ball all over the field, could hit it out of the park sometimes,” Turner said. “So, talking with him about his mindset and what he physically does, a lot of it kind of applied to me in my game. It was kind of nice just hearing him, trying to ask him as many questions as possible.

    “Growing up watching him, I maybe probably didn’t appreciate him as much as I should have as a kid. I loved Griffey and Jeter. But his career is incredible. I knew he was a really good player, but I wish I got a chance to watch him a little bit more.”

    Turner isn’t the only Phillies player to meet Ichiro this week. Rookie center fielder Justin Crawford was introduced to him Monday by his cousin, Mariners infielder J.P. Crawford.

    Bryce Harper has reached base in 28 consecutive games, a career-best streak.Matt Krohn

    Extra bases

    Bryce Harper went 2-for-4 Tuesday and extended his career-long on-base streak to 28 games, tying the Cubs’ Pete Crow-Armstrong for the fourth-longest in the majors this season. … J.P. Crawford returned to the Mariners’ lineup after missing 18 games with an inflamed left wrist. The Phillies’ first-round pick in 2013 was traded to Seattle after the 2018 season for infielder Jean Segura. … Jesús Luzardo (11-5, 3.35 ERA) is scheduled to start the matinee series finale Wednesday against Mariners righty Bryan Woo (9-8, 4.10).

  • Aaron Nola’s resurgence continues, but Phillies’ bats are silenced in 4-1 loss to the Mariners

    Aaron Nola’s resurgence continues, but Phillies’ bats are silenced in 4-1 loss to the Mariners

    SEATTLE — The second-best option in the bullpen hadn’t pitched in six days. Nothing to see there, the Phillies insisted. The game situations simply didn’t call for Jonathan Bowlan.

    “But tonight,” interim manager Don Mattingly said before Tuesday’s game, “is probably almost a must-pitch.”

    So, here were the Phillies, trailing by one run against the Mariners as the seventh inning began. And there was Bowlan, still sitting in the bullpen as Orion Kerkering came on in relief of starter Aaron Nola.

    Bowlan pitched, true to Mattingly’s word. But by the time he entered in the eighth, the deficit had swelled to three runs in a 4-1 loss, the Phillies’ second setback in a row here in Seattle after nine consecutive victories.

    Who do the Phillies trust in the bullpen? The bridge to Jhoan Duran is taking shape.

    The record will reflect that Nola yielded the go-ahead run in the sixth inning on back-to-back singles to Julio Rodríguez and Josh Naylor. But Nola allowed only three hits overall to continue a resurgence in the midst of ace Zack Wheeler’s worst six-start stretch in nearly 10 years.

    So, let’s not pin this one on Nola. Not after the Phillies went 15 consecutive at-bats without a hit between the third and eighth innings against Mariners starter George Kirby.

    And certainly not after Mattingly put a 2-1 seventh-inning deficit in the hands of someone other than his well-rested setup man.

    Why Kerkering over Bowlan in the seventh?

    “He’s kind of been our seventh-inning guy, eighth depending on where it goes,” Mattingly said of Kerkering. “It felt like he was the right guy.”

    Aaron Nola has a 3.57 ERA in his last 10 starts.Lindsey Wasson

    To be fair, Kerkering seemed to have gotten a second wind lately after struggling to throw strikes in late July. But he hit Taylor Ward with one out in the seventh, then allowed a single to J.P. Crawford and walked Brock Rodden to load the bases before Randy Arozarena fouled out.

    With two out, Mattingly played the matchups, turning to lefty Brooks Raley to face lefty-hitting Dominic Canzone. Raley’s 1-1 pitch was a low-and-away sweeper. But Canzone covered the outer edge of the plate and lined it to center field for a two-run single.

    Bowlan, meanwhile, pitched around a one-out walk in a scoreless eighth with an assist to Bryce Harper, who made a diving catch in right field to end the inning.

    Batting practice … in a hotel room? It’s part of the ‘routine’ for Luis Arraez, baseball’s most unique hitter

    Kirby muted an offense that had been fully operational throughout the nine-game winning streak. With a blazing fastball and a four-pitch offspeed mixture, he gave up a run on Justin Crawford’s RBI single in the second inning, then slammed the door.

    “He’s good, man,” Trea Turner said. “He’s got four or five really good pitches and then just the command is really good. He doesn’t give you much to hit in the middle of the zone. The fastball was hard today. I think I saw a bunch of 99s up there, so he’s tough.

    “I felt like we did a good job early battling to get some runners on there, but it’s hard to put a big inning against him as a team.”

    Justin Crawford’s RBI single in the second inning was the Phillies’ lone run.Lindsey Wasson

    Before the game, most of the attention of the Phillies’ pitching brain trust was focused on trying to solve the riddle of Wheeler’s 8.51 ERA in his last six starts. It’s his worst six-start stretch since he posted a 9.89 ERA midway through the 2017 season when he was still with the Mets.

    Absent a solution, not much else matters.

    But imagine the state of the Phillies’ rotation in these waning days of summer if not for Nola.

    And imagine saying that even a month ago.

    “He’s been on a good roll,” Mattingly said. “He was really good tonight.”

    Inside the hitters’ meeting that sparked the Phillies’ on-base percentage turnaround this month

    Nola gave up a game-tying solo homer to suddenly scorching Cal Raleigh in the second inning. He retired 13 of the next 15 batters, allowing only two walks before the back-to-back hits by Rodríguez and Naylor in the sixth.

    It marked another quality start for Nola, who has a 3.57 ERA in his last 10 starts. Since July 5, he has lowered his season ERA from 6.04 to 5.03.

    “I just kept trying to work, keep working, having good weeks, and keep competing out there,” Nola said. “I feel a little more on the attack, and my misses are a little bit smaller.”

    Since July 5, Aaron Nola has dropped his ERA from 5.87 to 5.03.Lindsey Wasson

    But after flying across the country on the wings of an improbable ninth-inning comeback at home Sunday, back-to-back losses in the Pacific Northwest have felt like a bucket of ice water.

    It has also stretched the deficit in the NL East back to 4½ games and narrowed the Phillies’ wild-card lead to three games over the Diamondbacks.

    “It’s tough,” Turner said. “But I think we ran into two really good starting pitchers the last couple of days and just didn’t get the job done. I don’t feel like we’re beating ourselves or doing some stupid stuff. I just feel like we just got beaten. You move on.”

  • Who do the Phillies trust in the bullpen? The bridge to Jhoan Duran is taking shape.

    Who do the Phillies trust in the bullpen? The bridge to Jhoan Duran is taking shape.

    SEATTLE — Six weeks after the Phillies lost their primary eighth-inning reliever for the season, five weeks before the playoffs, the bridge to Jhoan Duran is taking shape.

    And Brooks Raley is emerging as the top lefty.

    “Brooks has been easy to trust,” Don Mattingly said as the Phillies continued their West Coast trip here Tuesday. “He’s throwing strikes. He’s not walking people, all that. So, yeah, he’s easy to trust.”

    What’s going on with Zack Wheeler? Phillies ace struggles in 9-2 loss and admits ‘I haven’t had a stretch like this in a while’

    Mattingly’s word choice was notable because, this time of year, there’s only one question for a manager as it relates to the composition of the bullpen: Who do you trust?

    Rob Thomson trusted José Alvarado in Game 6 of the 2022 World Series … and got burned. Craig Kimbrel melted like an ice cube in the 2023 NL Championship Series. It was Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm, and Carlos Estévez against the Mets in 2024. Last year, Strahm, David Robertson, and eventually Orion Kerkering were done in by the Dodgers.

    The Phillies tweaked the bullpen in the offseason. But their most expensive addition, Brad Keller, had Tommy John elbow surgery last month. Jonathan Bowlan has outkicked expectations. But holdovers Kerkering and Alvarado have been inconsistent.

    So, as the Phillies attempt to cement a wild-card spot and close in on the division-leading Braves, the bullpen is coming into focus again, with relievers jockeying for position behind Duran in Mattingly’s circle of trust.

    Hard-throwing Phillies rookie reliever Alex McFarlane has pitched well since returning from triple A.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    Here’s what we know: Raley is earning more late-inning chances after being acquired in a deadline trade with the rival Mets. But hard-throwing rookie Alex McFarlane isn’t quite there yet.

    Let’s start with Raley. After giving up a pair of two-out runs in his Phillies debut on Aug. 5, the 38-year-old lefty has allowed one run on three hits and a walk in six innings over his last seven appearances.

    And with Duran unavailable last Tuesday night, Raley picked up his first save since 2023 in a 6-4 victory over the Marlins.

    “He’s given up some hits, but I feel like he’s going to make pitches,” Mattingly said. “He’s not going to panic.”

    Batting practice … in a hotel room? It’s part of the ‘routine’ for Luis Arraez, baseball’s most unique hitter

    There isn’t a more essential trait in October. Raley has appeared in 15 postseason games, mostly with the Astros, and has a 4.73 ERA that was inflated by a three-run outburst in Game 3 of the 2021 American League division series. He allowed two runs in his last 7⅓ postseason innings.

    Raley also has a track record against some of the most dangerous left-handed hitters in the National League. Shohei Ohtani, for instance, is 1-for-7 with three walks and a .506 OPS against him. Freddie Freeman is 1-for-6; Pete Crow-Armstrong and Max Muncy are both 1-for-4 with a walk; Christian Yelich is 1-for-4 with three strikeouts.

    And with Alvarado struggling (five earned runs in his last five appearances), Raley appears to be Mattingly’s lefty of choice with a late lead.

    Phillies reliever Jonathan Bowlan has a 2.89 ERA in 49 appearances.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    From the right side, Bowlan moved into the setup role vacated by Keller. But Mattingly has leaned hard on him and Kerkering, who appears to be catching a second wind after struggling to throw strikes for a stretch in late July.

    The Phillies have given McFarlane some higher-leverage tests since recalling him from triple A two weeks ago. The 25-year-old righty has uncorked 32 pitches that reached at least 100 mph, with his fastball averaging 99.9.

    But he also has given up three runs (one earned) on five hits and three walks in seven innings.

    “I think he’s been good. He’s been fine,” Mattingly said. “But there’s no reason to have to push him forward. … He’s been easy to trust when I don’t have another righty out there. I trust him in right-handed pockets. I don’t put him in Bowlan’s category yet, or even Kerk’s. But I do put him in the category of like, if you match him up in the right pocket.”

    Inside the hitters’ meeting that sparked the Phillies’ on-base percentage turnaround this month

    Mattingly’s level of trust figures to rise as McFarlane’s command improves. He hasn’t issued a walk in his last three appearances after walking the leadoff batter in each of his previous three.

    “We talked about the walks earlier with him,” Mattingly said. “He’s thrown strikes for the most part. I think he’s a tough at-bat, especially on the righty, with the combination of his movement and velo. Just the velo, in general.

    “The more specific he gets over time with his breaking ball, the fastball, not just throwing it but getting it to an area of the plate. Being able to use both fastballs, the sink and the run straight [four-seamer], those are going to kind of dictate how good he becomes.”

    Every appearance is an audition for a larger role. And the auditions will continue for another month.

    Extra bases

    With a third-inning single Monday night, Bryce Harper became the 34th player to record 1,000 hits with the Phillies. He has 1,922 hits overall, seventh-most among active players behind Freeman, José Altuve, Andrew McCutchen, Paul Goldschmidt, Manny Machado, and Nolan Arenado. … Aaron Nola (5-9, 5.12 ERA) is lined up to start Tuesday night against Mariners righty George Kirby (8-10, 4.18). The series wraps up Wednesday with Jesús Luzardo (11-5, 3.35) set to face Mariners righty Bryan Woo (9-8, 4.10).

  • What’s up with Zack Wheeler? Phillies ace struggles in 9-2 loss: ‘I haven’t had a stretch like this in a while’

    What’s up with Zack Wheeler? Phillies ace struggles in 9-2 loss: ‘I haven’t had a stretch like this in a while’

    SEATTLE — Julio Rodríguez unloaded on a two-strike splitter in the first inning here Monday night and set off the foghorn that signals Mariners home runs.

    To the Phillies, it should’ve been a siren.

    Because the Mariners’ five-foghorn, 9-2 victory was a five-alarm start for Zack Wheeler. Never mind that the Phillies’ nine-game winning streak went up in smoke. There was a more urgent question to keep the team’s pitching brain trust from sleeping in Seattle.

    What the heck is going on with Wheeler?

    Inside the hitters’ meeting that sparked the Phillies’ on-base percentage turnaround this month

    It wasn’t merely what happened against the Mariners, but as long as we’re on the subject: Wheeler allowed eight runs (a season-high) on nine hits, four homers, and five walks, tying season-highs in those categories. He didn’t record an out in the fifth inning after Don Mattingly sent him back out at 94 pitches. His ERA jumped from 2.92 to 3.40.

    The Phillies could chalk it up to a one-off, just one of those nights, if not for the fact that the 36-year-old ace has given up at least four runs in four of his last six starts. Related: He has issued at least four walks in back-to-back starts for the first time since July 2017.

    “I haven’t had a stretch like this in a while,” Wheeler said. “I mean, I just don’t really have anything else to say.”

    At least not after saying this: “To be totally honest with you, I feel perfectly fine, healthy, strong. Everything’s there.” And that’s relevant because Wheeler missed the final six weeks of last season and the first month this year after having a rib removed to relieve a compressed vein that caused a blood clot near his shoulder.

    Phillies starting pitcher Zack Wheeler gave up five runs in the first inning of his team’s 9-2 loss. Lindsey Wasson

    Wheeler’s velocity readings appear to support his claim. His fastball averaged 94.9 mph, consistent with his 95-mph season average. The Phillies have other metrics that also suggest Wheeler is healthy.

    So, if he insists he’s physically fine and not struggling with stamina 124⅓ innings into his comeback season, is there another explanation for walking 15 batters in a four-start span for the first time since … checks notes … May 2014, his second season in the majors?

    “That’s why it’s so frustrating right now,” Wheeler said. “Because I’m on a rough stretch and I feel fine. You’ve really got to dig in. That’s what I’m going to do [Tuesday], you know? Sit down, talk, and try to get some stuff figured out.”

    OK, start here: Wheeler said the only pitch he was able to throw for a strike was his fastball — “and that’s not even fully consistent.” He gave up homers on his splitter (to Rodríguez and Cole Young), fastball (to Cal Raleigh), and cutter (to Raleigh, the .167-hitting star catcher who went deep a third time against reliever Chase Shugart).

    Batting practice … in a hotel room? It’s part of the ‘routine’ for Luis Arraez, baseball’s most unique hitter

    Wheeler gave up five first-inning runs for the first time since Sept. 12, 2023. The first six batters reached base, with the only out coming when Bryce Harper nailed Josh Naylor trying to stretch a single.

    It all started by running a 3-1 count to leadoff-hitting Randy Arozarena, who drew a seven-pitch walk.

    “I hate walking guys,” Wheeler said. “I used to walk guys a good bit [early in his career] and kind of got away from that, and now that this little stretch has been walking guys, it’s pretty frustrating.”

    Considering this is Wheeler, the best pitcher in baseball over the last seven years, the Phillies won’t dismiss any theory for why he’s struggling. Odds are, he isn’t tipping pitches. Just in case, they’ll look into it.

    “They were taking really good swings, so first, I’m going to check off the box of, am I doing something to where other teams are seeing it, you know?” Wheeler said. “At this point, you’ve got to check off all the boxes. It’s not where I want to be. But like I said, we’ll sit down and kind of dig in and see what’s really going on.”

    Zack Wheeler gave up five first-inning runs and back-to-back homers in the fifth inning of a 9-2 loss Monday night in Seattle.Lindsey Wasson

    Maybe it’s a mechanical issue that’s causing Wheeler to lack command. Then again, it’s not like he was missing his spot by an inch or two. Most of his pitches weren’t close to where catcher J.T. Realmuto wanted them.

    “I would just say overall it’s more big misses that you’re seeing out of him than usual, and then more pitches in the heart of the plate,” Realmuto said. “As a hitter, it just makes the ball look a little bigger when your misses are big. And then when you do throw it in the zone, it’s covering a little more plate than usual, and that’s obviously not what we’re used to seeing from him.”

    Wheeler being Wheeler, he wanted to start the fifth inning, according to Mattingly, who quickly added, “And I kind of wanted him to go back out.” So, although rookie Alex McFarlane was warming to enter a 6-2 game, Wheeler stayed in and gave up back-to-back homers to Raleigh and Young to make it 8-2.

    There’s one big reason to think that Andrew Painter’s transformation is for real

    For the sake of the game, Mattingly probably should’ve gone to McFarlane. But in the larger picture, the Phillies aren’t going anywhere if they’re unable to unlock the mystery of Wheeler’s last six starts, in which he has an 8.51 ERA in 24⅓ innings after running a 2.16 ERA in 100 innings through 16 starts.

    “The stuff still feels sharp,” Realmuto said. “It’s coming out of his hand good. It’s just, he’s getting into some bad counts, and then throwing the ball too much in the middle of the plate. He’s going through a tough time right now, but we have all the faith in the world that he’s going to come out of it.”

    What choice do they have?