How Phils rallied around Harper on last trip to San Diego

SAN DIEGO — Bryce Harper sat alone within the supervisor’s workplace that evening.

It was June 25 at Petco Park, and Harper had been hit on his left thumb by a 97.2 mph fastball. The thumb was damaged. The thought crossed Harper’s thoughts that his season is perhaps completed. Phillies president of baseball operations David Dombrowski had been watching the sport with Jimmy Rollins from the crew’s entrance workplace suite. Dombrowski excused himself and made his strategy to the clubhouse.

Dombrowski discovered Harper in Rob Thomson’s workplace.

Harper apologized for getting damage.

It was a darkish day for the Phillies, but it surely may have been worse. The Phillies may have floundered in Harper’s absence. As an alternative, they met the problem of shedding among the finest hitters in baseball. They gained with out Harper, who rejoined the Phillies in late August. And since the Phillies gained with out Harper for 2 months, they put themselves in place to clinch the third NL Wild Card. And since they clinched the third NL Wild Card, they discover themselves 4 victories away from taking part in within the World Collection.

Sport 1 of the Nationwide League Championship Collection in opposition to the Padres is Tuesday evening. It’s the Phillies’ first time again in San Diego since Harper broke his thumb.

“Any time you get hit or break a bone or something like that, these doubts creep into your thoughts, you won’t come again this yr,” Harper mentioned. “What’s going to occur, how is the crew going to react? The crew reacted nice, proper? And I bought information that I’d be again in six to eight weeks and I’d be able to go for September and the postseason. The best way they picked up the slack from me being damage was unbelievable. That they had an ideal run after I was gone and so they performed nice, and that is why we’re right here with this chance proper now.”

It will have been cool to listen to that Harper’s teammates known as a crew assembly that evening, however they by no means did.

As an alternative, they simply talked.

A number of gamers after the sport sat at a desk within the clubhouse and performed playing cards. They talked about what they wanted to do to win.

“We knew who we misplaced,” Rhys Hoskins mentioned. “We knew the kind of participant we weren’t going to have. It was nearly all people stepping as much as be themselves. You possibly can’t change him. There are three or 4 gamers in the entire league who can provide us the manufacturing that he provides us each day. Guys have been going to be thrust into roles they weren’t planning to have. Simply be your self. It’s straightforward to assume, I’ve bought to do extra and so does he. That’s the fantastic thing about having a deep roster.”

“No one freaked out,” Matt Vierling mentioned. “It was nice management.”

Thomson and hitting coach Kevin Lengthy met after the sport to debate their choices.

“It begins with the gamers that you’ve now, and then you definately look past that to [Triple-A] Lehigh Valley,” Thomson mentioned. “We have been form of mixing and matching and attempting to piece along with the folks we had on the time. Then abruptly Darick Corridor is getting sizzling in Triple-A and we’re going, ‘OK, possibly that is the man.’ We introduced him, and he carried out immediately. We had loads of that this yr.”

Thomson may have dropped Kyle Schwarber or Hoskins into the No. 3 or 4 spot within the lineup. However Thomson stored them on the high as a result of they have been crushing the ball on the time.

“I did not actually need to mess them up,” he mentioned. “I did not need to overthink it. I needed to maintain them proper the place they’re at. They appeared very comfy there, and it labored out. There’s ebbs and flows to the season, however we have been fairly per that, and I feel it is labored out fairly nicely.”

Dombrowski may have gone exterior the group and tried to seek out someone to assist whereas Harper healed. He didn’t.

“After a pair days, I didn’t have anyone say he wasn’t coming again,” Dombrowski mentioned. “In order that was a giant affect. After which when he got here again, he’d be the DH. We already had Schwarber and [Nick] Castellanos, so what are you going to do? We simply thought OK, we’ll simply combine and match and see how guys did.”

The gamers by no means panicked. Don’t attempt to change Harper. Be your self.

Thomson and the teaching workers by no means panicked. Don’t shake up the lineup. Give a few of the younger children a shot.

The entrance workplace by no means panicked. We don’t must make a commerce.

“It was an emotional day as a result of it was Bryce,” Dombrowski mentioned. “He was shattered. Generally the best way your gamers, supervisor and workers deal with issues will inform you numerous about them. There are alternative ways to have a look at it. I do know publicly, I noticed on MLB Community that the Phillies are accomplished. The season is finished. However I knew we had a resilient group of gamers.”

“I do not assume there was any doubt after I went down that we have been going to do what we would have liked to do to get right here,” Harper mentioned.