PHILADELPHIA _ You can see it, can't you? It's impossible to miss, even if you don't have big, old googly eyes like the Phanatic.
Bryce Harper is getting hot.
At last.
It was on full display at Citizens Bank Park on Thursday. Just two days after Harper delivered a game-winning double to walk off the Los Angeles Dodgers, he notched two hits and drove in two runs, including a game-tying single in the seventh inning, and lifted the Phillies to a split-salvaging 7-5 victory that began less than 11 hours after the previous game had ended.
As Harper accelerated around first base after right fielder Cody Bellinger misplayed the ball, he lost his helmet. When he popped up from a headfirst slide into second, he revealed a bandanna of the Phanatic's eyes. Consider it an overt sign to Phillies fans that they might finally be seeing the player for whom the team spent $330 million in spring training.
Rhys Hoskins punched a single down the first-base line against an overshifted defense to score Jean Segura from third base and Hoskins from second and open a 7-5 lead. The Phillies needed the extra run, too, because struggling closer Hector Neris allowed a two-out solo homer in the ninth inning.
But the Phillies secured a split of the four-game series and inched back into a tie with the Milwaukee Brewers for the second wild-card spot in the National League. The Brewers will play Thursday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are a half-game back in a bunched-up wild-card race.
If the Phillies are going to assert themselves in that race, Harper is the superstar who can hoist them on his shoulders. Since June 30, he's 18-for-51 with three doubles, three homers and 14 RBI in 14 games.
And if Harper is getting hot, it would mirror last season. After struggling through the first half with the Washington Nationals, he was among the best hitters in the league down the stretch.
If ever a team must begin playing a game less than 11 hours after the preceding game ended _ "Sub-optimal conditions," as Phillies manager Gabe Kapler would call them _ it's nice to at least be able to give the ball to an ace pitcher and breathe easy.
For a change, though, Nola couldn't carry the Phillies.
Nola allowed three home runs and lasted only five innings _ after giving up two homers in 35 2/3 innings over his previous five starts. Matt Beaty and Enrique Hernandez went deep back-to-back in the second inning to give the Dodgers a 2-1 edge, then Hernandez restored the lead at 4-3 with a two-run homer in the fourth inning.
The Phillies allowed 14 homers in the four-game series with the Dodgers, who hit two other balls Thursday that were hauled in at the warning track. Their pitchers have been taken deep 168 times this season, more than any team in the league. They're on pace to give up 280 homers, which would shatter the franchise record of 221 set in 2017. Even Nola isn't immune. Despite his recent roll, he has given up 18 homers in 121 ? innings. Last season, he allowed 17 homers in 212 1/3 innings.
Last week, team president Andy MacPhail bemoaned all the homers, saying that the Phillies "can't win that way" and it "obviously has to change." Well, the trade deadline is less than two weeks away.
