Bryce Harper is climbing the career home run leaderboard, and he is doing it the Bryce Harper way. With a two-run shot at Citizens Bank Park to beat the Padres 3-2.
Harper hit his 377th career homer Tuesday night, passing Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk on baseball’s all-time list. The blast came off Randy Vasquez in the fourth inning. It was a fly ball that cleared the 374 sign in left-center. The crowd lost it. The Phillies took the lead. Harper rounded the bases like he had just won a playoff game.
That is now 14 home runs on the season for Harper, and he is starting to lock in at the plate after a slow opening month.
Carlton Fisk is one of the great catching names in baseball history. Hall of Fame catcher. World Series moment with the foul-pole homer in 1975. The fact that Harper is now passing him on the all-time list says something about how Harper’s career is going to be discussed.
Harper is 32 years old. He has been an MVP twice. He has been a playoff hero in Philly. He has carried the Phillies offensive identity for the last six seasons.
The 377 number puts him in a club where you start charting realistic Hall of Fame milestones. He is going to clear 400 home runs by the end of this season if he stays healthy. He could reach 500 by his late 30s if he keeps producing at this clip. That is the kind of career arc that makes him a first-ballot guy.
The Phillies are 33-25 and very much in the NL East race. They are also one of those teams whose record could pop if Harper goes on a 30-game stretch where he hits .310 with 12 home runs. Tuesday’s blast might be the start of that stretch.
The home run was also a clutch run. The Phillies needed the lead. The bullpen needed a margin. Jhoan Duran came in and struck out the side in the ninth to seal it. Harper provided the runs, Duran provided the saves. That is the kind of partnership that wins games in October.
The Padres are not having the season they expected. San Diego is hovering around .500 and the lineup looks one bat short. They have had their chances against Philly and have not closed any of them out.
For Harper, the next milestone watch is 400 home runs. He needs 23. Some of those are going to come at Citizens Bank Park, where he has been a monster for his entire Phillies tenure. He has built a real home advantage in that ballpark and the fans treat every at-bat like a playoff game.
The Phillies have a real chance to get back to the World Series if Harper goes on this kind of run for two months. The pitching staff is the question, but the lineup with Harper and Kyle Schwarber both producing is a problem nobody wants to face in the NLDS.
Carlton Fisk passed. The all-time list keeps getting closer for the Phillies’ face of the franchise.
Bryce Harper is just getting going.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
