Phillies' top three bats go cold in rare postseason funk

PHILADELPHIA -- It was the type of moment Bryce Harper lives for.

With the Phillies and Dodgers locked in a scoreless pitchers' duel in Game 2 of the NLDS, Harper stepped to the plate with two on and only one out in the sixth inning. A sellout crowd that had spent the past two hours waiting for a reason -- any reason -- to explode rose to its feet, anticipating the latest signature moment from "The Showman."

Harper took a big cut at a 1-0 slider up in the zone from Blake Snell, but fouled it back. That would be the only pitch Snell threw in the zone to Harper, who struck out four pitches later chasing a slider off the plate. Alec Bohm grounded into a forceout moments later to end the threat.

The Dodgers immediately made them pay, putting up a four-run seventh inning en route to a 4-3 victory.

And so it's gone for the Phillies -- not just in the first two games of this postseason, but by and large, for the last few postseasons.

"It feels like we're one hit away," said shortstop Trea Turner. "Two nights ago felt like that, too. ... That's the difference in these games. We've got to do more as an offense."

That's particularly true at the top of the order.

The Phillies' top three hitters -- Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Harper -- are a combined 2-for-21 (.095) with 11 strikeouts through the first two games of the NLDS. They do not have an extra-base hit.

“I think those guys are trying to do a little too much right now,” said manager Rob Thomson. “Instead of just being themselves and looking for base hits and the power will come.”

It’s a concerning trend for a Phillies team that has come to rely far too heavily on the long ball in recent postseasons. Consider this: The Phillies have never lost a postseason game in which Harper homers. They're a perfect 11-0 in those contests.

But going back to the start of the 2023 NLCS, the Phillies are 3-0 when Harper homers -- and 1-9 when he does not.

"I had a couple of opportunities myself and didn't get it done," Harper said. "Just got to be better."

Schwarber echoed a similar sentiment.

Coming off an MVP-caliber regular season in which he led the NL in home runs (56) and RBIs (132), Schwarber is 0-for-7 with five strikeouts in the NLDS. Going back to the regular season, he's 0-for-21 with 13 strikeouts in his past six games.

He's also 0-for-18 (with 10 K's) in his past five postseason games dating to last year's NLDS against the Mets.

Asked if he feels that star trio atop the Phillies' lineup has done enough, Schwarber pointed the finger at himself.

"I can speak for myself -- I know that I haven't," Schwarber said. " ... I can look at myself in the mirror and say that I want to be better. And I'm going to be better."

Schwarber worked a walk in that sixth inning after Turner had also walked and stolen second base. It was the first time the Phillies had multiple runners on base against Snell, and nearly matched their number of baserunners from the first five innings combined (three).

Yet even after Harper's strikeout and Bohm's grounder let Snell off the hook, the Phillies had their chances. They got one run back in the eighth on an RBI single by Turner, then pulled to within one with no outs and the tying run on second base in the ninth.

Turner later stepped to the plate with runners on the corners and two outs. He grounded out to second base -- on a remarkable scoop by first baseman Freddie Freeman -- to end the game.

"We're getting baserunners, we're getting walks," Turner said. "We're just not getting that timely hit or that slug."

The Phillies led the NL in hits during the regular season. They ranked fourth in the Majors in slugging percentage.

As for timely hitting -- no team had a better OPS from the seventh inning onward than Philadelphia's .791. The Phils also led the Majors in runs (295) and home runs (80) in the seventh inning or later.

And it’s not like these guys don’t have a track record in the postseason. Schwarber’s 21 career playoff homers are the fourth most in MLB history. Harper has a 1.111 postseason OPS in 151 plate appearances since joining the Phillies. (He has a .994 postseason OPS overall including his time with the Nationals.) To put that 1.111 number in perspective, it would rank third all time behind only Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth, who each had a 1.214 OPS.

“It's not like we're not trying hard. It's just the way it is right now,” Schwarber said. “ ... We just need everyone going up there and doing their job, because that's how we got here in the first place.”