Phils rock powder blue jerseys for must-win NLDS Game 3 in LA

LOS ANGELES -- Maybe the Phillies’ nod to 1980 will bring luck on Wednesday night at Dodger Stadium.

Look good, feel good, play good. Right? The Phils will wear their powder blue uniforms for Game 3 of the NL Division Series against the Dodgers. If they win Game 3, they will wear them again for Game 4 on Thursday.

“I thought it’d be cool,” Bryce Harper said at Tuesday’s workout. “Kind of an ode to ’80.”

The Phillies traditionally wear their powder blues on Thursdays at Citizens Bank Park, but they have been talking about wearing them on the road for years. Phillies director of clubhouse services Phil Sheridan first contacted the league about the possibility in June. The league said they could. Sheridan reached out to the league again before the end of the regular season to see if its approval applied to the postseason. The league said yes.

So, once the Dodgers beat the Reds last week in the NL Wild Card Series, the Phillies asked Los Angeles if it planned to wear its traditional white uniforms at home. The Dodgers said yes, so the powder blues were packed for the trip.

They left the road grays in Philadelphia.

“I’ve been messing around with Phil about it for like two, three years now,” Harper said. “Like, ‘Hey, dude. Are we ever going to do it?’ A few of us brought it to him a couple weeks ago. And then obviously they had to send me to talk to everybody.”

Harper laughed.

Harper has done this before. He led the charge more than four years ago when he asked the Phillies if they could wear red tops on the road. It happened, but only after he made his pitch in person to Phillies executives.

He made the same pitch again this time.

“We love wearing the blues,” Harper said. “We just thought it’d be fun.”

“It's not like it's a superstitious thing or anything like that,” Kyle Schwarber said. “We just like the way they look, like the way they feel. They were picked out before the series, so we're happy that we're wearing them. Excited to change it up a little bit. Get out of the grays and have a different road uniform.”

The Phillies enter Game 3 down 2-0 in the best-of-five series. They face long odds, especially against a team like Los Angeles. But Harper said everybody was relaxed on the flight to Los Angeles on Tuesday morning.

“Played a lot of cards,” he said. “That was fun. Obviously, we didn't think about [Game 2] or anything like that. Just got rest quick last night, got on the flight this morning and try to get here and get to the workout. So glad it's sunny and 80 degrees in L.A.”

But what will it be like on Wednesday night? Will hitters press at the plate? Will pitchers try to make a too-perfect pitch?

“It's always tough in the postseason, man,” Harper said. “You get into it, you're excited, you're ready to go. And then you run into a juggernaut of pitching. That's our team and that's their team as well. Obviously, we need to do a better job of hopefully hitting the long ball or just making things happen any way, any how we can. Just gotta be better tomorrow.”

Maybe the powder blues change the vibe. Maybe changing the venue will help.

The Phils got booed at home in Game 2.

“I don't feel that way,” Harper said. “I love playing at the Bank. I love our fans. I boo myself when I get out. I'm the same way. I trust in what they do. They show up for us every day, day in and day out. So, if we deserve to be booed ... they spend their hard-earned dollars to come watch us play; they expect greatness out of us and I expect greatness out of myself and my teammates as well.

“If they believe that, I don't know what's going through their head or mindset. We've got some of the best fans in baseball, and they make me play better. So I enjoy it. I will probably get booed tomorrow night, too. So it's kind of the same thing. It's, like, what are we talking about? Same stuff.”

Harper was in good spirits on Tuesday, all things considered. His wife, Kayla, gave birth to their fourth child last week: a boy – Hayes Three Harper.

“I've got an incredible wife, man,” Harper said. “She pushed that thing out in three pushes and 30 seconds. She's an absolute monster doing it. ... I'm serious, it's an incredible thing. Being able to hold your son for the first time is something that, it's one of the greatest moments of my life.”

Harper choked up as he discussed his family.

“I love my family. I love my kids,” he said. “I love … baseball. But at the end of the day, my family means the most to me. I definitely miss them right now.”