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Goodbye Bryce Harper. And thanks for leaving

Columnist Bruce Penton writes about the Washington Nationals' playoff success — without Bryce Harper
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This was all part of Washington Nationals’ grand plan: Win a World Series (or more than one) during the Bryce Harper era.

The only glitch is that the franchise’s first World Series appearance is taking place the first year that Harper — the second coming of Babe Ruth, it was proclaimed during Harper’s teen years — was no longer with the team after signing as a free agent with Philadelphia Phillies.

Harper might have been prescient in his opening press conference as a free-agent Phillie when he told reporters he wanted to “bring a title back to D.C.” Whoops! He meant Philadelphia, of course, but he had Washington, the Nationals, and D.C. on his brain and the verbal blunder slipped out.

Anyway, the Nationals (neé the Montreal Expos, who moved to Washington in 2005) did quite well without Harper, who graced the cover of Sports Illustrated at age 17 with the headline “The Chosen One.” Harper has had a decent career, winning the National League’s Most Valuable Player award in 2015 after a 42-homer season, averaging .276 for eight seasons and slamming 219 home runs over that period, but the Harper-led Nats always came up short in the playoffs. The Harperless Nationals went into a deep funk to start the 2019 season, and many observers connected the dots and said Harper’s absence was the reason why. The Nats were 19-31 at one point, and manager Dave Martinez’s job was reportedly in jeopardy. But in the year of the home run (a record 6,776 were hit this year), it was Washington’s pitching that brought them back into contention and, eventually, to the World Series.

A starting rotation featuring Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg and Patrick Corbin has the potential to shut down any team in a short series, and that’s exactly what happened in this year’s post-season. The Nationals, who gained entry to the playoffs by winning one of two wildcard spots, defeated Milwaukee 4-3 in the one-game wildcard showdown behind the pitching of Strasburg and a three-run rally in the eighth inning. That trio of pitchers then guided the Nats past the heavily favoured Los Angeles Dodgers in a five-game series that went the limit and then was on fire against St. Louis in the NL championship series, winning four straight.

Now, of course, it’s the Houston Astros providing the opposition for all the marbles and a favourite phrase around D.C. this fall is: “Thanks, Bryce, we couldn’t have done it with you.”

  • Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg: Rams receiver, Cooper Kupp wears a light, malleable, pink-orange metal alloy groin-guard. That's right, Cooper Kupp, who copped some key catches, wears a copper cup.”
  • Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times: “Just wondering: Does Arkansas linebacker Bumper Pool have a brother named Gene?”
  • Patti Dawn Swansson, aka the River City Renegade, on Winnipeg naming a road in honour of two-time world curling champion Don Duguid:  “I only hope city workers …  fill all and any potholes before the official unveiling. I’d hate like heck for the little guy to get lost in one of them.”
  • Vancouver’s Steve Burgess, on Twitter: “I'm having a hard time transitioning to on-ice hockey as opposed to contract negotiation hockey.”
  • Norman Chad of the Washington Post, on Twitter: “John Harbaugh would challenge a traffic light.”
  • Chad again, on Twitter: “Aaron Boone’s bullpen mantra: If you do poorly, I will take you out. If you do well, I will take you out. Aaron Boone would’ve pulled Michelangelo halfway through the Sistine Chapel ceiling job.”
  • Comedy writer Jim Barach: “Astros outfielder Josh Reddick called Yankee fans ‘disrespectful.’ What he doesn’t realize is that Yankee supporters are the people who are too nice to be Mets fans.”
  • Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg: “The Los Angeles Chargers lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers 24-17. But it was awfully thoughtful how the Chargers scored one point for each one of their fans in attendance at home.”
  • Kaseberg again: “The Chargers have fewer fans in the stands than the IRS softball team.”
  • Dwight Perry again: “QB Baker Mayfield has coughed up 11 interceptions and a lost fumble in the Browns’ first six games. Probably not the Baker’s dozen his coaches had in mind.”
  • Michael Grey, via Twitter, on the offensively inept Broncos: “John Elway is a great example of why you should never trust a great pilot to build your plane.”
  • One more from Perry: “Ice discovered in craters at the moon’s south pole could be more than a billion years old, Brown University scientists say. Canada’s first lunar mission, we assume, will include a Zamboni.”
  • Another one from Patti Dawn Swansson, considering some of the rejected names for the upcoming Tiger Woods’ book, the definitive story of his life: “1. Birdies, Bogeys, Bunkers & Bimbos; 2. Tiger Woods: My Pants Were Always Lower Than My Score.”

Care to comment? Email brucepenton2003@yahoo.ca

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