Phillies win the pennant! Bryce Harper’s 8th inning go-ahead homer sends Phillies to World Series
Bryce Harper hit arguably the biggest home run in Phillies postseason history to beat the Padres 4-3 and send the Phillies to the World Series for the first time since 2009.
The Phillies have won the pennant! The Phillies have won the pennant!
The Phillies have been a baseball team since 1883 and this afternoon they won their 8th National League Championship in team history.
My hands are still shaking and I don’t have a list of the greatest home runs in Phillies postseason history in front of me, but Bryce Harper’s go-ahead 8th inning shot has to be up there. For Harper it was his 5th home run in the playoffs and easily his biggest hit in a Phillies uniform.
After JT Realmuto lead off the 8th inning with a single, the Padres chose not to bring in their closer Josh Hader to face the reigning NL MVP in Harper. With the count 2-2, Harper took a nasty changeup from Padres reliever Robert Suarez. It was pitch that would have easily drawn a swing and miss from most mortal hitters.
Harper took the next pitch he saw from Suarez, a 98mph sinker, 382 feet over the left field fence sending the sell out crowd at Citizens Bank Park into a fury. With one swing of the bat, the Phillies best player put his team just three outs away from a trip to the World Series.
It’s nothing new for the 2022 Phillies who have been overcoming obstacles and adversity since the team fired Joe Girardi at the end of the May with a record of 21-29. Everyone but the fans in Philadelphia gave them virtually no shot to reach the World Series let alone get past the Cardinals in the wild card round or the 100-win Braves in the NLDS.
Today they had to find a way to reach down and overcome the weather. I don’t want to solely blame the rain as both teams had to pitch and hit through it today. But it sure seemed like the rain was coming down harder when the Phillies were pitching through the 6th and 7th innings.
Zack Wheeler was able to successfully escape the 6th inning despite showing signs of dissatisfaction with the condition of the mound. But Seranthony Dominguez clearly could not grip the baseball and threw a total of THREE wild pitches while even the Padres hitters were going to the dugout for new batting gloves and stick spray.
For a quick moment it seemed like short of something incredible, the Phillies would be forced to head back to San Diego with two chance to close out the NLCS. Instead Bryce Harper did something incredible.
For his effort Bryce Harper is the 2022 NLCS MVP. It’s well deserved but I don’t think Phillies fans should forget the colossal effort of Rhys Hoskins who put the team on his back over the last few games and simultaneously put every single one of his haters six feet under the ground.
I have been saying this for a few weeks now; This team is an unstoppable train of momentum and not even the Houston Astros will prevent them from reaching their final goal of bringing the World Series trophy back to the city of Philadelphia.
You know what we have to do!
RING IT!!!!!
Up Next for the Phillies
The Phillies have punched their ticket to the World Series and now await the winner of the Astros and Yankees in the ALCS later Sunday night.
Game 1 will take place on Friday October 28th with the first pitch TBD.
FS1 will carry the broadcast of the game.
TBD (0-0, 0.00) will take the mound facing off against TBD (0-0, 0.00)
Wheeler gets Manny Machado swinging to end the 1st inning for the Padres.
Zack Wheeler gets Brandon Drury swinging to end the Padres chances in the 2nd inning.
Wheeler strikes out Trent Grisham for the 2nd out of the 3rd inning.
Rhys Hoskins ‘Mr October’ hits yet another two run home run in the 3rd inning to give the Phils the lead.
2-1 Phils
Juan Soto answers with a solo shot to center field off Zack Wheeler in the 4th inning to put the Padres on the board.
2-1 Phils
Zack Wheeler gets drilled by a Josh Bell line drive but JT Realmuto is able to make the play to end the Padres threat in the 4th inning.
Wheeler gets Juan Soto swinging while the rain falls in the Padres half of the 6th inning.
Wheeler strikes out Machado again in the 6th for his 8th strikeout of the afternoon.
Seranthony Dominguez throws his second wild pitch of the at bat to Trent Grisham allowing a run to score while the rain continues to fall and clearly is affecting the play on the field.
3-2 Padres
Bryce Harper puts the Phils back on top with a two run shot in the bottom of the 8th inning. Holy shit, Bryce Harper you are the man!
4-3 Phils
David Robertson gets Will Myers looking for the first out in the 9th inning.
Ranger Suarez gets Austin Nola to fly out to Nick Castellanos for the final out of NLCS Game 5. The Phillies are your 2022 NL Champions!
PHILLIES WIN THE PENNANT!
Dave Dombrowski is pumped in the club box!
Mandatory Photo Credit: Philadelphia Phillies
