Topper finally pairs Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber back-to-back in the Phillies’ lineup

Well, it finally happened. After years of avoiding it like a 3-0 count, Rob Thomson put Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber back-to-back in the Phillies lineup Friday night in St. Louis.

Sure, the Phillies didn’t score a single run in the 2-0 loss. And yes, they only mustered three total hits but this lineup tweak is worth sticking with, because when you have two left-handed wrecking balls like Harper and Schwarber, you don’t worry about symmetry — you worry about runs.

Phillies offense goes missing in 2-0 loss to Cardinals >>

The Rationale

Thomson said before the game he’s been thinking about this for a while.

The hesitation has always been giving opposing managers the ability to neutralize the Phils’ two best hitters with one lefty reliever. But after watching Bryce Harper get intentionally walked twice in Atlanta, then see Nick Castellanos flail at breaking balls in the aftermath, something had to give.

The Numbers Don’t Lie

Bryce Harper has an .833 OPS against lefties in his career. Schwarber isn’t as consistent, but over the last season and change, he’s hitting .313 with a .964 OPS vs LHP.

So, the whole “but they’re both lefties!” argument doesn’t hold up anymore.

This isn’t some platoon experiment — it’s two dudes who can mash, and now they’re side-by-side like Utley and Howard once were.

Utley & Howard 2.0

Remember July 3, 2005? Charlie Manuel finally said screw it and hit Chase Utley and Ryan Howard back-to-back. That decision sparked one of the most iconic lefty duos in baseball history. They went on to hit 3-4 in the lineup for 818 games.

Could Harper and Schwarber become the new-age version of that? It’s not crazy. Schwarber already has six bombs in 12 games, and Harper, even with pitchers dancing around him, has been getting on base at a high clip.

Protecting the Franchise

Bryce Harper’s getting pitched around constantly. Heading into Friday, he’d seen nearly 65% of pitches out of the zone with runners in scoring position.

That’s top-11 in all of baseball. If there’s no protection behind him, pitchers will keep dancing, and we’ll keep watching free passes followed by whiffs.

Put Schwarber behind him, and suddenly managers have to make a decision:

Do you pitch to Bryce Harper or risk giving up a moonshot to Kyle Schwarber?

Pick your poison.

Even with the loss, Thomson said he’s not ready to abandon this setup which is good to hear, obviously. I appreciate Topper’s willingness to mess with the order this year and having Trea Turner leading off with Harper and Schwarber hitting three and four deserves however long is needed to mature into an everyday lineup.

This team is going to need its best hitters to do the heavy lifting — and that means they should be hitting next to each other, not separated by a guy in a slump or a forced sense of lineup balance.

Final Thought

The offense sputtered in St. Louis, but don’t let that cloud the big picture. Friday night might’ve marked the beginning of something that actually makes sense: Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, back-to-back bash bros, finally on the same page in the heart of the order.

Let’s hope Rob doesn’t overthink it again. Let the big boys eat.

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