Tag Archives: Bryce Harper

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Ramos Hot Off The Bench, Nats Beat Phillies 4-3

Photo courtesy of philliefan99
mob on first
courtesy of philliefan99

The story going into Friday night’s ball game was that starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg and outfielder Bryce Harper would be in the lineup, at home, together for the first time in club history. It makes for a romanticized story of circumstance, but the Washington Nationals took it upon themselves as a 25-man roster to liven up the premeditated story.

As the final position player on the bench in the eleventh inning of an electric game, Wilson Ramos led the Nats to an exciting 4-3 victory over their division rival Philadelphia Phillies with a walk-off single. To put it lightly, this was one hell of a game. Continue reading →

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No Run Support for Zimmermann in Harper’s Home Debut, Nats Fall 5-1 to Arizona

Photo courtesy of dmbosstone
Bryce Harper – Arizona at Washington – 5/1/12
courtesy of dmbosstone

Bryce Harper made his home debut with the Washington Nationals Tuesday night — that’s the good news. The bad news is that the Nationals didn’t hit in support of starting pitcher Jordan Zimmermann. Zimmermann (1-2, 1.89) pitched a decent game but the Nats dropped Tuesday’s contest 5-1 against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Continue reading →

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The Best Week in DC Sports just got better

Photo courtesy of BrianMKA
Harper glare
courtesy of BrianMKA

The Wizards finished their season with six straight wins, D.C. United is 2nd in the Eastern Conference after a hot start, the Redskins have drafted Robert Griffin III to be their next quarterback, the Capitals won a pivotal Game 7 against Boston to advance to the next round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, and lastly, the Nationals have started their season 14-5 and have the best pitching staff in the National League and possibly all of baseball.

Late today, the Nationals announced that Ryan Zimmerman would be joining Brad Lidge, Michael Morse, Drew Storen and Chien-Ming Wang on the DL, and that Bryce Harper would make his major league debut tomorrow night at Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles.  So far, Harper’s not lighting up the AAA league quite as he had with the lower levels of the minor leagues, but it’s hard to deny the talent of the youngest member of the elite athletes club of Washington.

Can Harper make a difference at the Major League level? That depends on the Bryce Harper we get. This is one of those wonderful moments where a team has decided, “Alright, screw it, let’s give the kid a chance.” There’s no guarantee that Harper’s ready, though the expectations for him are nothing short of towering. Will he have a Strasburg moment tomorrow night in Dodger Stadium? Can he bring some offense to left field, where the Nationals have struggled to put anything in the offense column?

DC sports fans have been waiting for answers to these pressing questions since the summer of 2010 when the Nationals took Harper with the top pick of the draft. Will he be the next Ken Griffey Jr., or will he be the next Todd Van Poppel? It all starts tomorrow night at 9:10pm. Don’t miss it.

Sports Fix
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Bryce Harper’s Arizona Domination a Step Towards the Majors

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‘Bryce Harper’
courtesy of ‘SportsAngle.com’

The ball was hit at just the right trajectory to cause problems. It should have been a standard F8 settled under early and caught with relative ease in left-center field, but it was hit at just the right trajectory. The centerfielder raced to his right and Harper raced to his left. The centerfield held out his hand as a sign that Harper should stop as he settled to where the ball should soon come to rest in his glove, but the ball hung up, and then the sun played its first trick. The centerfielder threw his hands in the air giving the universal sign for, “I lost it.” Harper started to come in for the ball, but soon the centerfielder recovered and relocated the ball and called Harper off again. As soon as the centerfielder resettled he again threw his hands in the air and Harper ran in for the ball. By this time it was too late to settle under it for the routine catch and Harper stabbed at it like a line drive. The ball nicked off his glove and fell harmfully to the ground as the batter raced around first on his way to second.

Roaming the outfield is not Bryce Harper’s natural habitat. Harper still has trouble reading the ball off the bat and sometimes ends up taking bad routes on balls. The missed catch with the sun playing tricks wasn’t Harper’s only missed catch in the three games I watched him play. When someone sees Harper on the baseball field they are seeing him where he belongs. He has the work ethic and the dedication to learn the outfield. It is hard to miss Harper’s big truck in the players’ parking lot, and it is always one of the first vehicles parked. He is committed to making himself the best baseball player he can be, and if learning the outfield is the last step before the majors then Harper is going to learn the outfield.

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Nats’ late heroics top Yanks, Harper sent down

Nationals vs Yankees at Space Coast Stadium

Spring Training is full of common hero tropes, and that’s part of what makes Sports into big entertainment and big drama for the fan. Today, we got a bit of the “underdog makes good” plotlines as the Nationals beat the Yankees 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth off the bat of a young phenom that the club is very excited about.

No, I don’t mean Bryce Harper (though he was right there when it happened, he was on second base), I mean catcher Derek Norris.

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What Bryce Harper Means For The Nats Fanbase

Young Fan
Photo by Rachel Levitin

The Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell raised a pretty good point this morning. “Baseball fans can win two ways,” he wrote. “Their team can be great. Or a player can be so sublime that his performance, year after year, almost every day for six months at a time, gives so much accumulated pleasure that his individual art actually rivals victory.”

Bryce Harper signing with the Washington Nationals is just one of a few ways Nationals fans will find victory while cheering for a team who has yet to contend in post-season play.

“Just five years after getting a team back after a 33-year absence, Washington fans are getting a reward that, while perhaps not as cherished as a World Series, ranks enormously high,” Boswell wrote.

What’s the reward? A team that went from hopeless, having lost over 200 games in two seasons, to a team full of hope. Continue reading →

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Bryce Harper coming to Washington

Photo courtesy of
‘The Nats drafted Bryce Harper’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

The deal came down to within the last minute, but it got done, and Bryce Harper has signed a $9.9M major league contract with the Washington Nationals.  The high-school and junior-college phenom is likely the most touted signing of an offensive player since Mark Teixeira in 2001.  Harper will likely play right field in the Nationals organization.  His first stop will be the Gulf Coast League, as soon as possible, followed by the Arizona Fall League.  Before that, though, Harper will come and spend a few days with the big club next week, including a possible BP session, and get acquainted with the concept of playing professional baseball day in, day out.

The Nationals spent just under $14M yesterday signing four of their top picks.  Sammy Solis, and A.J. Cole, both starting pitchers, went for $1M and $2M respectively, and also signed pitcher Robbie Ray for $799,900.  All told, the Nationals signed 25 of their top 26 picks, with just one deferring entry to finish college.

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Nationals’ Second Coming? The Bryce Harper Watch

Photo originally appeared at DC Sports Bog
Photo originally appeared at DC Sports Bog

While the feeling lasts, talking about the currently relevant Nationals is a lot of fun. In that spirit, I had to share this great submission from one of Dan Steinberg’s readers. DC sports junkies probably are already avid followers of Steinberg’s excellent DC Sports Bog at the WashingtonPost.com, and you have to love when he gets photos like the one above: the spotting of a #34 “Harper” jersey at Nationals Park during yesterday’s game.

Since things are starting off hopeful for Nats fans this season, and getting better since last year’s #1 draft pick, Stephen Strasburg, is on his way up the system, you may have forgotten already that the Nationals retain the number one pick in this year’s draft, too. And all signs point to a stud of a catcher out of Las Vegas by the name of Bryce Harper. It’s not that hard to dig for the hype on this prospect, so hopefully this fan-made Nationals shirt will be joined by many, many more. Dan’s description from his post is pretty uplifting to think about: “wunderkind catcher Bryce Harper, the guy who figures to catch Strasburg’s first playoff pitch. (And I don’t think that’s even a joke at this point.)”