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Bryce Harper’s Phillies teammates felt before Game 3 that he ‘was going to do something big’

Weston Wilson made a pregame prediction: three home runs for Harper. Not quite, but he still left his teammates amazed by his performance in Game 3.

Bryce Harper hits a solo home run in the fifth inning in Game 3.
Bryce Harper hits a solo home run in the fifth inning in Game 3.Read moreYong Kiim / Staff Photographer

Rookie utility man Weston Wilson was joking around with his teammates in the Phillies clubhouse before Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Wednesday. They’d heard the comments Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia reportedly had made about Bryce Harper after Atlanta’s Game 2 win. Harper certainly had heard them.

So, Wilson made a prediction.

“Harper’s going to hit three home runs tonight,” he said.

» READ MORE: Hayes: Attaboy, indeed! Bryce Harper redeems himself with two stare-down homers

It almost turned out to be true. In the bottom of the third inning, Wilson placed his cap on the top rail to call a home run for Trea Turner. Turner worked a seven-pitch at-bat and hit a two-out single to bring Harper to the plate with runners at the corners.

Wilson reached out to grab his cap, and outfielder Jake Cave, who was sitting next to him, immediately stopped him.

“Why the [heck] would you take that off?” he said. “Leave it up there for Harper.”

Wilson did, and, sure enough, Harper hit a three-run home run. The ballpark erupted, and so did the Phillies dugout. Players were hanging off the railing, jumping over the railing, and high-fiving each other deliriously. Some ran onto the grass to celebrate.

But of course, Harper didn’t stop there. He hit another home run in the fifth inning to give the Phillies a 7-1 lead. After both home runs, he stared directly at Arcia as he ran the bases. Asked if he enjoyed staring at Arcia, Harper didn’t deny it.

“Yeah, I mean, I stared right at him,” he said.

It was quite a statement, but Wilson wasn’t surprised. No one was surprised.

“I don’t know if that was the reason, but he looked pretty locked in at the plate today,” said second baseman Bryson Stott. “He goes about his day the same way, but sometimes he just has a certain look, and that look is — you know he’s ready to go. He’s had that look for a couple of weeks now. So it’s been good.”

» READ MORE: Orlando Arcia said Bryce Harper can stare ‘wherever he wants’ and didn’t intend for him to hear his mockery

Said Wilson: “I predicted he’d hit three, and he hit two. He almost hit a third in the at-bat in the sixth.”

Said catcher Garrett Stubbs: “It feels like any time he goes up there with the chance to do something cool, he does it. That’s why he’s called ‘The Showman.’”

Added outfielder Brandon Marsh: “I feel like he’s going to go yard every swing. Just his preparation and the way he approaches the game, it’s super pro. It’s fun to watch. Fun to be a part of it.”

Harper said postgame that he heard about the comments from his teammates. He said they asked him what he was going to do — but it was clear, at least to Wilson, how Harper was about to respond.

“I think everybody felt before the game even started that he was going to do something big,” Wilson said.

    Alex Coffey
    I cover the Philadelphia Phillies, on and off the field. From 2019-2021, I covered the Oakland A's and the WNBA's Seattle Storm for The Athletic.
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