Bryce Harper did something Saturday night that only 10 other Phillies have ever done. He hit for the cycle. And the guy managing the team in the interim? He’ll be the first to tell you there’s no chance he could have pulled that off.
Philadelphia crushed the Mets 15-3. Harper started things with a home run in the first, added a double and a single in the third, and finished the cycle with a two-run triple in the fifth. He grounded out in his last at-bat, but by then the game was already over.
After the win, interim manager Don Mattingly was asked if he ever hit for a cycle during his own playing career. His response, captured by Crossing Broad’s Luke Arcaini, was vintage Mattingly.
“Never. Shit, are you kidding me? I had like 13 stolen bases in my life. Triples didn’t come very often. I turned triples into doubles,” Mattingly said.
It’s the kind of honesty you don’t always get from coaches. Mattingly was a damn good hitter — an MVP, a batting champ, six All-Star appearances — but he knew his game. He wasn’t a burner. He wasn’t stretching singles into doubles. He was a line-drive machine who knew exactly what he was.
Where the Phillies stand now
The win pushed Philadelphia to 41-35 on the season. They’re still 7.5 games back in the NL East, but they hold a 1.5-game lead for the final Wild Card spot. That’s not nothing. It’s also a long way from where this team was before Mattingly took over.
Harper is doing his part. After Saturday’s performance, he’s hitting .259 with 16 homers and 43 RBIs. Those numbers put him second on the team behind Kyle Schwarber in both categories. He’s also swiped five bags, which is five more than Mattingly probably had in an average season.
Nobody expects Harper to hit for the cycle every night. But when he steps in the box, the whole stadium knows something could happen. That’s the difference between a superstar and just a guy. And honestly, that’s the difference between this Phillies team and the one that used to roll over in June.
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