Phillies' Red October environment doesn't bother Bryce Harper: 'I boo myself'

Lochlahn March, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Oct 7, 2025

Published in Baseball

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LOS ANGELES — Bryce Harper played a lot of cards on the Phillies’ cross-country flight.

He didn’t spend a lot of time ruminating over the team’s two losses to open the National League Division Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers and the wasted opportunities in those games. After the Phillies arrived to Dodger Stadium for their workout Tuesday, Harper acknowledged that he missed some pitches he would normally have hit, and has expanded his zone on others.

But it’s also important for him to flush those moments quickly in the postseason.

“Anytime you go up there and you get out, you’ve got to flush it as quick as possible because that at-bat has no merit on what your next one’s going to be,” Harper said.

Harper also rejected the idea that the Citizens Bank Park crowd and infamous Red October atmosphere aversely affects his performance when the home fans loudly show their disapproval, as they did multiple times in Games 1 and 2.

Nick Castellanos said after Monday’s loss that “the environment can be with us, and the environment can be against us.”

“When everything’s going good and you’re rolling it’s a [pain] to play here when you’re an opposing team because the environment is amazing,” Castellanos said. “But if we run into adversity and the tide shifts and now we’re playing more tight because we don’t want to be reprimanded for something bad.”

Harper sees it a little differently.

“I love playing at the Bank. I love our fans. I boo myself when I get out,” Harper said. “I’m the same way. I trust in what they do. They show up for us every day, day in and day out. So if we deserve to be booed, we deserve to.

“They spend their hard-earned dollar to come watch us play; they expect greatness out of us and I expect greatness out of myself and my teammates, as well. If they believe that, I don’t know what’s going through their head or mindset. We’ve got some of the best fans in baseball, and they make me play better. So I enjoy it.”

Boos follow Harper in most cities he goes, and he knows how to play through it.

“I will probably get booed [Wednesday] night, too,” he said. “So it’s kind of the same thing.”

Harper is 1 for 7 in the first two games of the NLDS. Trea Turner also has one hit, while Kyle Schwarber has been held hitless so far. Collectively, the top third of the Phillies’ order is 2 for 21.

“I think the main thing is we’ve attacked those guys,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “We haven’t been scared off using the fastball. I think we crowd them just enough. I think we go soft just enough. And I think we change eye level.”

The Phillies pitching has rendered Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani similarly ineffective at the plate (1 for 9) so far in the series. And for a series between two teams that finished in the top five in the NL in homers this year (Dodgers, 244; Phillies 212), there has been a conspicuous lack of long balls.

Teoscar Hernández’s three-run shot that barely cleared the wall in Game 1 is the only home run hit so far.

“Pitching has been good on both sides of the ball,” Harper said. “I think there’s been maybe two guys that have kind of played well on both sides. It’s always tough in the postseason, man. You get into it, you’re excited, you’re ready to go. And then you run into a juggernaut of pitching. That’s our team and that’s their team as well. … Obviously we need to do a better job of hopefully hitting the long ball, or just making things happen any way, any how we can.”

Bader update

Harrison Bader was on the field Tuesday doing agility work and running in the outfield. While the Phillies have designated his injury “groin tightness,” he told reporters Tuesday that he was dealing with a medial hamstring strain.

Bader will be a “game-time” decision for Game 3. Phillies manager Rob Thomson said that his readiness depends on his ability to run, so he is not considering using Bader as a designated hitter. If he is able to run the bases, he will be able to play center field.

Powder blues

The Phillies will be wearing powder blue uniforms on Wednesday and Thursday, if they force a Game 4. They were formerly their primary road uniforms from 1972 to 1988. The team began wearing them at home on Thursdays as a throwback, starting in the 2018 season.

“We talked about it 10 days ago,” Thomson said. “Some of the players came to me, because they like playing in them. So we had to go through a bunch of hoops with Major League Baseball just to get it cleared.”