PHILADELPHIA -- His teammates know the face. Bryce Harper, 30 years old, veteran of 11 major league seasons, will walk into the dugout before a game with a particular sort of mien, one that tells the Philadelphia Phillies it's time for business. Mouth deadened, eyes narrowed, neck ramrod straight, Harper's expression is expressionless.
"It's like when he looks at you, he's looking through you," Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh said. "Because he is not focused on you. He's focused on what's to come."
What has come, over the past month, as the Phillies paraded from the cusp of a regular-season finale to that of a World Series championship, is Harper, already one of baseball's best players, at his finest. His majestic first-inning home run in Game 3 on Tuesday night -- on the first pitch he saw at the Phillies' first World Series game at Citizens Bank Park in 13 years -- commenced the five-homer barrage that propelled the Phillies to a 7-0 victory and two-games-to-one lead over the Houston Astros.
It was only Harper's latest feat, another highlight in the postseason of his life, or, for that matter, anyone's life. In 14 playoff games, Harper is hitting .382/.414/.818 with six home runs and 13 RBIs. Of all players with at least 50 plate appearances in a single postseason, Harper's OPS of 1.232 ranks 11th all time. "That dude," Marsh said, "is locked." Which warrants the question: If Harper is so in control this postseason, what exactly are the Astros doing still pitching to him?
"Still don't know," Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins said. "I hope they continue to."
The answer is, in fact, hard to pin down. It's where the emotional ("Don't!") intersects with the situational ("It depends!"). It includes the philosophical (pitch selection) and the ability to execute (which many lack). Even when it works -- the Astros got Harper out in his final three at-bats in Game 3 -- it's often too late, his opponents already having paid a hefty price.
In other words, pitching to Bryce Harper is a calculated risk -- and this postseason, it generally has ended without commensurate reward.