PHILADELPHIA — The bat died in the eighth inning, and it was a hero. It was maple, made by Chandler, with Bryce Harper’s signature on it. Harper gifted it to Kody Clemens this week because, sometime last year, Clemens decided he liked swinging Harper’s bats. The reserve infielder with a famous baseball name ordered more for himself.
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But it’s always better when they come from Harper.
“Bryce, you know, he’s got unlimited bats,” Clemens said. “So, it’s good that he likes me.”
They love each other in the Phillies clubhouse right now. They are 26-11, the best record in baseball, and this is how absurd the whole thing is: The Phillies went for an audacious heat check Tuesday night and still beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 10-1. They played without their three best right-handed hitters. They faced José Berríos, who entered with the best ERA in baseball. They put more runs on Berríos in four innings than he had allowed all season before he set foot inside Citizens Bank Park.
Clemens started a big-league game at third base for the first time since 2022. He blasted a two-run homer in the second inning. He tripled in the fourth.
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— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 7, 2024
Then, in the fourth, Harper took one of his own bats and slugged a grand slam. The Phillies, 37 games into this season, are flaunting it.
“You look at all the really good teams in the league, they have depth,” Harper said. “If that’s starting pitching depth or that’s infield, or hitting — anything. I think a lot of really good teams have that. I think (Dave) Dombrowski’s done a great job of really rounding out our roster and making sure that we have those pieces.”
The Phillies have won all four games since Trea Turner succumbed to a hamstring injury that will cost him six weeks. They will miss Turner. They will face adversity at some point. But, right now, they are riding a wave that generates unbridled confidence.
“We just have too many good guys,” Cristopher Sánchez said. “The bench, everybody’s good. We have two lineups on our team.”
It is hyperbolic, but only a bit. This is the sort of dilemma the current Phillies face: Their starting pitcher, Sánchez, was too efficient. He tossed seven innings to lower his ERA to 3.22. The Phillies wanted Spencer Turnbull, their sixth starter with a 1.67 ERA as part of the rotation now relegated to the bullpen, to pitch three or four innings Tuesday night. He logged only two.
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They had to keep calling the bullpen to tell Turnbull to wait. Turnbull, who signed with the Phillies knowing they had five starters and was targeted for this exact role — long reliever — will have to adapt to it. He admitted it would be difficult for him. He has a routine. He carries a blue duffel bag wherever he goes on the field. One of the items inside, a football, will be a part of his prep in the bullpen.
The whole thing is unusual. The Phillies don’t have a place for him in the rotation right now, but they want to keep him stretched out. They don’t want to tie him to “piggybacking” any specific pitcher because regular work is not guaranteed. They want to play the long game.
THIS BAT IS WORKIN'#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/97ooMopVxw
— Philadelphia Phillies (@Phillies) May 8, 2024
How have the Phillies described it to him?
“I’m not super sure exactly,” Turnbull said. “I think we’re all kind of figuring it out as we go. Like I’ve said all year, I’m just here to make the most of this opportunity. I’m having a lot of fun being on a winning team. Just give me the ball and I’ll go out there and get outs. I’ll figure it out and do the best I can. It’s really fun to win. Whatever that looks like, a lot of that stuff’s not in my control. But I’m having a lot of fun.”
Turnbull wants to start, and he has expressed this to the Phillies. They have told him he will have another chance. There is a financial motivation for Turnbull to start. The Phillies signed him for $2 million with bonuses tied to games started and innings pitched. Turnbull can earn an additional $200,000 each for 12 starts, 14 starts, 16 starts, 18 starts and 20 starts. He has $200,000 bonuses that trigger with 40 innings, 60 innings, 80 innings, 100 innings and 120 innings.
At the very least, his innings in the bullpen count toward that. He did not allow a hit and walked one batter in his two innings. He threw harder but did not strike out anyone.
“Definitely I wouldn’t say I felt great, but I feel like I handled it pretty well considering,” Turnbull said. “Kind of felt like a baby giraffe out there a little bit. I feel like I warmed up like four or five times. But it’s stuff I’ll probably figure out as I go.”
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Clemens is the one who replaced Turner on the roster. He won’t play much, and he will have to work to maintain his timing at the plate. He’s batted nine times for the Phillies this season and has collected four extra-base hits. He has seven RBIs. The Phillies needed Clemens at the beginning of last season. But he was gone by July 1 and never returned.
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He embraced the situation entering this season.
“He had a great spring, right?” Harper said. “He could have made probably any team out of camp.”
Rob Thomson has a soft spot for Clemens. The Phillies manager knows his dad, Roger, from their shared time with the New York Yankees years ago. He has appreciated how Clemens acts whenever he’s shuttled back to the minors. Clemens is a small piece of this thing. But, to Thomson, he embodies what has made the Phillies a different franchise than they were three years ago. Everyone knows their place. They know the mission.
They are there for each other — even if it means lending a bat.
“Awesome,” Thomson said. “That’s really awesome. I’m so happy for him. I really am.”
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(Photo of Bryce Harper: Bill Streicher / USA Today)
