Tuesday, April 29

PHILADELPHIA -- For seven years, Bryce Harper played baseball in the same city Capitals superstar Alex Ovechkin played hockey.

Harper met him briefly in 2018, after the Capitals won the Stanley Cup. But Harper said Wednesday afternoon at Truist Park that he admired Ovechkin’s career and how he passed Wayne Gretzky to become the NHL’s all-time goals leader, scoring his 895th career goal in Sunday’s 4-1 loss to the Islanders in Elmont, N.Y.

“Amazing,” Harper said. “What an incredible scorer. I like the way he did it, too.”

How so?

“He didn’t want to do it on an empty net,” Harper said, referencing Ovechkin passing up the chance in Washington’s previous game. “I respect that completely. It’s out of respect to the sport and everything. It’s just him doing it the right way. You don’t want to pass Gretzky on an empty-netter, and say, ‘Whoa, this is great!’ But he’s pretty incredible. It just goes to show how hard work and dedication to your craft works.”

Harper has met his share of world-class athletes over the years. He has played with them on the Nationals, Phillies, NL All-Star teams and elsewhere. He has played against them. He has met greats outside of baseball, such as Michael Jordan, Peyton Manning and Mia Hamm as part of his work with Gatorade.

“I don’t really ask them, ‘Hey, why were you great?’” Harper said. “But obviously, I feel like when you’re at that level, everybody kind of has that same killer instinct, I guess you could say. Some are more killers than others, right?”

But no question each of them had the drive to be the best.

Harper has that drive. He is a two-time NL MVP with 51.1 career WAR, according to Baseball Reference. He has talked in the past about how he wants to play into his 40s. There is no reason to bet against him.

Harper is on a clear Hall of Fame track. Through Harper’s age-31 season, Baseball Reference’s similarity scores have him most closely aligned with Cooperstown-worthy talents like Barry Bonds, Carl Yastrzemski, Freddie Freeman, Duke Snider, Reggie Jackson and Mike Trout.

“It’s trying to be perfect at your craft,” Harper said. “It’s trying to get better at your craft as you go. I think if you look at the greats in a lot of the sports, that’s kind of how they are, you know?”

Nick Castellanos hit a grand slam to help the Phillies beat the Dodgers on Sunday at Citizens Bank Park. Which Phillies player has hit the most grand slams in a single season?

A. Chuck Klein

B. Gene Freese

C. Vince DiMaggio

D. Ryan Howard

• Phillies manager Rob Thomson said he thinks right-hander Jordan Romano is healthy, despite a recent drop in velocity on his fastball. Thomson thinks maybe Romano pitching three out of four days so early in the season might have affected him. Time will tell, but in the short term, expect Romano to pitch in lower-leverage situations. Joe Ross and José Ruiz could pitch in bigger spots in the meantime.

• Left-hander Ranger Suárez (lower back stiffness) will begin a rehab assignment on Thursday with Single-A Clearwater. Suárez will pitch three innings. He might need just three rehab starts before the Phillies decide to return him to the rotation, but that is speculation. In the meantime, Taijuan Walker will continue to start.

• Right-hander Andrew Painter will start in his first Minor League game since Sept. 16, 2022 on Friday night. Painter is scheduled to throw two innings or 35 pitches for Clearwater. He remains on target for a midsummer promotion.

Charlie Manuel remains a big deal back home in Buena Vista, Va.

And why wouldn’t he? He led the Phillies to the 2008 World Series championship. He is the winningest manager in franchise history.

It is fitting then that Parry McCluer High School in Buena Vista will name its baseball field “Charlie Manuel Field” during a public ceremony on May 3.

“This is a tremendous honor for Charlie Manuel and for our school community,” Parry McCluer principal Todd Jones said in a statement. “His accomplishments on the baseball field are well known, but his influence on the lives of so many young people, including those here at Parry McCluer, is something we will always cherish.”

April 9, 1963: Richie Ashburn broadcast his first game for the Phillies.

“It doesn’t pay as much as I was getting as a player, but it’s a good salary,” Ashburn told The Philadelphia Inquirer at the time. “Also, it will be good to come back to Philadelphia where we have a lot of friends.”

C. Vince DiMaggio

He hit four grand slams in 1945.

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