WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Bryce Harper had to choke back tears during his pregame press conference Tuesday. The gathering preceded his first game back in Washington since leaving the Nationals to sign a 13-year-deal worth $330 million with the rival Philadelphia Phillies. "It's going to be pretty cool," he said. "I might get a little emotional because I'm very excited."
Harper wasn't talking about his return to Washington, or his first time seeing old teammates. He was talking about his wife's pregnancy, learned privately in November but announced publicly this week. It was the only time Harper showed outward emotion during the 14-minute media session.
Instead Harper gave off the vibe of a professional, someone who has been dealing with the media and their attempts to ask about his emotions or thoughts about this or that baseball-related event for nearly a decade. It makes sense. After all, Harper has been in the national spotlight since he was featured in Sports Illustrated nearly a decade ago as a 16-year-old. By the time the Nationals drafted him No. 1 the following summer, it was a fait accompli that he would become an MVP and the face of a lucky franchise.
Harper indeed won an MVP Award while with the Nationals, back in 2015. He hit .279/.388/.514 over seven seasons, compiling 186 home runs as well as a Rookie of the Year Award. Harper had compiled another piece of hardware the last time he was under the spotlight in Nationals Park: during last July's Home Run Derby, when the host city's fans willed him to victory.
The scene was much different on Tuesday. Sure, Harper went to the Italian Store when he arrived in D.C. for a sandwich. And yes, he had dined at one of his favorites, Aqua, the night before. But even Harper had to acknowledge things were a bit different -- and that there was a real chance he was going to be booed by the same fans who had previously adored him. "Everywhere I go, if I'm a visiting player, I usually get booed," Harper said. "It's just part of it."
Harper was indeed booed. Although rain delayed the game's start by more than a half hour, Nationals fans didn't wait until the first pitch to voice displeasure with their former star. A pregame video tribute was met with jeers. Then Harper in the flesh was greeted by boo birds as he strode to the plate in the top of the first with two runners on and nobody out. He was subsequently booed each time he stepped to the plate or touched the ball in the field.
Sometimes a friend is a stranger you haven't gotten to know. Sometimes an enemy is a friend you know all too well. Consider who awaited Harper on the mound on Tuesday: Nationals ace Max Scherzer.
Harper had never faced Scherzer during the regular season, and couldn't recall if they had met during a spring scrimmage in the past. (He did quip that he intended to not look Scherzer in either eye -- a reference to the pitcher's heterochromia.) Tuesday's three match-ups, then, may have been the first three in their soon to be expansive history -- and Harper, for his part, seemed to look forward to them … albeit with some reservation. "You always want to go up against the best, so I'm looking forward to it," he said, "but, uh, I guess I'm not looking forward to it."
Officially, the Baseball-Reference splits page will show that Harper went 1 for 3 against Scherzer with a double and strikeouts in his first two at-bats. He did not, however, contribute anything that showed up in the runs column -- not until he singled in a run against Matt Grace in the sixth to make it 6-0. The Phillies fans in attendance chanted "MVP" in response. Harper later delivered the coup de grâce, hitting a massive two-run home run off Jeremy Hellickson in the eighth inning to make it 8-2 Phillies:
Heading into Tuesday, Nationals manager Davey Martinez had not talked with Harper. He bristled at the idea of asking Scherzer to work around Harper -- "Can you imagine me telling Max to not to go after him?" he asked -- while conceding that the Nationals' knowledge of Harper might not result in an advantage.
"On any given day, a pitcher can make a mistake and throw it where he wants to hit it," said Martinez. "You can be very successful doing something different, then all of a sudden the next day when you try that same approach there's a different outcome."
Martinez may have meant it in another context, but the same being different served as the theme of the night. When Harper was asked about his favorite memory from his time with the Nationals, he settled on Jayson Werth's walk-off home run in the 2012 National League Divisional Series. Harper then ticked through all his firsts, including his first at-bat at Nationals Park. He struck out, but that didn't stop the locals from cheering.
On Tuesday, nearly seven years later, Nationals fans again cheered Harper after he struck out in his first at-bat of the season at the stadium. It was the same but different. Same stadium, same fan base, same batter. But different. Much different.
