LOS ANGELES — Two games into their National League Division Series, the Philadelphia Phillies’ dangerous duo of Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper have gone 1 for 15 with eight strikeouts.
It has played no small part in the Dodgers taking a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-five series with a chance to close it out at home in Game 3 on Wednesday night.
And it also feels familiar.
During the 2023 season, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman finished second and third in the National League MVP voting. But in the Dodgers’ NLDS against the Arizona Diamondbacks, they went a combined 2 for 21 and the Diamondbacks swept them out of the playoffs.
“It’s tough. It’s tough,” Betts said Tuesday when the similarities were pointed out. “Like you said, I’ve been there. I remember feeling like – no matter how bad you want to say it’s a team thing at this point, we’ve all got to band together, like, where you are and what you mean to the team never really goes away. We’re the Dodgers because me and Freddie, we’re doing our thing. That’s what made us tough.
“When you get in that rut and it seems like it’s quicksand. No matter what you do you just can’t get out of it. It’s tough. Hell, I didn’t get out of it. So I have no advice or anything. I mean, shoot, I would have if I knew what to do. Good luck to those guys and we’ll see if they have the answer.”
Add in leadoff hitter Trea Turner and the trio at the top of the Phillies’ lineup is just 2 for 21 with 11 strikeouts in the first two games of the NLDS. When a team’s biggest stars are not producing, it “puts a lot of pressure on everyone,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, recalling that 2023 experience.
“We’ve lived it,” Roberts said. “The players around them, it puts pressure on them. Certainly on the two superstars, puts pressure on them to try to perform. But that’s what the postseason is all about.”
Schwarber is mired in an 0-for-21 slump (with 13 strikeouts) stretching back into the regular season.
The Dodgers have kept Harper and Schwarber at bay largely without playing the matchup game and bringing in left-handed relievers to face them.
In Game 1, they faced right-handers Shohei Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow. In Game 2, they faced lefty starter Blake Snell but Roberts chose to leave right-hander Emmet Sheehan in to face both Schwarber and Harper in a crucial situation in the eighth inning. Sheehan struck out Schwarber and got Harper to fly out.
“I think the main thing is we’ve attacked those guys,” Roberts said of the successful gameplan so far. “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.
“Up to this point, we’ve done a really nice job of keeping those guys at bay. We’ve still got some work to do and try to keep those guys asleep.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson credited the Dodgers’ pitchers for executing their gameplan against Harper and Schwarber so far in the series.
“I think they’re pitching both him and Harp pretty tough right now,” Thomson said. “I think their timing’s off a little bit right now. Again, trying to do a little too much, the swings are a little bit bigger. Gotta slow it down, turn the field around, think left-center. They’re still going to pull the ball at times. But just stay on the ball a little bit better.”
History says it is particularly important to keep Harper from breaking out. The Phillies are 11-0 in postseason games when he homers.
“It’s always tough in the postseason, man,” Harper said Tuesday. “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 I’ve missed some pitches over the last couple of days. Missed a changeup from Sheehan in that 1-2 count. Missed a couple pitches from Ohtani. I’ve missed some pitches – obviously expanded a little bit. I think that third at-bat against Snell I expanded a little bit….I think, all in all, not where I want to be obviously.”
