Bryce Harper activated from disabled-list in last night’s 1-4 loss against the Phillies
Fans, including myself, were extremely excited for the return of our favorite starter last night, Bryce Harper, after being out for a month and a half as a result of a bone bruise and ankle sprain acquired by running a ground ball during a rainy game on August 12th.
The Washington Nationals twitter account enthusiastically shared the news with their daily lineup announcement:
Any fan of the Nationals could tell that Harper, understandably, was off his game. His form, power and athleticism hadn’t changed but it was easy to see that his timing was off. Dusty Baker confirmed the same concerns while being interviewed about the loss.
“He looked pretty good. I mean his timing is off a little bit, but he moved around good, didn’t see any signs of limping or real fatigue, so we got him out of there we thought at the right time. He got three at bats, and so the good thing is the more pitches he sees the better and quicker his timing will get there.” – Dusty Baker on Bryce Harper vs the Phillies last night
Luckily for Harper, he came back at the perfect time. The star now has 5 more games left in the regular season to shake off the rust from the past month and a half to get warmed up for the first game of the team’s play-off series against the Cubs on October 6th.
With Harper, Werth and Turner recently back from disabled-list coupled with the team’s new relieving pitchers, Doolittle and Madson, the Washington Nationals have a real shot at making it to the National League Division Championship and possibly the World Series.
Now all we can do is watch and wait for the magic to happen.
