PHILADELPHIA — Kyle Schwarber likes a good fall day. “Maybe 52 degrees,” he was saying just after midnight Wednesday in the Phillies’ clubhouse. “Something like that. Maybe a little brisk, but it feels great.” Tuesday night had none of that weather. Tuesday night, Game 3 of the World Series, was warm, the air thin, the baseballs tending to take off like fighter jets when the Phillies connected with them. Five home runs in all in their 7-0 Game 3 victory over the Astros — Bryce Harper’s the most electrifying but Schwarber’s the longest, 443 feet to dead center field, blasting through trees and ivy and thudding against the Citizens Bank Park batter’s eye.
Harper has been drawing the baseball-watching world’s attention for his superhuman postseason, but take a look: Since the start of the National League Championship Series, Schwarber has been even better, a monster in those eight games. Four home runs, nine walks, a .360 batting average, a 1.369 on-base-plus-slugging percentage, all from the first hitter in the lineup.
It’s not enough to call him the Phillies’ tone-setter. He’s not so much setting a tone as he is crashing through the front door, grabbing the first pair of drumsticks he sees, and going full John Bonham as his teammates reach for their guitars.
