Michael Bourn spoke for everyone in a Phillies uniform, to say nothing of the fans back home who stayed up late Saturday night.
"Ooooh, [bleep]!"
That was Bourn's reaction, live and on the radio, at 8:07 p.m. in San Diego when Bryce Harper took a 97 mph fastball from Padres starter Blake Snell off the left thumb. Harper hit the deck. His helmet went flying. Padres catcher Jorge Alfaro reached down to check on him. Head athletic trainer Paul Buchheit raced from the dugout. Harper clutched his thumb, got to his feet, turned to Snell and yelled in frustration.
It didn't look good. Not to Bourn, the former outfielder and first-year part-time color analyst on Phillies radio broadcasts. Not to anybody.,
Regardless, it's a crushing blow to the Phillies, 38-35 and in an eight-team mix for six playoff spots. Over the last calendar year, Harper has been the best hitter in baseball — full stop. He's slashing .324/.424/.652 with 49 doubles and 35 home runs in 137 games since the All-Star break last year and has been worth 7.3 wins above replacement, according to Fangraphs.
The reigning National League MVP is darn near irreplaceable by any measure.
Phillies' Bryce Harper (thumb) out indefinitely after being hit by pitch in San Diego
But nobody will feel sorry for the Phillies, either. The Atlanta Braves went 44-29 and won the World Series last year after losing Ronald Acuña Jr. to a torn ligament in his right knee. This season, the Padres have the third-best record in the National League (45-29) even though Fernando Tatis Jr. hasn't played a game because of a broken wrist.
Injuries happen. Baseball keeps going. The New York Mets are in first place without Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer; the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers are missing Mookie Betts; the Boston Red Sox haven't had Chris Sale.
It's the Phillies' turn to figure out a way to overcome losing their best player.
"The year he's having, the person he is, it's a tough blow," Kyle Schwarber said in a postgame television interview. "But we're going to have to overcome it. I think this ballclub can handle that type of blow. We've got a lot of good players in this clubhouse, and we're all going to have to step up one by one and try not to do too much. We just all have to be ourselves, but when guys' names are going to be called upon, we have to answer the bell."
There are examples in recent Phillies history. In late July 2007, Chase Utley got hit by a pitch and broke a bone in his right hand. He had surgery, missed 31 days, and returned for the final month of the season. While he was out, the Phillies went 15-13 and hung in the playoff race to set the stage for their epic slingshot over the Mets for the NL East title.
Harper will surely miss more than 31 days. Even if he dodges surgery, it could still be months. Every fracture is different, but outfielder Mickey Moniak missed six weeks with a broken bone in his right hand at the end of spring training.
The 2007 Phillies also moved quickly to soften the blow of losing Utley. One day later, then-general manager Pat Gillick traded for second baseman Tadahito Iguchi from the Chicago White Sox, and he batted .304 with an .803 OPS in 45 games down the stretch, including .301 while Utley was out. (Gillick later said the White Sox owed the Phillies after unloading banged-up pitcher Freddy Garcia on them in a trade the previous offseason.)
Similarly, the 2021 Braves were proactive in replacing Acuña. They made four trades to acquire outfielders: Joc Pederson from the Chicago Cubs, Jorge Soler from the Kansas City Royals, Adam Duvall from the Miami Marlins, and Eddie Rosario from the Cleveland Indians. All four had central roles in the Braves' postseason triumph.
Inside the Phillies' turnaround: Was it as simple as changing the manager?
Rival executives were already expecting Dombrowski to be a buyer before the Aug. 2 trade deadline, although his focus figured to be on the pitching staff, particularly the bullpen. The Phillies will assess the state of their offense without Harper before deciding whether they will need to target a hitter on the trade market.
"I'm still hopeful we'll play well," Dombrowski told reporters Saturday night. "You don't replace a person like him, but we've still got a good club. We've still got a lot of guys who can swing the bat, so all the guys will have to step up."
But Harper is the constant. Everything revolves around him.
Harper managed to play through a torn ligament in his elbow by shifting to a full-time designated hitter role since the middle of April. Without him, the Phillies have been punchless. When he missed five games last month after getting an injection in his elbow, they scored a total of eight runs. They scored five runs during his recent three-game absence with an infected finger.
In discussing the resurgence of Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins atop the batting order, hitting coach Kevin Long said last week that the Phillies "have got to get four and five going," a reference to $100 million cleanup hitter Nick Castellanos and $115.5 million catcher J.T. Realmuto.
That was true before Harper got injured. It's especially true now. At least Realmuto is showing signs of coming out of his funk with homers in two of the last three games.
Harper got choked up Saturday night when he said it's "not fair to fans and the organization" that he won't be able to help the Phillies continue their 17-6 roll in June.
Surely, his teammates feel the same way in the aftermath of the Phillies' ultimate "Ooooh, [bleep]" moment.
Inside Bryce Harper's transition to full-time DH: 'I don't feel like I'm doing enough'
Now, they must get over it.
"It's a tough loss, but you've got to move on," interim manager Rob Thomson said. "I don't like to put it that way, but you've got to step up and go."
