'We Got Harper': Phillies Chants Take Over Nationals Stadium

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Not since 2011 has Citizens Bank Park South lived up to it name as much as it did on Tuesday night.

Hordes of Phillies fans welcomed Bryce Harper to D.C. Tuesday night, and he delivered three hits and his third home run of the year as the Phillies dominated the Nationals, 8-2. They improved to an MLB-best 4-0.

It was an epic stage for Harper's return to the city where he played for the first seven years of his career, and the city that has become the Phillies' home away from home.

Harper did receive plenty of jeers and boos in the early going from a contingent of D.C. fans in the building. When Nationals ace Max Scherzer struck out Harper in his first two at-bats, the crowd roared.

But, just as the talent-filled team has done in every playoff series it has ever played, Washington soon lost its voice.

His third time up, Harper drilled a double into right field. And the crowd roared.

And then in the sixth, moments after Jean Segura's bases clearing double, Harper came through with another hit into right. Even as Rhys Hoskins stepped up to the plate to follow him, you could hear the Philadelphia crowd plainly:

When Harper came up for his fifth at-bat in the eighth inning, the game seemed past its zenith. By then, the Phillies led 6-2. Some of the contingent of Nationals fans in the ballpark had left. Ex-Phillie Jeremy Hellickson took the mound in a mop-up roll.

Perhaps the script had already been flipped. If it hadn't, Harper made sure it was flipped:

The moonshot, Harper's third home run of the year, soared into the second deck behind right field. It was just above the solid red block of hundreds of Phillies fans who had bused down to the nation's capital and specifically bought that block of seats to support Harper as he played in the field.

Harper noticed. When he trotted out to take the field in the first inning, he turned to the Phillies bloc in the crowd and gave an emphatic fist pump to show his appreciation.

But it wasn't just that group alone. The dominance of the Phillies fan base was evident, according to several reporters in the stadium:

When all was said and done, Harper finished the night 3 for 5, just a triple shy of the cycle. His stat line now reads an absurd .429 batting average, .556 on base percentage, and 1.770 OPS.

Lost in the drama of Harper's return and the high profile of the Nationals' pitcher, Scherzer, was the brilliance of Phillies starter Zach Eflin.

Eflin sparkled through five shutout innings of two-hit ball, striking out nine and calmly working around jams against some of the Nats' best hitters.

Eflin likely would've returned for the sixth inning if it wasn't for the Phillies scoring opportunity in the top half of the inning leading to a pinch hitter.

Maikel Franco also turned in another stellar game, putting the Phillies on the board with his third home run of the year in the second inning. Franco is the only Phillie hotter than Harper right now, as he's hitting .545 to start the season out of the eight spot in the batting order, typically reserved for lighter hitters.

Clearly, there are no light hitters in this offense. Through four games, they've scored 31 runs. The four and five hitters, stars Hoskins and Realmuto, went 0-10 on Tuesday night and left nine men on base, and the team still managed 14 hits and eight runs, including seven hits off of Scherzer, one of the game's best pitchers.

Rarely in a baseball season can so many consecutive games be called a "statement." And yet even though it is only April and the Phillies have 158 games to play, their utter dominance over their two fiercest rivals at the season's dawn has sent a message: a new era of Philly baseball has been born.