Quinn’s Quickies: Harper’s Aggression, Harper’s Revenge, Sixers Visit Prime, more ⚾🏀🏈

A second straight week of my rapid fire look at sports in Philly and beyond. What more could you ask for? Let’s do it:

Phillies Fever is popping
up all over. Saw this 
blow-up Phanatic on a
walk in my neighborhood.

Harper’s aggression. Bryce Harper made the final out of Game 2 of the NLDS on Monday in Atlanta on a deep fly ball to right center when he ran past second base from first and had to try to make it back to first after the ball was caught. Nationally, I heard it called the worst baserunning blunder in post-season history. I didn’t hear much criticism locally. I’ll live with it on two fronts. First, it’s Harper, already one of the best players I’ve seen in a Phillies uniform, and his aggressive style of play is a big part of his greatness. Secondly, I think you should always run the bases aggressively. (Heck, I wanted him to try to steal second, which would make baseball purists scoff.) It’s cliché to say, but the best hitters in baseball fail 7 out of 10 times. When the ball’s in play, make something happen. My thought is, make them make a throw. Obviously, you can’t get stupid about it, but with that philosophy in mind I can’t complain about aggressive running on the bases resulting in the occasional bad out. I actually didn’t think the catch by the center fielder on Monday was as great as people are saying – yes, he went a long way to run it down, but he didn’t have to jump. But, off the bat, it seemed like a ball in the gap (if not over the fence). Harper almost caught a break with the throw going to second, as the outfielder assumed the runner might be tagging up from first, and the ball got by two guys before the third baseman backed up the play and threw Harper out. Finally, if he didn’t run, there would have been two outs with Harper on first base. Even with Bryson Stott coming up, odds just aren’t great that the Phillies win at that point.

Harper’s Revenge. As if Harper didn’t have enough motivation to respond in Game 3 after making the final out with his baserunning miscue in Game 2, Braves shortstop Orlando Arcia handed him some more. He was cackling and giving Harper an atta-boy after the game in the locker room, according to a report. Good idea, Orlando 👍. Stuff like that never gets out these days. Here’s a tip . . . don’t make one of the most clutch hitters in baseball angry, especially when you’ve only played more than 70 games four times in an 8-year career. Do you think Arcia regretted cackling with reporters around as Harper stared him down while circling the bases after hitting a 3-run homer in the bottom of the third inning to break a 1-1 tie, igniting a 10-2 Phillies win? Maybe the stupidly of his comments hit him in the fourth inning. You know, when Harper hit another home run and stared him down again. I wrote the first quickie before last night’s game, so let me repeat myself – Harper is one of the best Phillies players I’ve ever watched.

Sixers in Prime Country. The Sixers took a break from training camp in Boulder, Colorado, to have dinner with Deion Sanders. I like that Sixers head coach Nick Nurse is trying something different . . . but Prime Time? Really? Sanders’ Buffaloes pull of an upset at TCU in their season opener, and suddenly he’s the motivational voice the Sixers need to hear? Ok. Hope it works. 

No kneeling in Miami. With 0:33 left in the fourth quarter (according to the play-by-play) on Saturday night, leading Georgia Tech by 3, the Miami Hurricanes ran the ball on 3^rd-and-10 from GT’s 30-yard line instead of taking a knee. And fumbled. And lost the game. And likely lost their hopes of making the college football playoffs 😒. There actually seems to be some confusion over whether or not GT had a timeout remaining. (I only see two timeouts by GT listed in the play-by-play.) Interestingly, GT called a timeout after first down and not second, suggesting they did not have a TO left. Apparently, this isn’t the first time Miami head coach Mario Cristobal has run the ball instead of calling for the typical kneel down at the end of a game. He even defended the play call. I’ll be honest, before I knew Georgia Tech may have had a timeout left, I was going to rip Cristobal. Miami struggled all night against a team they were heavily favored against. Take the knee and go home. The decision to run the ball is still highly questionable if GT had a timeout, because you can still take a knee, force them to take the last timeout, and kick a field goal. Sure, things could still go wrong, but you’re more than likely cutting 8 to 10 seconds off the clock. And you’re probably defending against a touchdown, versus also worrying about them getting in field goal range to tie. And, not for nothing, how ‘bout playing some defense either way?