MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL WORD SERIES

Not only is Bryce Harper delivering in the post season, he himself has changed. Now if you catch him  running out a hit, landing on a base, driving in a run, it’s all kind of new.

Throughout his 12 years in Major League Baseball, he hasn’t had the best of times. Injuries top the list, for he has an up and down chart from concussions, to backs, to shoulders, to elbows, to arms, to hands, to fingers, that wind down to his legs, his feet.

Yes, the 30-yard-old left-handed slugger has had miserable times that don’t include enough happy days for one so talented.

But all of a sudden, he’s a different man, even his family, friends and teammates notice it, and his new look has come the most times in the Philadelphia Phillies uniform. In a recent win of the San Diego Padres in the National League Championship Series, he hustled into second base after his RBI double, jumped up and down, pointed to his Philly red top and let everyone know his colors are now red pinstripes at home and Philadelphia on the road.

He was all smiles, something he hasn’t shown in some time, and happy to be providing the big hits to power his latest team, and because he was now on base in the City of Brotherly Love, he waved to the joyous fans, held his middle finger up to signify No. 1, and was just having a ball as the fans rose to applaud him, probably had the Liberty Bell in Center City ringing, and cheesecakes being gobbled down.

“I’m happy,” he said. “Right now I’m injury free. Even my headaches, stomach aches, colds and coughs have been limited, only need tablets for those.”

He’s really up to date with this franchise. He speaks like he has studied the city and its baseball team. Who knows, he might also be cheering for the NFL Eagles and the NBA 76ers, but in the locker room of the baseball team, it’s all about the upcoming World Series and a healthy new 13-year, $330 million deal, the biggest in baseball history for a free agent.

And once Philadelphia got by the Padres on Sunday in Game 5 of the NLCS and reached its first World Series since 2009 – yeah, the feelings were a bit more personal.

He was first hugged by team owner John Middleton, who pulled Harper over to him and whispered perhaps something dealing with this big new contract. It was absurd to put a price tag on the moment for Middleton, but this was a moment the duo realized when Middleton hopped a jet in February 2019 to Las Vegas to court Harper in meetings and dinners that would eventually yield the big fat contract that stretched so far in to the future.

But Harper earned it. He found happier days, loved his big contributions that brought him more fans that became hooked on this road he’s helped lead them to. Imagine, a franchise that has had two World Series championships in 140 years.

The latter forever fetched as an old-timer in team history — the one that had Middleton and Phillies fans everywhere pleading for the ball to keep going — was his game-winning, two-run home run in the eighth inning that lifted The City of Brotherly Love into our National Pastime’s biggest stage, and left even Harper momentarily bewildered.

“Oh my gosh,” he said with a big booming smile in the dugout, “I just did that.”

Sure did. Next stop Houston.

“Yeah, sure those Astros are very good, talented and experienced and with a good manager in Dusty (Baker),” Harper said, “but we’ll take the underdog role.”

True, for the Phils now have more than a puncher’s chance against the defending American League championship, and strictly because of the Harper man. He is putting up statistics among the best in postseason history, all while declaring Citizens Bank Park as his house. And from his Phillie Phanatic cleats and headband, to his novelty T-shirts to his shoutouts for Philly sports legends, he has truly embraced the fans and the presence of playing in the city like few outfielders ever had in any sport.

All the things Philadelphia thought he was have turned out to be true. There’s actually been no disappointments. He was always committed to winning, always known as a team player, but oh, those injuries made him down and out many times, now he’s down to band aides and tablets, and just a gift that this city needed as the NFL undefeated Eagles are trying to also win a national championship.

A usual sure-handed outfielder, Harper was made the right field starter who bowed to Phillies fans each time he ran out to start the game, but he was forced into the role of designated hitter because of a small tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his throwing elbow. It’s healed now, but he fits well as the DH.

Just to update you, Harper is hitting .419 with six doubles, five home runs, 11 RBI, 10 runs scored, and a 1.351 OPS in the post-season. His 11 extra-base hits are most for a Phillies player in a post season and his 10-game hitting streak matches Lenny Dykstra (1993) for the team’s longest in the playoffs. His go-ahead home run was the sixth in MLB postseason history in the eighth inning or later that gave his team the lead when trailing in a potential series-clinching game.

      World Series Schedule

              best of seven

PHILADELPIA versus HOUSTON

       (All games on Fox TV)

Friday, Oct. 28, PHILADELPHIA at HOUSTON, 6:03 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 29, PHILADELPHIA at HOUSTON, 6:03 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 31, HOUSTON at PHILADELPHIA, 6:03 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 1, HOUSTON at PHILADELPHIA, 6:03 p.m.

Wednesday, Nov. 2, HOUSTON at PHILADELPHIA, 6:03 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 4, PHILADELPHIA at HOUSTON, 6:03 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 5, PHILADELPHIA at HOUSTON, 6:03 p.m.