Consistency Is Key for Bryce Harper If Nationals Are to Come Back in NLDS

Winning Game 3 of the National League Division Series over the San Francisco Giants provides no break for Bryce Harper and the Washington Nationals, who still face another do-or-die contest in enemy territory Tuesday before getting a chance to return home for an anything-can-happen Game 5.

A playoff victory is never a bad thing, especially in an actual must-win contest. But staving off season's end does tend to open the door to a potential shift in momentum, and with that comes increased expectations. And we know that Harper and increased expectations pretty much are joined at the hip by now.

So for the Nationals, and for Harper in particular, consider the ante upped.

To be clear: This column isn't about hating on Harper. That'd be silly after he put together his best postseason performance in his still-young three-year career in Game 3.

Beforehand, Harper had this to say, via Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post: "Playing an elimination in San Fran, that's pretty dang tough."

But the 21-year-old came through. He was at the very center of Washington's win, making two degree-of-difficulty defensive plays in left field, scoring all the way from first base on Madison Bumgarner's throwing error in the seventh inning and then providing the exclamation point by smashing his second moonshot solo home run of the series for the Nationals' fourth and final run.

Here are the sights and sounds of Harper's big game:

So, no, this isn't about hating, but rather harping, on Harper.

Heck, for baseball writers, this practically has become our new national pastime. That's what happens when everyone has been—here's that word again—expecting greatness from the phenom ever since he graced the cover of Sports Illustrated as a 16-year-old high schooler and then made his MLB debut in April 2012 at the age of 19.

Some claim that Harper has disappointed or failed to live up to the hype, and there's some merit to that side. Of course, he also has lost a lot of time due to injuries the past two seasons, yet he still sports a career .273/.344/.465 slash line and owns the 12th-most home runs all-time (55) by a player through his age-21 season.

The folks who would argue that isn't enough are those who demand immediate success and fulfillment from their should-be stars. They don't want the Next Big Thing; they want the Next Big Thing—now.

That might be a little unfair to put on Harper, young as he is. After all, he doesn't even turn 22 until Oct. 16.

No wonder there was speculation, as Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk wrote, that the Nationals could have considered the possibility of benching Harper for Game 3, particularly against a tough left-hander like Bumgarner.

But that idea just sounds silly now.

Besides, like the commercials tell us, this is October: Now is the time when heroes and legends are created.

And one gets the sense that if the Nationals are going to pull off a miracle by becoming just the sixth team in the Wild Card era to win a best-of-five series after dropping the first two games (per Jayson Stark of ESPN.com), then Harper needs to be a reason, if not the reason, why.

Which means he needs to be focused and consistent at all times. There's no room for error anymore. Another 0-for-7 like he pulled in that epic, record-setting, 18-inning marathon Game 2 loss that put Washington on the brink of elimination, and Washington very well could be gone.

Through the first three games of the series, he has gone 3-for-14 with three runs, two homers and two RBI. That's pretty darn good, especially when compared to his Nationals teammates.

As a whole, the club owns a .172/.226/.258 line with five extra-base hits (three homers). They also have a 23.9 percent strikeout rate and have scored just seven runs through the first three games (or four if you count Game 2 as two).

Really, other than second-year stud Anthony Rendon (7-for-15), there hasn't been a whole heck of a lot going on with the Nats bats this series. The club's pitching has been plenty good enough to win—the Giants have scored but six runs themselves—but Harper needs to be driving the comeback tour if it's going to happen.

Because ultimately, it's always going to come down to Harper. He's the one everyone has been waiting for.

So far, he's shown up save for the dud Game 2. And that can't happen in Tuesday's Game 4 or Thursday's Game 5, should the series come to that.

One thing's for sure: Even if Harper and his teammates fall short in Game 4, his 2014 postseason already has been a much better result than his first taste of the playoffs was.

In losing to the St. Louis Cardinals in five games in the 2012 NLDS, Harper went just 3-for-23 with eight strikeouts and no walks.

But that was two years ago—an eternity in Harper's short lifespan to date. If he wants to be playing by his 22nd birthday, Harper's going to have to be a big part of the Nationals' comeback against the Giants these next two games. And not in just one or the other, but in both.
 

Statistics are accurate through Oct. 6 and courtesy of MLB.com, Baseball-Reference and FanGraphs unless otherwise noted.

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