Inside The Phillies

Bryce Harper Sends Message to His Phillies Teammates After Humiliating Sweep

Bryce Harper had strong words for the Philadelphia Phillies after getting swept by the New York Yankees.

Tyler Maher

Jul 24, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Philadelphia Phillies infielder Bryce Harper reacts after taking a called third strike.
Jul 24, 2024; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Philadelphia Phillies infielder Bryce Harper reacts after taking a called third strike. / Nick Wosika-USA TODAY Sports
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The Philadelphia Phillies ended their worst month of the season in horrendous fashion on Wednesday, getting swept by the New York Yankees with a 6-5 loss at Citizens Bank Park.

The loss capped a dreadful July for the Phillies, who lost five straight series and 11 of their last 15 games to close out the month.

The sweep -- their first of the season -- was extremely frustrating, ending with back-to-back one-run losses where Philadelphia simply couldn't come up with the big hit when they needed to.

Now, the slumping Phillies must hit the road for a daunting 10-game road trip against the Seattle Mariners, Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks, which starts on Friday following Thursday's off-day.

Bryce Harper, who went 0-for-14 against the Yankees, and is mired in a 1-for-25 slump, acknowledged Philadelphia's recent struggles.

"I can say that we really haven't been playing good baseball on both sides of the ball," Harper said. "Guys on base, things like that. Pretty sloppy as well, I think we all know that as a team."

The two-time MVP also had a message for his teammates heading into this critical stretch of the season to start August.

"Gotta turn the page turning into August," Harper said. "We got three really good teams we're about to play again, so we just gotta cowboy up and play the right way."

Harper reminded everyone that the Phillies "are a damn good team" with "really good players," so they just need to find a way to get back on track and start playing good baseball again.

It's been a rough couple of weeks for Philadelphia, but the next few weeks will show what this team is really made of. This is the first time the Phillies have faced real adversity all year, so how they respond could dictate the rest of their season.

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Tyler Maher

TYLER MAHER

Tyler is a writer for Sports Illustrated's Inside the Phillies. He grew up in Massachusetts and is a huge Boston sports fan, especially the Red Sox. He went to Tufts University and played club baseball for the Jumbos. Since graduating, he has worked for MLB.com, The Game Day, FanDuel and Forbes. When he's not writing about baseball, he enjoys running, traveling, and playing fetch with his golden retriever.

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