Bryce Harper celebrates birthday with HR, Phillies win in Game 1 of NLCS - ESPN

PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper always wanted to play a baseball game on his birthday. So he made sure his 31st was one to celebrate.

Harper crushed a 420-foot first-inning home run, blew out his «candles» as he crossed home plate, lined an RBI single in the third inning, walked and scored in the fifth inning, received chants of «M-V-P! M-V-P!» and was serenaded with a couple of «Happy Birthday!» shoutouts from the home fans. With Harper leading the way, and with the Philadelphia Phillies delivering an early burst of home runs, they beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-3 to win Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Monday night.

«After the game, I was pumped, just being 1 and 0. That's all I care about. Good opportunity to hit a home run, that was great, but at the end of the day, if I hit a homer and we don't win, there's nothing else,» Harper said, much more subdued postgame than during his home run celebration, when he blew on his fingers at home plate after he gave the Phillies a 2-0 lead off Zac Gallen just five pitches into the bottom of the first.

«It's crazy. Sometimes I just do stuff. That felt right, step on home plate and do that,» Harper said. «I thought about it as I was running around third base.»

Harper spoke before the game about being excited to finally play on his birthday. He made the playoffs four times with the Washington Nationals, but they were eliminated each time in the division series and never played this late in the calendar. The Phillies were still playing last year during their World Series run but had an off day.

Harper's big day was just the latest in his hot postseason. The home run, off a first-pitch four-seam fastball from Gallen that was left over the middle of the zone, was his