Thomas Boswell writes on the return of Bryce Harper:

In his second season, the Nats no longer disguise Harper’s importance. “It’s Bryce Harper. He adds electricity, he adds everything everybody tells you about — intensity, energy, talent,” Storen said. “Even if he doesn’t hit, if he’s on deck there is a trickle down effect. For hitters, it matters who’s in front of them and behind them.”

Storen called that aspect of this game, too, just like the Harper homer. The second time Harper batted, he struck out with a man on third, no outs. But he’d already ignited a blaze. In that third inning, Harper made the only out before the Nats had scored five runs. It was their most imposing bullying inning of the year. By the end, they had seven extra-base hits, five RBI from Jayson Werth and three hits by Jordan Zimmermann, who got his 12th win.

Just coincidence? On Sunday, the Nats scored 13 runs, their first game with more than 10 runs all season. Was it just the anticipation of their No. 3 hitter’s return?

That’s certainly the romantic version of what’s going on. The less romantic version, but the one probably closer to the truth, comes from a line earlier in the story:

If they are good, it’s time to stop talking about it, with the irritating quotes about how “we are too talented to be playing like this” and start showing it.

The offense is better than they’ve played this season. Denard Span, Jayson Werth, and Adam LaRoche were likely to bounce back at some point. Bring back Harper just as those players get hot, and Boswell gets to write a great column. I’ll just note that while the team scored the first run because of Bryce, they scored the other nine, and 22 of their last 23 with little help from him.

Bryce is one of my favorites, a truly amazing players, but let’s not endow him with magical powers just yet.