Hope you enjoyed your Memorial Day, because the Phillies didn’t. Well, they did for the majority of last night’s four-game series opener against the Dodgers, but then it went downhill late en route to a 5-4 loss.

The Phillies got up 4-0 in the second inning thanks to a three-run home run by Cesar Hernandez. But Vince Velasquez gave up two runs in the bottom of the sixth and things became interesting. He didn’t allow a hit after five innings before his rough sixth forced him out after allowing three hits and striking out six.

Fast forward to the eighth, where Luis Garcia and Adam Morgan combined to give up the final three runs of the game from RBIs by Matt Kemp, Max Muncy, and Yasmani Grandal.

The Dodger bullpen pitched five shutout innings and gave up just two hits. The Phillies had five hits in the first four innings.

Rhys Hoskins definitely didn’t enjoy last night. His slump continued, but he also took a foul ball to the lip late in the game:

With the loss, the Phils are now a game back of Atlanta in the NL East race. Washington is creeping up and are now in second place in the division. The Phils look to end their short losing streak tonight as they send Jake Arrieta to the mound. Game time is set for 10:10 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Enjoy these late start times this week! They suck!

And also enjoy Dylan Cozens basking in the glory of the Celtics losing Sunday night.

The Roundup:


Check out the latest editions of Crossed Up and the Crossing Broadcast!


The Eagles continue OTAs today. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and offensive coordinator Mike Groh will speak with the media at 10:30 AM.

Something to keep tabs on is at quarterback, as usual. But not for Carson Wentz or Nick Foles. What about Nate Sudfeld?

“We have one quarterback who should have been the MVP, one who was the Super Bowl MVP, and one who could potentially be an MVP,” wide receiver Mack Hollins said.

That sounded like an extreme case of hyperbole, but Hollins was sticking with that claim because of what he saw from Sudfeld in practice last season.

The receivers will spend considerable time with Sudfeld the next few months. Even though Wentz participated in passing drills at last Tuesday’s practice, he has not been cleared for full-team work and likely won’t return anytime soon. Foles was slowed last offseason by a sore elbow, which sidelined him for the entire preseason and much of training camp. The Eagles know what Foles can do, so it would be prudent for them to manage his workload. That leaves Sudfeld in position to get more work than any other third-string quarterback in the NFL.

“I’m going to manage [Foles], but not because of the elbow,” Pederson said, “I do want to see Nate. I want to see him a little bit more extensively with the offense.”

Mack Hollins is a “freak” again, or as wide receivers coach Gunter Brewer states it from his days at UNC and Marshall “Fresh Receivers Exciting All Crowds.”

What Eagles players could still be traded? The Birds made five trades from Memorial Day last year until the start of the 2017 season.


How much would it take for the Sixers to get CJ McCollum and why he would be a great fit on the team.

Joel Embiid dunking on random folks is fun.

That’s why he did it again:


The Stanley Cup Finals began last night, as the Vegas Golden Knights took home the 6-4 win in Game 1 over the Washington Capitals.

One of those players for Vegas is former Flyers defenseman Luca Sbisa, who can’t believe the journey himself:

“Ten or 20 games in, we knew we had a good team, especially the way we handled adversity when our goalies went down,” he said. “We were down to our fifth goalie and we kept on winning. Everyone was saying that eventually, these guys are going to come back down to earth, and we never listened to that stuff. We just kept on going and kept piling up wins. And then when the playoffs started, it was the same thing. [People] saying, ‘The playoffs are a different game and they’re going to find out.’ But we never looked back and kept looking forward.”

Vegas, which won the Pacific Division title with a mind-boggling 109 points (51-24-7) and had the league’s fifth-best record in the regular season, has gone 12-3 in the playoffs and has outscored its opponents, 42-27.

“We need four more, and we’re playing for the best trophy in all sports,” Sbisa said.


In other sports news, Golden State took care of the Houston Rockets 101-92 en route to meeting the Cleveland Cavaliers for the fourth straight season in the NBA Finals.

The Warriors are also the largest Finals favorite in 16 years.

Speaking of betting, here’s a beginner’s guide to it.

The Yale Bulldogs took home their first lacrosse national championship after beating Duke 13-11 in Foxborough. Or was it something different?

The US dominated Bolivia 3-0 in a soccer friendly at Talen Energy Stadium. Imagine if they lost.


In the news, Starbucks is closing today for anti-bias training.

Three people are dead in Belgium after a person stabbed two policewomen before shooting them, killing another person, and then getting killed later.

Two South Carolina journalists died while covering Alberto.