It happened again. A loss.

The Phillies have now dropped 13 of their last 20 games dating back to the series opener against Arizona on August 6. Loss number 13 occurred last night as the Nationals downed the Phils 5-3. A Juan Soto single and a Matt Wieters homer gave the Nats the first two runs of the game in the first two innings. But a Roman Quinn triple and a Cesar Hernandez single tied things up in the bottom of the third.

The Nats would respond in the fourth with two runs of their own and add one more in the sixth, the first coming on a Stephen Strasburg bunt where Zach Eflin tried to send the ball to home plate for a force out, but instead it went into the backstop. The Phils had no response against Strasburg, who went six innings with five strikeouts. Rhys Hoskins hit a deep solo home run in the eighth but it wasn’t enough.

Eflin had a rough performance, allowing five runs off eight hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. The fielding error was his biggest stain of the night, and things could have been different if the force out was applied.

Meanwhile, the Phillies could have yet another new face to the organization in Jose Bautista. I’d say this would be a questionable move to make. But I guess something on offense helps, even though he hasn’t been that good.


Nevertheless, the Phils and Nats play again tonight at 7:05 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Another duel between Aaron Nola and Max Scherzer is on tap for the second time in five days. Get yourselves ready with the latest edition of Crossed Up.

The Roundup:

Another day, another practice for the Birds, who also made a small roster move. Gone is wide receiver Anthony Mahoungou. In comes safety Deshawntee Gallon. Thrilling stuff.

Brandon Graham has felt like a “caged-up lion” after returning to practice.

Graham said he is about “80 percent,” which admittedly doesn’t sound great. But based on his other updates, he might have just been a tough grader on himself.

“I’m feeling good,” Graham said Monday. “It was really good. Good start. It let me know I’m not that far. I wasn’t out of shape. That was pretty cool to know all the hard work we’ve been doing this offseason in the training room and the weight room has been worth it because now on the field, I ran a couple plays and I wasn’t as tired.”

More importantly, Graham said there were no issues with his ankle after going through practice on Sunday.

The hardest part of getting over the ankle injury, Graham said, is getting back to the ability to turn around a corner. That’s obviously very dependent upon a healthy ankle. He said that wasn’t an issue as the week of practice began.

After Doug Pederson got mad with reporters with incessant Carson Wentz questions, Mike Groh and Jim Schwartz were thrown into the fire yesterday.

The Hard Knocks bump really paid off in the really bad Eagles-Browns game.

Seven Eagles were named to ESPN’s top 100 NFL players list for this upcoming season.

There’s still no GM for the Sixers, but the team did make some promotions from within.

The ice is down inside the Wells Fargo Center.

The Acme ad on the end of the ice is going to be weird.

Flyers president Paul Holmgren is very happy James vanRiemsdyk is back in the orange and black.

“I think he’s a more consistent player now,” Holmgren said. “When we had him, he was in his early 20s. As they mature, their consistency level goes up usually, and it did with JVR. It’s hard to find guys who can score like that. That was a tremendous signing for us.”

And one he wholeheartedly endorsed. For a team that finished 12th in team scoring last season, and one that could use a left wing and some size, JVR “checks a lot of boxes,” Holmgren said. Van Riemsdyk, 29, can also fill a leadership role for a young team, especially when it comes to players keeping themselves healthy in a grinding 82-game season.

He also adds to one other expanding column, Holmgren said.

“All of a sudden, there’s a lot of players on our team who were drafted by the Flyers,” the Flyers president said.

“That’s kind of cool.”

There’s some optimism with this year’s Temple football squad as it gets ready to kick off their 2018 season on Saturday against Villanova.

Parx and The Turf Club have applied for sports betting licenses in PA.

In other sports news, the Giants and Odell Beckham Jr. agreed to a massive five-year, $95 million contract extension. $65 million is guaranteed.

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili announced his retirement.

With Tottenham beating Manchester United yesterday, this is a perfect tweet:

https://twitter.com/j15royals/status/1034181288054464513

Jose Mourinho had this legendary presser as well:

College football revs into gear this week and nothing gets you as hyped for it as Imagine Dragons, right?!

In the news, two men were shot in Roxborough last night. One of them has died.

President Trump announced a new trade deal with Mexico yesterday.

“Sea lice” is a problem in Ocean City.