Your Wednesday Morning Roundup
For the second straight night, a Phillies pitcher struggled. This time, it was Jerad Eickhoff.
The right-hander has had a strong start to his season, allowing only five earned runs in 30 innings with one of them coming in 16 innings at home.
In what was his worst start of the season, Eickhoff gave up five runs in three innings and lasted until the fourth in a 6-1 loss to the Brewers. Eickhoff conceded eight hits and two walks with two strikeouts on 87 pitches.
Once again, Bryce Harper didn’t do anything on offense, but made a good defensive play late in the game that didn’t really matter in the end. Harper walked twice and struck out twice. It’s the 20th game this year he’s struck out multiple times, the most out of any batter. Could he potentially be getting a day off or two soon?
The two teams play each other again tonight at 7:05 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Jake Arrieta takes the mound for the Phils against Gio Gonzalez.
The Roundup:
Brett Brown and Josh Harris spoke to the media yesterday after the players did on Monday. They both said Brown’s job was never in question. So there ya go.
So let’s talk about the offense. Brown reiterated his offensive philosophy and the question remains on whether or not Ben Simmons is closer to using a jump shot on a regular basis.
Off the court, Joel Embiid has officially trademarked “The Process.” Good for him.
After the Rams cut Blake Countess for not taking a paycut, the Eagles picked him up where he had to take, well, a paycut.
From Reuben Frank at NBC Sports Philly:
• The Eagles lowered Countess’s 2019 base salary from $2.025 million to $900,000 and guaranteed $180,000 of that salary, so that’s money that Countess gets no matter what happens. It’s not a ton but it’s more than he was guaranteed before.
• The Eagles added three separate $50,000 roster bonuses that Countess can pocket in 2019. One pays him $50,000 if he’s on the 53-man roster for any one game during the season. Another pays him $50,000 if he’s on the 53-man roster for eight or more games. And the third pays him $50,000 if he’s on the 46-man game-day active roster for at least eight games.
• Because Countess played in 16 games for the Rams last year, those three bonuses are considered “likely-to-be-earned,” and they count against the Eagles’ 2019 salary cap. So Countess’s 2019 cap figure is $1,050,000 – the $900,000 base and $150,000 in roster bonuses. That’s roughly half of what it was before the restructure.
In other sports news, the Pelicans won the NBA Draft Lottery with Memphis finishing second.
Golden State took Game 1 of the Western Conference Final against Portland.
The Bruins defeated the Hurricanes to win Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Final to put Carolina on the brink of elimination.
Online sports betting in PA could launch next week.
In the news, Philly has the eighth sexiest accent in the country.
The United States has had its lowest number of births in 32 years.