While the Phillies welcomed back many of their greats, including Chase Utley and the 2009 NL Championship team, the current team couldn’t replicate their winning ways.

The Phils lost two of three to the Chicago White Sox this weekend, beginning with a wild Friday night/early Saturday morning marathon. Despite holding a 3-2 lead in the top of the ninth, Juan Nicasio and Jose Alvarez were unable to complete the save and pushed the game to six more innings. That’s where things got weird. Roman Quinn pitched, but Vince Velasquez played left field and was unreal. He threw out a runner, nearly did it again (it looked like he did), and made a diving grab in the 14th and 15th innings. But the Phillies were unable to provide any offense in a 4-3 loss.

Luckily, Aaron Nola was on the mound for the following game. He went seven innings and gave up a run off three hits with 10 strikeouts and Nick Pivetta got a six-out save in a 3-2 win. Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins teamed up for back-to-back home runs in the fourth.

Before Sunday’s game, the team suddenly sent down Maikel Franco to Lehigh Valley. Manager Gabe Kapler mentioned Franco only plays one position (Sean Rodriguez can play multiple) and he’s not good against left-handed batters. Plus with Jay Bruce coming back from the injured list, Scott Kingery is expected to take the bulk of the 3rd base playing time. Still a weird move. As for the game, that wasn’t good either. Drew Smyly gave up five runs in the second in what was his only blemish (despite it being a pretty big one), while Mike Morin also got tagged for four runs late in the game as the White Sox took the series with a 10-5 win.

Up next is a west coast road swing, beginning with a three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Vince Velasquez will pitch and takes on Merrill Kelly for a start time of 9:40 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Speaking of Phillies pitching, Adam Morgan was the latest reliever to be placed on the 10-day injured list.


The Roundup:


The Eagles continued training camp, including last night’s open practice, but the injuries also picked up. Kamu Grugier-Hill reportedly suffered a Grade 3 MCL sprain and will miss a few weeks and probably some of the regular season.

And last night, Joe Ostman was carted off the field after holding his knee on a special teams drill. A number of players went over to him, which doesn’t sound very good for a guy that might have been on the 53-man roster.

They’re back at NovaCare at noon in a 10-10-10 practice.


We know one Sixers game for next season: A home Christmas Day game against the Milwaukee Bucks. That’ll be fun.

Meanwhile, the Sixers’ new classic jerseys design are being brought over to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs later this month.


The Union crushed DC United 5-1 to return back to the top spot in the Eastern Conference, but Alejandro Bedoya’s goal in the 3rd minute is what everybody’s talking about. For other reasons than the goal:

Manager Jim Curtin backs Bedoya:


No actual Flyers news except Gritty has a drum he randomly gets in NHL 20.


In other sports news, Tom Brady’s contract was extended by the Patriots.

It sounds like Jerry Jones isn’t worried about Ezekiel Elliott holding out.

Eddie Alvarez completed a ridiculous comeback in his latest ONE Championship fight.

Big Daddy Graham is out of the hospital and on to rehab.


In the news, mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton were hours apart on Saturday.

Woodstock 50 is officially cancelled.