Glove story | Sports Daily Newsletter

It turns out that Davis Schneider, the pride of Berlin, N.J., carried a piece of history onto the field when he made his history-making debut for the Toronto Blue Jays over the weekend.

During a sweep of the Red Sox in Boston, Schneider went 4-for-5 with four RBIs, becoming the first player in history to collect nine hits and two home runs over his first three big league games.

When he took the field at Fenway Park, the second baseman unknowingly wore the glove of former Phillie John Vukovich. Schneider, 24, says he found the glove in the lost-and-found at the facility where he coaches and trains in the offseason, and decided to take it after it was left there unused for more than a year.

The glove had “VUK,” written in permanent marker on the wrist strap, turning out to be a clue to its history. It used to belong to Vukovich, a former player and coach for the Phillies who died of brain cancer in 2007.

Vukovich’s son Vince, a former player in the Phillies farm system, learned of Schneider’s tie to his father and says he’d like to be reunited with the glove. That will be an uplifting baseball story for another day. Lochlahn March has the latest one.

— Jim Swan, Inquirer Sports Staff, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm was always able to hit all over the field, even when he was in high school. But it wasn’t until he got to Wichita State that he learned how to hit under pressure. He started to understand how he could win a game not by doing too much, but by doing just enough. Bohm’s situational hitting has been as pivotal as ever this season, at a time when some of his veteran teammates are underperforming. Going into Monday’s games, he ranked second in baseball in hits with runners in scoring position (41), and fourth in hits with runners in scoring position with two outs (18). He’s batting .363/.409/.487 in those spots. And it all goes back to college when he watched clips of one of the best right-handed hitters in history.

Monday’s opener of a four-game home series against the Nationals was postponed due to rain in the forecast and will be made up as a doubleheader on Tuesday.

Seranthony Domínguez’s velocity is returning to its upper-90s form since he came back from a strained side muscle. Now he wants to cut loose without fear of getting injured again.

Bryce Harper appreciated the support struggling Trea Turner got from fans over the weekend, leaving him wishing he could have started his Phillies career a little sooner.

Next: Game 1 of the Phillies-Nationals doubleheader begins at 4:05 p.m. Tuesday (NBCSP) with Zack Wheeler (8-5, 3.71 ERA) scheduled to start against Washington righty Trevor Williams (5-6, 4.72). Game 2 will start 30 minutes after Game 1 with Ranger Suárez (2-5, 4.01) slated to start against Nationals righty Josiah Gray (7-9, 3.54).

Buy the kelly green jersey if you want. But the good old days for the Eagles are actually right now. They’re better and smarter now than they were before. Just look at the way the team is built, from investing in the positions that matter in the modern game — quarterback Jalen Hurts turned 25 on Monday — and not so much at an old-school position like linebacker where the team can load up with the likes of Zach Cunningham and Myles Jack.

The Eagles do open as underdogs in their preseason opener on Saturday in Baltimore. While the Eagles emphasize their health over the meaningless games, the Ravens are somehow riding a 23-game preseason winning streak.

Next: Eagles beat writers will take questions on a Reddit AMA today at 3 p.m.

You’ve caught the action, now flip through it! Score JALEN HURTS: RARE BIRD today. Catch 20-plus stories and 50-plus photos from the award-winning staff of The Philadelphia Inquirer. Brought to you by the expert sports reporters, editors, and photographers of The Inquirer.

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To recap: Oregon and Washington are joining the Big Ten Conference along with UCLA and Southern Cal. The Big 12 is gaining Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah but will be losing Texas and Oklahoma in 2024. And no one is left in the Pac-12. (Just kidding, but it is down to only four teams.)

Mike Jensen tries to make sense of all the conference realignment madness. The Power 5 turned out to be a mirage, he writes. It’s a Power 2, the Big Ten and Southeastern Conference calling the shots.

Coach James Franklin stayed mostly clear of realignment talk at Penn State’s media day, but he did say he likes the depth of this year’s Nittany Lions across the board.

Meanwhile, the message at Temple is clear: The Owls are looking for leaders.

What did all-but-forgotten Phillie Ted Kazanski accomplish on Aug. 8, 1956? No googling! First with the correct response will be featured in the newsletter.

A) A no-hitter

B) He hit for the cycle

C) An inside-the-park grand slam

D) Five strikeouts at the plate

We asked you: Who on the Phillies do you believe has snapped out of their slugging slump for good?

Nick is out of his slump. He has begun to barrel the pitches over the plate again and he’s not swinging at as many pitches out of the zone. Schwarbs is also hitting center cut pitches, but not consistently yet, maybe Sunday was a sign of him going on a tear. Honestly, Trea’s bound to hit one out every now and then, but he reminds me too much of 2022 Castellanos to consider him out of his slump. — Jonathan B.

My money’s on Trea Turner. He turned a corner this weekend, which I hope is for good. His approach was better and his swing was better. And his results were excellent. I’m hoping it’s what he needed to produce. We need him to perform down the stretch. — Kathy T.

What a wonderful Philadelphia surprise for struggling Trea Turner — and it worked. I think we were all pulling for him, but I think that tremendous show of affection from the fans really helped. But as to which of our sluggers will lead from now on, I think it will be Bryce. He has been hitting well for average while jumping back and forth from DH to 1st and back, but his power numbers have obviously been affected by his surgery. But just observing over the past few games I think he is ready to come all the way back and lead the team back to the playoffs again. — Everett S.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Mike Sielski, Scott Lauber, Alex Coffey, Josh Tolentino, Kerith Gabriel, Lochlahn March, Mike Jensen, Sapna Bansil, Devin Jackson, Gustav Elvin, and Aaron Carter.