Schwarber swings his way into All-Star game | Sports Daily Newsletter
Who was snubbed?
No Aaron Nola. Shockingly, no Zack Wheeler, either.
Due to Bryce Harper’s injury, he will be absent from Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game as well.
So, as it stands, only one player will represent the Phillies, and he wasn’t even a Phillie last year.
No matter.
Kyle Schwarber fits into Philadelphia so well, it feels like he’s been here for a long time. Is there any Phillies player who seems more at home with either a bat or a cheesesteak in hand? Besides Jason Kelce of the Eagles, Schwarber stands as the epitome of the Philadelphia athlete who endears himself to fans by being unabashedly, completely who he actually is. No pretension, no airs, nothing but a straightforward, I’m-here-to-hit-dingers work ethic.
Long may he swing.
Andrea Canales, Inquirer Sports Staff, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.
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Eagles second-year running back Kenneth Gainwell held his football camp in his native Yazoo City, Miss., and beat writer Josh Tolentino was there to capture his heartfelt message to the kids. “It’s so hard to get out of here,” Gainwell said. “Ever since I was a little kid, it was all about mindset. Keep your head down, keep working, and be yourself.”
The Eagles also have a rookie linebacker in Kyron Johnson who despite playing for losing Kansas teams during his college career stuck with it and now could very well become a key special teams player. Given the leadership skills he showed in college, Johnson unsurprisingly seems willing to take on whatever role is available to him going into training camp.
Life in the NBA can be tenuous, even for players who excelled in every way on the collegiate level. Cassius Winston starred at Michigan State, winning Big Ten player of the year and being named an All-America. He broke Mateen Cleaves’ point guard records and ushered his team to a Final Four in 2019.
But he’s lived on the fringes of the NBA since entering the league in 2020, playing two seasons as a sometimes backup point guard for the Washington Wizards. He’s now looking for a new home as a member of the 76ers’ summer league team in Las Vegas. He spoke to The Inquirer’s Gina Mizell about the transition from college basketball star to little known NBA player.
There have been numerous jokes at the expense of the Phillies bullpen, even some deployed by Phillies fans as a coping strategy after yet another blown save.
But the season has turned around, and the bullpen has become more effective. It didn’t happen at once, and it didn’t happen because the bullpen started throwing harder than ever. Instead, the Phillies have doubled down on strategy. Scott Lauber took a closer look.
It was a close loss for the Phillies in their most recent game against the Cardinals.
General manager Chuck Fletcher and Flyers’ management have harped on the need to get bigger and stronger. As Giana Han writes, at the 2022 NHL draft it was mission accomplished, as the Flyers drafted five players over the height of 6-foot-2.
Now, we’ll see if that strategy of getting bigger and stronger is still the right approach in the modern NHL.
Let us count the goals the Union have scored in their games thus far this season: 1,1,2,2,2,2,1,1,1,2,1,0,2,1,1,2,0,0,7.
Obviously, the most recent game’s goal total stands out as an outlier, but was it really? Or did the Union finally put together the puzzle pieces that began with the off-season acquisitions of Mikael Uhre and Julián Carranza?
Also, it’s quite possible manager Jim Curtin has finally decided to put more trust in the youth brigade of the Union, including youth national team standouts Paxten Aaronson, Quinn Sullivan, Jack McGlynn and Brandan Craig.
Worth a look
All-Star shining again: Kahleah Copper is having another banner year. Jonathan Tannenwald caught up with the Chicago Sky player.
Philly’s chances: Could Philadelphia land a WNBA franchise? The list of options is getting shorter, and the city is still on it.
On this date
In 1971, Deron Johnson of the Phillies hit four consecutive home runs against the Montreal Expos - three of them coming on the 11th. He had hit the first of the four home runs against them on the 10th.
We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Jonathan Tannenwald, Scott Lauber, Keith Pompey, Josh Tolentino, Giana Han, and Joe Tansey.