‘Pen could be mightier | Sports Daily Newsletter

The Phillies appear to be fairly stacked in the back end of the bullpen with Orion Kerkering, Jeff Hoffman, and José Alvarado. Put it this way: There’s not a Craig Kimbrel in the bunch.

How can they improve on that? Get one more guy just like them — or better. The Phillies have the luxury of turning a portion of their attention toward postseason preparedness, David Murphy writes. The goal between now and October: Figure out how to turn a very good bullpen into a dominant, airtight force that will give the Phillies a decisive edge in the playoffs.

Dave Dombrowski should cash in his trade chips for a fourth elite late-innings arm, Murphy writes, but there’s more to the bullpen plan than that.

— Jim Swan, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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Seranthony Domínguez got off to such a poor start this season, it was easy to forget how effective he had been out of the Phillies bullpen in the past.

But entering Thursday night, Domínguez had not allowed a run over his last nine games and had walked only two batters over that span. He had a 1.88 ERA over his last 15 games. “Every time you pitch well,” he says, “your confidence keeps going up.”

The Phillies’ starting pitching continued to struggle on Thursday. Aaron Nola allowed eight runs in less than four innings of work and the offense managed three runs as the Phillies dropped the series finale against the Red Sox.

Next: The Phillies open a three-game series with the Orioles in Baltimore tonight at 7:05. (NBCSP).

Merrill Reese will go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as it was announced Thursday that the longtime Eagles broadcaster would receive the Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award. The 81-year-old Reese told Rob Tornoe that he was shocked and overwhelmed by the honor.

There was more good news for the Eagles as the NFL announced that it did not find sufficient evidence to support that a tampering violation had occurred over the singing of Saquon Barkley. While James Franklin implied that Howie Roseman spoke with Barkley during an impermissible period, the league concluded that the Eagles would face no discipline.

Former Sixers coach Doc Rivers caused a stir on the Bill Simmons podcast when he said it was “difficult to play at home” in Philadelphia. Really, Doc? Check out the team’s home records in recent seasons at the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers went 31-4 at home in the season before Rivers took over as head coach.

Jamaica has unveiled its Copa América roster and the Union’s Andre Blake is on it. The problem: The star goalkeeper is still in Chester rehabbing after the knee surgery he had a few weeks ago. Union manager Jim Curtin says that Blake won’t leave town until he’s healthy enough to play. There is no timeline on when that could happen.

The European Championship begins this weekend. Here are 10 reasons to tune in.

Next: The Union host Inter Miami at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (Apple TV).

We asked you: Do you think the Eagles offense under Kellen Moore will improve this season? Among your responses:

If Sirianni stays out of the mix. If they use motion to identify and deceive the defense. If they develop and commit to a vicious running game with Barkley. If the offensive line jells without Kelce. If they can master a simple screen left or screen right as opposed to their worthless bubble screen. Then YES! Otherwise, same old same old. — Ray G.

I don’t know much about Moore but I know anyone else has a decent chance of fixing the offense than what we had. I also know that Hurts is supposed to be a leader on the team and right now he’s not acting like one. He needs to support Nick and his staff or maybe go elsewhere to play. — Kathy T.

Yes I think the Eagles offense will improve this year under Kellen Moore. With the addition of Saquon and some others and some new enthusiasm from our two new coaches, the Eagles will resurface after that disastrous ending of last season. Moore has the experience and the enthusiasm to get these guys moving forward again. Toughest job will be replacing the experience, outstanding performance, and leadership that Kelce gave this team. I do worry though about the coaching setup with Sirianni being in charge, but far outweighed in experience and leadership by his two new assistants. — Everett S.

I think the offense almost has to be better this year under Kellen Moore, after the way it looked in the final stretch last year! I believe the fact that Moore likes to incorporate more pre-snap motion into the offense should definitely be a help. Moore has been an OC for a while now, so his experience itself should help the offense be much improved, and less predictable. Hopefully he has thrown the wide receiver screen out of the playbook, which should be a tremendous improvement by itself! — Bill R.

Couldn’t be any worse than last year’s erratic performance which was too plain vanilla and unimaginative. — Mark C.

Yes I believe it will improve. It became too predictable last year and I believe he will mix it up a little. New formations, motion, and new pass routes will make the defense less comfortable. The Eagles have so many weapons, they should be more dynamic on offense. — Tom R.

The offense better improve, or the worst fears about Jalen Hurts might come to fruition. Saquon Barkley should take some of the pressure off of Hurts, but the O-line has to come together as well. Jason Kelce’s absence will create growing pains initially for that group, but hopefully their talent will overcome that absence. — Tom G.

Jalen Hurts and Nick Sirianni sounded like they were on separate pages when asked about how much of the Eagles offense will be new heading into this season. What’s really happening? In Episode 8 of unCovering the Birds, Inquirer beat reporter Jeff McLane dives into this question and other important subplots heard about and observed during spring workouts. Learn more about the Eagles’ new coordinators, emerging leaders, and key position battles as training camp looms around the corner. Listen here.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from David Murphy, Alex Coffey, Olivia Reiner, Jeff McLane, Gabriela Carroll, Jackie Spiegel, Kerith Gabriel, Rob Tornoe, Josh Tolentino, Devin Jackson, Jonathan Tannenwald, and Ben Istvan.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thanks for reading. Still digesting the news that Joey Chestnut is banned from the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating contest. That fact must be tough for Joey to swallow. Enough of that. I’ll see you in Monday’s Sports Daily. — Jim