Phillies puzzler | Sports Daily Newsletter

It was famously said by the French novelist Gustave Flaubert, “There is no truth. There is only perception.”

It’s likely that umpire Randy Rosenberg perceived disrespect from Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto in a spring training game. Rosenberg acted on that perception, ejecting Realmuto from the game. It was Realmuto’s first experience getting tossed from a game in his entire pro career.

The video of the incident seems to show a clear misunderstanding, with no intent from Realmuto to be rude.

But perhaps that is just the perception of a Phillies fan.

Marcus Hayes parses out the different factors, noting almost everyone is ready for spring training to end, plus the heat of the day and the heat of the moment didn’t help the circumstances, either.

— Andrea Canales, Inquirer Sports Staff, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

❓How ready are you for the Phillies’ opening day this year? Email us back for a chance to be featured in the newsletter.

Don’t miss out! Catch up on all things Eagles with the new podcast.

Trea Turner has never slowed down. Not in college at North Carolina State or in the minors. He leads all players with 230 stolen bases since his major league debut for the Nationals on Aug. 21, 2015, and ranks seventh in success rate (84.56%) among 149 players with 50 steal attempts since 2015. His average sprint speed, measured by Statcast, is 30.4 feet per second, tied for third fastest of any player since 2015. Elite speed factored into the Phillies’ decision to lock in on Turner as their top free-agent target and sign him for 11 years and $300 million. There was also the .302 career batting average and .842 on-base plus slugging, the solid defense at shortstop, and the World Series championship with Washington in 2019. But speed is undeniably Turner’s calling card. And as he approaches 30, he doesn’t appear to be slowing down.

Former top prospect Scott Kingery had a strong spring, but it wasn’t enough to earn him a spot on the opening-day roster.

Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos will finally share DH role for the Phillies.

Next: The Phillies wrap up Grapefruit League play against the Blue Jays at 12:05 p.m. Tuesday.

The NFL’s owners’ meetings began Monday in Phoenix and Eagles general manager Howie Roseman had lots to say.

The biggest topic of conversation was Jalen Hurts’ looming contract extension and how that would impact the organization from a roster-building perspective.

“It’s no secret that sometime relatively soon we want to extend our quarterback,” Roseman said. ... We want him here long-term. It’s going to be a priority for us to extend him.”

Roseman was also candid about what transpired during free agency, the Eagles GM acknowledging that free agency didn’t play out like expected and that the organization had to “pivot” after one key free agent elected to sign elsewhere.

The changes keep coming within the Flyers organization, as Monday Comcast Spectacor announced that Dave Scott will be retiring after 30 years with Comcast and nine running the Flyers.

The move comes just weeks after the team fired general manager and president of hockey operations Chuck Fletcher, and continues what looks like a complete refresh of the organization.

While change at the top is more than welcome considering the sad state of the Flyers, re-establishing the organization to its respected standard will be no easy task, as Mike Sielski writes.

Next: The Flyers wrap up their seven-game home stand against the Montreal Canadiens tonight (7 p.m., NBCSP).

Throughout the week, the NBA family has banded together to remember New York Knicks star Willis Reed, who died from congestive heart issues a week ago. Before the 76ers’ games in Chicago and Golden State, Reed was honored with a moment of silence before the game. The loss hit head coach Doc Rivers particularly hard. Reed was an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks when Rivers played there in the ‘90s. “As solid of a human being that you could possibly be around. High character. Just taught me a lot.”

Against the Denver Nuggets, the Sixers prioritized the health of their stars over winning, and lost.

Next: In a rare slump, the Sixers return to the Wells Fargo Center to face the Dallas Mavericks at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.

It’s a new day and a new dawn for the United States men’s national team and despite feeling crushed that he wasn’t chosen for the 2022 World Cup roster, Ricardo Pepi appears to be feeling fine now.

His goal against El Salvador put the USMNT into the semifinals of the Nations League competition.

Farewell: Parting is such sweet sorrow, but we know we’ll meet Maddy Siegrist again in the WNBA.

Showcase for local stars: Yes, Bronny James is there, but a host of local players bring their own basketball heritage to the event.

DJ Wagner famously plays for Camden, where his father Dajuan Wagner and grandfather Milt Wagner also played. Without looking it up, who is the tallest of the generational Camden stars? Email us your answer.

A) DJ

B) Dajuan

C) Milt

D) All three list at the exact same height.

We asked: What seed do you think the Sixers will hold when the playoffs begin? Among your responses:

Typical. Embid will get hurt when needed and Harden is old and has always played poorly in the playoffs. Another 2nd round elimination — Bill M.

In the interest of making sure as many of their players are as healthy as possible for the playoffs, and with the grind of the difficult end-of-season schedule catching up with them, I expect they’ll settle into the #3 seed.What remains to be seen then, is if they’ll have a strong enough team to make it to the Eastern Conference finals most likely without the home-court advantage. — Adam F.

It will interesting to see how the Sixers do tonight in Denver against a team slightly ahead of them in the standings. Although a fan of the Warriors/Sixers since ten years old I am somewhat pessimistic regarding their chances in the upcoming playoffs. I don’t think anything will change between now and the end of the season. I think they will hold onto the 5th best record going into the playoffs. I would love to be more optimistic, but now in my old age far more a realist than in my youth when I thought our Philly teams would win no matter how bad a team they were. I think the Bucks and Celtics who are so consistent will be very yard to beat in the playoffs and I cannot see this team doing it. I wish Doc and Joel and all the team all the best throughout the playoffs and hope and pray that they can for once just overcome all the obstacles and win it all. — Everett S.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Jonathan Tannenwald, Marcus Hayes, Keith Pompey, GIna Mizell, Josh Tolentino, Maria McIlwain, Mike Jensen, Olivia Reiner, Scott Lauber, Mike Sielski, and EJ Smith.