👋 Good morning! From this…

to this…

Hard to believe, Harry. Put that win probability in your pipe and smoke it. They say that the last one is the hardest to get, and boy, St. Louis closer Riley O’Brien learned that lesson the hard way yesterday.

Nine in a row for the Fightin Phils! They emerged from the corn in Dyersville, Iowa with the best plate approach in baseball (more on that in a second). Is Citizens Bank Park gonna be filled with fans dressing up in corn costumes, like Citi Field saw with Grimace a few years ago? We have nine Shoeless Joe Jacksons all of a sudden, minus the whole lifetime ban thing.

When I left you, I did not even want to watch the Field of Dreams game. That was the last thing I wanted to watch on Netflix that night. Seriously, you could have given me the Mourinho doc, the new season of Tires, one of the 80 Harlan Coben series, a West Wing rerun… anything but the Phillies! A week and a half later, and I am currently locked in on Braves-Brewers in Williamsport and fired up for a week and a half of West Coast baseball. What a turnaround.

🚨🚨🚨🚨 And before you try to make this next week of Phillies baseball a referendum on the ol’ Broad Street Bulletin, there is no Newsletter Curse here, dear reader. I write Sunday through Thursday. I am recapping a Phillies sweep in today’s newsletter. That sweep goes on my record. Not having it! 🚨🚨🚨🚨

Let’s recap the insane Sunday rally. With Bryce Harper on second, two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and the Phillies down 4-0, the following happened:

Kyle hit that friggin’ ball onto Ashburn Alley. He watched it fly. He chucked his bat in the air. And then he chucked his helmet in the air.

If you would like The Full Piccone Experience, here are the Franzke, Spanish, Cardinals television and Cardinals radio calls.

Schwarber is not usually one to pimp his homers (note: I like pimping homers). He is a wholesome young man, that part is very much not an act. But the moment got the best of him. How could it not have?

“That’s not disrespectful by any means,” Schwarber told reporters. “I think it was more just shock, disbelief. I didn’t know what to do there. So, it’s not disrespectful to them, I’m not trying to be disrespectful to them, but it was just a little bit of disbelief.”

Kyle, I say this with no judgment at all: Once you pimp your homer, my friend, you do not get to choose whether it was disrespectful or not.

Some other fun facts about the rally:

As a bonus, yesterday was still probably not the Phillies’ most unique ninth-inning win on August 23rd from this century. That honor still likely belongs to Eric Bruntlett’s walk-off unassisted triple play up in Queens. Poor Frenchy, he hit that ball hard.

Alright, lots more to get to today. Let’s hit it.

You can reach me at [email protected]

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⚾ Phillies sweep the Twins, Marlins and Cardinals: And we will get to the biggest reason why in the next section.

⚽ Union 1, Austin FC 1: Cavan Sullivan scored again, this time on a header. In Sullivan’s last four games, that makes six of what they call goal contributions in the footie biz: two goals and four assists. That is pretty darn good for a kid who does not turn 17 for another month.

🦅 New England 24, Eagles 21: I picked the right week to go on vacation Eagles-wise. There was no putting lipstick of any kind on that pig of a preseason debut in Bal’more. The Birds were trailing 31-2 in first downs at one point!

But after what sounded like a spirited couple of joint practices between the starters in Foxborough, the Eagles backups played a pretty entertaining preseason game on Saturdee in New England. Preseason football is generally so bad nowadays, and I was legitimately entertained by this one. Good work, everyone.

With that in mind, Ten Eagles Thoughts following the last week of football…

1️⃣ The major positive from the preseason: The second team offensive line looked legitimately great. When you scanned the field early in Saturday night’s game, it was slim pickings in terms of guys who you actually care about. Jihaad Campbell did not play in the second preseason game, so you were looking at players like Darius Cooper and Jeremiah Trotter Jr. I love both of those guys, and they played well, but they alone are not getting me to cancel my dinner plans.

That left the second-team offensive line, and three guys in particular: Markel Bell, Drew Kendall and Willie Lampkin. They are the Eagles’ three top backups on the offensive line, which are pretty important spots when Lane Johnson, Landon Dickerson and Cam Jurgens are all on the starting offensive line. As a bonus, Bell possesses OTOTF (Offensive Tackle of The Future) intrigue.

On the Eagles’ first drive, Andy Dalton had two brutal overthrows that led to a punt. That led Sean Mannion to #RunTheBall on the second possession… and the Eagles’ second-teamers consistently blew the Pats second-teamers off the ball. It was great stuff. I was focused on Bell, and after a few snaps, even my untrained eye could tell that he was washing dudes down the line. Consider me officially intrigued.

I was wondering if Lampkin had too much training camp hype, but no, he’s awesome and feels like a lock to make the 53. Lampkin and Kendall had a great double-team block on Will Shipley’s touchdown run, knocking a defensive tackle eight yards off the line of scrimmage. They then celebrated together in the end zone, as they should have. Jason Kelce, who works with these guys at training camp, loved it. As much Kelce Fatigue as we all might have, I am all for Jason talking up undersized linemen who he is instructing.

Awesome stuff from those three guys. I feel better about the o-line depth, which was an area of concern heading into camp.

2️⃣ Is Sean Mannion a Booth Guy? I do not want to judge Mannion on anything in the preseason. There is no doubt in my mind that Mr. Competitive Advantage Nick Sirianni wants him to run the most vanilla of vanilla plays.

That said, Mannion wanted to use the preseason as a test drive where he could. Specifically, where would he be? The first game, which was terrible, he called plays from the field. The second game, which was pretty good, he called plays from the booth. Maybe he is a Booth Guy like Uncle Vic?

3️⃣ What are the Eagles doing at backup quarterback? Conditions are not great right now in The Quarterback Factory. 🏭🏭🏭 Morale is low, the hours are hard, working conditions are cramped and the air quality could be improved upon. There are even some whispers that the workers are thinking about going on strike.

All jokes aside, I do not understand what is going on here. Andy Dalton has started both preseason games, but he looks pretty terrible. Dalton went 3-10 for 44 yards on Saturday, and half of those yards came on a schemed-up short throw that Darius Cooper did the heavy lifting on. Dalton missed bad on a few open throws, too. Poor Eli Stowers gets open for the first time in a month and the ball is ten feet over his head.

Meanwhile, Tanner McKee goes 16-22 for 173 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions. Do I think McKee was quite as sharp as those numbers would indicate? Not really, but he was clearly better than Dalton. But the context here might be more telling than the actual performance. As my friend Bo Wulf pointed out, The Mormon Missile was not playing behind any of those good backup linemen that are mentioned in Point No. 1. That does not seem like a sign of confidence in the kid.

So, it leads me to ask the question: Do the Eagles just like Dalton more than McKee at this point? They traded for him in the first place, which seemed odd. They seem to be giving him slightly more of the second-team reps in practice, which seems odd. And he has started both of the preseason games, which also seems odd. Even if the “McKee can get us a Day 2 pick!” ship has sailed off the face of the earth, I find it hard to believe that his star has fallen so far inside Son of NovaCare that they actually prefer 38-year-old Andy Dalton over him. But maybe they do, I dunno.

4️⃣ Carson Steele, have yourself a night. Perhaps it is because he has the Ronnie “Sunshine” Bass locks, but I found myself repeating “We got ourselves a football player!” line from Remember The Titans when Steele went up and over on this one.

The Eagles bench loved that. Saquon loved that. And I loved it, too. How could you not? Steele is probably not gonna make the final 53, but he did some impressive stuff on Saturday. Salute, young man. 🫡

5️⃣ Two stock down players, just from reading camp reports. Of the two Medellín Men, it seems like Cam Jurgens looks more like his old self than Landon Dickerson. Tough rep for Landon in one-on-ones against our old friend Milton.

And this is the last time that I declare it will be The Summer of [Eagles CB2]. First, it was Kelee Ringo falling apart last year. And now after a strong spring, Riq Woolen has seemingly been pretty up-and-down. Riq is still gonna start and probably play pretty well, mind you. But from what I am reading, he does have some trick-or-treat to his game. That development would track with the rest of his career.

Nice pick against Drake Maye and A.J. Brown by Riq, though. And speaking of nice plays by Riq against Maye and Brown…

6️⃣ I am irrationally excited for Jalyx Hunt this season. Woolen gets the PBU against A.J., the ball pops up in the air and The Cornell Comet shows his former defensive back skills in coming out of nowhere and hauling in a diving one-handed interception.

Seriously, watch that play. It’s sick.

Hunt pulling the rare double of leading the 2025 Eagles in both interceptions and sacks shows what a unique, cool player he already is. But from what I am reading, he is dominating pretty consistently in normal pass-rusher ways. What if Jalyx is a double-digit sack guy that is also excellent at dropping into coverage? Is this Eagles defense gonna be even more expensive in a few years?

Hunt is probably gonna get plenty of opportunities to rush the passer early on, because…

7️⃣ This Jonathan Greenard absence is no fun. Any time that he gets in front of a mic, Vic Fangio says something along the lines of Greenard not being all that close to returning and that the lack of practice time is gonna put him behind whenever he does return. Who knows when Greenard will actually come back? But Uncle Vic is generally a straight shooter.

I like my friend ZB’s point about Greenard: The bigger worry is not whether he misses Week 1 against Washington (although, to be clear, that would not be ideal); it is whether he can recover to the point where he is effective in the middle and at the end of the season. Just look at Dickerson’s 2025 season for an example of how that calculus can go wrong. Hopefully, a pectoral injury can be overcome in time. If Greenard is healthy and playing up to his capability, the Eagles could have quite an edge trio with him, Hunt and Nolan Smith.

Speaking of Uncle Vic quotes…

8️⃣ Joshua Weru is pretty good. Fangio had a funny line about Weru and Uar Bernard: “Those are our two exchange students! They’re doing fine, but they got a long way to go.” And you understand why Vic does not particularly care about either of those players’ development. This is the very end of his career, he has an elite defense to coordinate and he generally likes guys who have played football before.

I do not think any less of Fangio for not prioritizing Weru and Bernard. Again, he is being honest. But it does make me appreciate Jeff Stoutland, and how he approached the whole Jordan Mailata situation, even more. Stout, always aces in my book.

All that said, maybe Vic might want to pay a little attention to Weru?

That is a pretty nasty pass-rush move. Like Mailata once was, Weru was a rugby player. Maybe that is the secret sauce?

9️⃣ Ty Robinson, back from life support: Incredible quote from Fangio after Robinson played well in the preseason opener.

“Yeah, he came to life,” Fangio said. “He’s been on life support since he came here, but he came to life. And hopefully that will continue.”

Robinson then sacked Tommy Cutlets on a stunt in the second preseason game. He’s alive! It seems like the former fourth-round pick, whose roster spot felt very much in jeopardy at the outset of camp, is solidifying his position.

🔟 The biggest thing that I am paying attention to this week: How much practicing do we see from DeVonta Smith and Makai Lemon?

Schwarber’s walk-off bomb gets the headlines, but how the Phillies tied yesterday’s game up was more emblematic of how they are now an MLB-best 16-5 for the month of August.

Don’t take it from me. Just listen to Schwarber (emphasis mine).

For my most of my week off, I still watched the Phillies. It is a sickness. But man, what a delightful week of baseball it was.

It was not a perfect week of baseball. The Phils won their share of close games. Some of the starters ran into trouble, Zack Wheeler in particular. Some of the relievers had difficulty, Johnny Bowlan finally ran out of gas.

But the Phillies offense just kept grinding. They would score at least four runs for nine straight games, while putting a million guys on base in the process. They never felt like they were out of a game in the moment, and as it turned out, they were not. It really has been an enjoyable product.

Who are these guys and what have they done with my Phillies? They flipped the script from, well, everything they had done from March to July. Up is down. Down is up.

Change No. 1: Patient Small Ball

This is, by far, the biggest change.

And while we all know and accept that weird stuff happens in baseball, this degree of stylistic shift in-season feels pretty rare. The Phillies went from a below-average offense that never got on base and relied on homers to an above-average offense that gets on base all the time and does not hit homers.

Could there be any better evidence of a sea change within that clubhouse than Edmundo Sosa’s three-run double in the ninth inning? Mundito, with a chance to improbably tie the game with a homer, would normally swing out of his shoes and at any ball within five feet of the plate. But with two strikes, he stays completely under control, does not try to do too much and laces a ball down the left-field line. Beautifully done. Seriously, what has gotten into these guys?

Some stats for you to chew on, with the MLB ranking in parentheses:

Some of the post-August numbers might not include yesterday’s game. But that one game did not change things all that much, and you get the point: patient small ball, get on base, pass the baton.

You might guess that Luis Arraez’s arrival has had an outsized impact on all of his teammates, and maybe it has. But they have accomplished this with a perfectly normal level of production from Arraez. He is not on one of those streaks where he collects three hits every night.

Scott Lauber reported on a meeting that Kevin Long and his two assistant hitting coaches (Raffy Pena, Edwar Gonzalez) had with the team in late July. I dunno what was said at that meeting or how important it really was, but since then, the Phillies have collectively and completely changed their approach.

Let’s get nerdy here:

They stopped chasing. Even more than that, they stopped swinging. It is a much, much, much more patient approach. And nobody has embodied the pass-the-baton ethos more than Bryce Harper.

If you will recall, Bryce saw fewer pitches in the strike zone in 2025 than pretty much anyone in baseball. He swung and chased more than at any point in his career, and the results were, well… we do not have to get into the whole elite thing again. Was this a matter of Bryce simply being undisciplined or not trusting the hitters behind him? Hard to say. Probably a little of both.

Bryce talked a big game in spring training about wanting to be more patient, setting quite the aspirational goal of 140 walks for the season. For reference, Juan Soto is the only player who routinely gets close to that number... and he usually does not get there.

And the current MLB leader in walks is… Harper, with 93. That is already way more than he had in each of his four last seasons. Bryce has backed up his words all season, taking his walks when they are there.

Bryce has taken this patient approach to new levels in August: He has 27 walks in 21 games! His on-base percentage for the month is .500! Despite the fact that the knee seems to be bothering Bryce, it has truly been awesome to watch him consistently win with his brain. Elite stuff.

Outside of Bryce, the Phillies’ winning streak has been fueled by the bottom of the lineup. Again, this is not at all how it went for the first four-plus months. Bryson Stott continues to rake. Alec Bohm, who won the game in extras on Friday with a huge two-strike double, has been great since that disastrous Toronto series. I never doubted you Bohmer (note: I doubted him). Derek Hill is the clutchest hitter in baseball somehow. Bryan De La Cruz, where have you been all my life?

(Schwarber calls BDLC “De La.” I like that. Maybe we can give him some Johnny Clegg walk-up music.)

Is this type of production sustainable? Probably not to this degree. But the Phillies have everyone taking notice. Let’s use the Cuban gif again.

Change No. 2: They are catching the ball!

This is anecdotal, but it felt like they made some great defensive plays in the Miami series in particular. The Brandon Marsh Bartman-style catch, in particular. And Bryson Stott is already Brooks Robinson at the hot corner?

Change No. 3: The No. 4 and 5 starters

For a long time this season, Sanchy and Wheeler carried this entire team on their backs. Those guys feel slightly off their games right now, which is mildly concerning. But they also have a month to figure things out, no need to panic just yet. As the offense has demonstrated, it is a long season.

But the Phillies have won six of eight games started by Aaron Nola (2.74 ERA this month) and Andrew Painter (3.80 ERA this month) in August. In particular, the stuff under the hood from Painter is really exciting.

We will dive into Painter more in tomorrow’s newsletter, which you can get by upgrading here.

Add it all up, and the Phils are two games back of the Cubs for the No. 4 wild card and (gasps) three games back of the Braves in the NL East. One thing that this Phillies core has not been part of is an honest-to-goodness September division race. With seven more games against Atlanta and that garbage starting rotation outside of Chris Sale, we might just get one.

The news and notes of the day…

Nestor Cortes: This year’s Walker Buehler, September rotation depth who might make a start or two… except he does not throw as hard and is the funniest guy on the mound ever.

Hunter McDonald: Our long-lasting local nightmare is over, as the Flyers signed the big defenseman that has always been highly regarded within the organization (and certainly more highly regarded than he is outside of the organization). McDonald gets a two-year deal, the second season of which is a “one-way contract.” That means he gets paid $912,500 regardless of whether he is in the AHL or NHL.

Considering the Flyers’ blue line depth, that is a nice bit of financial security for McDonald. Maybe he pops and takes over for Rasmus Ristolainen in the designated Big Thumper Role in 2027-28. But that is far from a guarantee.

With that piece of business done, Danny Briere is finished for the summer barring something unexpected.

Two new faces: The Sixers made a couple of hires over the long layoff…

Tyrese Maxey, LeBron James and Jaylen Brown working out in Los Angeles: Sometimes, the title says it all.

How many years of “Ben Simmons making 3s in an August empty gym” did Sixers fans suffer through? I think they are allowed to be sufficiently hyped by these three dudes seemingly working on things (passing, cutting, general chemistry) that are actually applicable to the games.

Sixers Mural: I want to start featuring some of the great sports-themed stuff that the Mural Arts program has produced over the years. And to close out today’s newsletter, I figured that I would start with this baby at Broad and Federal. Handsome mural, that.

Big newsletter today, but we are just getting started. The Phils are heating up. The Eagles are about to start. The Sixers and Flyers both have some real expectations. You do not want to miss any of it. Consider upgrading here.

I believe the Eagles have practice, and the Phils start their nine-game West Coast road trip in Seattle (9:40 p.m., NBC Sports Philly). Zack Wheeler against Logan Gilbert.

Let’s make it a good one.