👋 Good morning! I am stoked, Steve!

We’re talking about the Fightins here, the Fightins. Said! Said!

The Friday links. Spread the word, spread the word:

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It’s Kansas City Weekend, y’all! I just wish the Union and “Sporting Kansas City” (as always, I crack up when MLS teams '“European-ize” their names) could have met up. Strap on in.

(1) 1980 World Series: Which Phillies pitcher came on in relief during Game 4 at Kauffman Stadium, pitched 4.2 innings of one-run ball, and famously knocked down George Brett with an up-and-in fastball?

(2) 2025 Super Bowl: What was the score of Super Bowl 59?

(3) Philly bars: This longtime Kansas City Chiefs bar is located on the corner of 11th and McKean in the heart of South Philly.

(4) Eagles-Chiefs 2009: In the Eagles’ 34-14 win at The Linc, this player saw his first regular-season action since December 2006.

(5) Dougie P: Name the three positions that Doug Pederson held on Andy Reid’s staffs in Philly and Kansas City before being named head coach of the Eagles in 2016.

(6) The Explorers! In reaching the Sweet 16 for the first time in 58 years, La Salle beat these two power conference schools in the first two rounds of the 2013 NCAA Tournament in Kansas City.

🧹🧹🧹🧹

And don’t let the door hit you on the way out!

What a perfect way to end a downright cathartic four-game sweep of the New York Mets. The quote tweets on the SNY Mets account are just popping off.

I felt pretty confident about the Phillies heading into this series, but that confidence then increased quite a bit over these four magical nights. When Jesús Luzardo gave up four runs in the top of the first inning, I swear to you, dear reader, that I texted a group chat the following: “I do not hate this. If the Phillies can come back from 4-0 down to sweep these guys, they might be done.”

I do not know if the Mets are done — at five games above .500, they somehow hold a 1.5-game lead in the pillow fight for the National League’s final wild-card spot — but man, the Phillies put that team and that fan base through it over these past four days. Those Mets fans, who felt a psychological edge over us due to whatever voodoo magic they got going on in Queens, just got brought back to reality hard. Frank The Tank videos are everywhere. It’s great.

That Luzardo start is unlike anything I have ever seen. He got shelled out of the gate, allowing four runs almost immediately… and then threw a perfect game over the next 7.1 innings, striking out nine of those 22 hitters! We got an In-Game Luzardo Coaster! I have written about how much I admire when Taijuan Walker gives the Phillies length after getting hit hard early. This was a Tai-level bounce back, but done by a guy who has plus-plus stuff when things are clicking.

Here is the In-Game Luzardo Coaster:

Art, I know. The whiplash from this Luzardo start really was hard to comprehend. Early on, it looked like the disastrous Milwaukee and Toronto starts from earlier this season. He gave up a four-spot in the first few innings of those games, kept giving up a million more runs and then got pulled from the game. Not particularly normal stuff, in a bad way. In this one, he turned into the greatest pitcher in the world with one trip to the dugout. Not normal stuff, in the best way possible. But that’s The Coaster for you!

Is that not the perfect type of start for this guy’s confidence? Remember the Red Sox game when Luzardo completely imploded with a huge lead? I wrote the following after that one: “On nights when Nola pitches well, he too often lets the game get away from him with one bad inning. Well, Luzardo is taking flammability to a new level. He is The Joker burning all the money in The Dark Knight.”

Luzardo did have that one bad inning, but it came right away. He stuck with it, and then was absolutely dominant. Tyler made the case that the Phillies need to trust Luzardo earlier this week, and then he has a performance like this.

That was such an old-school start from Luzardo, back from a time when pitchers had longer leashes and threw more pitches. To wit, via Paul Casella:

Incredible, I love this stupid sport. And you know what else I love about it? How someone like Harrison Bader goes from a well-traveled outfielder on a below-average baseball team to a cult hero in Philadelphia with one little trade at the deadline. I hope Hendry Mendez rakes for the Twins in a few years, because this Bader experience has been so delightful on the other end of this trade.

The Phillies played wonderful, shorthanded baseball all week. For example, how about the Ottoman Kempire — I also would not mind some A Man Called Otto photoshops, with Otto’s head over Tom Hanks’ — going deep for the second time in the series? The whole team and Rob Thomson deserve plenty of kudos. But there were two constants.

The first is Bader, who clearly does not have the same type of skeletons that the rest of this core has. That seems like a huge deal to me. Bader went 10-19 with two doubles and a homer in this series, while also playing an excellent center field. And after Luzardo gave up the four-spot, Bader greeted David Peterson with a two-run double on the first pitch. The Phils did not score Bader in that inning, but it felt like that at-bat set the tone that the Phillies were gonna chip away at that deficit all game. They did, and fittingly, Bader was the one who gave the Phillies the lead in the sixth inning.

The second constant was the Phillies’ pitching, particularly J.T. Realmuto’s handling of the staff. The starters gave up five total runs in 26 innings. J.T. and the starters were one step ahead of the Mets all series, and that carried over to the ninth inning here. Duran threw 11 pitches, and none of them were his signature splinker. He mixed in five knuckle curveballs, striking out the heart of the Mets order (Soto-Alonso-Vientos) in doing so. A team that got good swings against Duran the last two times got nothing but awful swings this time.

What a difference a year makes. It just felt like the Phillies peaked too early last year, and were on relative cruise control the rest of the way. The Mets had to win big games in September, and they took a huge 3 out 4 from the Phils in Queens. This year, it feels like the opposite. Since June 13th, the Phils have been one of the best teams in baseball. The Mets, one of the worst.

Win it for Wheels.

Gang, I am so Phillie-d out that I do not have the juice for a normal Eagles-Chiefs preview. We are easing our way into the season. That is why I am just gonna take what I learned from Thursday’s Eagles show with Bo, EJ and Fran.

(1) Tank Bigsby, fumbling against air: An auspicious start for the Eagles’ new weapon in the kicking game, but hey, that is what practice is for. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

(And that is the last time the Eagles are gonna let reporters film kickoffs, haha.)

(2) Injury report: The three Eagles who look like they are not gonna play: The Tanimal, Will Shipley, and unfortunately, Dallas GoedHurt. It hurt me type that, but a commenter coined it and it’s unfortunately true.

Landon Dickerson was a full participant. Hopefully that mini-bye served him well. If Landon checks out of this game, the calls for him to sit a few weeks for his own good will not just be coming from the Toth Heads.

(3) Jalen Carter against the Chiefs’ reworked offensive line: The last time these two teams met, the Eagles defensive line absolutely dominated in a way that we will all remember for the rest of our lives. Josh Sweat and Jalyx Hunt shoving Widdle Joey Thuney and his short arms back into Patrick Mahomes’ lap, Milton Williams bulldozing Mike “Frank” Caliendo, etc. It was beautiful.

While that was great, I imagine this will be a much fairer fight.

The Chiefs have two new starters on the left side of the line: First-round pick Josh Simmons at left tackle, who might be pretty good in time. Remember, the Eagles traded 32 for 31 and drafted Jihaad Campbell. Brett Veach got a free pick and took Simmons. That will be an interesting one to see play out in future years, even if I think Veach might have picked Simmons at 31 if Howie told him he was planning on picking offense. And then Kingsley Suamataia is the left guard, and that seems like the place to attack. Will the Eagles match up Carter against Suamataia? He primarily rushes from the other side, but on the other side, a Pro Bowler (Trey Smith) is waiting. Interesting chess match there.

(4) Chiefs’ banged-up receiving corps: Oof, that was a pick route that went wrong in Brasil. Taylor Swift’s favorite Eagle Killer Xavier Worthy has been limited at practice with a shoulder injury, we will see if he plays in this one. Rashee Rice moved up his suspension to the beginning of the season, so in that sense, the Eagles probably lucked out in getting the Chiefs early. Then again, the Eagles secondary is very unsettled so maybe they feel the same way. If Worthy cannot play, expect a lot of Hollywood Brown.

(5) The Spags of it all: We know what Steve Spagnuolo is gonna do against the Eagles, and that is send pressure looks from all weird angles. But Justin Herbert absolutely lit up that Chiefs defense last week in Brasil, making it look easy. It is a lot of the same names from the past few Chiefs Super Bowl runs and a great play-caller, but we have certainly seen Jalen Hurts have some success against this secondary as well. Interesting A.J. Brown week, interesting Kevin Patullo Week.

I am also a little worried about a banged-up Landon Dickerson having to run block with Grant Calcaterra as the main tight end. I think this is gonna be a close game.

Rookie Camp Day 1: The big news seems to be that Jett Luchanko has a groin injury. But the links, the links, the links…

It’s Kansas City Weekend, baby!

Your tentative Friday schedule at ​PHLY​:

And oh yeah, the trivia:

Have a great weekend. Let's make it a good one today.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
PHLY SPORTS