👋 Good morning! I thought Jesús Luzardo was close to flawless yesterday.

Three hits, 12 strikeouts and no walks in six innings was an excellent start. Luzardo got down 3-0 to the leadoff hitter, and then he started pumping strikes for the rest of the afternoon. And the only run Luzardo surrendered, a 7-iron from Julio Rodriguez into the left-field seats, was at his shoetops. Like, literally. Even Vladimir Guerrero (Sr.) would have been impressed by this one.

And credit to Adam Jude of the Seattle Times for looking this one up: Rodriguez hit a ball 8.5 inches off the ground, the second-lowest pitch hit for a home run by any player since the Statcast era began in 2008, per MLB.com. Pretty wild.

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As always, you can reach me at [email protected]

Philly-Seattle trivia!

(1) Russell Wilson: Russ, who was drafted in 2012 (the Eagles reportedly wanted him, but ended up with Nick Foles) went 5-0 against the Birds as the Seahawks QB before losing last year as the Stillers signal-caller. Name all five seasons that Russ beat the Eagles with Seattle.

(2) J.P. Crawford: Crawford, who has settled in as a nice player for the Mariners, was traded from Philly to Seattle along with this player in a 2018 deal that brought back Jean Segura.

(3) Kraken: This one will be easy for the hockey fans, but oh well: Which former Flyers head coach was the first head coach in the history of the Seattle Kraken?

(4) Process: This one will be easy for the Process heads, but oh well: This Seattle native scored 1,513 points for the Sixers between 2013 and 2015.

As always, answers at the bottom.

Man, that was some beautiful baseball all around.

Feels like that third game of a series, to finish off a sweep, has been the Phillies’ kryptonite this season. Good kryptonite to have. Not yesterday, though, that is as dominant as dominant gets. We already mentioned how good Jesús Luzardo was on the mound, but the Phils offense knocked around their second legitimately good Mariners starter — Luis Castillo, after Logan Gilbert on Monday — of the three-game set.

That was the story of this three-game sweep of a Mariners team that currently holds an AL wild-card spot: A million hits at the plate, and a million strikeouts from the mound. 34 strikeouts to just 2 walks for Ranger, Cris and Jesús is getting it done. Really impressive how much Phillies pitching neutralized Cal Raleigh (1 for 12).

Man, what a wild sport baseball can be. The week-to-week, day-to-day swings can be tough to properly calibrate. When your team is struggling, it feels hopeless. The Phillies were barely getting a split in Washington (thank you Nats, for the 5-4 win over the Mets) last week, and now they are running circles around Seattle. When your team is clicking on all cylinders, it is intoxicating. Some players of note…

Often in this space, I have an angle: The Eagles’ weak-link theory, Phillies trade deadline analysis, or something else. There is no angle today except, “Man, it is fun when the Phillies are bashing the ball all over the yard!”

And it is! Earlier this week, I wrote about how the Phillies’ World Series hopes probably took a decent-sized hit with the Zack Wheeler blood clot news. That is true, but I do not want to take for granted how much fun it is to have a baseball team in the mix for four consecutive years. Whenever you go to the ballpark, the place is full and it feels like a party (and it helps that the Phils are 40-21 at CBP). I have a 17-game season ticket plan with my friends and I probably go to 10 or so games every year. It is a blast.

Summer is almost over, and it went by pretty fast. Give these Phillies some credit for that.

The last day of camp: No A.J. Brown or DeVonta Smith practicing, so the No. 3 and No. 4 receivers stepped up. Below, EJ talked about a nifty route that Jahan Dotson ran in the red zone.

I still think Jalen trusting Dotson in moderation is important. Just like you are supposed to make them defend every blade of grass, you are supposed to make them defend every player. Keeping Dotson involved a tiny bit more than last year could make A.J. and Smitty that much more dangerous. And how about Darius Cooper making contested catches against Quinyon Mitchell? Read more about the UDFA who feels like a lock to make the Eagles roster.

Our social team is doing a great job with these clips, by the way. Make sure to give the Eagles account a follow before the season starts.

Jose Alvarado returns: I am not gonna be That Guy and police anyone’s fandom. I am a firm believer that if you pay for your ticket, you can boo or cheer for whoever you want. But I am a little surprised at the overwhelmingly positive reaction that Jose Alvarado received in his first appearance since getting suspended for PEDs.

Alvy was not gonna be used until the Phillies blew the game open, but he worked a nice 1-2-3 inning in a low-leverage spot. He might not pitch in the playoffs, but he should get a ton of work down the stretch here. If Alvy is the same guy we saw pre-suspension, I will be curious to see how Topper uses him. Do you slot him in the 7th/8th innings or give him more targeted situations/dirty innings… since he will not get those late-game spots in October?

Aidan Miller: Cool to see him move up to No. 10 on Kiley McDaniel’s latest prospect rankings. And he followed it up with a big night in Toon Town.

Miller struggled at the plate for a good bit of this season, but he has heated up in the hittin’ weather. Still super young for Double-A, Miller has drawn positive reviews for both his defense and baserunning. 47 stolen bases is no joke. Nice to see the power numbers starting to catch up, too.

No Iggles practice, no Phils game. But we will be talking all about them!

Your tentative Thursday schedule at ​PHLY​:

And oh, the trivia:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
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