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Stole that headline from the Phillies. Good tweet, Phillies.

By now, you guys know I am a big “We needed that rain!” guy. Well, after an uninspiring week of Phillies baseball that ended with Zack Wheeler’s blood clot diagnosis, we needed that win! Not just the result, which pushes the division lead to 5.5 games, but how it was achieved.

Let’s start with Ranger Suárez, who has a spot in the playoff rotation if he can take it. But we know the story with Ranger by now: Incredible stretch in the first half (11 starts with a 1.23 ERA) followed by the velocity dipping and him generally running out of gas (6 starts with a 6.11 ERA).

So, it was amazing to see Good Ranger show up at CBP against a good Seattle lineup on Mondee. The velo was up a tick or two across the board, and Ranger tied a career high with ten strikeouts in 6.2 innings. So many Mariners were flailing wildly at curveballs. The only unfortunate part of Ranger’s night was that he handed the ball over to Jordan RoMANo for one out in the seventh inning. RoMANo gave Ranger an extra earned run for his troubles, but overall this was an excellent Ranger start. Needed it.

(Speaking of RoMANo, I feel decent-ish about the middle and back end of the Phils bullpen — Duran, Kerkering, Strahm, Banks, Roberston — but dear lord, the rest of these guys are just not very good. The most dangerous lead in baseball for the Phillies right now is a six-run lead. Speaking of that, Jose Alvarado is eligible to return today. I assume he will replace Cousin Nolan, but we will see.)

You know how you can tell Ranger is on his game? Two insanely cocky, nonchalant fielding plays in the first few innings. That’s the good stuff.

This offense is as boom-or-bust as it gets. These guys got completely shut down twice by Washington and then turned around by destroying a pretty darn good pitcher in Logan Gilbert. The ebbs and flows of a baseball season!

Our long local nightmare is over, Trea Turner finally hit a homer at Citizens Bank Park in 2025 (the 1,500th hit of his career). Bryce Harper also went yard twice, and they were two absolute BOMBS. 440 feet, each of ‘em.

Thank you, Casey Legumina! Jim wrote about the the difficult task ahead of the Phillies for the site. Part of that equation is that the bats are gonna have to be more consistent. Well, good start.

Uncle Vic speaks! I could not love this man any more.

I did not mention this yesterday, but as someone who has bashed Rob Thomson a few times over the past few months, the criticism that he received for putting Jhoan Duran in Friday night’s game was patently absurd. Duran had not pitched in six days, and a reliever needs regular work to stay sharp. “Pitchers gotta pitch,” I imagine Vic grumbling his breath. I would not have questioned Topper if the Phils were up seven runs and Duran was out there (they were up four). That comebacker could happen literally every single time every time he toes the rubber, you cannot be afraid of that possibility. I thought Max Lazar getting shelled on Sunday was karmic payback for the misplaced outrage I saw in many places.

More importantly, how do we think Uncle Vic caught wind of the backlash? Talk radio listener? Burner Twitter account?

Some other takeaways from Mr. Fangio, nothing too earth-shattering but still interesting to hear from Vic:

Day 16 of training camp, and things get a little testy. EJ broke down a heated Four-Play Sequence between Jalen Carter and Cam Jurgens.

Carter is so good at doing that dirty-ish stuff and somehow not getting flagged for it. But Jalen, maybe take it easy on Jurgens next time. I know what these two guys need: To hit someone… in a different jersey.

Zack Wheeler: Cuz and VG had an informative interview with Dr. Mike Cirigliano from Penn on the blood clot issue. Love Dr. Mike, he is a character. And then the news came out that Zach Wheeler had a thrombolysis procedure.

What is a “thrombolysis prodecure,” you may ask? Well, I happen to be an expert*. A thrombolysis procedure is a treatment to dissolve dangerous clots in blood vessels, improve blood flow, and prevent damage to tissues and organs. Thrombolysis may involve the injection of clot-busting drugs through an intravenous line or through a long catheter that delivers drugs directly to the site of the blockage.

(*Not an expert, just copy-and-pasted WebMD)

Rob Thomson said that he does not know if Wheeler can pitch. And you know gang, I am perfectly happy to speculate about a meniscus injury. But on this one, I will just pass along the info whenever the Phils give us another update.

Nice message from Zack’s brother.

Jhoan Duran’s entrance: Some updated graphics on the outfield scoreboard, buy a shirt here.

By the way, John Kruk put on a show in the booth last night. Vegans, look away!

Another Eagles practice, followed by Cris Sánchez in Game 2 (6:45 p.m., NBC Sports Philly). Harry Potter Night at the park, I will report back on if anyone brought a broomstick.

Your tentative Tuesday schedule at ​PHLY​:

Let's make it a good one.

Rich Hofmann
Daily Newsletter Editor
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