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  • Matt Campbell and K.C. Keeler meet for the first time as head coaches. They once took part in a historic playoff game.

    Matt Campbell and K.C. Keeler meet for the first time as head coaches. They once took part in a historic playoff game.

    Mount Union was facing a fourth-and-5 in overtime, trailing 24-17 in a Division III playoff semifinal on Dec. 11, 1999. The Purple Raiders, down to their last play, held a 54-game winning streak, then the longest in any division of football, and sought a fourth straight trip to the D-III title game, named the Stagg Bowl.

    Twenty-seven years later, K.C. Keeler still can see the play crystal-clear. Back then, he was Rowan’s head football coach, seeking his fourth title game appearance since becoming a 32-year-old head coach in 1993. And on this day, after losing to Mount Union in the championship game twice in the previous three years, something special was about to unfold for the Profs.

    “I remember the last play of the game, [Mount Union was] going to try to tie it up on fourth down, and they had a tight end, I believe it was, over the middle of the field, in the end zone, and the ball’s thrown,” Keeler, now Temple’s coach, recalled to The Inquirer. “I see the tight end go up in the air, and it looks like he’s going to come down with it. And Mark Hendricks, my middle linebacker, who was a two-time captain for me, he turns and runs and actually hits the tight end so hard he broke his ribs. And the ball comes squirting out, and he’s laying there, and we’re celebrating over top of him.

    “My 398th game [is] coming up here. … That was definitely one of those where you remember for a lifetime.”

    Temple won its opener but didn’t meet expectations. How will it adjust against Penn State?

    On the surface, Penn State head coach Matt Campbell, from Massillon, Ohio, and Keeler, from Emmaus, Pa., don’t share many commonalities beyond coaching in the same state ahead of their matchup on Saturday (noon, ESPN2). As it turns out, though, the 46-year-old Campbell, a former standout college defensive end turned coach, was not only on that Mount Union team in 1999, but on the field toward the end of the game.

    At a coaching clinic this winter, not long after Campbell became Penn State’s 17th football coach, Keeler says his counterpart had one thing on his mind to bring up after formally meeting.

    “First thing that comes out of [Campbell’s mouth], he goes, ‘I’m 1-1 against you.’ I’m like, ‘What do you mean you’re 1-1? You’re 0-1,’” Keeler says. “He goes, ‘No, I was a [graduate assistant] on the team that beat you then a couple years later.’

    “It’s like, ‘OK, we’ll give you that one.’ So he and Nick Sirianni were both on that team [in 1999], and I’ve had some fun with them on having that one up on them, for sure.”

    K.C. Keeler was Rowan’s football coach from 1993 to 2001.Rowan University Athletics

    Campbell, who quipped, “You’re kind of coming at me, huh?” when The Inquirer asked about that 1999 game against Rowan earlier this week, still harbors feelings over the only loss in his college career at Mount Union.

    “In that game, as a football player [who] won three national championships, and at that time, that was almost the spark for our program, to be quite honest with you,” Campbell said from his podium on Tuesday. “I was in on the last play, as the game ended, and that was tough.

    “I think for me, that was a great opportunity for me to learn what the standard of excellence was in the program at Mount Union losing that football game, and what it meant to never have that feeling again.”

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    ‘Got over the hump’

    That 1999 game comes into focus as Keeler, now in his 33rd season as a head coach, will host in-state rival Penn State this weekend. It will mark the 46th meeting all-time between the programs.

    And the significance of Rowan’s win still reverberates with some of Keeler’s former players almost three decades later.

    Bobby Acosta, who played for Keeler at Rowan as a safety, lost his father as a freshman and left school without telling his coach. He later changed his mind, but the only way back on the football team, Keeler told him, was if Acosta “got a 4.0 [GPA] and passed 18 credit hours in the summer.”

    “I said to myself, ‘There’s no way I can do that,’ and I did it. And that’s where my life changed,” said Acosta, who now coaches high school football in Texas. “I was a young man. K.C. was like my dad. Ever since that point, I played for him. Then I worked for him at Rowan. Then I worked for him at Delaware with Joe Flacco.

    “He’s been a mentor to me for a lot of years. It was to the point I was babysitting his kids when I was in college. K.C. Keeler to me was someone that I looked up to.”

    Rowan faces Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute during a playoff game in 1999.Courtesy of Greg Gudis

    Greg Gudis, who was the starting left guard for Rowan during the 1999 season, took a different route to the program. He initially chose Gettysburg College out of Pennsauken High School, started as a freshman, but noticed the program “didn’t really prioritize” football.

    So Gudis transferred to Rowan, formerly named Glassboro State, in 1998, located “right in my backyard,” he said. The former offensive lineman appreciated that Keeler was honest and did not guarantee him a starting spot.

    “When I got to Rowan, the level of talent was so much higher than where I just come from,” said Gudis, who now resides in Arizona. “Some of the guys I played against that maybe should have been [playing at the Division I level]. It was a much different level of play, and Coach Keeler was a much different level of coach than where I had just come from.”

    Temple kept its starters out of the transfer portal. Peter Clarke and others deserve credit.

    Two things remained elusive for Keeler heading into Rowan’s 1999 season: Beating Mount Union and winning a Stagg Bowl, both of which he went winless three times prior.

    The 67-year-old coach, leading up to Rowan’s playoff matchup with Mount Union, made sure to keep newspaper clippings out of the locker room, Gudis said. Acosta added that the more than six-hour trip to Alliance, Ohio, where Mount Union was located, had the team “already down 20 points mentally,” but their mindset was “we have everything to gain and nothing to lose at their home place.”

    A football in Rowan’s trophy case from their win over Mount Union in 1999.Courtesy of Bobby Acosta

    And it worked. Though Rowan lost to Pacific Lutheran the following week in the Stagg Bowl, that win over Mount Union was “our national championship that day,” Acosta said.

    “You almost wanted to win for Coach Keeler because number one, you respect him as a great coach, but number two, it’s like this guy knows nothing but losing [to] Mount Union,” Gudis said. ”And it was like, ‘Wow, I’m sure we probably finally brought some closure to that book for him to say I got over the hump.’”

    Added Keeler: “My wife always says that life’s about the moments, and one of my messages is always be in the moment, and that very much was the message when we played Mount Union. … Just keep on playing to the very end, and when you have really good teams, that’s what they do.”

    ‘A special place’

    When Penn State and Temple play at the Linc for the first time since 2015, which ended in a historic win for the Owls that springboarded an unbelievable two-year run, Keeler will be thinking of the teams that came before him. There’s a reminder every day of that 2015 game in the program’s facilities. The four team captains from the 2016 American Conference champion team will be recognized on Saturday.

    He also recognizes the challenge that lies ahead. Penn State, Keeler believes, has a chance to be a top 10 team, similar to Oklahoma last year, another Power Four team who came to the Linc to play Temple. Keeler added that Campbell will “do amazing things” during his time at Penn State.

    The respect is reciprocal.

    Matt Campbell (left) has a long history with K.C. Keeler, and Penn State athletic director Pat Kraft was previously Temple’s AD.Barry Reeger

    “[I have] a lot of respect for Coach Keeler, what he did [at Rowan], what that team was about,” Campbell said. “It was a physical football game [in 1999], and similar to what you expect to see on Saturday, a physical, well-coached football team that has done a great job putting any program he’s been at in a position to play great football.”

    While Campbell tips his cap to Keeler’s career success, including winning FCS national championships at Delaware and Sam Houston State, the Temple coach credits his first head coaching gig being at the core of it all.

    “Those years formed who I am now as a coach,” Keeler said. “[We] had a team meeting to go to before I left [for Delaware in 2002] and I walked into that team meeting, I get a standing ovation and at that point I realized because I had talked about my Delaware experiences so much that those guys knew that they got me that job and they were proud that they got me that job and then I realized for the first time, ‘Oh my God!’ I’m leaving a group of kids that were OK with me leaving because it was my dream job.

    “Rowan was a special place. They gave me an opportunity, they took a chance on me … obviously things worked out pretty well there.”

  • Sixers’ Jaylen Brown channels outer space with his new signature shoes that are ‘NOT from HERE’

    Sixers’ Jaylen Brown channels outer space with his new signature shoes that are ‘NOT from HERE’

    About a year ago, Jaylen Brown and Que Gaskins were searching for creative teams to help Brown’s brand, 741 Performance, launch what they called its “second album” — a sneaker rollout named “NOT from HERE.”

    Longtime sneaker designers Sean O’Shea and Geoff Deas, whose resumés include brands like Nike, Adidas, Puma, Converse, and Anta Sports, were among the candidates. O’Shea and Deas were Anta’s general manager and creative director, respectively, and key figures in launching the China-based brand in the U.S. They offered their expertise to Brown’s brand.

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    “That’s our major goal: How do we get [Brown] off the ground because there aren’t that many players who have had their own brand,” O’Shea recently told The Inquirer. “So I think that’s where we came in. That’s our biggest focus. … Not that we don’t want to get paid, but it’s way more important, from our point of view, that it gets off the ground and becomes successful and is a competitor with some of the big guys.”

    New world order

    As Brown, who was traded to the Sixers in July, and Gaskins, the CEO of 741 Performance, approached the brand’s second sneaker rollout, they wanted to push “the status quo and challenge different traditions and standards and boundaries” of the sneaker industry.

    The shoe will come in three colorways, which Gaskins calls “worlds”: black, gray, and red.

    The “NOT from HERE” collection will also include clothing, a “performance recovery shoe” that can serve as a lifestyle sneaker, and a “recovery slide” to wear after workouts. The brand plans to add more colorways and potentially a running shoe next spring.

    Brown already has immersed himself in Philly, but the “NOT from HERE” collection has taken on a new meaning after his decade-long run in Boston.

    Detailed look of Jaylen Brown’s new shoes via his 741 Performance brand.Courtesy of Geoff Deas and Sean O'Shea

    “I think him understanding, ‘I want to be able to open up young people’s minds and have them think about even places that they’re not even aware of.’ I think all of that symbolism, all of that energy, all of that frequency is a part of what we’ve been trying to build,” Gaskins said. “Even the idea of this album being called ‘NOT from HERE’ and how it’s played out now because he’s even playing on the [Sixers] when this product will launch in Philly, where he’s not from.

    “Now, being in a new market … and being able to tell that story is ultimately what we were trying to do with this project and with this collection.”

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    Gaskins will have a large hand in helping Brown’s brand compete in the industry. He is no stranger to the sneaker business or Philadelphia athletes. He played a key role in Allen Iverson landing at Reebok 30 years ago. Gaskins was responsible for the “Iverson business,” and the RBK division of the brand, he says. He also served in several leadership roles in the National Basketball Players Association, where he met Brown in 2017. He helped advise Brown when he was weighing sneaker deal options before creating his own in 2024 and has been the CEO of 741 Performance since March 2025.

    “I really think [Brown’s] trying to build something bigger that’s really representative of the work I’ve always done,” Gaskins said. “Even with the work I did with Allen and the cultural impact that he was having on the world — I’ve always felt like these guys had great power, great influence, and I think someone like Jaylen understands that.

    “What Jaylen is building, I think it’s bigger than just a shoe company. If I’m being honest, I think he’s really trying to create a new reference standard for how athletes can take ownership.”

    Jaylen Brown (left) wearing his 741 Rover signature shoes during the playoffs last season for Boston.Charles Krupa

    Brown released his debut sneaker, the Rover 741, in 2024. But Gaskins, who calls himself Brown’s “sous chef,” didn’t want to “stall or hurt or hinder” the progress of the brand by sticking with the same designers on every new project. Gaskins noted that Brown “had this ability to connect with a lot of types of different people, a lot of types of creators.”

    That’s where O’Shea and Deas come in. They have taken over production of Brown’s debut shoe along with “all the design, apparel, footwear, everything for the second [shoe rollout].”

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    “If this was the music industry, we weren’t just making music. We were doing everything that like a Capitol Records or somebody [like that] was trying to do also,” O’Shea said. “So it’s like we were printing albums. We’re trying to do all of it. That’s the cool thing about Jaylen and what he’s trying to do is he wants to make sure he owns, or at least understands, all of it.”

    Deas estimates the newest shoe is “about 90% there right now,” with some adjustments still to come, including a drop-in footbed to account for basketball players who use orthotics in their shoes.

    The planned initial release of the shoe to retailers is late November, but O’Shea says Brown “will be ready to go to play in it” by Sixers media day on Sept. 28. The shoe will make its regular-season debut in the team’s opener against the Knicks on Oct. 20 (7 p.m., NBC10).

    Inside the shoe details

    The design and model for the “NOT from HERE” shoe is based on Brown’s love for outer space, says Gaskins. After getting acclimated to Brown’s vision, O’Shea and Deas worked on creating and executing a design “with the limited innovations and materials and technologies we have here.”

    A sketch rendering of Jaylen Brown’s new shoes, “NOT from HERE,” shoes, designed by Geoff Deas and Sean O’Shea.Courtesy of Geoff Deas and Sean O'Shea

    “We’re trying to mirror, I think, the vision of the growth of his brand. So the [741 Rover], the first shoe … it’s like from Earth to the journey to getting out there and just like his brand, the exploration of it,” O’Shea said. “The design language is very human design language, the way it’s engineered. And then we took that and we said, ‘Hey, from there, let’s do it as if you’re out there and now you’re in this open space.’

    “It’s more about what’s out there [in space]. Even the design language is as if it was made in space and organically. There’s no human lines on it. It’s like it almost the technology grew symbiotically. It’s technology meets something that’s really not from here.”

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    Added Deas: “[We were] just building out the inspiration boards and trying to see what kind of organic shapes can mash together — like if a spaceship went through space and it was catching some sort of creature.”

    The low top shoe’s design in the black colorway mimics “technology circuit boards” on the upper part with a green underlay to “lean into that metallic, iridescent finish” of the prototype to lean into the space theme with a midsole “popping out and [that] locks [the shoe] in place” to ensure Brown’s feet don’t slide while he’s playing.

    A closer look at the design of Jaylen Brown's new 3D-printed shoes
    Video: A closer look at the design of Jaylen Brown’s new 3D-printed shoes

    The laces are hidden because the pair are hoping to add a boa system for the shoe, which is an adjustable dial to make the shoe tighter around an ankle. Gaskins said the boa system, which is uncommon in basketball sneakers, likely won’t be in the first wave of the shoe’s release — but hopes to provide it “later in the year, maybe for a playoff run.”

    Brown has played in the new sneakers and posted them on Instagram, including during the viral workout video with new teammates LeBron James and Tyrese Maxey. Because the shoe is a prototype, Brown is using this time to test it during workouts and other events he’s participated in this summer. The feedback, said Deas and O’Shea, “was pretty immediate,” and O’Shea added that Brown is “very, very involved.”

    “We really wanted to get in there and think for him almost so that creatively,” O’Shea said, “we could produce stuff that really encompasses his vision and where he wants to go with the brand and creatively, how he connects to the kids.”

  • Hockey player and coach-turned-broadcaster Barry Melrose dies at age 70

    Hockey player and coach-turned-broadcaster Barry Melrose dies at age 70

    Barry Melrose, a hockey player-turned-coach who led the Los Angeles Kings to the 1993 Stanley Cup Final before going on to a long career in broadcasting the sport, has died. He was 70.

    ESPN announced Melrose’s death Wednesday after his wife informed the network.

    “From the flowing locks of his distinctive mullet to the flared lapels of his trademark long suit coats, Barry Melrose cut an unmistakable figure whenever you were fortunate enough to run into him at a rink or catch him on your television screen,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “You were even more fortunate if you engaged him in conversation or listened to his analysis because he never failed to boost your love of the game of hockey.”

    Melrose stepped away from his analyst role in 2023 after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Wayne Gretzky at the time said Melrose was “bigger than any team.”

    Melrose had a relatable everyman’s broadcasting style, bringing a sense of humor to his insights, and was easily recognized by his goatee and slicked-backed hair.

    “For decades, Barry Melrose was one of the most distinctive and trusted voices in hockey,” ESPN said in a statement. “His knowledge of the game was deep, his candor was refreshing and his passion was unmistakable.”

    From rural Kelvington, Saskatchewan, Melrose broke into pro hockey with the Cincinnati Stingers of the now-defunct World Hockey Association in 1976. He played three seasons in Cincinnati — the last teaming with a young Mark Messier — and, following the WHA’s demise, made the transition to the NHL with Winnipeg in 1979.

    Melrose went on to play for Toronto and Detroit, where he closed his career following the 1985-86 season.

    He finished with 10 goals and 33 points and 728 penalty minutes in 300 career NHL regular-season games, and he skated in seven more in the playoffs. His WHA totals were five goals and 32 points and 343 penalty minutes in 178 games with Cincinnati.

    Melrose turned to coaching and led the Adirondack Red Wings to win the American Hockey League Calder Cup championship in 1992.

    The following year, Melrose was hired by the Kings, where he brought a sense of colorful flare and instant success to Los Angeles. In his rookie season, he coached a Kings team that featured Gretzky to make a memorable playoff run. They reached the final before losing to Montreal in five games.

    Melrose finished with a record of 79-101 and 29 ties over two-plus seasons in L.A. before being fired midway through the 1994-95 season.

    He was hired by ESPN in 1996 and left broadcasting for what became a brief stint coaching the Tampa Bay Lightning in Steven Stamkos’ rookie season in 2008-09. Melrose was fired 16 games into the season following a 5-7-4 start and returned to broadcasting.

    Melrose also was known for his long-ball hitting prowess in fast-pitch softball, joining fellow Kelvington-area NHL players Wendel Clark, Joey Kocur, Kelly Chase and Kevin Kaminski and others in the offseason in Saskatchewan to form what some call the “the toughest team there ever was.”

  • Bruno Damiani and the Sullivan brothers fuel a statement win by the Union against FC Cincinnati

    Bruno Damiani and the Sullivan brothers fuel a statement win by the Union against FC Cincinnati

    The Union finally earned a statement win over one of the Eastern Conference’s big teams, seizing the moment after an early red card to deliver a 5-0 blowout of FC Cincinnati.

    Quinn Sullivan opened the scoring and Bruno Damiani had a hat trick as the Union enjoyed an 18-1 shot advantage.

    The result extended the club’s unbeaten run in league games to nine, and lifted them to eighth place in the Eastern Conference (8-10-6, 30 points). They’re one point above ninth-place New York City FC, and one point behind Cincinnati (8-8-7, 31 points) and Orlando City.

    Bruno Damiani (center) celebrates with teammates after scoring in the second half.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

    The Sullivan brothers started in a league game together for the first time, after doing so only in the U.S. Open Cup and Leagues Cup matches. Bruno Damiani and Ezekiel Alladoh started together up top to spare Milan Iloski, who was a yellow card away from a suspension for accumulation.

    The Union struggled early against Cincinnati’s three-centerback setup, just as they did in Bradley Carnell and Jim Curtin’s tenures. But they got a break in the 15th minute when referee Joe Dickerson ejected Cincinnati’s Obinna Nwobodo after a video review of the midfielder stepping on Frankie Westfield’s right foot.

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    Dickerson initially pulled out a yellow card, and promptly, after the foul. Westfield took the hit and stayed down for a while, giving the review officials time to watch the play and ask Dickerson to take a look at the monitor. He didn’t stay there long before taking out the red.

    The Union stepped things up in the 38th minute, when Ezekiel Alladoh hit a shot off the front of U.S. national team centerback Miles Robinson’s left arm and won a corner kick with it. (Dickerson didn’t call a handball because the arm wasn’t extended.)

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    The ensuing sequence saw Cincinnati’s Ayoub Jabbari inadvertently kick Neil Pierre in the face on the end line, then Evander land an elbow in Sullivan’s neck at the top of the box after he had a shot blocked. Dickerson saw at least the second, pointed to the spot, and Sullivan converted.

    Damiani delivered the second at the start of nine minutes of first-half stoppage time, off a terrific team play. Neil Pierre started it with a good interception and passed to Damiani, then he fed Jean Jacques, who drove forward.

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    Jean Jacques swung the ball left to Quinn Sullivan, who set up his brother for an overlapping run on the flank. Cavan obliged, then thumped a pass across the six-yard box for Damiani to slide into an open net.

    Cincinnati manager Pat Noonan, a former Union assistant under Curtin, seemingly raised the white flag at halftime when he made a triple-substitution, including removing his two big stars: playmaker Evander and striker Kévin Denkey.

    Damiani then kicked the flag the rest of the way up the pole in the 49th with a terrific finish, set up by combination play from the Sullivans yet again. Quinn had the assist this time, cutting to his right and laying a nifty little pass into space for Damiani to hit first time.

    The hat trick came in the 61st. Quinn Sullivan started the play with an interception, combined with his brother again, then Cavan laid the ball off for Damiani. He took a touch to settle the ball at the top of the 18-yard box, then smashed home his shot.

    Iloski entered in the 65th, and capped off the scoring with another penalty kick in the 89th. Another substitute, Malik Jakupović, won it when Cincinnati’s Brian Anunga bundled him over.

    Some Union players appeared to want Jakupović to get a chance from the spot as a young striker. But Iloski took it, scored his 12th goal of the year, and Jakupović was one of the first players to congratulate him.

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  • Kyle Schwarber’s grand slam caps off a big sixth inning in Phillies’ win over Astros: ‘It’s incredible’

    Kyle Schwarber’s grand slam caps off a big sixth inning in Phillies’ win over Astros: ‘It’s incredible’

    Alec Bohm leaned over the dugout railing and dropped his hat on the warning track.

    The Phillies relievers have a game they often play in the bullpen: If they think the player at the plate is about to hit a homer, they’ll toss their hat on the ground in front of them. Once in a while, the dugout joins in on the fun, too.

    Bohm, whose scheduled night off on Wednesday gave him a front-row seat to the Phillies’ roller coaster game against the Astros, decided to call his shot in the sixth inning just as Kyle Schwarber walked up with the bases loaded.

    “We’re usually feeling pretty good when he’s up there in a big spot,” Bohm said.

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    There his hat was as Schwarber took Houston reliever AJ Blubaugh to a 2-0 count, then 2-2, then 3-2. And it was there when Schwarber swung at a sweeper, half with one hand, and drove it 406 feet to right field.

    And as Schwarber watched it fly, his bat held straight up in the air, behind him was Bohm’s hat triumphantly lying in the dirt. It’s not the first time that Bohm has won the Phillies’ hat game. But most of his wins, he said, have come with Schwarber at the plate.

    After the Phillies’ eventual 11-7 win over the Astros, Schwarber’s teammates were running out of adjectives to describe what he’s been able to accomplish. The grand slam was his 44th homer of the season, adding to his major league lead.

    “It’s incredible. It’s amazing. He’s one of the best power hitters in the game,” Cristopher Sánchez said through a team interpreter.

    Schwarber’s slam gave the Phillies a commanding lead in a game they had once trailed 4-0. It helped them overcome an atypical start from Sánchez, who allowed a lot of hard contact and only struck out three. The Astros saw his pitches well all night, including his vaunted changeup.

    “I was missing a little too much of my pitches today, and I don’t think that’s the kind of pitcher that I am,” Sánchez said.

    Of the 10 hits he allowed, half were for extra bases. That included a pair of homers from Isaac Paredes and Cam Smith, both coming on mislocated sinkers.

    But the Phillies offense picked him up, responding to a four-run top of the third by Houston with a four-run bottom of the inning. They timed up Astros starter Hunter Brown well, and consistently put runners in motion against him. In turn, that pulled Houston’s infielders out of position, and opened holes for four ground ball singles to sneak through.

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    “The way we scored tonight, I thought was pretty cool,” said Trea Turner, who accounted for one of those singles and later homered in the fifth. “Working at-bats, working counts, even if a guy got out here or there, felt like the guy behind him picked him right up. So we just need to keep doing that and keep playing good baseball.”

    The Astros put up two more runs on Sánchez in the fourth inning on Smith’s homer, but the Phillies completely broke the game open in the sixth.

    Edmundo Sosa tied things back up and got some redemption, all at once. A day after he failed to hustle out of the box, costing the Phillies an extra base in the ninth inning on Tuesday, Sosa said the mistake would not happen again.

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    He entered Wednesday’s game as a pinch-hitter against Astros lefty Bryan King with two runners on. As soon as his bat connected on a fastball from King, clocking just a 58.2 mph exit velocity, Sosa dashed to first. It found some grass in right field, allowing Luis Arraez to tie the game at 6-6.

    A single from Justin Crawford and bases-loaded walk from Bryan De La Cruz kept the line moving for Schwarber. Every starter reached base at least once in the game.

    “It’s nice to have everybody involved, right?” said interim manager Don Mattingly. “When your lineup’s going up and down, it’s always better. Keep the line moving. Momentum builds.”

    Kyle Schwarber is congratulated in the dugout after hitting a grand slam in the sixth inning.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    As he usually does after a big swing, Schwarber said Wednesday he hadn’t been looking to hit a homer in the sixth inning — even though that’s what Bohm and backup catcher Garrett Stubbs both yelled at him to do from the dugout. On the 3-2 pitch from Blubaugh, Schwarber had been focused on finding any way to get on base.

    “It’s not like you’re going up there and think that you’re going to be a hero,” he said.

    According to Mattingly, who hit six grand slams in one season for the Yankees in 1987, that’s exactly the key.

    “I think that the trait is nothing changes,” Mattingly said. “If it’s an early season at-bat, if it’s an at-bat in the fifth, it’s an at-bat in the ninth. Really, if you look at it truly simply. It doesn’t change. You still walk up with a game plan. You’re trying to get what you want to hit. You understand what the guy’s trying to do, and something either good happens, or it doesn’t.

    “But I think the guys that don’t change and don’t put pressure on the moment and just stay with what they do, they end up being the guys that seem to be able to slow it down, and not to put too much in the moment.”

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    After Schwarber’s one-handed swing gave them a sizable cushion, Jonathan Bowlan, Alex McFarlane, and Jhoan Duran split the job in relief. Bowlan allowed a run in the seventh inning on a double and a single.

    It was not a save situation for Duran, but the Phillies called on their closer for the ninth anyway, since he had not pitched since Sunday.

    The roller coaster game was capped by a roller coaster final play, as Bryson Stott initially overshot a foul pop-up, recovered, and made the catch while falling down.

    “There’s going to be times, like we’ve seen throughout the rest of this year, where we’ve come back and we’ve battled through different things,” Schwarber said. “And that’s what it’s going to take, to get through the stretch, and hopefully find our way into October.”

  • Jalen Hurts will likely have his play-caller in the booth for the first time. Hurts said he just wants Sean Mannion to ‘feel comfortable’

    Jalen Hurts will likely have his play-caller in the booth for the first time. Hurts said he just wants Sean Mannion to ‘feel comfortable’

    Jalen Hurts has attempted to let his walls down this offseason, whether he’s opening up for a GQ profile or spending quality time with his teammates, both in and out of the facility.

    He will have another wall to break through this season, starting with the Week 1 home opener against the Washington Commanders on Sunday. Nick Sirianni revealed Wednesday that first-time offensive coordinator Sean Mannion will “probably” call plays from the booth, with a glass window and several stories separating him from the sixth-year starting quarterback.

    Hurts said he hasn’t had a play caller in the booth since he was in college. Still, he said he will be supportive of Mannion’s decision, regardless of how it impacts their line of communication, particularly between drives.

    Who will back up Jalen Hurts when the season opens on Sunday? The Eagles are keeping it close to the vest.

    “If he feels that’s what gives us the best chance to win, the best chance for him to see the game and find his flow and what he’s doing, that’s the direction we need to go in,” Hurts said Wednesday. “And so I’m going to support whatever makes him feel comfortable in that degree.

    “And for me, I come into the year thinking about breaking down walls of communication and talking and communicating the things that I’m seeing and and whatnot. And there is a wall, being in the box, but still, having open dialog, using the red phone, calling if I see something, hearing him out, and I think in all, it’s a part of the process.”

    Jalen Hurts (right) talked about the importance of communication with Sean Mannion (left) and the new offensive coaching staff. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Building chemistry with Mannion has been one of the focuses of training camp for Hurts. He reiterated on Wednesday his goal of getting “hip-to-hip” with his new offensive coordinator as a means of building chemistry, a task that continues into the regular season.

    Hurts wants to know what Mannion is thinking in any given situation, an environment the team has tried to replicate during the call-it periods of training camp. It all becomes real in Week 1. Hurts will soon have an opportunity to build in-game chemistry with Mannion, even if he isn’t on the sideline.

    “The in-game experiences we have coming soon will be very valuable for us in what we ultimately want to accomplish,” Hurts said.

    With Week 1 preparations underway, the 28-year-old Hurts is still getting used to all of the new. It isn’t just the big aspects, such as the new offensive coordinator, the new offensive scheme, and the horde of new receivers headlined by Dontayvion Wicks, Makai Lemon, and Hollywood Brown.

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    It’s the smaller things, too, within Hurts’ weekly preparation. He said he realized on Tuesday that in years past, he would typically meet with Jeff Stoutland on that day to discuss that week’s game plan. Stoutland, who served concurrently as the Eagles offensive line coach for 13 seasons and the run game coordinator for eight, announced his departure from the team in February.

    The process may change with new coaches, but the goal remains the same.

    “A lot of it is new, and there’s a transition,” Hurts said. “It’s a bit of an evolution, but we’ve got great guys here that I can lean on that can that can fill those voids, so we can do what we’re trying to do moving forward.”

    Jalen Hurts has worked hard to learn the nuances of the Sean Mannion offense since the coordinator’s hiring. Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    Moving forward this week, the Eagles will try to win their first game of the season against an NFC East foe. Hurts and Sirianni have gone 5-0 in Week 1 since the Eagles head coach arrived in Philadelphia and the quarterback stepped into the full-time role as the starter.

    Hurts shared his theory for their Week 1 success — “keeping the main thing the main thing.” Their early results are a reflection of their preparation and their confidence in it.

    A win would start the Eagles off on the right foot, Hurts said. The real challenge is maintaining that “clarity” regarding their intentions as an offense as the season progresses.

    Hurts acknowledged that he doesn’t know exactly what the offense will look like in Week 1, let alone Week 18. It’s Mannion’s job to whittle down the broader offense that he installed in training camp to a more limited menu for game day based on the opponent.

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    But Hurts said he is excited to have a “north star,” or a clear vision from his offensive coordinator about what his intentions are in designing the offense and how he wants his players to attack it. Whether that vision includes designed runs for the quarterback, an aspect of the offense that was seldom highlighted last year, remains to be seen.

    Hurts acknowledged it could be a “unique opportunity” to incorporate his rushing ability into the offense, even though mobile quarterbacks haven’t typically been featured in the West Coast offense.

    Ultimately, it’s up to Mannion to make that call. It’s on both Hurts and Mannion to get a sense of which plays the other likes, too, regardless of where the play-caller is located.

    “We’ve got to build that chemistry,” Hurts said. “I’m always willing and open to doing anything and everything to win. And it’s not like you say I’m going to drop back and run it on this play. You’ve got to play the game. So we’ll find that feel and see where it goes.”

  • Who will back up Jalen Hurts when the season opens on Sunday? The Eagles are keeping it close to the vest.

    Who will back up Jalen Hurts when the season opens on Sunday? The Eagles are keeping it close to the vest.

    Nick Sirianni answered the question of who the Eagles’ backup quarterback is the way he was always going to answer it when he was asked on Wednesday.

    “We don’t have to make that decision quite yet or announce that decision,” Sirianni said before the Eagles hit the practice field for the first time this week ahead of their Sunday season opener vs. the Washington Commanders. “I think for competitive reasons, again, I don’t want them to be able to study one guy over the other. I’m not saying we don’t have an answer of who that is yet, but I just don’t have to share that quite yet publicly.”

    The answer, it seems, hasn’t been shared internally either. That, or both Andy Dalton and Tanner McKee have World Series of Poker-ready poker faces.

    “It’s not that I’m actually trying to keep it from you guys, I really don’t know what that plan is,” McKee said Wednesday after practice.

    Dalton’s answer was similar: “I haven’t been told anything,” the veteran quarterback said.

    The Eagles kept four quarterbacks on their initial 53-man roster after training camp ended. Neither Dalton nor McKee ran away as the victor in the backup quarterback competition, and neither became an attractive enough trade target. So the Eagles went with four, and all indications are that they’ll likely still have all four around when the Commanders come to town on Sunday.

    Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee fought Andy Dalton for the QB2 role in training camp. Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer

    “I think all of us have a ton of trust in Howie [Roseman] and what he’s doing and obviously we all want the best for the team,” McKee said. “I love our quarterback room, so I was happy to have everybody there. But it was kind of interesting. Obviously they have a plan.”

    The plan will be revealed to the participants later in the week, they think. It might not become public until the Eagles designate an emergency third quarterback on their game-day roster, and may not become public at all if they make all three part of the 48-player roster for the game and Jalen Hurts plays all the snaps.

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    It’s a little weird, though McKee, who is in the final year of his rookie contract, didn’t necessarily agree with that adjective.

    “I wouldn’t say weird,” he said. “At this point you’re used to it. Every single year you compete with someone. It’s nice to have somebody like Andy to compete against because I feel like we have a really good relationship, but at the same time when you’re on the field you want to beat out the guy next to you. I think we both understand that, we both realize that. We can talk about our families and sit next to each other in the locker room and have great conversations.”

    Andy Dalton was obtained by the Eagles in an offseason trade. Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Dalton, for whom the Eagles traded a seventh-round pick during the offseason, said this is the first time in his 16-season NFL career that he doesn’t really know his role this late in the proceedings. The longtime Bengal was a starter for 12 seasons before transitioning into a reserve role. But the 38-year-old said he wasn’t surprised when all four quarterbacks — rookie fifth-round pick Cole Payton is also on the roster — were on the initial list of 53 names.

    “Talking with them, they said there was a possibility of that happening and there were scenarios where that would be the case,” he said.

    The lack of a defined role doesn’t change Dalton’s preparation, he said.

    “I’ve prepared the same way my whole career,” Dalton said. “I know my routine, I’ve got a process that I go through every day each week. That doesn’t change anything.”

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    Regardless if he’s No. 2 or No. 3, Dalton said he does know what his role is on a macro level.

    “Just having my experience and asking the right questions in the meetings and sparking the right conversations,” he said. “For me, it’s an understanding that I make sure I know everything that I need to know, but also for the room, make sure everybody is on the same page.”

    Dalton and McKee have shared some laughs through it all, joking about who may be first up behind Hurts on any given day.

    “We’re in good spirits with it all and we’ll see how it all shakes out,” Dalton said.

  • After missing almost a year, Phillies prospect Aidan Miller ‘feels 100%,’ and is just happy to be playing again

    After missing almost a year, Phillies prospect Aidan Miller ‘feels 100%,’ and is just happy to be playing again

    READING — Take it day by day. That was Aidan Miller’s focus for 352 days.

    After a back injury started creeping up at the end of last season when the Phillies’ top position player prospect was with double-A Reading, Miller is coming off the longest break from baseball he can remember. His back issues reappeared during spring training, and he was placed on the injured list on March 27.

    Answers didn’t come until June, when the Phillies announced he was dealing with discogenic pain and facet inflammation in the lumbar spine.

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    A minimally invasive procedure on June 5 kept Miller out of a game until three months later on Saturday, when he returned with single-A Clearwater, exactly 352 days after his last game on Sept. 18, 2025.

    “It’s all I’ve really known. Growing up playing baseball every day, I never had that long of a break,” Miller said Wednesday. “Early on, I think it was a big mental battle, and then learning how to deal with the day to day, trying to take a positive wave from every single day and take it day by day and go from there.”

    Miller, 22, said now “feels 100%” with two games under his belt.

    Aidan Miller’s back condition landed him on the injured list on March 27.Jose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer

    He went 1-for-2 with a double and a walk for Clearwater on Saturday. With the Threshers now in the postseason, Miller is continuing his rehab with Reading, which has a week left in the regular season. He played seven innings on Tuesday as the starting shortstop and went 0-for-3. He was given a day off Wednesday.

    The plan is for Miller to play two more seven-inning games on Thursday and Saturday, with another off day on Friday.

    Miller plans to play in the Arizona Fall League, which he missed last year because of his back condition. Beyond that, “we really haven’t gone that far,” he said.

    “It’s just stay healthy, stay on the field, and get through that,” Miller said. “You don’t want to get too far out and advance. Just take it day by day and see what happens.”

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    The 2023 first-round pick spent the majority of the 2025 season at Reading, and played eight games with triple-A Lehigh Valley to close the season. He batted .264 with 14 home runs, 59 stolen bases, and an .825 OPS across both levels.

    A “big worker,” Miller said it was tough for him not to overdo his recovery initially, taking some time to find the balance between progression and overuse.

    “With the injury now, it’s like I got to be smart and learn when to go extra,” Miller said. “Just dealing with that, finding a good routine, getting in the training room, in the weight room, the diet, everything that goes into it.”

    While in Florida, Miller turned to fishing to find a reprieve from baseball. The Dunedin, Fla., native was used to freshwater fishing, but he was new to saltwater fishing. He said his best catch was a 38-inch snook.

    Aidan Miller had an .825 OPS across two levels of the minor leagues in 2025.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    “That was a good little mental reset for me, too,” Miller said. “I’d go out there, throw some lines out, and that’s kind of my hobby down there. Everybody in rehab pretty much fished.”

    Around the time of Miller’s surgery, fellow Phillies prospect Dante Nori was sidelined for two months with a stress fracture in his hip. He started his rehab assignment in August at Clearwater.

    Nori said having a group of players working on their rehab assignments allowed them not to think so much about the injuries and kept everyone “in the right mental space.”

    “Yeah, you’re injured, but at the same time, you just got to think in the future,” Nori said. “Like, ‘Hey, we’re going be back playing soon. It’s not the end of the world.’ So just keeping each other’s heads up high.”

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    It also helped that Miller was so close to home. On the days he needed to reset, Miller said he had the option of traveling 40 minutes to be with his family, including his brother Jackson, a second-round pick by the Cincinnati Reds in 2020. Jackson’s career was cut short in single A because of a back injury.

    Aidan Miller hopes his back injury is behind him, and he’s happy to be an active player again.

    “Rehab, I was getting up at 5:30 every morning. It’s nice sleeping in a little bit,” Miller said. “But just being in the clubhouse again with all the guys, it’s awesome.”

  • Edmundo Sosa takes ownership of his baserunning mistake on Tuesday: ‘Just a lack of focus’

    Edmundo Sosa takes ownership of his baserunning mistake on Tuesday: ‘Just a lack of focus’

    Edmundo Sosa took full ownership of the baserunning mistake he made in the ninth inning of Tuesday’s 6-5 loss to the Astros.

    Sitting in the Phillies dugout pregame on Wednesday, Sosa said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello that “a lack of focus” is why he did not run hard out of the batter’s box after sending a slider off the right-center field wall. Sosa took a few slow steps, watched the ball fly at first, and what could have been a triple ended up as a double.

    The next three batters flew or popped out, and while Sosa stole third base, he was unable to score what would have been the tying run.

    “I totally forgot to run the bases there, and I only focused on where the ball was going, and that’s what caused me not to get to third base, and that’s a big mistake that might have cost us the game right there,” Sosa said.

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    Sosa said he didn’t think the ball was hit out of the park. Typically, the utility player will skip once out of the batter’s box after hitting a homer, and he didn’t do that on Tuesday.

    “It’s just a lack of focus and a lack of thinking about the running the bases there,” he said.

    Interim manager Don Mattingly, who said after the game that he was “surprised” not to see Sosa wind up on third on the play, spoke to Sosa in a private conversation about the mistake.

    “I respect the game a lot, and I try to show that,” Sosa said. “And that’s one of the things that I don’t tolerate from the game, the lack of hustle and not running the bases there, not running at full speed. I think that’s something I don’t want to happen again. … I think that’s something that shows no respect to the game, and I try to respect the game every time I play it. So I just leave it at that and say it’s not happening again.”

    Brandon Marsh misread a hard liner from J.T. Realmuto and was doubled off at second base in the seventh inning in the Phillies’ loss on Tuesday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Mattingly also had a separate conversation with Brandon Marsh, who misread a hard liner from J.T. Realmuto and was doubled off at second base in the seventh inning on Tuesday. Mattingly said for the most part the players know where they erred, but it’s important to have the one-on-one conversations as a reminder.

    “Make sure we’re thinking correctly. Most of the time, you’re asking about what they’re thinking in that situation,” he said.

    It’s not the first time he’s had to have those conversations recently. During the Phillies’ West Coast trip last week, Mattingly spoke to Derek Hill about missing a stop sign from third base coach Anthony Contreras, and to Marsh about trying to advance to third on a grounder to shortstop.

    Like Sosa, Marsh took accountability for his Tuesday mistake.

    Phillies prospect Aidan Miller moves up to double A in his return from injury

    “It’s unacceptable for me to take a step toward third,” Marsh said after the game. “It’s a huge mistake by me. Really no excuse. Just a really bad play on my part.”

    While the recent blunders have been especially ugly, Mattingly remains confident that the Phillies will be able to clean up their act on the base paths. In fact, statistically the club is still one of the stronger baserunning teams in the league.

    According to the StatCast metric of baserunning run value, the Phillies rank fourth in baseball with plus-8 baserunning runs created. Six of those are from stolen bases, while the other two are from non-steal plays where an extra base was taken.

    The only teams ahead of the Phillies in this metric are the Diamondbacks (plus-11), Nationals (plus-9), and Brewers (plus-9).

    A major contributor to the team’s overall success is Bryson Stott, who ranks third overall with a baserunning run value of plus-7 and is a perfect 24-for-24 on stolen base attempts.

    “The Phillies have actually rated out over the last few years a really good baserunning team, one of the best in baseball,” Mattingly said. “This has been a good baserunning team, and not that it’s bad now, but I think you have to keep teaching, and keep making sure everybody understands what you look for in that situation, and hopefully you learn from it, and those mistakes don’t happen again.”

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    Left-hander Nestor Cortes appeared in his first official game Tuesday since Sept. 3, 2025, pitching one inning for single-A Clearwater. He struck out two and allowed one run on one hit. His four-seam topped out at 91.4 mph.

    “It was OK,” Mattingly said. “So [Wednesday’s] the day to see how he bounces back, and then what happens next.”

    Bryce Harper took a planned off day from right field and was the Phillies’ DH on Wednesday.Yong Kim / Staff Photographer

    Extra bases

    Bryce Harper had a planned day at designated hitter Wednesday, with Kyle Schwarber playing first and Bryan De La Cruz taking over in right field. … Several Flyers players, including Cam York, Tyson Foerster, Owen Tippett, Christian Dvorak, Nick Seeler, and Noel Acciari were at Citizens Bank Park pregame on Wednesday, meeting Phillies and taking batting practice. … Zack Wheeler (12-5, 3.23 ERA) is scheduled to start Thursday’s series finale against the Astros, while Houston’s starter has not yet been announced. The Phillies will stay on turn for their upcoming series in Atlanta, with Aaron Nola, Jesús Luzardo, and Andrew Painter lined up for the three games against the Braves.

  • Flyers announce full schedule and roster for next week’s NHL training camp

    Flyers announce full schedule and roster for next week’s NHL training camp

    After a second-round appearance in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Flyers will aim to continue their upward trajectory, fielding a similar roster to last season.

    Still one of the youngest squads in the NHL, the second year of the Rick Tocchet era will begin with high expectations as youngsters Porter Martone, Alex Bump, Denver Barkey, and David Jiříček look to make their mark, while Matvei Michkov has his sights set on a bounce-back season in the last year of his entry-level contract.

    Here’s everything you need to know about the Flyers’ 2026-27 training camp and preseason.

    Flyers announce rookie camp schedule and roster headlined by Porter Martone

    When does Flyers training camp start?

    The Flyers will hit the ice for the first time bright and early next Thursday at their training center in Voorhees.

    It is a new era with the preseason shortened and the NHL kick-starting things on Sept. 29. Training camp will run through the final preseason game on Sept. 26, when the Flyers host the Washington Capitals at Xfinity Mobile Arena. They lift the lid on the season on Sept. 30 at home, hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins (7:30 p.m., TNT, truTV, HBO Max) in a rematch of their first-round series, which the Flyers won in six games.

    What is the training camp schedule in Voorhees?

    The Flyers will be broken into three groups: Groups A, B, and C to start camp, with groupings expected to be disclosed next week. They will not skate on Sept. 20, 25, or 28, and the timing for practice on Sept. 27 will be announced at a later date. No morning skate is scheduled for Sept. 26, with the game at 5 p.m., and there is not a nongame group listed, which suggests that the last preseason game will feature most of the final roster.

    All on-ice sessions are free and open to the public.

    ^Groups A and B will skate on opposite rinks at 10:20 a.m. and then scrimmage on the Flyers rink at 10:40 a.m.

    Which Flyers will be at training camp?

    With a shortened camp, the number of invitees has been trimmed. Last season, 33 forwards, 18 defensemen and seven goalies were in camp. This year it will be 26 forwards, 16 defensemen, and four goalies, with Dan Vladař and Joseph Woll expected to suit up for the Flyers and Aleksei Kolosov and Carson Bjarnason slated to be the tandem for Lehigh Valley of the American Hockey League.

    The Flyers are banking on Dan Vladař being the answer to their goalie prayers. It’s a bet worth making.

    Usually, the main camp sees some junior players stick around; however, as of Wednesday, everyone but Maksim Sokolovskii, the Flyers’ first-rounder from June, will be sent back after rookie camp. Because the 6-foot-7 defenseman, who has looked impressive in preseason games for London of the Ontario Hockey League, is an unsigned Canadian Hockey League player selected in the first three rounds, he can remain with the Flyers until the start of their season. It will not impact his NCAA eligibility with the University of Maine for the 2027-28 season.

    Forwards (26): Noel Acciari, Zach Aston-Reese, Denver Barkey, Alex Bump, Noah Cates, Sean Couturier, Christian Dvorak, Tyson Foerster, Nolan Foote, Jacob Gaucher, Nikita Grebenkin, Carl Grundström, Devin Kaplan, Danila Klimovich, Cole Knuble, Travis Konecny, Jett Luchanko, Porter Martone, Matvei Michkov, Noah Powell, Jack Studnicka, Riley Thompson, Owen Tippett, Garrett Wilson*, Zayde Wisdom*, Trevor Zegras

    Defensemen (16): Simon Benoît, Oliver Bonk, Cam Dineen, Jamie Drysdale, Jackson Edward, Spencer Gill, Helge Grans, David Jiříček, Hunter McDonald, Ty Murchison, Andrew Perrott*, Rasmus Ristolainen, Travis Sanheim, Nick Seeler, Maksim Sokolovskii, Cam York

    Goalies (4): Carson Bjarnason, Aleksei Kolosov, Dan Vladař, Joseph Woll

    *Signed to AHL deal

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    When are the Flyers’ preseason games?

    A shortened preseason also brings fewer games. The Flyers will play four preseason games, including a game against Washington at the home of the Capitals’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Hershey Bears, on Sept. 21.