I’m Glenn Papazian bringing you the latest edition of My Sports Desk. The news from the World of Sports, what happened, what’s coming next, the honor roll, and a commentary.
Phillies
The Fightin’ Phillies return home after a road trip for a three-game series against the Miami Marlins. The last time these teams met, it was Miami who swept the Phillies. Then St. Louis comes to town, The Cardinals won 2 of 3 over the Phillies this past week. The last two they beat the Phils aces Sanchez and Wheeler.
Sanchez, Wheeler, and Nola hurl for the home team. Marlins ace Sandy Alacantara throws in game three of the series for the Marlins. Jesus Luzardo, Andrew Painter and Christopher Sanchez should be set to go for the Cardinals series.
Philadelphia won 4 of 6 games, but it was inconsistent as they dropped 2 of 3 to St. Louis. The team salvaged the trip with a sweep over Minnesota.
The Phillies played in the Field of Dreams game and downed the Twins 7 – 1 in Iowa in a game where Kyle Schwarber homered twice. More on that later.
Major League Baseball
The Cardinals series is important as St. Louis lurks just behind the Phillies in the Wild Card standings. The Phils are 2nd in wild card standings right now well behind the Cubs and just ahead of the Padres.
In baseball the hot team is San Diego, while the coldest teams are; Cleveland and Kansas City.
The Cubs got a big game from Alex Bregman who hit three home runs in a Wednesday game against the Nationals.
Speaking of three home runs in a single game. Joshua Baez was called up to the Cardinals from their Memphis team. In his first three at bats in the major leagues, he hit a home run in each at bat. It was the first time in major league baseball that a player hit a home run in their first three times at the plate.
Philadelphia Union
The Union ended their run in the Leagues Cup as the team did not qualify for the playoffs. Their effort in the Leagues Cup ended with a 2 – 0 loss to Santos Laguna at Suburu Park. It is back to MLS competition
After a 3 – 2 win vs. New York in Yankee Stadium, Philadelphia travels to Miami for a Wednesday game, then stay in the South to play the Austin Football Club.
It is unsure if Lionel Messi will take the pitch in the Union game. According to Miami manager Guillermo Hoyos, Lionel needs privacy after the loss of his father Jorge Messi.
WNBA
Important games coming up are Minnesota at Golden State and Indiana at New York.
The Minnesota Lynx and the Las Vegas Aces have clinched playoff berths.
NCAA Women’s Soccer
Soccer season has kicked off and the game of interest was the Penn State women’s team at 2nd ranked Notre Dame. They battled to a 2 – 2 draw. The Nittany Lions led by Aubrey Kaulpa’s three-point effort. All goals were score in the second half. Notre Dame tied it in the 88th minute. It won’t get easier for the Nittany Lions as their next game is at West Virginia.
Villanova opened the season with a 9 – 0 win at Lehigh. It was the most goals in a single game since October of 2002 when they put up 11 on Howard University. The Wildcats are 1-0-1 this season and are off until August 27 when they travel to upper Manhattan to play Columbia.
The Delaware Blue Hens women’s team started their season winning 3 – 2 over George Washington University. It’s VCU next in Newark on Thursday.
West Chester has yet to start the seasons, but the men are ranked second in the PSAC East, while the women are preseason favorites.
LLWS
Congratulations to West Chester’s East Side little league team, they are going to Williamsport to play in the Little League World Series. The Pennsylvania champions qualified by winning 3 -1 against the Delaware champions Naamans team.
East Side will represent the MidAtlantic Region. Both teams are local and deserve accolades for making it this far.
Other items of note
The Eagles played their first preseason game. And the Sixers announced their schedule for the upcoming season. The Sixers open with a nationally televised game playing the league champion New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on October 20th.
NCAA Football
College Football has announced preseason award watch lists
The Lombardi Award named in memory of the legendary coach is given to an outstanding lineman or linebacker who epitomize his values of leadership, courage, performance and discipline. The list has Penn State tight end Benjamin Brahmer who came over from Iowa State where he played under Coach Matt Campbell. Also on the watch list is Delaware’s offensive lineman Steven Demboski. He is the first player in program history to appear on the Lombardi Award Watch List.
Kooper Ebel is on the Watch List for the Butkus Award given to the top linebacker in the country. He was on the Big Twelve All-Academic Team. The linebacker is also a transfer from Iowa State University.
The Ray Guy Award given to the College Punter of the Year has its eyes on Temple ‘s Dante Alton.
Honor Roll
A shout out to Aaron Nola. The Phillies pitcher struck out 9 in 5 innings of work against the Minnesota Twins in the Feld of Dreams game. He surrendered just one run.
And Alex Bohm had his first 5 hit game and followed that up with a 4 RBI game in the finale at the Twins.
It was a big week for Phillies outfielder Kyle Schwarber who regained his batting stroke. Schwarber hit two home runs in the Field of Dreams game against the Twins. He has hit 224 home runs since joining the Phillies in 2022, the second most by any player in the first five seasons with a team. Who holds the most? Babe Ruth with 235.
Schwarber leads the major leagues this season with 36 and has a hit in 7 of his last 9 games.
Commentary
Major League Baseball conducted the Field of Dreams game this past week. The Phillies beat the Twins 7 – 1, but that is incidental.
The game is played in a field in Iowa, the site of the movie Field of Dreams starring Kevin Coster, James Earl Jones, Amy Madigan, and Ray Liotta, and spawned sayings “If you build it, he will come” and Costner did, not knowing why. Then the phrase “ease his pain”
When the field was built the ghosts of famous old-time players would return to play the game they loved. Ray Liotta played Shoeless Joe Jackson. Eventually, Coster would meet the man who would be his father. They reconciled by playing catch with one another. Something Costner in his youth refused to do. And the daughter predicted “people will come” They did in the movie, and they did in real life.
This game is a testament to the nostalgia and hold the game of baseball has in American life. How many of us, men and women, played catch with their father or mother in my case. It is special.
And major league made the game special by recreating the cornfields the players emerged from in the movie. Twenty six Hall of Famers emerged. From the Phillies were Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt.
It is a good feeling, showing us our better times, the magic of baseball, and how the past can have the same magic when given to the present and the future.
The film ended with the father asking his son “is this Heaven?” and he later replied “Heaven is a place where dreams come true,’ as they were playing catch.
Outstanding job Major League Baseball, it clearly shows the better of us.
That’s the story this week.
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhilyCollegeSports.com
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