Phillies Win Epic NLDS Game 2

“It is said that the darkest hour of the night cometh just before the dawn.”

English historian Thomas Fuller wrote that about the Phillies in the year 1650.

Or maybe T-Full was referring to something else. Who knows. Either way, it’s very applicable to your Fightins, who looked completely lifeless before exploding for seven runs in the final four innings of Sunday’s game.

You’ve got some NFC East talk and Flyers discussion in your newsletter today, but first things first: the Phillies are alive, and may be through their darkest hours.

In the email today:

• 😅 Phillies Win Epic NLDS Game 2

• 🏈 Eagles May Have a Washington Commanders Problem

• 👶 Flyers' Youth Movement Has Room for One More

  • 📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

  • 📊 Poll

  • 🔗 Links

  • 📺 Coming Up

They had us in the first half, I’m not gonna lie.

The situation was grim in the bottom of the sixth inning on Sunday. The Phillies trailed the Mets 3-0, on the verge of a two-game deficit in the NLDS.

But with two outs, Trea Turner singled. And then superstar Bryce Harper did a superstar thing, launching a ball over the centerfield fence to make it 3-2 and electrify the Citizens Bank Park Crowd.

Before the Mets knew what hit them, Nick Castellanos followed up with another home run to tie the game.

In another universe, the Phillies lost the game and sports talk radio would be focused on the home crowd booing Castellanos (and Castellanos possibly calling fans “these f**king people”).

But in this universe, after the Mets re-took the lead, Castellanos and Harper scored on a Bryson Stott triple in the eighth. And after the resilient New Yorkers tied the game at six in the ninth, Castellanos made one of his trademark sliding catches.

That’s already a pretty good night for the rightfielder. But he wasn’t done.

An incredible ending to an incredible game. The Mets and Phillies traded punches all night, but in the end the more desperate team prevailed. Now the series resets as a best-of-three, with the next two games played at Citi Field.

The Fightins live to fight another day.

The Eagles were favored to win the NFC East prior to the start of the season. It made enough sense. They were two seasons removed from a Super Bowl appearance. They were 10-1 at one point last season before it all fell apart.

But this season clearly hasn’t gone to plan. The head coach’s seat is still pretty hot. The Eagles probably needed this bye week as much or more than any other team in the NFL.

Except, even on their bye week, bad stuff keeps happening to the Eagles.

The Commanders’ win over the Browns was even more of a comprehensive ass-kicking than the final score indicated.

There are some basic reasons for the Commanders’ success. They are better-coached than last season. Their early schedule was a little soft.

But you can only play the teams on your schedule. The Commanders are now 4-1. They won’t be favored at Baltimore next week, but they will probably be favored at home against woeful Carolina in Week 7 and at home against Chicago in Week 8. That looks like 6-2, one way or another.

More to the point, though, the Commanders are better because for the first time in a very long time, their quarterback position is a significant strength.

When the Commanders selected Daniels with the #2 pick in the 2024 draft, there was understandably some snickering. The Commanders needed a lot more than one player to compete, so went the logic. They should have traded down, some suggested.

No one is laughing now. Through five weeks, Daniels is completing over 70% of his passes. His QBR is hovering around 100.

These numbers are due for regression. There is almost no chance that Daniels can finish the season completing 70% of his throws.

The problem for the Eagles is that they now no longer only need to concern themselves with what the Dallas Cowboys do every week. They have to scoreboard-watch the Commanders, too.

And then there’s this…the Eagles play the Browns next week.

Hard to argue with that.

At 19 years old, Matvei Michkov is the new fresh face of the Flyers. An awful lot of hope has been pinned on the young man’s back.

All indications are that Michkov will be joined on the Opening Night roster by another teenager:

We’ll forgive you if you don’t have a real read on Luchanko. That’s what we’re here for.

• Luchanko, an 18-year-old center, has participated in important practices on the third line.

• Head coach John Tortorella has praised Luchanko’s maturity, speed, and end-to-end game.

• Luchanko was drafted 13th overall from the OHL’s Guelph Storm, and is projected to be a valuable addition to the Flyers’ center corps.

• Despite some offensive struggles in the preseason, Luchanko’s work ethic and defensive awareness stood out.

• The Flyers can give him a nine-game trial without affecting his entry-level contract.

So it looks like Luchanko will be in the orange and black for a few weeks while the Flyers decide whether he’s ready for the NHL or needs to return to Guelph.

It has been a long time since the Flyers had young players their fans had legitimate reason to be excited about.

📆 This Day in Philly Sports History

Sunday was the 14th anniversary of Roy Halladay’s NLDS no-hitter against the Reds. Here’s how the Philadelphia Daily News looked the next day (October 7, 2010).

📊 Poll

The NLDS is now a best-of-three, with two games in New York followed by a possible game five in Philly.

Results from Friday:

🔗 Links

• 📈 Former Eagle (and St. Joe’s Prep standout) D’Andre Swift broke out for the Bears against the Panthers.

• ↗️ Penn State rose to #4 in the latest AP poll.

• ↘️ The Nittany Lions’ fortunes were helped by Vanderbilt beating Alabama for the first time in 40 years.

• 👀 The Ravens (-2.5) and Bengals played an instant overtime classic, with the outcome and the spread wagers decided on the last kick of the game.

• ⚽️ Lost in all the Phillies drama was the Union losing again, this time to Columbus on Saturday night, and all but killing their playoff hopes.

📺 Coming Up

Games before our next send.

October 7, 2024

Sixers vs. New Zealand Breakers (preseason exhibition), 7:00 p.m.

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.

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