The confusing Phillies

Coming off the all-star break, the Phillies played the Chicago Cubs and were awful during the whole three-game series! They proceeded to get swept by the then-fourth place team in the Central Division. The second game was the worst, with Philly losing 15-2. The next series was against the defending World Series champion Atlanta Braves. The Phils played pretty well against them and won two out of three games.

The rest of the season looks like it will be a roller coaster. The team to watch will be the St. Louis Cardinals because they are going to be the Phillies’ chief rival for the last playoff position in the National League. I am looking forward to next Wednesday – the day after the trade deadline – to see if the Phillies can acquire any new players that might improve the team enough to be a contender. Being a true Phillies fan has been a real challenge the last 11 years, but I will remain loyal for now.

I can’t believe the summer is half over already! The Eagles and most NFL teams started their training camps, and there is a lot of optimism for the Eagles starting out this season because of two off-season acquisitions. There's AJ Brown, who is a very talented receiver from the Tennessee Titans. Apparently AJ Brown is best friends with our starting quarterback, Jalen Hurts. I'm hoping all this works out eventually as well as Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase from the Cincinnati Bengals. On the defensive side, there is Hassan Reddick who played linebacker for the Carolina Panthers. He is from Camden, N.J., and went to Temple for college. This is a big second year for the Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. I was not very impressed with him last year because he did not make very many adjustments during games when the defense was having difficulty, so we will see if he does a better job this year. Go Eagles.