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| Lead Photo · Derek Hill rounds the bases at Nationals Park |
The Lead · Phillies Down to their last strike. Again. Winners anyway. Again. |
| THURSDAY · JUNE 25, 2026 | No. 16 |
Two nights, two ninth innings, two times the Phillies were one strike from a loss at Nationals Park. Both times they walked out winners. This team has officially lost its mind. Wednesday’s hero was Derek Hill — a guy the Phillies pried from the White Sox 13 days ago for two prospects nobody can name — who strolled off the bench with a toothpick in his mouth and launched a 1-2 pitch into the right-field seats for a go-ahead two-run homer and a 5–4 win. It was the exact lefty-on-lefty matchup they traded for, in the exact spot you’d draw it up: ninth inning, last strike, game on the line. A Schwarber pinch-hit walk on a bad back set it up, and Duran slammed the door. Per OptaStats, the Phillies are the only team in the modern era to fall to their final strike with nobody on in the ninth on back-to-back nights and win both. Possessed is the only word that fits. |
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★ The Stoop ★ The word on every team, neighbor to neighbor |
| Eagles GOOD RIDDANCE Bryce Huff used his post-Philly press tour to pin his Eagles flop on the fans and the bad vibes — not his 2.5 sacks in 12 games — and said he “lost respect” for the team after the Super Bowl scratch. Two and a half sacks on a $51 million deal, and somehow we’re the problem. Eagles report → |
| Phillies RESURRECTION The night before Hill’s heroics, the Phillies trailed 8–6 with two outs and nobody on in the ninth — then hung eight runs to win 14–9, powered by Marsh’s game-tying shot and Stott’s three-run bomb. Two final-strike escapes in two nights. This team does not believe in death. Phillies report → |
| Sixers GOOD VALUE The first pick of the Mike Gansey era is Alabama guard Labaron Philon at 22 — a 22-a-night scorer who hit 39.9% from three and slid further than the tape says he should have. Now go find him minutes in a backcourt that’s already stacked. Good problem to have, mostly. Sixers report → |
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★ What to Watch | Friday NHL Draft opens June 26. Danny Briere already swung the Woll deal — the Flyers have cap room and aren’t done shopping. | | This Week Phillies come home to Citizens Bank Park after taking three of four in D.C. — bring the ninth-inning magic with you. | | July All-Star Week hits Philly: the Game at Citizens Bank Park, the Red Carpet Show free at Independence Mall. | | On the Site Why all that Jalen Carter trade talk is a year too early. |
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Trending The WNBA let Caitlin Clark get a hand to the neck on national TV and called nothing. Clark was torching Phoenix — 19 points, 8 dimes, 75% from three — until a grab to the neck and a step on the back sent her out with a back injury while the officials studied their shoelaces. She drew a technical for clapping two days ago; this league will whistle everything except the one thing that actually happened. The full thing → |
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PHILADELPHIA → DALLAS Eagles at Cowboys · Thanksgiving · Nov 26 · 4:25 PM |
| 7-1TLL's record on Phans road trips since 2022 |
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The schedule gods handed us Cowboys–Eagles on Thanksgiving, and the trip is already moving — flights, a block of rooms near the action, and the green takeover that turns AT&T Stadium into a road game for the home team. ● 31 SPOTS LEFT |
| Lock In Before It Fills → |
| phansofphilly.com |
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Two strikes from dead on back-to-back nights, and they buried the Nationals both times. Keep the ninth inning on this summer — this team isn’t done scaring people. ★ — TLL |
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