⚾ Perfect memory | Sports Daily Newsletter

One of the greatest performances of Roy Halladay’s Hall of Fame career took place on a night when the Phillies were almost flying under the radar.

It was May 29, 2010, and not only were the Phillies playing in Miami on a Saturday during Memorial Day weekend, the Flyers were playing the Blackhawks in the Stanley Cup Final on the same night.

Then perfection happened and Tom McCarthy was there to make the call he still considers No. 1 on his all-time list. The Inquirer’s Scott Lauber rewatched Halladay’s perfect game and discussed it in detail on Phillies Extra with the Phillies play-by-play man.

McCarthy recalls the game reaching the late innings, “and I’m shaking, by the way. Like, it was weird. I looked at my hand at one point and I’m thinking, ‘Oh boy, like, this is why I’ve gotten into broadcasting,’ because it was the closest thing to being a player. Like that adrenaline rush of being a player.”

The experience was an emotional moment for McCarthy, made all the more poignant now with Halladay gone for more than seven years. The broadcaster remembers telling himself before making his call of the Hall of Fame moment: “Don’t screw it up and be as descriptive as you possibly can.”

— Jim Swan, @phillysport, [email protected].

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❓ What is the greatest performance by an athlete you ever saw in person? Email us back for a chance to be featured in the newsletter.

When a major league club holds a closed-door team meeting, it’s usually a sign that it has reached rock bottom. The Phillies can’t get much lower than a sweep at the hands of the bottom-feeding Pittsburgh Pirates. But even so, the team’s veterans haven’t seen a need to hold a meeting yet. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t dialogue throughout the clubhouse.

Brandon Marsh’s heroics in extras against the Cubs helped the Phillies snap a five-game losing streak on a night Zack Wheeler reached a couple of milestones.

Next: The Phillies continue their series against the Cubs at 6:45 tonight (NBCSP). Mick Abel (1-0, 0.79 ERA) will start against Cubs right-hander Colin Rea (4-2, 3.59).

One aspect of the $2.8 billion settlement in the House vs. NCAA case that cannot be ignored: Men’s basketball programs in the Big East are expected to have the most money at their disposal of any conference. Big East teams do not have Football Bowl Subdivision programs at their schools. This should give basketball teams like Villanova more available revenue, approaching $6 million on average per school, according to numbers presented at the Global NIL Summit and reported by ESPN. With that kind of backing, Marcus Hayes writes, the Wildcats will have no excuses for failure.

At this stage, pretty much everyone and their mother knows that Matthew Schaefer will be the No. 1 pick in this month’s NHL draft.

But while everyone knows what number Schaefer will be picked, few know why he wears the No. 48 on the back of his jersey. After some expert detective work from our own Jackie Spiegel, it turns out Schaefer dons the number for Flyers general manager Danny Brière … well, kind of.

Jackie has that story and more from a busy week in Buffalo at the NHL scouting combine.

A new documentary aims to inspire a generation of girls by showing that women can and do play baseball. See Her Be Her, a film directed by Jean Fruth, follows six women’s baseball players competing in the 2024 Women’s Baseball World Cup. The film details the lives of the athletes as they balance playing baseball for their countries and also shows efforts to grow the game overseas.

Says Fruth: “People just don’t realize how many women are out there playing baseball.”

When Philadelphia’s organizing committee made its pitch to host games in the 2026 World Cup, one of its selling points was the city’s mass transit system. Now SEPTA is in a funding crisis. Will it still be in place next year for soccer fans from around the world to use?

“I have confidence that the state legislature, the governor, the city will come together with SEPTA to find a solution,” said Meg Kane, the host city executive of Philadelphia’s committee. “We certainly support those efforts, and we will stand by and see what the next few months bring.”

Who holds the Phillies’ career record for strikeouts per nine innings with 9.916? First with the correct answer here will be featured in the newsletter.

A) Zack Wheeler

B) Aaron Nola

C) Cliff Lee

D) Vince Velasquez

We asked you: What is the key to a turnaround for the Phillies? Among your responses:

More discipline at the plate. More leadership from the vets and finally get the management to bust some heads! — Joe B.

… The manager is a problem in player and pitcher management. He has no enthusiasm and no ferocity when it is needed. Ho-hum! The fix is to trade Nick C. (he can’t hit when it counts) if anyone wants him and get new life in the outfield. Kepler is a no show as well as Rojas and as much as I like Marsh his hitting is anemic. Stott needs to go down the lineup as he has fallen into last year’s slump. Play Marchan every other day as J.T. is not a help in his lack of hitting. Turner stays leadoff, Otto should play every day so he can develop into a starter, and trade for someone who brings a hitter’s mentality. The bullpen is what it is and will be difficult to fix. — Vince O.

Oh if only there was just one fix. First off, you can’t win games if you can’t hit the ball. Second, our bullpen stinks. In all my years as a fan, that has always been our weakest link. Every time he takes the starter out (often too early) I hold my breath. And lastly, get a reliable relief pitcher at the trade deadline. Anyone who isn’t Jordan Romano would do a better job. — Kathy T.

Obviously what’s most important is Harper in the lineup. He’s the heart and soul of the team. His absence and the offensive struggles also expose defensive issues. Sosa can play third, but Trea, the team’s best hitter, still struggles at short, and the best defensive outfield would have Marsh in left and Rojas in center. In the meantime, amazingly, the Phils are still a wild card. — Joel G.

Dombrowski is going to have to trade Ranger Suarez to bring in an impact bat, preferably an outfielder and the Red Sox are the perfect partner since they are loaded with outfielders and need another starter. — J.D.

Fire Topper and replace him with a manager who knows when to change pitchers. Have a serious chat with Kevin Long about the hitting struggles. Bring up Justin Crawford and Painter. Trade Walker, Kepler, Marsh, Rojas or whatever it takes to get a right-handed power hitter, and if unable, then move Turner to left field. Use Marchan more against right-handers to give JT some much needed rest. Patch up Bryce ASAP. And lastly get much better judges of talent to make draft decisions. Phillies have a terrible record of 1st round choices while passing on players like Aaron Judge etc. — Everett S.

The Phillies need to do what the 1980 championship team had to do. Bring in someone like Dallas Green with a no-nonsense approach who demands that the players work hard and never give up. I understand that everyone likes Thomson but the manager’s job isn’t to be everyone’s best buddy. He is supposed to teach and lead these guys with the appropriate guidance and discipline required to succeed in this very competitive environment. The current Phillies show no fight and their lack of hustle, both offensively and defensively, is becoming more painfully obvious with every game. — Bob A.

Easy. Fire the manager. The team has consistently underperformed on his watch. He was an odd choice. Why fire Girardi and elevate his right-hand man, a guy with no managing experience? Bring local guy Joe Maddon out of retirement. Do things right. Light a fire. — Dirk D.

Hopefully the GM will fire the manager first thing Monday morning before this season completely implodes. When you do the same things game after game and get the same poor results, it’s time for a change. And while he’s at it, he should also consider firing himself. Every free agent outfielder he’s signed over the last three seasons has been garbage. Every free agent bullpen pitcher he’s signed over the past three seasons has been slop except for Jeff Hoffman and he let him walk to Toronto. His talent evaluation is just plain poor. Possibly ownership should consider bringing Howie over from the Eagles for a few months to right the ship! — Ronald R.

Put Harper on the 60 day IL and send Johan Rojas to triple A. Bring up Justin Crawford. Get Kyle signed up for 3 more years. — John M.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Scott Lauber, Lochlahn March, Marcus Hayes, Jackie Spiegel, Jonathan Tannenwald, Matt Breen, Devin Jackson, Keith Pompey, Gabriela Carroll, and Owen Hewitt.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

Thank you for reading Sports Daily. Bella will be at the newsletter controls on Wednesday. — Jim