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New York Times
01-06-2025
- General
- New York Times
Phillies' Jesús Luzardo felt at his best. Then he gave up 12 runs to the Brewers
Before rain and runs and raucous boos drove fans out of Citizens Bank Park on Saturday, Jesús Luzardo took the mound around 4 p.m. The Phillies lefty threw to catcher J.T. Realmuto as Mobb Deep's 'Survival of the Fittest' played, the crowd filing in and wind whipping around them. Luzardo felt good. No, not just good: 'My arm felt like a whip,' he said. It was the best he'd felt in a month and a half. Advertisement Then came a second-pitch single by Jackson Chourio, who soon stole second. A walk. A Christian Yelich line drive to left-field to score Chourio. A three-run homer that turned Philadelphia's beloved Rhys Hoskins into a booed enemy as he rounded the bases. Just like that, it was 4-0 Brewers with no outs in the first. 'I felt as athletic as I have all year,' Luzardo said. 'I think that's when I'm at my best: When I feel athletic, and that's why it was frustrating, how it went today.' Four earned runs became 12 for Luzardo during a disastrous fourth inning that featured a balk, eight runs and seven hits in 12 plate appearances as the Phillies lost 17-7, their biggest defeat of the season. The outing was not only the worst of Luzardo's seven-season career, in which he's been a hard-working strike-thrower when healthy, but also historically bad. Most Phillies fans weren't alive the last time a Phillies pitcher let up that many runs: June 28, 1947, when Al Jurisich allowed 14 in eight innings against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. Luzardo entered Saturday as one of the backbones of the Phillies' rotation. He'd allowed 16 earned runs and struck out 77 in 67 innings. His ERA sat at 2.15, rising to 3.58 after the loss. His chase, strikeout and whiff rate all hover above the 80th percentile in the league. Sure, he was coming off a relatively rough outing in West Sacramento: allowing a first-pitch homer to the A's Jacob Wilson, plus another two runs and eight more hits. But that's how reliable Luzardo had been since joining the Phillies: 'relatively rough' meant stumbling in the first and recovering to pitch seven innings. On Saturday, all bets were off. Luzardo didn't execute his pitches. A pick-off move he'd used since arriving in the majors was ruled a balk, prompting lots of arguing with the umpires — 'They did a great job not throwing me out,' Luzardo said — and manager Rob Thomson's ejection. The pitches that had worked for him, particularly his sweeper as an 'out' pitch against lefties, failed. He's drawn 62 swinging strikes off the pitch — 46 of those against lefties. His sweeper has a putaway percentage of 35.1, highest of all his pitches. Realmuto chalked up part of it to Milwaukee's lefty hitters just being good against the pitch; they have 16 base hits off sweepers this season, whereas the Phillies have seven. Advertisement But part of it was execution. And some of it was just bad baseball. Take a 86.9 mph sweeper to lefty Sal Frelick in the fourth. It left the bat at 78.4 mph, headed toward the outfield. No one called for the ball as right fielder Nick Castellanos and center fielder Brandon Marsh charged toward it. It should have been Marsh's ball, but Castellanos extended his arm to catch it. It ricocheted off the heel of his glove. Another base runner aboard with no outs. Next came a bunt bouncing in the infield that Luzardo sent past Alec Bohm at first base. He received an error on the throw, and the scoreboard turned to 5-0 as Frelick crossed home plate. That was just the beginning, really. It was much of the same from the first: The Brewers yanking poorly located fastballs — including another Hoskins three-run homer — and pitches well off the plate. Luzardo was pulled after making just one out in the fourth. 'The way he grinds, the way he battles and competes, you're thinking he's going to get out of it,' Thomson said. He did not, which was uncharacteristic. But so had been Luzardo's season to this point, the picture of durability after an injury-plagued 2024. The lefty reached 70 1/3 innings Saturday. It's more than he pitched in 2024 (66 2/3) and already ranks fourth among his seven seasons in the big leagues. But Luzardo has consistently said he feels comfortable. Nothing felt right about last year from the get-go. This year, he's felt healthy. Workload, he and Thomson said, played no factor in those nightmare innings. 'Velocity is still there,' Thomson said. 'I think the stuff is still there. There's some days where you just don't execute as well as others.' Among the Phillies' bigger problems Saturday was Luzardo's poor execution taxing an already taxed bullpen. Three relievers plus position player Weston Wilson let up a combined 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings. José Ruiz gave up five runs. Getting through the summer will be tough with the bullpen as constructed and with José Alvarado suspended 80 games for using a performance-enhancing drug. The situation is only made worse on occasions when the starters slip. Advertisement Slipping, still, remains rare for Luzardo. On Saturday, he did not have the command, but he still had the moxie that makes a starting pitcher a starter. The balk call by third-base umpire Chad Fairchild sent Luzardo, hands flaring, mouth running with the umpires before Thomson stepped in. They argued. Meanwhile, second baseman Bryson Stott was checked out by a trainer after being struck by the base runner. It was that kind of inning, that kind of day in Philadelphia.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mass Appeal Confirms New Albums from Nas, De La Soul, Mobb Deep
The post Mass Appeal Confirms New Albums from Nas, De La Soul, Mobb Deep appeared first on Consequence. Rap legend Nas' Mass Appeal Records continues to cater to traditionalists and oldheads with the announcement of its 'Legend Has It…' series, featuring seven new albums from New York hip-hop pioneers. New records from Nas & DJ Premier, De La Soul, and Mobb Deep are among the upcoming releases slated to drop before the end of 2025, along with Ghostface Killah's long-rumored Supreme Clientele 2, his Wu-Tang Clan cohort Raekwon the Chef's Emperor's New Clothes, and a posthumous Big L project, as well as 'the epic return of a surprise guest of honor.' Notably, De La Soul and Mobb Deep will each be releasing their first albums since the passing of respective members Trugoy the Dove and Prodigy. Many of these upcoming projects have been teased in some capacity. Nas and DJ Premier officially announced their collaborative project almost exactly one year ago, while De La Soul's Maseo told Kyle Meredith in 2023 that he and bandmate Posdnuos were working on their highly anticipated album AOI 3. This past February, longtime Mobb Deep collaborator The Alchemist broke the news that he would be co-producing a new Mobb Deep album with Havoc and mentioned Nas would be involved. No official release dates have been announced. Check out a teaser trailer below. Popular Posts Wife of Weezer Bassist Scott Shriner Shot By Police, Charged with Attempted Murder The 100 Best Guitarists of All Time Green Day Open Coachella With "American Idiot" Performance: "Not a Part of MAGA Agenda" Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne: Billy Corgan Was a "Raging A**hole" on Lollapalooza A Night of Mayhem: Lady Gaga's Coachella Performance Is One for the History Books Billy Idol on John Lydon's Sex Pistols Insults: "Of Course John's Gonna Be Pissed" Subscribe to Consequence's email digest and get the latest breaking news in music, film, and television, tour updates, access to exclusive giveaways, and more straight to your inbox.
