Healthy Red October ⚾ | Sports Daily Newsletter

The Phillies certainly didn’t go unnoticed at the All-Star Game. They had six players take up a corner in the National League clubhouse at Globe Life Field. But what was even more noticeable was those who didn’t make it.

Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suárez weren’t All-Star snubs. They were voted onto the NL roster through the player balloting, but both were experiencing back soreness. So the Phillies made the call to have them rest over the All-Star break — and it was a wise move.

The Phillies’ starters are pitching deep into games. Their health is the team’s biggest priority as they look to make a playoff push into October, writes Scott Lauber.

— Isabella DiAmore, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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The price tag is likely too steep for Dave Dombrowski to get Chicago White Sox outfielder Luis Robert Jr. But he is one guy in this year’s trade market who would significantly move the needle for the Phillies offense, writes columnist David Murphy.

The Phillies are on a record pace, but the schedule gets tougher after the break. Let’s take a look at the road ahead.

Next: The Phillies will resume play after the All-Star break Friday on the road against the Pirates at 6:40 p.m. (NBC Sports Philadelphia).

Adem Bona is enjoying his learning experience as he adjusts to the NBA’s style. On the 76ers’ summer league team, the second-round draft pick has found ways to impact games without scoring. Bona is tied for fourth in blocked shots with an average of 3.0 per game. His goal is to “establish my place on the team.”

In Philly, some would say the offseason is Howie Roseman Szn, and this year the Eagles general manager had his biggest and best yet, writes columnist Marcus Hayes. Here are 10 moves he made that could tremendously help Jalen Hurts — as long as it all works out.

The Union’s last win on May 18 came over the same New England Revolution club they faced Wednesday night. They again left no doubt, picking up their first home win since April in a 5-1 thumping led by Kai Baribo’s hat trick. But the biggest story of the night was Cavan Sullivan, who at 14-years old, became the youngest player in MLS history to make his debut.

Next: The Union are back in action Saturday against Nashville at Subaru Park. (7:30 p.m./ Apple TV, MLS Season Pass)

Here’s a place to access your favorite Philadelphia teams’ statistics, schedules, and standings in real time.

If I wanted to see uniforms like these, I can go to the local playground and watch softball games for free.... just awful!!.... As Tevye, a big baseball fan, pleaded for in “Fiddler on the Roof”..... TRADITION!!! — Richard S.

I really liked their hats. The NL ones were OK, the AL ones were really ugly. — Kathy T.

No. As Harper said, let the players wear their team uniforms. This way you know what team they represent with straining to find a patch on their uniform or their fielding hat (plus, the American League uniform looked like a potato sack with lettering). — Rich K.

Boring. Let’s get a Tyler Temple student to design the next one. Now that would be genius. — Mark R.

Seriously? After the regular season fiasco you would have hoped that at least the All-Star jerseys would be some redemption. Nope. — Sam A.

I hate the All-Star uniforms! One of the joys of watching the game in the past was seeing the players in their team uniforms. Who is the genius that decided to have everyone in the same uniform? I don’t get it!! — Tom E.

Was good to see all our Phillies perform well. No, I do not like the uniforms. Players should wear their own home uniforms, and for the Phillies they should have been in their new blue home uniforms. — Everett S.

Those jerseys reminded me of a saying, when a normal person is asked how to improve something, he usually says “the prior version is fine...it works.” An engineer would say “it works now, but lets improve it,” as often observed, a change is not an improvement until the customers say it is. The very fact that you are asking the question about the uniforms today is proof that it was not an improvement to many or all. I didn’t like them as much as prior all star uniforms, like having all star uniform that distinguished between the American and National league, but using the regular player’s team cap without a change — stop changing the uniform each year. This better allows team identification and also the player’s home team. I would have liked to see three Phillies red caps in the infield. Putting the team emblem on a different background did not work. it was harder to tell the player, owing to this and the same league uniform. Change is not always progress. In 1985, Coca-Cola found this out when they changed the formula to New Coke to mimic Pepsi. It was a terrible mistake that took them a few years and millions of dollars to fully correct. In business we learned that you must first test a change, and test it correctly before implementing it. — John W.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from David Murphy, Keith Pompey, Scott Lauber, Jonathan Tannenwald, Lochlahn March, Isabella DiAmore, Gabriela Carroll, and Ben Istvan.

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.

Thanks for reading! Stay cool. Jim will be on the controls for Friday’s final newsletter of the week. — Isabella