Bucks County authorities have charged a nurse with child endangerment for allegedly harming a Bensalem 3-year-old for whom she was providing in-home services, according to a criminal complaint filed last week.
The parents of the child reported Cindy Desser to child welfare authorities after seeing home surveillance video footage in which she “smacked and slammed” the child, who was born early and has “multiple medical issues,” according to the complaint filed by Bensalem police.
The child “lives with a trachea,” according to the complaint, and one video showed the Desser “pull the trach out” and take “her time putting the trachea back in.” The child could be heard “gasping for air,” and Desser, who was the child’s “night nurse,” was recorded saying, “You did this,” the document said.
An attorney for Desser did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The family hired Desser, who lives in Jamison, Pa., through Dynamic Home Health Care, according to the complaint. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
The parents told the channel they wished to remain anonymous.
“Thank God my daughter is so strong,” the mother told 6ABC. “It was just horrific. I just couldn’t believe it. It’s like almost like monsters come out at night.”
ALLENTOWN — Zack Wheeler didn’t have to subject himself to this.
In planning out where to pitch in a game for the first time since having a rib removed to relieve a compressed vein 186 days ago, the Phillies ace could have opted for the warmth of Clearwater, Fla., where the A-ball season will begin in a few days.
But Wheeler, whose recovery already is tracking ahead of schedule by several weeks, wanted a bigger test. He took the mound here, then, amid a 46-degree chill Saturday, then threw cold water all over a lineup of triple-A batters.
“It was really my choice,” Wheeler said after holding Toledo, the Tigers’ triple-A club, to two hits and one walk on 38 pitches in three scoreless innings. “I wanted to see more competitive at-bats and more competitive situations. I knew it was going to be cold, but at the end of the day, this is probably where I need to be facing hitters.”
Everyone got what they came for.
Wheeler threw each of his pitches — four-seam fastball, sinker, sweeper, cutter/slider, curveball, and splitter — to a lineup that included outfielder Wenceel Pérez and top Tigers prospects Max Clark and Jace Jung. His fastball sat 92-94 mph, slightly better than in spring training, before dipping in the third inning. His curveball was especially sharp.
Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Zack Wheeler long tosses at spring training in Clearwater, Fla. on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026.
And the IronPigs, the Phillies’ Lehigh Valley-based triple-A affiliate, got to stage “Rehab Ribs Night,” complete with a barbecue buffet in the left-field stands above the bullpen that began an hour before the game and ran through the middle innings for an announced crowd of 6,740.
“It’s a little aggressive,” Wheeler said, smiling. “Made my bone hurt a little bit, and it’s not even there. No, whatever can help these guys out. It’s minor league baseball. They run a bunch of promotions. Whatever makes a little bit of money, I’m here for it, I guess.”
Phillies reliever Orion Kerkering was here, too. He followed Wheeler into the game and threw 10 pitches, including two of his newly minted splitters, in a scoreless fourth inning.
Wheeler and Kerkering returned to Philadelphia after the game but will rejoin the IronPigs next week in Durham, N.C. Kerkering expects to make back-to-back appearances Tuesday and Wednesday before possibly coming off the injured list; Wheeler will start Friday night, then make at least one more minor league start for double-A Reading.
After that? He could join the Phillies’ rotation.
Certainly nothing that happened in his first start for Lehigh Valley suggested otherwise.
“Yeah, it went well, obviously,” Wheeler said. “Felt good. At the end of the day, coming out of it healthy is really all that mattered to me.”
Wheeler produced seven swings-and-misses, four of which came off his curveball. He struck out Pérez on a curveball to open the game and got Trei Cruz to chase a breaking ball in the dirt to end the first inning, probably his best pitch of the start.
But despite the results, Wheeler said he wasn’t necessarily satisfied with the spin on his off-speed pitches.
“Whether it be the curve, sweeper, or even the cutter, they weren’t doing necessarily what I needed them to do,” Wheeler said. “But the curveball, it had good shape on it and it was moving so much that it was effective. It’s something that’ll come with more reps and the higher intent and stuff.”
Jung had the only hard-hit ball against Wheeler, a scalded single to right field that registered 109.5 mph off the bat. Otherwise, Wheeler got mostly soft contract. All three strikeouts came in the first inning.
Wheeler, who lost considerable weight after the surgery, said he’s still about 10 pounds lighter than usual for this time of the season. Maybe it has something to do with why he didn’t feel as comfortable pitching out of the stretch in spring training.
But he was encouraged by his effectiveness out of the stretch. Two of his higher-velocity readings — a 94-mph sinker and a 94.3-mph four-seamer — came out of the stretch to Eduardo Valencia in the first inning.
Wheeler credited a recent mechanical tweak with pitching coach Caleb Cotham in the way he comes set with his front foot.
“Just kind of thinking back over the years, what’s worked for me, we made a little adjustment and today I felt a lot better, more in sync-wise,” Wheeler said. “Sometimes you just need those little reminders along the way even though I’ve been doing it for a while. Sometimes it’s the small stuff that you kind of need to nail down as you build up.”
Phillies pitcher Orion Kerkering, seen here in a simulated game earlier this spring, threw 10 pitches in a scoreless fourth inning on Saturday.
If you blinked, you missed Kerkering.
He was slowed in spring training by a strained right hamstring. He also is introducing the splitter to complement his fastball-sweeper tandem. He spiked one in the dirt and got Cruz to foul off another. It remains a work in progress.
“I think I’m comfortable right now that I can go into a big league game and throw a split,” Kerkering said. “I think tweaking it here, knowing what guys see, kind of judging their swings and trying to reevaluate from there, I think that’s what’s helpful.”
FORT WORTH, Texas — UConn coach Geno Auriemma is ripping the double-regional format being used in the women’s NCAA Tournament, saying it doesn’t make sense for the teams still playing or for efforts to grow the game.
Auriemma brought up attendance, bad shooting percentages, and teams having to come to the arena early and late on the same day when taking aim at the format that’s in place for the fourth year and set to continue for at least five more.
“Well, I think the first question you’d have to ask is why did they go from four [sites] to two. What was the rationale?” the 12-time national champion coach, who grew up in Norristown and graduated from Bishop Kenrick High School and West Chester University, said Saturday. “If they can explain it legitimately and then prove that it works, then great. So what was the reason?”
NCAA officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from ghe Associated Press.
Hannah Hidalgo (3), Malaya Cowles (5), Iyana Moore (23), and their Notre Dame teammates will face UConn on Sunday.
The Huskies held their required media availability Saturday morning, after the Fighting Irish had already completed their session and before two Sweet 16 games in Fort Worth Regional 3 were played at Dickies Arena. UConn and Notre Dame had scheduled practice times there later in the evening.
“So we had to get our kids up, come over here. You already knew who we were playing last night, but we can’t get on the court, and neither can the other teams,” Auriemma said. “Does anybody who makes these decisions ever ask the coaches and the players, ‘Hey, does this work?’”
“Everyone’s trying to figure that out right now,” Fudd said. “Every team is going through that. There’s no excuse in that. So we’ll figure it out. We’re making it work, but it definitely isn’t the most ideal setup.”
Auriemma, the winningest men’s or women’s NCAA basketball coach with 1,287 victories, didn’t wait for a question from reporters to share his thoughts on the format, opening his session by reading a sequence of numbers off a piece of paper: 4 for 20, 4 for 22, 1 for 17, 5 for 17, 4 for 16, 7 for 26.
“That’s the three-point shooting yesterday across the country. How many arenas are we going to sell out with that [expletive]?” he said. “Now, maybe it was just a bad day shooting by everybody. These are all teams that average probably 30 [percent], over 30, for the season. Know what time our shootaround was yesterday? Six in the morning, 6:20, I think, for half an hour.”
He also mentioned the total combined attendance (18,821 announced) at the two venues Friday, in Fort Worth and Sacramento, Calif.
UCLA coach Cori Close, whose team is the top seed in Sacramento Regional 2 and plays Duke in an Elite Eight game on Sunday, said it is important to get maximum exposure and coverage while also looking for the best setup to have high-level basketball played on the court.
“I think that I was in favor of going to the two regional sites when that happened,” Close said. “I think every year we should look and go, Where are we in our game? How did this play out, efficiency-wise, from a student-athlete wellbeing side. Is there some ways in which we can organize to make things a little bit more cohesive so teams aren’t going back and forth from media coverage to practices later and those kinds of things?’”
Auriemma said there is a lack of input from coaches, and that nothing changes, even when the NCAA sends representatives to schools every year after the tournament.
“Hopefully I’m speaking for the other coaches,” he said. “Some coaches might think I’m full of it. And this is not about UConn. I hope everybody understands that. This is not about us, because we’ve managed to go to the Final Four and win national championships, no matter where they’re played, when they’re played, what time they’re played, whatever.
“I think there is a level of frustration right now among the coaches that’s higher than any time I’ve ever seen it.”
Duke coach Kara Lawson would like more practice time on the game court, especially more than the designated half-hour on game days for shootarounds, which routinely last about an hour the rest of the season.
“That would be the only thing I’d change. I mean two regionals, I think the arena thing is the thing that’s hard,” Lawson said. “It’s not that we’re in the same city, it’s that we don’t get long enough practice or shootaround times in the venue for your most important games of the season.”
For the second day in a row, Auriemma mentioned new rims and new basketballs being used during NCAA Tournament games and the impact those have on shooting.
“It’s hard to make shots in the postseason. They just break out these new baskets, new rims, and then it gets in the kids’ heads,” Auriemma said Friday after UConn’s 63-42 win over North Carolina, in which the teams were a combined 8 of 42 on three-pointers.
The coach on Saturday again brought up “new basketballs right out of the box” and the rims.
“Got people dribbling the ball off their feet,” he said. “You got people missing layups all over the place. You bounce the ball, and it goes up to the ceiling. There’s just no concept of how basketball is played. Not that I have any of the answers. Believe me, I just have questions.”
In step with demonstrators nationwide Saturday, thousands took to streets across the Philadelphia region — from Center City, to Ardmore, to Camden — denouncing President Donald Trump, his policies, and his administration.
It was the third No Kings protest in roughly nine months, signaling the breadth of dissent and concern over what protesters see as Trump’s authoritarianism and his attempts to consolidate and expand his power. Protesters condemned the gamut of the president’s agenda, including escalating immigration enforcement, the war in Iran and rising gas prices at home, and the dismantling of foreign aid programs.
“The people in power are making decisions that they won’t have to live through,” said Electra Powers, who brought her Grays Ferry family to the demonstration outside Philadelphia City Hall. “The future they’re setting up for our kids is horrible.”
On a brisk March afternoon, chants reverberated throughout Center City, drums beat in time, and homemade signs swung as participants marched down the Ben Franklin Parkway to a rally at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Near City Hall’s north entrance, Meoshe McQueen unfurled a large American flag, a tribute to her father, she said, who served as an airman in World War II.
“My father fought for equality and justice,” the North Philly native said. “The world we live in today threatens that. We want fairness, regardless of a person’s color, creed, or race. None of that matters.”
“We need a world where kids can be safe, and not hauled off based on the color of their skin,” said Pamela Schott of Jenkintown, who held up a sign pleading for “peace and safety” for her grandchildren.
Energy was also building in pockets of the region where Trump has more political capital, and those who oppose the president feel their voices drowned out.
“I grew up in an America where I saw change for the good,” said Betsy Tucker of Bucks County. “Now, I’ve seen that change ripped away.”
Michelle Dupree, 67, was one of the first of roughly 150 people at the Northeast Philly No Kings rally at Bustleton Field. She had hoped more people would show up in the Northeast.
She was tired. But not defeated.
“It’s important to me,” she said, waving her sign for the modest, but steady stream of drivers, who registered their approval with a honk or three. “My knees hurt. My back hurts. It’s so frustrating to be at home and to watch the news — you want to scream. You want to be heard.”
Olivia Hayes was among a couple thousand ralliers in Ardmore. Hayes was cheered by reports of robust crowds at No Kings events in other suburban spots, like Wayne and nearby Havertown. For a few hours, at least, a sense of pride pierced the anger and hopelessness, she said.
“It’s great to see such a community,” she said. “When you’re in your day-to-day life, and not around so many people, it can be hard to have hope.”
Betsy and Al Tucker attend the Northeast Philly No Kings protest on Saturday.
Across the river, Camden hosted its first No Kings protest (previous events were held in Collingswood and Haddon Heights). The change in locale was driven by increased immigration enforcement and presence in the area, said Michele Messer, of Cooper River Indivisible. Camden city’s population is about 54% Hispanic, according to U.S. Census data. Last month, a nearby ICE operation made a group of Camden County fourth graders and fifth graders run away from a bus stop in a panic, according to the Lindenwold School District.
“We’re a united front,” she said, “no matter where you land on the political spectrum, we need to work together and build coalitions to fight back against what this administration continues to try to pile on us.
“And the stronger that fabric, the stronger we’ll be.”
In a statement to the Associated Press, the White House dismissed the nationwide protests as the product of “leftist funding networks” with little real public support.
Center City attendees said the sense of urgency is growing.
“We wanted to show our support for the movement,” Peter Maiolino said. “If we weren’t outraged last time, we definitely are now.
“Things have only gotten worse.”
In a video message to the crowd, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle — who was stuck in Washington, D.C., as congressional leaders haggle over the partial government shutdown, which has forced Transportation Security Administration employees to work for weeks without pay — encouraged people to continue their protest, even after the rally concluded.
“This is a fight we cannot lose, but we need to be crystal clear about what is that stake in this country,” Boyle (D., Philadelphia) said. “Our president is more concerned about building his ‘big beautiful ballroom’ than he is about the poor and working-class people in this country.”
Avenging The Ancestors Coalition (ATAC) leader and attorney Michael Coard echoed Boyle’s sentiments, calling the attendees “the revolution.” ATAC stewarded the President’s House Site on Independence Mall, a slavery memorial removed — and later partially restored by court order — in what some have called an attempt by the Trump administration to sanitize history.
Michael Coard, of the Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, speaks Saturday at the third No Kings rally in Philadelphia.
“When I say fascism, I want you to know that I say it without hyperbole,” he said. “Today America is where Italy was in 1926, but we are not going to do the same. We are going to fight a good fight and we are going to win.”
The No Kings’ trajectory has been atypical compared to other social movements, where enthusiasm historically wanes over time, according to Billie Murray, an associate professor of communication at Villanova University. No Kings has, instead, gained momentum: Organizers say more than 5 million people took to the streets in June, followed by more than 7 million in October. Organizers projected 9 million people would participate Saturday.
“The issues don’t seem to be getting resolved,” Murray said, “people see that as a motivating factor — ‘We have to keep pushing, we have to keep trying, we have to keep organizing.’ … People aren’t seeing the change that they want to see.”
Garrett Stubbs is remaining in the Phillies organization.
The team announced Saturday that the catcher has cleared waivers and has been outrighted to triple-A Lehigh Valley. Stubbs had been designated for assignment on Wednesday.
The Phillies had searched for a trade partner for Stubbs, who also saw time in the outfield and at third base this spring, to potentially find a major league opportunity for him last week. Stubbs, 32, could have elected free agency after clearing waivers, but he accepted the minor league assignment and the Phillies retain some crucial catching depth at triple A.
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said this week that on a personal level, he had hoped Stubbs would find a major league job, but from a Phillies perspective he hoped he would stay in the organization.
“He’s meant so much to this place, the energy that he brings, the type of teammate that he is, and he’s a good player, too,” Thomson said. “Unfortunately, when he was here, he was behind the best catcher in baseball, so he didn’t get a whole lot of playing time, but I think he showed us enough in spring training that he’s a potential super utility guy.”
Stubbs spent most of last season with the IronPigs, where he hit .265 with a .754 OPS in 71 games. He has a career .215 batting average and .603 OPS in 197 games with the Phillies and Houston Astros.
The Phillies opted to keep Rafael Marchán, a 27-year-old switch-hitter, as J.T. Realmuto’s backup for the second consecutive season. During spring training, the Phillies considered keeping Stubbs on the roster as the 26th man, which was why he took reps at other defensive positions than catcher. That spot ultimately went to former Gold Glove utility player Dylan Moore.
Thomson said that the conversation he had with Stubbs informing him that he had not made the team was one of the toughest of his career.
deGrom scratched
Several hours before first pitch on Saturday at a chilly Citizens Bank Park, Texas Rangers starting right-handed pitcher Jacob deGrom was scratched from the game with neck stiffness. Lefty Jacob Latz started in his place.
Thomson opted not to change his batting order after the pitching change, with Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh both remaining in the lineup against the left-hander rather than drawing out for their right-handed platoon partners Edmundo Sosa and Otto Kemp.
Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh will remain in the lineup against Texas left-handed pitcher Jacob Latz.
The Phillies are expecting to face a string of left-handed starters this homestand, and Thomson said he did not want Stott or Marsh sitting on the bench for too many days in a row, especially following Friday’s off day.
Extra bases
Zack Wheeler (thoracic outlet decompression surgery) and Orion Kerkering (hamstring strain) both began rehab assignments on Saturday in Lehigh Valley. Wheeler is scheduled to start again Friday in Durham in triple A, and will make another start after that for double-A Reading. Kerkering is next scheduled to pitch a back-to-back on Tuesday and Wednesday in triple A. … Jesús Luzardo is scheduled to start Sunday (1:35 p.m., NBCSP) against Rangers lefty MacKenzie Gore. The Phillies announced Saturday that The Jesús Luzardo Family Foundation has pledged to donate $150 to the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs of Philadelphia for every strikeout he records this year.
DETROIT ― While everyone waited with bated breath to see if there was one more move the Flyers were going to make at the buzzer of the NHL trade deadline, a tweet went out.
“Roster update: We have claimed forward Luke Glendening off waivers,” the post read.
It was a bit surprising, considering everyone was hoping for that 1C or 1D to find their way to Philly. Instead, the Flyers picked up a gritty veteran from the New Jersey Devils who can play wing and center.
The move may have appeared to be a minor one, but the 36-year-old has slotted in nicely on the fourth line with Sean Couturier and Garnet Hathaway, and on the penalty kill.
But what he has also brought is something that the Flyers were severely lacking. Entering the season, the Flyers’ five centers — Christian Dvorak, Trevor Zegras, Couturier, Noah Cates, and Rodrigo Ābols — are all left-handed. Glendening, who came to Philly with a career 55.6% winning percentage in the faceoff circle, is a righty.
“It really has added a lot to our team,” coach Rick Tocchet said of having a right-handed center whom Jon Cooper raved to him about. “Think, since I put that line together, they’re an identity line for us. But it’s also on the PK, having that right-handed shot — Coots all year has done a nice job [but] it’s hard to play both dots all the time — so it is a luxury.”
Having a righty is more important than most realize, especially in the defensive zone when the faceoff is in the right circle, which would be Couturier’s weak side, because his stick would line up angled to the net, not the boards. Teams would take advantage of that, especially on icings where the offensive team dictates the circle used; however, with Glendening, things are evened out.
“He’s a smart, reliable defensive player, really strong on faceoffs. Used to hate going against him in the draws; it was always a battle,” Couturier said. “Probably chopped your wrist off if you got too low. So it’s nice to have it on my side.”
Glendening has four points (one goal, three assists) and a 60% winning rate on faceoffs since joining the Flyers. He will suit up on Saturday for his eighth game with the Orange and Black in one of the biggest games of the season against the Detroit Red Wings (8 p.m., ABC) in an all-too-familiar place.
About 2½ hours northwest of Detroit in Grand Rapids, Glendening grew up playing hockey. He didn’t join the famous Little Caesars Hockey program, which has produced over 100 pros like former Flyers John Vanbiesbrouck, Mike Knuble, and Derian Hatcher.
Luke Glendening was acquired by the Flyers during the NHL trade deadline.
Instead, he played four years of hockey at East Grand Rapids High School and a year at The Hotchkiss School in Connecticut. He spent four years at the University of Michigan, where he served as captain for two years and went to the national championship as a junior. (The Wolverines lost to Minnesota-Duluth, where Cates played, and “He’ll always have that over me,” the older Glendening joked, with the two teams meeting again in a regional final on Sunday.)
After playing three games with Providence of the American Hockey League on a tryout agreement once his college career was over, he signed a deal with his hometown Grand Rapids Griffins. Glendening spent most of the season in Michigan, but also suited up for 27 games with Toledo of the ECHL.
The next summer, he inked a deal with his childhood team, the Red Wings, and made his NHL debut, somewhat fittingly now in hindsight, against the Flyers.
“I think dream come true is probably overused, but for me, it really was,” he said. “I signed in the American League, played in the Coast [ECHL], and never thought that I was going to play in the NHL, and then to get a chance to play with my hometown team was really special.”
Glendening spent eight seasons with the Red Wings, even playing for his childhood favorite-turned-team-general-manager, Steve Yzerman, toward the end. He was with the Dallas Stars, who the Flyers see on Sunday at home (7 p.m., NBCSP) for two seasons, two seasons with Cooper and the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Devils this season.
It’s always special for the Michigander to not just come back home — he’ll have a family contingent in the crowd — but to the first place he stepped onto the ice as an NHLer.
When you mention to him that he’s inching toward 1,000 NHL games, Glendening will humbly say he’s not really that close. But, if he plays the rest of the way this season and 65 the next, he’ll hit the milestone mark.
“I’ve just always found joy in the journey, I guess would be the best way to put it,” he said.
“It’s been a huge blessing to be around this league. There’s been many different stops along the way, and times when I didn’t know if it was going to continue, but just thankful for each and every day I get.”
Breakaways
Dan Vladař will start in goal for the Flyers. The expectation is that Sam Ersson will then tend the twine on Sunday against Dallas. Forward Tyson Foerster made the trip and participated in morning skate in a regular jersey. Per Tocchet, don’t read too much into it as morning skate prep work was not a contact-heavy skate.
The New York Sirens and Montreal Victoire of the PWHL played at 1 p.m. to a packed house at Little Caesars Arena.
It’s never fashionable to be optimistic about sports in Philadelphia, but at this moment, convention be damned.
It’s been maybe 16 years since all four Philadelphia teams provided as much near-future hope as they provided in a 24-hour period between Wednesday night and Thursday night.
The Sixers won, then the Eagles got great news, then the Phillies won, then the Flyers won. Hurrah.
I understand the reluctance to embrace this wellspring of positivity, and I realize that everything could go south with the next twinge in Joel Embiid‘s knee. But hope springs eternal, and it’s only been a week since spring has sprung, so enjoy the warmth of the weather and the moment.
Nothing happened Friday, so Philly entered the weekend on an unaccustomed high.
On Wednesday, the Sixers beat the Bulls by 20. They scored 157 points, their most in 56 years. They did it without their best player, Tyrese Maxey.
The Flyers beat the Blackhawks and did it without their best, or at least their most important player, Dan Vladař.
Sixers
The Sixers went first, and best. Granted, the Bulls are 14 games under .500, but Paul George, in his return from a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s antidrug policy, looked like he’s 25, not 35, for one game at least. Embiid seemed to realize his limitations, in that he didn’t play like a freshman trying to make varsity.
More than anything, though, rookie VJ Edgecombe, the franchise’s most exciting true rookie since Allen Iverson, took his latest step forward. In his last four games — all without Maxey and the first three without Embiid and George — Edgecombe averaged 29.3 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 6.3 assists. He shot 54.8% from the floor and hit 48.4% of his three-pointers.
Considering the abysmal state of the Eastern Conference — Detroit’s Cade Cunningham is injured, the Celtics are flawed, the Knicks are a mirage, and the Cavaliers have James Harden — a fully fortified Sixers lineup can beat almost anyone.
Joel Embiid returned from a 13-game absence in the Sixers’ 20-point win on Wednesday.
Maxey and Kelly Oubre Jr. also returned Saturday.
Sixers coach Nick Nurse was so happy about the previous and imminent returns that he actually smiled after Friday’s practice.
“I’m certainly more optimistic now,” said Nurse, who considers the recent dependency on reserves as building depth that otherwise would not exist. “If you add all those things up — other guys getting valuable growth, and these guys coming back — the sum of all of that together could be pretty good.”
Edgecombe might wear down, but the other four starters should be fresh.
“Definitely got some good rest,” said Maxey, who leads the league at 38.3 minutes per game.
Again, with this assemblage of vanity and fragility, anything can happen. The Sixers are scheduled to visit the surging Hornets on Saturday and the dangerous Heat on Monday, which will provide a better sense of where this team is right now.
Birds
The Eagles struggled last season mainly because of injuries along their offensive line, the best unit during their 13-year run of relevance. Early Friday afternoon, news broke that Pro Bowl center Cam Jurgens was saying the stem cell treatments on his back were already working.
Wheeler, who had a rib removed to address thoracic outlet syndrome, was scheduled to begin a 30-day rehab stint on Saturday — 60 days early.
Last year’s cleanup hitter, Alec Bohm, batting cleanup on opening day, hit a three-run homer, a few weeks after Bryce Harper opened spring training by ripping last year’s cleanup hitters. Bohm did this on the day news broke that he’s suing his own parents for ripping him off.
Andrew Painter, who lost two seasons to elbow surgery then stunk in triple A in 2025, gave up just three runs in four starts in spring training. He’s scheduled to pitch Tuesday against the visiting Nationals.
Flyers
The Flyers are 10-3-1 in their last 14 games. With 82 points they’re unlikely to make the playoffs — they trail the last wild-card spot by five points and have to get past three teams — but they’re playing very good hockey, and with 11 games to play, they could reach the 90-point mark for the first time since 2018. Second-year talent Matvei Michkov has matured. Vladař and veteran defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen are under contract through next season.
And it might be next season before the Flyers really matter.
However, for the rest of the teams, the time is now.
Three days before Temple’s women’s lacrosse season opener, Bonnie Rosen had an unexpected visitor join the longtime coach and her team at practice.
Two trumpeter swans, a protected bird species not native to Philadelphia, flew onto Howarth Field, giving Rosen another new experience in her coaching journey. One flew off, but the other hung around.
Rosen and the team spent the day working with a biology professor from Temple and a volunteer animal rescuer to capture and properly release the swan. It was something Rosen never thought she would be doing.
“It’s never a dull moment and there’s always something new,” said Rosen, who has been at the helm for 20 years at Temple.
It was just the latest memory in a career full of success for Rosen. Her achievements stack up against some of the best to ever coach women’s lacrosse. She has more than 230 career wins, has been to 12 conference tournaments, two NCAA Tournaments and is a member of both the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.
Through the years, Rosen has adapted to the changes in the sport. After a down 2025 season, she led the Owls to eight straight wins to open 2026, their best start since 1988, when they went undefeated and won the national championship. Temple is 8-4.
“I’m just super grateful to be doing something that I love and didn’t know when I was growing up that this is what I was going to do,” Rosen said. “But it’s been a great journey and I hope I have many, many, many more years to coach.”
Unlocking a passion
Rosen, a Bala Cynwyd native, was a standout lacrosse and field hockey player at Harriton High School. She played both sports at the University of Virginia, winning a lacrosse national championship in 1991 and being named MVP in both sports as a senior.
She played 13 years on the U.S. women’s national lacrosse team, where she won gold medals in 1997 and 2001 in the World Cup championships.
Coaching never really crossed her mind, as she had other career interests.
“The people I met are what kind of drove me into coaching,” Rosen said. “I was on track and was really interested in being a physical therapist. I really enjoy the medicine side of things. I really enjoy working with people and that was kind of my plan.”
Before Temple, Bonnie Rosen got her start as an assistant coach at Yale under Amanda O’Leary.
When Rosen crossed paths with former Temple standout Amanda O’Leary, now in her 16th season at the University of Florida, it was 1994 and O’Leary had recently completed her first season at Yale. She was looking for a new assistant coach and convinced Rosen to take the job.
Within three months, Rosen knew she had found her purpose.
“Having watched her play — she is somebody who just played with so much lacrosse IQ. It was off the charts,” said O’Leary, one of the winningest head coaches in women’s college lacrosse. “She knew the game, she was a constant competitor. When I made the phone call, I really wanted her to join me. She was somebody who I had been watching and I knew she would be an amazing addition to my staff. It was everything that I could ask for.”
At Yale, Rosen was on staff for a team that won the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division I championship in 1995 and finished second in the Ivy League in 1996.
In 1997, she decided to take the next step in her coaching career.
UConn was starting its women’s lacrosse program and reached out to Rosen with an offer to become the head coach. She knew it was an opportunity she could not pass up.
“I was like, ‘Well, it’s down the road. I don’t need to be a head coach, but I think I could be a really good head coach, I should throw my hat in the ring,’” Rosen said. “[O’Leary] was super supportive of me and looking back, it was so gracious of her because I ended up leaving midyear.”
Building a legacy at Temple
Rosen never imagined leaving the program she helped launch. However, after a decade with the Huskies, she needed to be closer to her family to take care of her father.
She was hired at Temple before the 2007 season. Departing from the program she helped start was difficult, but Rosen knew it was for the better.
“One of the first big emotional decisions in my life was when I knew the job opened up, that I had to go after it,” Rosen said. “Because I had been thinking, ‘Am I going to be forced at some point to decide to move back home and have to leave a profession — because family meant the world to me?’ So when the job opened up, it was like, I’ve got to go.
“Fortunately, Temple felt the same way about me.”
Temple coach Bonnie Rosen, a Bala Cynwyd native who graduated from Harriton High School, joined the Owls in 2007.
Rosen guided the Owls to the NCAA Tournament in her second season at the helm, which marked the program’s first appearance in four years. Temple has since been a regular contender in its conferences, which have included the Atlantic 10, Big East, and now the American.
She had arguably her most successful season in 2021, as she guided Temple to a 7-3 record in the American and an NCAA Tournament victory, its first since 1998.
“Quite honestly, there was nobody that I could even imagine taking over that program that I knew would do a better job than her,” O’Leary said. “She is just so committed not only to the successes of her players on the field, but more importantly, to their successes off the field.”
More than a coach
California coach Jennifer Wong, who played for Rosen at UConn and spent 14 years across two stints on her staff at Temple, cherishes the relationship she built with Rosen and her ability to connect with players and coaches on a human level.
“She really just cares about everyone as human beings,” Wong said. “Like, yes, we are in it to win lacrosse games, and she goes for it. It’s not like she holds back. But whenever any player or any staff member needs anything, Bonnie pauses and she’s there for them as a human.”
Her style of coaching has led to several graduates continuing to show support for the program as alumni.
Bonnie Rosen says coaching is about “trying to understand growing and not just focusing on success.”
“She has the ability to recruit such an amazing group of girls,” senior midfielder Sabrina Martin said. “Our team gets along so well, and I don’t think I would change that for anything. It goes back to the player connection piece. … We all just get along so well. All truly best friends.”
Over 30 years, Rosen has impacted countless players and coaches as a head coach, and she does not plan on stopping soon.
“It’s why I stay coaching because I think all the lessons from coaching are the same things I apply to life,” Rosen said. “Coach people, don’t just coach the game. It is always about trying to understand growing and not just focusing on success.”
Last November, Parc switched the martini listed on their menu from their Nicoise martini to Le Dirty Martini ($16), a straightforward Wheatley Vodka-based cocktail with a heavy splash of olive brine and garnished with pitted queen olives.
For those of us who were fans of Parc’s pink-hued Nicoise martini, served in a Nick and Nora glass and garnished with a much smaller olive, the switch came as a surprise.
You can still order a Nicoise martini off-menu, which is technically a dirty martini (which uses olive brine), “as I was utilizing crossover [items] from the kitchen,” said Mark Murphy, the director of bar operations for all of Starr Restaurants. “But they may not have it quickly at the ready.”
Now, on an average Friday night, Parc is serving over 80 dirty martinis.
The martini at Andra Hem on July 2, 2025 in Philadelphia.
“Dirty martinis have quickly jumped to our biggest “off-menu” order,” confirmed Murphy.
Readers noted that The Inquirer’s guide to Philly’s best martinis skewed toward dirty martinis, rather than a classic version. But with data in hand, it’s clear that Philly’s martini tastes have actually changed, and that we are getting dirtier.
“Over the last two years there’s about a 33% increase in dirty martinis ordered,” said Murphy, who regularly scans Parc’s off-menu sales and realized that he should probably just put a dirty martini on the regular cocktail menu “to meet guest expectations and help bartenders with their speed of service.”
The Fleur’s martini in Philadelphia on Jan. 2, 2026.
Murphy has noticed customers move away from specialty cocktails. “With a food menu, you can only order what’s on the menu. With a wine menu, you can only order what’s on the wine menu. But with a cocktail menu, you can order what’s on the menu or you can say, ‘I will just have a dirty martini’ or something else.”
Murphy believes that this increase in attention to classic cocktails is a “cost sensitivity thing that has happened with rising prices. If 10 years ago, you or I walked into a bar or restaurant and saw something on the menu that had a good number of ingredients we weren’t sure about, but the cocktail was $12, we’d go ‘yeah, sure, let’s try this $12 drink and see what happens.’ But $12 is no longer the average price of a cocktail, and more often, we’re seeing cocktails around $20.
“So when drinks are not accessible, even in terms of simplicity, I think people are wanting value for what they know they can spend $16 on and get three ounces of vodka in a glass with brine that tastes good,” said Murphy.
Even while Gen Z is drinking less or zebra-striping (alternating alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks), “according to Parc (and other Starr restaurants) not massive amounts [less] as the articles might indicate,” observed Murphy. “What I notice a bit more is a shift in sales. Some away from wine, and some away from specialty cocktails, and more towards … wait for it … dirty martinis [and other simple standards].”
He also acknowledges that there may be a change in customers’ palates. This trend is the least trendy of trends, but it does align with a propensity toward savory cocktails — a thread that has been winding through more avant garde cocktails, like Almanac’s konbini-inspired ones.
Coupled with the explosion of popularity in Del Frisco’s social media-dubbed “girl dinner,” which features half a dozen oysters, truffle fries, Caesar salad, and a dirty martini (though you have the option to get a different cocktail), dirty martini consumption is truly trending.
Though, admittedly, this is not necessarily the case at every single Philly establishment. I checked in with Fiorella, famous for the dirty pasta water martini ($17) and they reported a wavering in sales over the years (they sold 5,116 of the cocktails in 2023, 4,500 in 2024, and 4,667 last year). Their brown butter old-fashioned remains their most ordered cocktail through the years.
And what cocktail beats out Parc’s Le Dirty Martini in terms of sales? It’s their Cafe Parc or espresso martini ($17) with vanilla-infused Wheatley Vodka, Amaro, and Caffe Borghetti coffee liqueur. Dirty martinis might be on the rise, but espresso martinis aren’t going anywhere.
So, you say you want to get to know Andrew Painter better?
Ask him about pickleball.
No, wait, not just about the paddle game, which the Phillies‘ best pitching prospect in 20 years enjoys playing after offseason workouts in South Florida. Get him to explain his “signature move,” Spencer Stockton teases, and well, how do you not take that bait?
“I had the ‘skyball,’” Painter says.
The skyball?
“I just hit it up real high,” Painter continues, leaving out the part about yelling “Skyball” at the top of his lungs. “You can ask [Jesús] Luzardo about it. He never returned it. It wasn’t always in. No one ever figured out how to hit it. It was out of bounds most of the time.”
A trick serve that borders on the absurd and has little chance of actually landing inside the lines? It’s goofy. And quintessentially Painter, scheduled to make the most highly anticipated major-league debut by a Phillies pitcher since Cole Hamels on Tuesday night at home against the Nationals.
He goes by Andrew on the mound but Andy around friends and peers, most of whom describe him with a common adjective: “happy-go-lucky.” That characterization applied even last October, according to Stockton, who didn’t know what to expect when Painter walked back into Cressey Sports Performance in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where many major-league pitchers train in the offseason.
Phillies fans have heard about Painter for years, since he dominated three levels of the minor leagues in 2022. In 2023, at age 19, he was competing in spring training for a rotation spot — and probably would’ve made the team — when he tore a ligament in his elbow. Rest and rehab didn’t work. He had surgery four months later.
It was 15 months before Painter would pitch in a game. And after he overpowered hitters for six weeks in 2024 in the Arizona Fall League, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski, who likened Painter before surgery to Justin Verlander, infamously said the 6-foot-7 righty might be ready for the majors by last “July-ish.”
Phillies pitcher Andrew Painter had a 2.31 ERA in four spring starts.
But Painter struggled in his first exposure to triple A. Like most pitchers who are returning from Tommy John surgery, his fastball command came and went. His arm angle dipped. He made 22 triple-A starts, not missing any, but posted a 5.40 ERA.
“July-ish” turned into, well, nothing. Painter made his final triple-A start on Sept. 17 and went home once the season ended.
Stockton, a former minor-league pitcher with the Reds and now a coach at Cressey, didn’t know what frame of mind his former pickleball partner would be in when he got there.
“I expected him to be maybe a little morose about what had happened,” Stockton said by phone. “I assumed he was probably going to be a little disappointed. But it was kind of the opposite. He was very driven and very realistic about what happened.”
And now, at last, Painter is ready for his close-up.
When he finally takes the mound in Citizens Bank Park, it will be 1,126 days since Painter’s ill-fated spring-training start in 2023 and 980 since his surgery — and 10 days shy of his 23rd birthday. Painter will still be the youngest pitcher to start a game for the Phillies since Ranger Suárez on Aug. 16, 2018.
Maybe some of the prospect shine has dulled since Baseball America named Painter as the best pitcher in the minors in 2022. But the expectations are every bit as grand as ever.
“I’ve always followed him because he’s a friend of the family,” said former Phillies manager Joe Girardi, whose son, Dante, played with Painter in high school. “Andrew went through somewhat of a traumatic experience, where he had to rehab his elbow and deal with a lot. It’s great to see him back. We’re pulling for him.”
Andrew Painter, who pitched in the Under Armour All-America Game in 2019 at Wrigley Field, was a high school star in Florida.
The rise
Painter pitched in high school at Calvary Christian Academy, a powerhouse program in Fort Lauderdale. As a freshman, he was the No. 4 starter in a rotation that included future Mets right-hander Christian Scott.
It wasn’t long before Painter moved up the ranks.
The talent was overwhelming. Girardi recalled attending a tournament at USA Baseball’s headquarters in Cary, N.C., in 2018. Painter faced a team from Mississippi and took a perfect game into the sixth inning.
“I looked at [his wife] Kim, and I said, ‘There’s a first-round pick in waiting,’” Girardi said by phone. “It was 90 mph; four pitches. He could command them all. He was thin. He hadn’t filled out yet. But there was just so much potential there. You could just see that he was going to be special.”
Yet Painter seemed unfazed by it all. He took baseball seriously, especially while he was on the mound. But around friends and teammates, he didn’t take himself seriously.
To wit: Painter, who towered over most teammates, walked into the high-profile National High School Invitational in North Carolina with a Kermit the Frog backpack slung over his shoulders, former Calvary Christian coach Alan Kunkel recalled.
Girardi remembered Painter begging the coaches to let him hit in batting practice. He shagged fly balls in the outfield with such zeal that Girardi would utter, “Please don’t get hurt.”
“You saw Andy’s comedic side early,” Kunkel said by phone. “Andy’s always been pretty low-key and shy and just kind of quirky and very funny, very witty. But he’s never wanted to be the guy that’s drawing all the attention.”
Indeed, Painter will talk forever about college football (he’s a Florida Gators fan) or video games, or his adventures in posting up Max Scherzer in a pickup basketball game after workouts at Cressey. He just isn’t about to post his pitching clips on Instagram.
Never mind that he was well-known in the South Florida high school baseball world. Luzardo, a prospect in the Nationals’ farm system at the time, heard of Painter and recalls watching him in high school. People would inevitably notice him — “It’s not like you can miss him, man, at 6-6, 6-7,” Kunkel said — but not because he drew attention to himself.
“We live in a very vain time where, man, it’s hard to find supercompetitive kids that are willing to just grind and put in the time and not care who gets credit for it,” Kunkel said. “Andy is one of those kids. Andy has never cared about the vanity of the sport, or cared about being posterized or put on social media. He’s just wanted to be a big leaguer and just continue to compete.”
Andrew Painter can appear laid back, but he’s “no more, no less of a competitor than the most competitive kid that I’ve ever coached,” said Alan Kunkel, his former high school coach.
At times, Kunkel said Painter’s laid-back demeanor would create the wrong impression. Pro scouts often asked about his competitiveness. Kunkel was there to offer reassurance.
“He’s no more, no less of a competitor than the most competitive kid that I’ve ever coached,” Kunkel said. “I always said he’s got the heart rate to be a surgeon or to be a big league pitcher. Ninth inning, World Series moment, I don’t know that that would bother him any more than having to perform heart surgery on somebody for people who have the talent and drive to do that.”
The Phillies got several up-close looks at Painter in high school. In addition to area scout Victor Gomez, who attended almost all of Painter’s starts in a 12-month span leading up to the draft, amateur scouting director Brian Barber saw him pitch five times in the summer of 2020 and twice in the spring of ‘21.
Oh, and they had plenty of inside information on Painter. Girardi was managing the Phillies in 2021. Brian Kaplan, whom the Phillies hired after the 2021 season as director of pitching development, coached Painter at Cressey Sports.
The only question, it seemed, was whether Painter would still be on the board when the Phillies made the 13th overall pick.
“I do remember going into that morning [of the draft] thinking, if you had me guess on who we were going to take, it was going to be Andy Painter,” Barber said. “I thought he had a chance to get there, and I knew if he was going to get there, we were going to take him.”
It was the second consecutive year that the Phillies drafted a high school pitcher in the first round. On Aug. 6, 2022, Mick Abel and Painter started back-to-back in an A-ball doubleheader in Lakewood, N.J. Abel allowed three hits and three walks and struck out eight in six scoreless innings. Painter one-upped him across the board: two hits, one walk, 11 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings.
“The guy is just an alien,” Abel said a few days later. “He’s awesome.”
Andrew Painter’s parents and new fiancée will be at Citizens Bank Park on Tuesday for his major league debut against the Nationals.
The return
Imagine being 19 years old and “on a rocket ship to what looked like superstardom,” as Barber put it. Now imagine having it taken away.
How would you cope?
Painter became a grillmaster.
“He kind of ventured off and learned how to cook and enjoyed testing out new types of meats and things of that nature,” Kunkel said. “My man was researching seasonings; he was researching meat types. He’s very proud of his cooking arsenal right now.”
Last season left a sour taste in Painter’s mouth. He got through it healthy, which was the most important part. And there were restrictions. For example, he wasn’t allowed to long-toss from beyond 120 feet.
But upon returning to South Florida, Painter was energized by the idea of a normal offseason. He got together with Stockton and Phillies assistant pitching coach Mark Lowy, who previously worked at Cressey Sports, to dig in on why triple-A hitters slugged .585 against his fastball last season.
Among their discoveries: Painter’s arm slot dipped from its presurgery position, which impacted the shape of his heater. The Phillies identified the issue during the season but were cautious among making changes in a competitive environment.
“He got into some subpar throwing positions, but he was athletic enough to still throw 100,” Stockton said. “When things go wrong and you’ve never struggled, you start to throw things at the wall that maybe aren’t necessarily the best things for you. I think that’s kind of what he ran into last year, and it was like, ‘Well, how do I fix it?’”
Start by long-tossing from greater distances. There were other drills, too. Stockton gave Painter a red, 6-pound ball and had him throw it as hard as he could from the mound, then do the same with a regular ball. As the shape of his fastball returned, the usual movement came back, too.
Painter and Luzardo worked out together six days a week with Stockton beginning in November. Painter worked on his changeup, which he threw a lot, especially to righties, in spring training. He worked on separating his sweeper from his traditional slider. He also lost about 15 pounds to get back to 225.
But Stockton noticed something else about Painter.
“He was just very motivated to get going from Day 1,” he said. “It’s a testament to how far he’s come. When he was 18-19, even when he was in high school and we were all training together, as you would expect from a kid that throws 100 in high school, he was a little immature. But that was only four years ago, and he’s leaps and bounds ahead of that.
“It helps him for the future. Is he going to be a Cy Young [winner] this year, or even Rookie of the Year? Chances are, he probably won’t. But when you can get some of these things out of the way at 22-23, those shortcomings that you have early on when you’re supposed to be the guy, it helps the career arc a little bit.”
Surely, they squeezed in some time for pickleball, too. The “skyball” doesn’t get better without practice.
But everything will come into focus Tuesday night. Painter’s parents and new fiancée (he got engaged last month) will be there. Kunkel, who now coaches at a high school in Orlando, is even skipping a game — “The first game I’ve ever missed as a high school coach, man,” he said — to be there with his wife and daughters.
Maybe even Hamels, who works for the Phillies, will be in attendance.
“Sometimes with young pitchers, you worry about them trying to do too much, and it can manifest itself with a lack of control or getting hurt,” Girardi said. “I think he learned from that experience, and I think he’s going be better for it, and I think he’s prepared for what’s coming up.”
