Sports Tonight: Calming expectations for Phillies' Hoskins

I am not going to do it. It would not be fair to Phillies youngster Rhys Hoskins.

Was it really more than seven years ago that Domonic Brown, then the Phillies' super-hot prospect, went 2 for 3 with two RBIs in his major-league debut?

Three seasons later in 2013, Brown was a National League All-Star in his first full major-league season. There's no need to rehash the gory details of what happened after that.

So, even after Hoskins smashed 811 feet worth of home runs for the Phillies on Monday night in San Diego, I'm not going to dream too much of Hoskins, 24, as the consistent big-league power hitter his minor-league career suggests he can be.

Hoskins has 17 MLB at-bats. The two home runs offer as much on the positive side as his .176 average does on the negative.

It's too early to tell anything in either direction.

Still, when the Phillies play the Padres at 10:10 tonight (TV: CSN; radio: 94 WIP), Hoskins is the first Phillie to hit his first two career home runs in the same game since Scott Rolen in 1996.

Hey! Rolen was a seven-time All-Star with 316 career home runs and … wait, I'm not going to do this. 

Even though it was founded in 1925, American Legion doesn't have nearly the name recognition as Little League Baseball, its younger brother.

The Little League World Series was first televised in 1953 with Jim McKay calling play-by-play for CBS. It is now a televised rite of August.

American Legion, played by 13-19-year-olds in the United States and Canada, has crowned a national champion since 1926. It has had television coverage in the past but had been off live television for 35 years until ESPNU broadcast the 2016 championship game.

Tonight at 7, ESPNU will show the 2017 title game from Shelby, N.C.

Henderson, Nev. could have an advantage. The teams from Randolph County, N.C. and Creighton, Neb. saw their semifinal Monday get suspended because of rain. The teams will play at 4 p.m. and then get a little bit of rest before facing Henderson.

In Major League Baseball, Detroit will play at Texas at 8 on FS1.

Darren Sproles is 34 and has nothing left to prove as an NFL player. Staff writer Paul Domowitch writes that Sproles thought about retiring but came back wanting to make the playoffs.

Nick Foles was once the golden boy with the Eagles. Now he's the backup to Carson Wentz. It's an important role, and staff writer Zach Berman tells how Foles returned to practice after missing two weeks with elbow soreness.

The Eagles paid running back Ryan Mathews a lot of money during two injury-plagued seasons. Staff writer Jeff McLane notes that now that Mathews is healthy again, the Eagles have cut him.

The joint bid among the United States, Mexico and Canada for the 2026 World Cup will get a challenge from Morocco, but staff writer Jonathan Tannenwald says Philadelphia is already making moves to become one of the host cities for games.

Back in 2014, the Cleveland Cavaliers traded Andrew Wiggins, the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, to Minnesota to appease the return of LeBron James. Adrian Wojnarowski at ESPN.com says the Cavs are considering a future without  King James as they contemplate trading all-star point guard Kyrie Irving.

Five Star prospect Marvin Bagley III has committed to Duke, and Jeff Borzello at ESPN.com is eager to tell you why the Blue Devils are a shoo-in to win the 2018 NCAA Tournament – just like ESPN said the Blue Devils would do in 2017.

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady isn't interested in comparing the 2017 team to the one that went undefeated in 2007 before losing to the Giants in the Super Bowl.

Many have assumed that by sitting during the national anthem of last week's preseason game, Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch was emulating the protest of former San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Lynch, however, rarely talks to the media and has not said what his reasoning was.

Still, on Monday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell addressed the last wave of protests from some players.

"That's what we all have to, sort of, understand, the responsibility of doing it at the right time and in the right way," Goodell said. "Protest to progress is what I call it. We all have to recognize that people want to see change. Let's go out and try to make that happen in a peaceful and an important way."

First, protest without a platform isn't very useful, and the NFL is too huge of a platform to not use.

Second, the only violence I've seen connected to an NFL player's protest has occurred on the playing field during a game.

Baseball
Tigers at Rangers, 8 p.m. (FS1)
Phillies at Padres, 10 p.m. (CSN; WIP-FM 94.1, WNPV-AM 1440)
White Sox at Dodgers, 10 p.m. (MLB Network)

Little League Softball
World Series, 7 p.m., 9:30 p.m. (ESPN2)

WNBA
Connecticut Sun at Atlanta Dream, 7 p.m. (NBA TV)

Minor League Baseball
Bowie at Reading, 7:05 p.m.
Akron at Trenton, 7:05 p.m.
Kannapolis at Lakewood, 7:05 p.m.