WASHINGTON (AP) — Jesús Luzardo got a handshake from Bryce Harper in the clubhouse and fist bumps or back slaps from other teammates on Saturday after striking out 11 batters in his Philadelphia Phillies debut — and his first regular-season appearance in 9 1/2 months.
About a week ago he watched his previous start, a loss for his former team, the Miami Marlins, against, coincidentally, the Washington Nationals, Saturday's opponent.
“It just wasn’t me. At all,” the left-hander said about that June 16 outing after allowing two runs in five innings to earn the win for Philadelphia in an 11-6 victory at Nationals Park this time. “So I'm glad to get back to feeling like myself.”
Less than a week after that June game, Luzardo went on the injured list with a back problem that was expected to sideline him for up to six weeks. Instead, he missed the rest of the 2024 season and never returned to the Marlins.
He was traded to the Phillies for minor leaguers in December. And his new club was certainly pleased to see him on the mound Saturday.
“He’s awesome. Fits right in. He’s electric,” said Bryson Stott, who joined Kyle Schwarber and Brandon Marsh in homering for the visitors. “Obviously we saw him a lot (with Miami). It’s even more electric when he’s striking out 11 of a different team and not us.”
The only time a pitcher recorded more strikeouts in his first game with Philadelphia came in 1997, when Garrett Stephenson had 12 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Luzardo gave up five hits and two runs — both on Keibert Ruiz's second-inning homer.
“The only bad pitch he made, probably,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
One key for Luzardo was his sweeper, which he threw more than 20 times and combined with his slider to generate most of his strikeouts.
That was more than he expected to go to the sweeper.
“It kind of fits in the game plan, but we go based off how it’s feeling,” said Luzardo, who was born in Peru, went to high school in Florida and originally was drafted by the Nationals in 2016. “Today, it felt really good, so we leaned on it a little bit more.”
That, along with a fastball that consistently was around 97 mph, kept the Nationals batters off-kilter.
The sweeper, Luzardo explained, is “just another way of getting guys out. Different swing types. Different profiles for a hitter. It just fits in the game plan a little bit in different ways than I would use my normal slider. Just finding different avenues of getting guys out.”
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Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesus Luzardo throws during the second inning of a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.
Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.
“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.
"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.
Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.
Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.
Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.
At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.
Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.
Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.
After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.
“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”
Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.
Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.
His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.
“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”
Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.
FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
