Commissioner Roger Goodell will have some company when he walks to the front of the stage Thursday night to start the NFL draft at AT&T Stadium — the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Booed in the past when taking the stage, Goodell is expected to be flanked by some Cowboys greats — Hall of Fame quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman, as well as probable future Hall of Fame tight end Jason Witten.
“I’m sure he’s going to get a good response with us being out there,” Staubach said. “If they boo, all of us are in trouble.”
Staubach still had his senior year at Navy to play and a four-year commitment in the service after graduation before he could think about playing professionally.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Staubach said. “When you’re young, five years seems like an eternity. I didn’t know if I’d ever play again, but they wanted me to play for them, and as it turned out, I signed. The 10th round was a little better because there were fewer [teams], so being in the 10th round was relatively high for somebody they didn’t think could play for a while.”
Arrieta (3-0) allowed three runs — one earned — and four hits in seven innings. He pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fourth after walking in a run.
“It was a grind,” Arrieta said. “I didn’t get a consistent feel for my breaking pitches but I kept them off-balance.”
The Diamondbacks had won eight straight games in Philadelphia, dating to 2016.
Greinke (2-2) gave up five runs and nine hits in six innings, striking out nine.
“I didn’t think I was very good the entire game,” Greinke said. “I made a bad pitch on the homer. I wanted it down and he put a really good swing on it.”
Carlos Santana hit a double off the top of the right-field fence to start Philadelphia’s sixth and Odubel Herrera walked. After Greinke fanned Rhys Hoskins, Altherr hit a 2-1 slider over the bushes behind the wall in straightaway center field to give the Phillies a 5-3 lead.