2014 Chachi #52 Aaron Altherr

#40

Aaron Samuel Altherr

Outfield

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'5"  Weight:  220

Born:  January 14, 1991, Landstuhl, Germany

Home:  Buckeye, AZ

Drafted:  Selected by the Phillies in the 9th round of the June 2009 draft

Teams:  Phillies 2014

Acquired:  Via draft

Phillies Cards in My Collection:

#1 - 2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP112

#2 - 2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Scout Breakouts #BSB-AAL

In addition to the cards above, I have six minor league cards of Altherr in my collection.

First Chachi Card:  2014 Chachi #52

2014 Chachi #49 Ronny Cedeno

#7

Ronny Alexander Cedeno

Infielder

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'0"  Weight:  195

Born:  February 2, 1983, Carabobo, VZ

Home:  Carabobo, VZ

Signed:  Signed by the Chicago Cubs as an amateur free agent, August 27, 1999

Teams:  Chicago Cubs 2005-2008, Seattle Mariners 2009, Pittsburgh Pirates 2009-2011, New York Mets 2012, Houston Astros 2013, San Diego Padres 2013, Phillies 2014

Acquired:  Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the San Diego Padres, January 12, 2014

Phillies Cards in My Collection:

None.  And considering that Cedeno was traded to the Diamondbacks back on June 29th, there's an extremely good chance he'll never have an official Phillies baseball card.

First Chachi Card:  2014 Chachi #49

2014 Chachi #48 Ethan Martin

#49

Ethan Cash Martin

Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  220

Born:  June 6, 1989, Athens, GA

Home:  Toccoa, GA

Drafted:  Selected by the Dodgers in the 1st round of the June 2008 draft

Teams:  Phillies 2013-

Acquired:  Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers with Josh Lindblom and a player to be named later (Stefan Jarrin) for Shane Victorino, July 31, 2012

Phillies Cards in My Collection:

#1 - 2013 Bowman Chrome Cream of the Crop Mini Refractors #CC-PP3

#10 - 2014 Topps Archives #112

I also have four minor league cards of Martin in my collection.

First Chachi Card:  2013 Chachi #54

2014 Chachi #47 Cesar Jimenez

#56

Cesar Enrique Jimenez

Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  208

Born:  November 12, 1984, Cumana, Venezuela

Home:  Cumana, Venezuela

Signed:  Signed by the Seattle Mariners as an amateur free agent, July 2, 2001

Teams:  Seattle Mariners 2006, 2008, 2011; Phillies 2013-

Acquired:  Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Seattle Mariners organization, December 5, 2012

Phillies Cards in My Collection:

No Phillies cards yet for Jimenez, but I have three cards of him in my collection featuring him with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

First Chachi Card:  2013 Chachi #56

Phillies at Mets: July 28th to July 30th

Monday and Tuesday 7:10, Wednesday 12:10
Citi Field - Flushing, NY

Phillies 46-59, 5th Place in the N.L. East, 12 1/2 games behind the Nationals
Mets 50-55, 4th Place in the N.L. East, 8 1/2 games behind the Nationals

Phillies Probables:  A. J. Burnett (6-9, 3.86), Cole Hamels (5-5, 2.72), Kyle Kendrick (5-10, 4.87)
Mets Probables:  Bartolo Colon (9-8, 4.03), Dillon Gee (4-3, 3.49), Zack Wheeler (5-8, 3.64)

At the Ballpark:  There are a bunch of ticket deals for various groups for these three games, but there are no give-aways scheduled.

Phillies Leaders

Average:  Ben Revere - .295

Runs:  Chase Utley - 54

Home Runs:  Marlon Byrd - 20

RBIs:  Ryan Howard - 62

Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 28

Wins:  A.J. Burnett - 6

ERA:  Cole Hamels - 2.72

Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 125

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 25

1988 Topps #30

1988 Topps Appreciation:  Before looking at Sid Fernandez's career stats, I would have sworn he only played for the Phillies for a part of one season.  But the records don't lie.  El Sid signed with the Phillies on July 13, 1995, three days after being released by the Orioles.  In eleven starts, he went a respectable 6-1 with a 3.34 ERA for the Phillies during their forgettable 1995 season.

He hit free agency following the season, but the Phillies decided to bring him back again to start the 1996 season.  He was the club's opening day starter that year (!) in a rotation that consisted of El Sid, Mike Grace, Terry Mulholland (back with the club for his second stint), Mike Williams and rookie Rich Hunter.  All of the sudden, the team's projected 2015 starting pitching rotation doesn't look so bad.

Injuries limited Hernandez to just eleven starts in 1996, and the Phillies cut ties with him following the season.  He'd pitch in one game for the Astros in 1997 before calling it a career.

2014 Chachi #46 Phillippe Aumont

#48

Phillippe Aumont

Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'7"  Weight:  260

Born:  January 7, 1989, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada

Home:  Clearwater, FL

Drafted:  Selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 1st round of the June 2007 draft

Teams:  Phillies 2012-

Acquired:  Acquired from the Seattle Mariners with Tyson Gillies and J.C. Ramirez for Cliff Lee, December 16, 2009

Phillies Cards in My Collection:

#1 - 2013 Phillies Team Issue #48

#4 - 2014 Phillies Team Issue #48

I have 8 minor league cards of Aumont, issued between 2010 and 2014.

First Chachi Card:  2012 Chachi #52

2014 Donruss Game Gear #39 Domonic Brown

Phillies 9, Diamondbacks 5
Game 103 - Friday Night, July 25th in Philadelphia
Record - 45-58, 5th Place, 12 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The offense came alive against an equally mediocre Diamondbacks team, and the Phillies won one of their few laughers of the year, 9-5.

What It Means:  At this point, not much.  But it was nice to sit and watch the Phillies game, knowing they were probably going to win.  Even if Antonio Bastardo wanted to make it interesting by giving up a grand slam in the sixth to make it a 6-4 game at the time.

What Happened:  Grady Sizemore had three more hits, raising his average to .341 (14 for 41).  He also collected his 1,000th career hit in the first.  Domonic Brown had two hits, including a two-run home run in the 7th.  With his second plate appearance in this game, Jimmy Rollins' vesting option for 2015 kicked in, meaning he'll be around for at least one more season with the Phils.

Featured Card:  Sizemore needs a Phillies card!  I probably would have gone with a Sizemore card to celebrate his milestone hit, but he's still waiting for his first official Phillies card.  Instead, here's Brown's 1981 Donruss-like relic card from this year's Donruss offering.

Scheduling Note:  The Phillies Room World Headquarters will be shutting down temporarily for our annual summer inventory.  As such, game summary posts for the upcoming week will follow rapid fire upon our return.  If the team goes ahead and starts trading everyone over the next few days, we may squeeze in a post or two in order to bid farewell to the departed.

Go Phillies!

Diamondbacks at Phillies: July 25th to July 27th

Friday and Saturday 7:05, Sunday 1:35
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

Diamondbacks 44-58, 4th Place in the N.L. West, 13 games behind the Giants
Phillies 44-58, 5th Place in the N.L. East, 12 1/2 games behind the Nationals

Diamondbacks Probables:  Wade Miley (6-6, 4.16), Josh Collmenter (8-5, 3.64), Vidal Nuno (0-1, 3.78)
Phillies Probables:  Kyle Kendrick (4-10, 4.87), Cliff Lee (4-5, 3.67), Roberto Hernandez (4-8, 4.25)

At the Ballpark:  Former Phillie Placido Polanco returns to the ballpark on Saturday night.  He'll be signing autographs before the game and he'll throw out the ceremonial first pitch.  All kids will also receive a W.B. Mason collectible Phillies truck on Saturday.  On Sunday, all kids will receive a Cole Hamels t-shirt.

Phillies Leaders

Average:  Ben Revere - .295

Runs:  Jimmy Rollins - 53

Home Runs:  Marlon Byrd - 19

RBIs:  Ryan Howard - 60

Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 28

Wins:  A.J. Burnett - 6

ERA:  Cole Hamels - 2.72

Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 125

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 24

1988 Topps #669

1988 Topps Appreciation:  I wasn't sure where this card would fit it within these series preview posts, so I thought now was as good a time as any to feature it.  Topps phased out team cards beginning in 1982 when Team Leaders cards appeared in lieu of cards with photos of the entire teams.  From 1982 to 1984, each team's batting average and ERA leaders were featured together on a card, with the prior year's team leaders listed on the back.  Team cards disappeared completely in 1985, and I don't think I even noticed.  In 1986, Topps featured the "dean" of each team on a Leaders card.  Steve Carlton was featured on that year's Phillies Leaders card, as Lefty had been with the team since February 1972.

Topps continued the "Leaders" concept in 1987, and the Phillies Leaders card that year featured Glenn Wilson, Juan Samuel and Von Hayes standing around the batting cage.  One could argue that these players were indeed three of the team's leaders.  The card made sense.

And then we came to 1988.  Catcher Lance Parrish is squatting in what is presumably a spring training photo with coach Mike Ryan looking on, hand on his hip.  I'm not sure what Topps was going for with this photo, but the shot doesn't exactly scream "Phillies Leaders" to me.  Maybe if I find a decent photo of Carlos Ruiz squatting with Rod Nichols lurking in the background I'll create a 2014 Chachi version of this card.