2002 Topps 206 #358 Jeremy Giambi

Rockies 7, Phillies 1
Game 43 – Thursday Night, May 19th in Philadelphia

One Sentence Summary: The ghost of Jason Giambi hit three home runs and drove in all seven runs, single-handedly defeating the Phillies and their crappy offense, 7-1.

What It Means: The Phils split the quick two-game series with the Rockies and their record is now 26-17. They have a game and a half lead over the Marlins as the Texas Rangers come to town to open up a three-game weekend series.

What Went Wrong: Joe Blanton felt something was wrong with his right elbow twenty minutes prior to the game, resulting in a Kyle Kendrick (3-3) emergency start. Kendrick was greeted rudely by the Rockies who knocked him out of the game after just three innings of work. Doing all the damage was Giambi, who hit a 3-run shot in the first, a 2-run home run in the third and a 2-run home run in the fifth off Danys Baez.

The Phils managed just six hits, including Raul Ibanez' RBI-double in the fourth. Per Charlie Manuel's quote following the game, "Right now we're definitely . . . we’re bad."

Soon after Manuel's assessment, word came that both Blanton and Shane Victorino (hamstring) were destined for the disabled list.

Featured Card:  Jason's brother Jeremy spent some time with the Phillies during the 2002 season.  He appeared in 82 games with the Phils, primarily as a first baseman, hitting .244 with 12 home runs.  He had a bunch of Phillies cards scattered throughout various 2002 and 2003 releases, including this Topps 206 card.  This card was from the third series of Topps 206, released in January 2003, and I had trouble tracking it down since it currently resides in my 2003 Phillies binder.  The Giambi brothers continue to vex me.

Field Report: I was there last night and the Phillies are now 4-2 in games I've attended this year. The most exciting moment of the night came when Cliff Lee pinch-hit for Kendrick in the third and struck out swinging. That's pretty bad.