Tuesday, May 3, 2011

2011 Topps Phillies #PHI4 Cole Hamels

Phillies 4, Nationals 1
Game 28 - Tuesday Night, May 3rd in Philadelphia

One Sentence Summary:  Cole Hamels did it all tonight, pitching a complete game for the victory, and kick-starting the offense with his first career triple in the third inning.

What It Means:  The Phillies are now 19-9, temporarily a half game ahead of the Marlins in the N.L. East, pending the outcome of the Marlins-Cardinals game in St. Louis.

What Went Right:  Hamels continued his recent trend of fantastic pitching.  He allowed just five hits and a walk while striking out six.  Jimmy Rollins, batting lead-off for the first time this season, brought home Hamels in the third with an RBI-single.  Rollins tripled and came home on Placido Polanco's sac fly in the fifth.  The Phils added a few insurance runs in the seventh, but they weren't needed, given Hamels' fine performance.

Raul Ibanez broke an 0 for 35 skid with a double in the fourth, avoiding Desi Relaford's "record" of 0 for 36 in 1998.

Featured Card:  There's a good chance Hamels' 2011 Topps Series 2 will look like this when it's released in June.  This card is from the Topps Phillies team set.

Field Report:  Sadly, this picture most likely represents the closest Pete Orr and Brian Schneider will get to appearing in the 2011 Topps set this year.  The Phillies post each game's starting line-up on the wall just outside Ashburn Alley with giant Topps baseball cards and I was happy to see Orr finally has a card . . . Final tally for Jenna and me on Dollar Dog Night - 4 dogs.  Although a few of our dogs looked as if they had been prepared a few weeks ago . . . Jayson Werth received a mixed bag of cheers and boos upon his first visit back to Citizens Bank Park.  He politely doffed his batting helmet to the crowd in the top of the first, and he signalled to the outfield crowd in the bottom of the first as he took his place in right field.  He went 0 for 3 with a walk . . . The Phillies are now 3-1 in games I've attended this year.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

While there is a good chance that the Hamels card will look like this when Topps series 2 comes out, it's not a done deal. On numerous occasions over the past few years, Topps has made some of the photos from the team set exclusive to that particular set. It will be interesting to see which ones that will be this year.