Brewers at Phillies: July 23rd to July 25th

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Monday and Tuesday 7:05, Wednesday 1:05

Brewers 44-50, 4th Place in the N.L. Central, 10 1/2 games behind the Reds
Phillies 42-54, 5th Place in the N.L. East, 14 games behind the Nationals

Brewers Probables:  Randy Wolf (3-6, 5.60), Zack Greinke (9-3, 3.57), Marco Estrada (0-4, 4.10)
Phillies Probables:  Roy Halladay (4-5, 3.96), Cliff Lee (1-6, 3.72), Vance Worley (5-6, 3.82)

At the Ballpark:  Tonight is the team's annual Italian Heritage Celebration.  Coinciding with Christmas in July on Tuesday night, the Phillies are hosting a toy drive at all entrance gates.

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Carlos Ruiz - .346

Runs:  Hunter Pence - 59

Home Runs:  Hunter Pence - 17

RBIs:  Hunter Pence - 57

Stolen Bases:  Juan Pierre and Shane Victorino - 21

Wins:  Cole Hamels - 11

ERA:  Cole Hamels - 3.23

Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 131

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 21

1979 Topps #474 and #52

1979 Topps Flashback:  I don't think I ever realized until just now that Topps utilized the same purple-pink color scheme for the Phillies and Brewers within its 1979 set.  How did they come up with these color combinations back then?  The '70s were a strange time indeed.

Today's flashback features two players traded for each other on March 1, 1981.  Randy Lerch was drafted by the Phillies in 1973 and made his Major League debut at the end of the 1975 season.  Primarily a starter, Lerch's best season with the Phillies was 1978, when he hit career highs in wins (11) and strikeouts (96).  Lerch famously hit two home runs on September 30, 1978, in the division clinching game for the Phillies.  He had a decent season in 1979, going 10-13 with a 3.74 ERA in 214 innings pitched - a career high.  He was shipped to the Brewers after earning his World Series ring in 1980.  From 1981 to 1984, Lerch appeared pitched with the Brewers, Expos and Giants before making his way back to the Phillies system.  He appeared in 4 games with the 1986 Phillies before calling it a career.

Dick Davis was a light-hitting outfielder who found much more success in Japan than he did in the U.S.  Following four seasons with the Brewers, the Phillies picked him up to bolster their outfield for the 1981 season.  In his bench role, Davis hit .311 in 73 games with the Phils.  The Phillies traded him to the Blue Jays in June 1982 for Wayne Nordhagen and a week later, the Blue Jays shipped him to the Pirates for a player to be named later.  Ironically, the player to be named later was Nordhagen, whom the Phils had flipped to the Pirates for Bill Robinson.

Davis played four seasons (1984-1988) with the Kinetsu Buffaloes in Japan, with his best season coming in 1985 when he hit 40 home runs and had 109 RBIs.