Friday, April 4, 2014

Phillies at Cubs: April 4th to April 6th

Friday, Saturday and Sunday 2:20
Wrigley Field - Chicago, IL

Phillies 1-2, 4th Place in the N.L. East, 2 games behind the Nationals
Cubs 1-2, Tied for 3rd Place in the N.L. Central, 1 game behind the Pirates and Cardinals

Phillies Probables:  Roberto Hernandez (0-0, 0.00), Cliff Lee (1-0, 14.40), A.J. Burnett (0-0, 1.50)
Cubs Probables:  Travis Wood (0-0, 0.00), Jeff Samardzija (0-0, 0.00), Carlos Villanueva (0-2, 13.50)

At the Ballpark:  Today is opening day at Wrigley, and given my current work schedule (crazy bananas), I'll be daydreaming about sitting in the bleachers this afternoon.  The first 30,000 fans both today and Saturday will receive a Cubs schedule magnet.

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Cody Asche - .500
Runs:  Carlos Ruiz - 5
Home Runs:  Four tied with - 1
RBIs:  Jimmy Rollins - 5
Stolen Bases:  Domonic Brown and Ben Revere - 1

Wins:  Cliff Lee - 1
ERA:  Kyle Kendrick - 1.29
Strikeouts:  Kyle Kendrick - 4
Saves:  None

1988 Topps #287, #416, #642 and #768
1988 Topps Appreciation:  Featured are a quartet of Cubs who appeared with the Phillies during their first World Championship season in 1980.

Manny Trillo was dealt to the Indians following the 1982 season as part of the infamous 5-for-1 Von Hayes deal.  He spent time in Cleveland, Montreal and San Francisco before ending up back in Chicago in 1986 for his second stint with the franchise.  Relegated to mostly a back-up role, Trillo hit .250 in 76 games for the 1988 Cubs.

Catcher Keith Moreland spent the bulk of his 12-year career with the Cubs, appearing in 902 games over six season between 1982 and 1987.  He enjoyed his best season in 1985, hitting .307 with 14 home runs and 106 RBIs.

Phillies Room favorite Bob Dernier was already back with the Phillies by the time this card came out, having signed with his original team as a free agent in December 1987.  Dernier's career peaked with the Cubs and his finest season was 1984 when he won a Gold Glove for his outfield defense.

Finally, some collectors might not actually consider this Dickie Noles card to be a Cubs card.  As the little notation to the right indicates, Noles was "Now with Tigers."  But was he?  Baseball Reference documents Noles' long, strange 1987/1988 offseason as follows:


So in the month and a day Noles was property of the Tigers, the fine people at Topps decided to make the "Now with Tigers" notation on his card.  It retrospect, it should have been, "Was with Tigers, but you've already missed it."

2 comments:

Steve F. said...

First off, what the heck is a "loan" of a major leaguer? I've heard of it with minor leaguers. I wonder who paid his paychecks for that 31 day period.

Second, that's something that four 1980 Phillies (not even counting Sandberg who was a Reading Phil that year) were on the Cubs in 1987. I wonder if there is a team next year that will have four members of the 2008 Phillies. (Answer: Not likely. Very few are still playing. The Phillies have Utley, Howard, Rollins, Ruiz, Hamels and Kendrick. Werth is a Nat, Victorino is a Red Sox, Dobbs is a Marlin, Blanton is in the A's system, Happ is in the Blue Jays' system, Drew Carpenter is in the Dodgers' system, Madson and Marson are unsigned but not technically retired, and all of the rest are, AFAIK, retired.

Jim said...

I think you got them all. Unless the Phillies start casting off their veterans over the next few years, there's not much chance we'll see anything like the alumni connection on the 1980s Cubs teams again.