Phillies at Reds: June 6th to June 8th

Friday 7:10, Saturday 4:10 and Sunday 1:10
Great American Ball Park - Cincinnati, OH

Phillies 24-34, 5th Place in the N.L. East, 7 games behind the Braves and Marlins
Reds 27-31, 4th Place in the N.L. Central, 7 games behind the Brewers

Phillies Probables:  Cole Hamels (1-3, 4.01), Roberto Hernandez (2-3, 4.03), David Buchanan (1-2, 6.11)
Reds Probables:  Johnny Cueto (5-4, 1.68), Alfredo Simon (7-3, 3.03), Homer Bailey (6-3, 4.99)

At the Ballpark:  I like it when there's a nice giveaway or event for all three games of a series.  Such is the case at the underrated Great American Ball Park.  Tonight is Fireworks Friday and the first 20,000 fans tomorrow will receive a Reds hat featuring the floating head of Mr. Red.  On Sunday, the first 8,000 kids to enter the ballpark will receive a Brandon Phillips growth chart.

Phillies Leaders

Average:  Chase Utley - .311

Runs:  Chase Utley - 31

Home Runs:  Ryan Howard - 11

RBIs:  Ryan Howard - 40

Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 15

Wins:  Cliff Lee - 4

ERA:  Cliff Lee - 3.18

Strikeouts:  A.J. Burnett - 67

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 13

1988 Topps #203, #265, #686 and 1988 Topps Traded #55T

1988 Topps Appreciation:  It's a grab bag of former Phillies and Reds in the latest installment of 1988 Topps Appreciation.  First up is former Phillies catcher Bo Diaz, who was traded with minor leaguer Greg Simpson to the Reds for Tom Foley and a player to be named later back on August 8, 1985.  The player to be named later turned out to be pitcher Fred Toliver, also featured here.

Surprisingly, to me at least, Diaz played more games with the Reds (460 over five seasons) than he did with the Phillies (333 over four seasons).  He made the All-Star team with the Reds in 1987, but then steadily declined in 1988 (.219 in 92 games) and his final season, 1989 (.205 in 43 games).  Toliver spent parts of three seasons with the Phillies, going 1-7 with a 4.67 ERA over the course of 26 games.

I had to squeeze in the cards of Danny Jackson and Terry Francona here, since this is the final meeting between the Phillies and Reds this season.  Jackson was traded by the Royals to the Reds following the 1987 season, and he'd experience his best year by far in 1988, winning 23 games and making the All-Star team.  Francona had already departed Cincinnati by the time Jackson arrived, signing with the Indians as a free agent in February 1988.