1978 Topps #297 Warren Brusstar

Marlins 5, Phillies 0
Game 84 - Wednesday Night, July 2nd in Miami
Record - 36-48, 10 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The free-fall continued as Cole Hamels and the offense struggled in Miami, falling to the Marlins 5-0.

What It Means:  The Phillies are now a season worst 12 games under .500, and this was their sixth loss in a row.

What Happened:  Hamels lasted only five innings and was uncharacteristically wild, walking four batters.  The offense had five singles and went 0 for 6 with runners in scoring position, including a second and third situation in the first with no outs in which both runners were left stranded.

Featured Cards:  With things going so poorly on the field these days for the Phillies, my mind has already started drifting ahead to the 2015 season and more specifically, the 2015 Chachi set.  If you track the history of the Chachi sets, I've covered every Topps base set design between the golden age (for me) of 1973 through 1981 with the exception of one year - 1978.

1978 Topps #675

I'm leaning towards [SPOILER ALERT] rectifying that situation in 2015 by using the 1978 Topps design as the basis for the 10th anniversary Chachi set, which would also be the 11th overall set that I've created.  Back when the 2010 Chachi Set Planning Committee was holding its initial meetings, the 1978 Topps set was quickly dismissed as a candidate for the upcoming set's design and I wrote a few years ago about my realization that the 1978 set was probably my least favorite of all the sets from the '70s.  For some of you, that statement could be considered blasphemy and I feel the same way whenever someone dismisses the gloriously wonderful 1981 Topps set and its little mini team hats.

In any event, one of the things holding me back from declaring the 1978 Topps design as the design for the 2015 Chachi set is the fact that I like to show the players who switch teams in the offseason on cards featuring their new teams.  (See here for examples.)  As astutely pointed out on a recent very special dispatch from The Shlabotnik Report, perhaps one of the reasons Topps itself has not gone back to the 1978 Topps well is because it's having trouble recreating the cursive team name font for the teams not around in 1978 - the Marlins, Rockies, Rays, Diamondbacks and Nationals.

So as the downward spiral continues for the 2014 Phillies, I'll continue to ponder this baseball card font-related dilemma.  It's way more fun than trying to picture what the Phillies line-up is going to look like come August.

Transaction:  Left fielder Domonic Brown was placed on the paternity leave list and outfielder Aaron Altherr was recalled from Double-A Reading.