Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Phillies Team Issue Second Series Arrives

Blanco's and Williams' "cards" in Ashburn Alley
Phillies 4, Mariners 1
Game 125 - Monday Night, August 18th in Philadelphia
Record - 55-70, 5th Place, 16 games behind the Nationals

2014 Choice Lehigh Valley
IronPigs #2
One Sentence Summary:  The unlikely duo of Andres Blanco and Jerome Williams (both cardless in Ashburn Alley) starred in this 4-1 Phillies win over the Mariners.

What It Means:  The Phillies climbed to within 15 games of .500, and 11 games of the second Wild Card.  (He says with a straight face.)

What Happened:  Williams pitched seven innings, allowing a run on three hits on the way to earning his first Phillies win.  Blanco contributed a three-run home run in the fifth, which was the difference in this game.

Featured Cards:  Sadly, Blanco has only one 2014 baseball card to date, found within the IronPigs team set.

2014 Phillies Team Issue 2 #52
Field Report:  Fresh off our trip to Boston, Doug and I took in the first ever Phillies-Mariners game at Citizens Bank Park on Monday night.  My personal record is now a respectable 5-5.  Upon visiting the Phillies Newstand, we were pleased to see that the team actually released a second series of postcard-sized cards this year.  (Even though everyone I had previously asked told me a second series wouldn't be released.)

We were a little disappointed, however, that the set failed to include new outfielder Grady Sizemore.  The second series comes in at 38 cards, subtracting three cards from the 41 found in the first series.  The recently departed Roberto Hernandez is in the set, and Mike Schmidt appears with the rest of the team's broadcasters on the broadcaster card.

Here's a summary of the players dropped and added for the second series:

Dropped (8) - Freddy Galvis, Brad Lincoln, B.J. Rosenberg, Jonathan Pettibone, Phillippe Aumont, Ethan Martin, Bobby Abreu, Maikel Franco
Added (5) - Reid Brignac, Mario Hollands, Jeff Manship, Ken Giles, David Buchanan

Notable omissions from the set include Sizemore, Cesar Jimenez, Cameron Rupp and Blanco.

Memory Lane - Phillies Team Issue 2
2013, Early July - Drops 5, Adds 4
2012 Update, October - Drops 6, Adds 6
2012, Mid-July - Drops 8, Adds 10
2011, Mid-June - Drops 2, Adds 6
2010, Mid-August - Drops 1, Adds 3

3 comments:

Steve F. said...

I was pleased to see and buy an update set at yesterday's game. I wonder whether they will pull Hernandez and add anyone (especially, e.g., Giles) like they did with Pence a couple years ago. I doubt. At this point, no one cares.

Anyway, not a bad set. By the way, check out the Giants stadium giveaway sets the past few years. They remind me of the 2006 Fan Appreciation Day set the Phillies put out where several players had their first, only, or alternate Topps cards. I wish the Phils would do that again. I'm not complaining about the photocard set they sell, but the Fan Appreciation Day postcard set has run its course, and really what highlights occurred this year? Chase Utley made the All-Star team. Rollins passed Schmidt. Howard got his 1000th RBI. (Why yes, I did get those from looking at your Chachi card specials!)

Steve F. said...

Ahhhh...I completely overlooked your August 15 post about these Giants giveaway sets--looks like you are all over it already!

Jim said...

I was thinking about this year's Fan Appreciation Day postcard set too . . . not a lot of options.

Although I'm calling that Ken Giles has a card with "100-Miles Giles" as the tagline.