Tuesday, September 9, 2014

2014 Topps #312 Jimmy Rollins

Pirates 6, Phillies 4
Game 143 - Monday Night, September 8th in Philadelphia
Record - 66-77, 5th Place, 15 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies' comeback fell short as the hole dug by Kyle Kendrick was too deep to escape and the Pirates won, 6-4.

What It Means:  A possible winning record is creeping further away for the 2014 Phillies.  They need to win 16 of their final 19 games to have a winning season.

What Happened:  Kendrick allowed five runs on nine hits in his seven innings of work.  His ERA of 4.83 is currently 45th of out of 46 qualifying pitchers in the N.L.

Chase Utley made it a closer ballgame with a two-run triple in the eighth, but closer Mark Melancon shut down the Phils in order in the ninth.

Featured Card:  Jimmy Rollins hit a one-out triple in the fourth and came in to score on a Ryan Howard single.  Rollins would leave the game however, in what was described as a left hamstring strain.  There's no indication* whether or not the injury is serious, and I hope that Rollins' season isn't over.  If it is over . . . he'll finish with his lowest batting average (.243) since 2010 (also .243) when injuries limited him to just 88 games.

Rollins will definitely be back for at least one more season, unless for some reason he waives his no-trade clause during an offseason that will (hopefully) be very active for the Phillies.

*From post-game quotes, it looks as if Rollins will miss 10 games, returning for the final week and a half of the season.

3 comments:

Steve F. said...

Seeing this JRoll card reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask--are there any cards in the 2014 Phillies Chrome or Opening Day team sets that have different pictures (even just different cropping) from the base Topps cards of the same guys? I looked at some eBay auctions and didn't notice any, but if you have them all, would you mind checking? Thanks for any help you can provide. I probably won't buy those team sets if there are no differences.

Jim said...

If I ever get back to my Topps Phillies, posts I'll be able to definitely answer this question. However, off the top of my head, I don't think there are any variations this year . . . which is kind of disappointing.

Steve F. said...

That's what happens when you're a last place team....