Skipper Sandberg Resigns

2015 Phillies Team Issue 2 #23

Nationals 5, Phillies 2
Game 75 - Friday Night, June 26th in Philadelphia
Record - 26-49, 5th Place, 15 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Max Scherzer took a no-hitter into the sixth inning as the Nationals easily defeated the Phillies, 5-2.

What It Means:  Interim manager Pete Mackanin is 0-1.

What Happened:  Scherzer, who no-hit the Pirates in his last start, lost a perfect game when Freddy Galvis doubled to right with one out in the sixth.  Aaron Harang lost his seventh straight game.  Ben Revere hit his first career pinch-hit home run in the eighth.  Domonic Brown had an awful game in the field (dropped a fly ball leading to an unearned run) and on the basepaths (caught in a run down between third and home - to end the game - after ignoring a stop sign).

2015 Chachi #46

Featured Cards:  At 3:30 in the afternoon, 3 1/2 hours before game time, the Phillies hastily called a press conference so that Ryne Sandberg could announce he's quitting as the team's manager.  Sandberg's reasons for resigning were (1) he hates losing and (2) he knew a shake-up was coming soon and he didn't want to be in the way of the new regime.

Sandberg joins Eddie Sawyer and Bob Skinner as Phillies managers to have resigned and he leaves with a 119-159 (.428) record as manager.  That's actually the worst winning percentage for a Phillies manager since Skinner's .423 in 1968 and 1969.  Mackanin steps in as the interim manager (for now) with assistant hitting coach John Mizerock taking over as the third base coach.

This was a shocking development, as most of us assumed the 3:30 press conference was to announce the arrival of Andy MacPhail to the front office to attempt to right the sinking Phillies ship.  I certainly understand Sandberg's motivations and the whole ordeal is just one more strike against this already awful season.

The card at the top is Sandberg's likely last card featuring him as a manager of the Phillies, and Mackanin earns an interim manager card in this year's Chachi set.