2015 Topps Archives #244 Cole Hamels

Phillies 4, Braves 0 (10 Innings)
Game 84 - Sunday Afternoon, July 5th in Atlanta
Record - 28-56

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies plated four runs in the 10th to avoid the sweep and escape Atlanta with a 4-0 win.

What It Means:  It won't get any easier for the Phillies as they're off to the West Coast for seven games against the Dodgers and Giants prior to the All-Star break.

What Happened:  The Phillies weren't able to get anything across the plate against Shelby Miller and the Braves bullpen until they loaded the bases in the 10th and Ryan Howard's sacrifice fly brought home Odubel Herrera.  Carlos Ruiz contributed a two-run double and Freddy Galvis added another run with an RBI single.

Featured Cards:  Cole Hamels came away with a no decision again, but he pitched brilliantly in this ballgame.  He allowed six hits while striking out six in his seven innings of work.  Topps did a nice job here reproducing their own 1983 design for Hamels' card in this year's Archives set.

2014 Bowman Chrome Draft
Picks #CDP106

Transaction:  Listening to this game on the radio (while cleaning out my garage - fun!), I got excited when Scott Franzke mentioned that the Phillies had just announced a transaction.  My excitement waned when he let us know that the Phillies had traded Low-A prospects Chis Oliver and Josh Taylor, along with the team's #9 overall signing slot, to the Diamondbacks for their #1 overall signing slot for the 2015-2016 international free agent signing period.

Sources are saying that the Phillies have agreed to sign 16-year-old Venezuelan prospect Jhailyn Ortiz and his signing bonus is going to cost the team around $4.2 million.  This trade allows the Phillies to allocate more funds to the Ortiz signing without being subject to MLB's new penalties for overspending on international free agents.  These rules are all still fairly new to me, but at least it seems as if the team is moving in the right direction.

As for the newest Diamondbacks, Oliver had a few cards in last year's Bowman Draft set along with a card in last year's Williamsport Crosscutters team issue.  I don't have any cards of Taylor in my collection, although I suspect both he and Oliver are in the 2015 Lakewood BlueClaws team set, which I haven't picked up yet.