Game 135 - Phils, Suarez Fall Flat Against Braves

2001 Topps Combos #TC2

Braves 7, Phillies 2
Game 135 - Friday Night, August 30th in Philadelphia
Record - 79-56, 1st Place, 5 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  This was a forgettable game from the start, as Ranger Suarez struggled to find his groove and the Phillies' offense couldn't find a clutch hit in this 7-2 loss.

What It Means:  Best just to move on from this one, as there weren't a lot of positive developments.

What Happened:  Suarez dropped to 11-6 on the season as he was pulled after four innings having allowed four runs on five hits, including home runs to Orlando Arcia and Sean Murphy.  Relievers Max Lazar and Yunior Marte gave up three more runs.  The Phillies managed solo home runs from Bryson Stott and J.T. Realmuto.

Featured Card:  Games like this make it difficult to come up with a card that "fits" so here's a random card from my collection featuring two greats from the Phillies and Braves.

2024 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2024 Season Summary Index / 2024 Chachi Set Checklist

Rolen Elected Into Hall of Fame

1996 Topps #434

1997 Topps #268

1998 Topps #25

1999 Topps #125

2000 Topps #328

2001 Topps #478

2002 Topps #610

2002 Topps #709

On Tuesday evening, and with 76.3% of the votes, Scott Rolen squeaked into the Hall of Fame and will be inducted in Cooperstown on July 23.  It was Rolen's fifth year on the ballot, and he saw a steady ascent since receiving just 10.2% of the votes during his initial year of 2018, when the ballot had been much more crowded.  He's a Hall of Famer on the strength of his combined offensive and defensive output, and his induction hopefully builds the case for Dick Allen, Dale Murphy and eventually Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley.

Rolen was drafted by the Phillies in the 2nd round of the June 1993 amateur player draft, and he'd make his big league debut on August 1, 1996, getting the call after third baseman Todd Zeile was dealt to the Orioles at the trade deadline.  Rolen was the team's opening day third baseman in 1997, ultimately winning the Rookie of the Year in the National League, after batting .283 with 21 home runs and 92 RBIs.  He'd win his first of eight Gold Gloves the following year in 1998.  Rolen was the Phillies' opening day and regular third baseman between 1997 and mid-2002, during some pretty lean years.  Not looking to sign a contract extension, and wanting to play for a winning team, he was dealt to the Cardinals on July 29, 2002 with Doug Nickle and cash for Placido Polanco, Bud Smith and Mike Timlin.

I was disappointed and upset with Rolen when the trade was announced, and I've since gotten over that.

In his seven seasons with the club, he appeared in 884 games, nearly 200 more than he appeared with the Cardinals.  Rolen batted .282 with 150 home runs and 559 RBIs with the Phillies, again surpassing his totals with the Cardinals.  He's not yet decided which hat his plaque will show when he's inducted, and while a Cardinals hat probably makes the most sense, I'm hoping he wears a Phillies hat.  Rolen also seems a natural candidate to be the team's Wall of Fame Inductee in 2023, but no official announcement has been made.

Game 146 - Phils Fall Again in Atlanta

2001 Topps 
Who Would Have Thought #WWHT16

Braves 5, Phillies 2
Game 146 - Sunday Afternoon, September 18th in Atlanta
Record - 80-66, 3rd Place, 12 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Spencer Strider struck out 10 Phillies batters as the Braves completed the three-game sweep and sent Phillies fans across the nation into a postseason panic.

What It Means:  Spoiler alert, the losing streak would reach five games before finally being snapped on Wednesday, but at this point things were looking grim.

What Happened:  The Phillies were 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position, with their only two runs coming on solo home runs from Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto.  Bailey Falter pitched well again, giving up a run in 4 2/3 innings, before turning the game over to the bullpen.  The Phillies tied the score at 1-1 in the sixth on Bohm's home run, but the Braves would score in each of their final three at-bats off relievers Connor Brogdon, Sam Coonrod and David Robertson.

Featured Card:  At the 146th game of the season, in the midst of a five-game losing streak, finding a meaningful card to attach to these game summary posts if a tough task.  I featured a Braves/Phillies combo card from my collection in the Game 145 post, and here's another card featuring both franchises.  Once the Phillies get back on the winning track, these card choice decisions will get much easier.

2022 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2022 Season Summary Index / 2022 Chachi Set Checklist

2001 Topps Phillies Team Set

#773 Phillies Team

#347 Terry Francona MG

#487 Bob Abreu

#523 Marlon Anderson

#274 Jeff Brantley

#144 Pat Burrell

#656 Paul Byrd

#236 Omar Daal

#194 Rob Ducey

#563 Nelson Figueroa

#574 Doug Glanville

#639 Wayne Gomes

#13 Brian Hunter

#182 Mike Jackson

#172 Kevin Jordan

#124 Travis Lee

#592 Mike Lieberthal

#676 Robert Person

#478 Scott Rolen

#539 Kevin Sefcik

#131 Randy Wolf

#733 Eric Valent PROS

#751 Keith Bucktrot DP

Traded & Rookies

#T146 Larry Bowa MG

#T40 Ricky Bottalico

#T12 Rheal Cormier

#T50 Brian Hunter

#T229 Ryan Madson

#T24 Jose Mesa

#T66 Jimmy Rollins

#T159 Carlos Silva

2000 Topps Phillies Team Set / 2002 Topps Phillies Team Set

Game 74 - 2001 Topps Archives #183 Kent Tekulve

Mets 4, Phillies 3
Game 74 - Saturday Afternoon, June 26th in Flushing
Record - 35-39, Tied for 3rd Place, 6 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  For the third consecutive game, a Phillies reliever couldn't hold a one-run lead in the seventh, nor could they lock down the save when the Phillies somehow scored again, and it's miserable being a Phillies fan.

What It Means:  🤷‍♂️

What Happened:  The positives from this game were Zach Eflin going toe to toe with Jacob deGrom and allowing one less run over six innings, and Nick Maton coming through with clutch RBIs in the second and ninth innings.  Andrew McCutchen also delivered a big sacrifice fly in the sixth to give the Phillies a brief 2-1 lead.  The negatives were, as usual, anything coming out of the Phillies bullpen.  After Maton gave the team a 3-2 lead in the ninth, Hector Neris once again emerged to try for the save.  Only a few minutes into the bottom of the ninth, Rhys Hoskins had booted a ball and Neris had walked the next batter.  It was only a matter of time before the Mets walked-off with the win, this time on a Michael Conforto sacrifice fly.

Featured Card:  Kent Tekulve had nothing to do with this game, but I wanted to cleanse the blog's palate and feature a card of a closer who made me happy more often than sad.

Transactions:  Before the game, Andrew Knapp (c) was activated from the 7-day concussion IL and Enyel De Los Santos (rhp) was recalled from Lehigh Valley.  Rafael Marchan (c) and Matt Vierling (of) were both optioned back down.

2021 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2021 Season Summary Index / 2021 Chachi Set Checklist

Game 44 - 2001 Pacific #317 Pat Burrell

Marlins 6, Phillies 0
Game 44 - Thursday Night, May 20th in Philadelphia
Record - 22-22, 2nd Place, 1 1/2 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  In an incredibly unenjoyable game to watch, the Phillies folded easily against the Marlins, losing 6-0 and dropping the series in the process.

What It Means:  The Phillies returned to .500 for the first time since May 4th when they were 15-15.  If not for a lousy N.L. East, they'd be much further down in the standings than second place.

What Happened:  Vince Velasquez came down with finger numbness right before the start of this game, meaning David Hale was needed to make an emergency start.  Hale did fine (one run in three innings), but the two relievers who followed him, Matt Moore and Archie Bradley, allowed five runs in their 3 2/3 innings of work.  One of Bradley's runs was unearned due to another error at third, his fifth, from Alec Bohm.  The Phillies offense managed three hits against Marlins' starter Sandy Alcantara and three Marlins relievers, striking out 15 times.

Featured Card:  With nothing to celebrate from this game, let's turn back the clock to 20 years ago.  On May 20, 2001, the Phillies gave away their first bobble-head featuring an actual player with slugger Pat Burrell getting the honor.  Burrell went 2 for 4 that Sunday afternoon against the Cardinals as the Phillies lost, 3-1.  J.D. Drew played right field for the Cardinals and my memories from that game are getting my Burrell bobble-head and booing Drew along with the other 31,391 fans in attendance.  Do you still have your Burrell bobble-head?

2021 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2021 Season Summary Index / 2021 Chachi Set Checklist

Grapefruit Game 2 - Phillie Phanatic Evolution

2020 Chachi Preview #10

2001 Nabisco Phillies

1992 Donruss Triple Play #133

2019 Topps Opening Day Mascots #M-21

Phillies 4, Pirates 3 (10 Innings)
Spring Training Game 2 - Sunday Afternoon, February 23rd in Clearwater
Record - 1-0-1

One Sentence Summary:  Jay Bruce's two-run double in the first paced the offense and Aaron Nola pitched two scoreless innings in his spring debut.

What It Means:  Everything stopped on Sunday afternoon as my family and I gathered around the TV and watched the first few innings of the game - the first of many games we'll watch together in 2020.

What Happened:  The Phillies enjoyed a four-run first inning and made the lead stand the rest of the game.  Jean Segura and Kyle Garlick accounted for the other two Phillies runs with RBI singles.  Nola allowed three hits and struck out a batter in his outing.

Featured Card:  It was exciting to watch the Phillies on TV again, but the big news for the club was the "evolution" of the team's mascot, the Phillie Phanatic, who debuted his new look.  For the record, I'm fine with this.  He looks strange for now, but our kids seemed to shrug off the changes and fans will get used to the new look over time.  There's a copyright lawsuit going on now between the Phillies and the original creators of the Phanatic (Harrison/Erickson) and the tweaks to the Phanatic's appearance are mostly, if not entirely, due to that.

The new look Phanatic has actual hands, some sort of scalloped wings on his arms and star shapes around his eyes.  His eyes are now surrounded by bushier blue fuzz.  He appears to be skinnier with a blue tail feather and he's wearing blue socks with red shoes.  His snout is also shorter.  Shown above are a few cards tracking the evolution of the best mascot in baseball over the years.

Camp Head Count:  70

Phils Hire Joe Dillon to be Girardi's Hitting Coach

2001 Bowman's Best #188

On Thursday, the Phillies officially named Joe Dillon the team's new hitting coach, completing the hiring for new manager Joe Girardi's coaching staff.  Bryan Price (pitching coach) and Juan Castro (infield coach) had been previously added.

Dillon was with the Nationals in 2018 and 2019, working as the assistant to hitting coach Kevin Long.  Long had previously coached with Girardi for the Yankees between 2008 and 2014, and Long apparently personally recommend Dillon to Girardi.  Dillon also served as the Marlins minor league hitting coordinator in 2016 and 2017.  He played in parts of four seasons in the Majors with the Marlins (2005), Brewers (2007-2008) and Rays (2009) hitting .263 over 217 at-bats.

His sole mainstream baseball card seems to be his 2001 Bowman's Best card, featuring him as a prospect in the Royals' system.  Other than that appearance, he's appeared in numerous minor league team sets dating back to 1998.

Here's a look at the club's hitting coaches dating back to 1970:

• Billy DeMars 1969-1981 - DeMars also served as first base coach (1969-1972) and third base coach (1972-1979).
• Deron Johnson 1982-1984 - Johnson also served as first base coach during his coaching tenure.
• Del Unser 1985-1988 - Unser also served as first base coach (1985-1987).
• Denis Menke 1989-1996
• Hal McRae 1997-2000
• Richie Hebner 2001
• Greg Gross 2002-2004; 2011-2012
• Milt Thompson 2005-2011
• Steve Henderson 2013-2016
• Matt Stairs 2017
• John Mallee 2018-2019
• Charlie Manuel 2019
• Joe Dillon 2020

Phillies Missing Links of the 2000s - #31 Tyler Walker

#52
Tyler Lanier Walker
Relief Pitcher

Following their World Series victory in 2008, the Phillies were trying to make it back to the postseason for the third year in a row in 2009.  In mid-June, the Phillies had a modest lead in the division over the Mets, but they had recently placed both Brad Lidge and Scott Eyre on the disabled list and they were searching for some stability in their bullpen.  Sergio Escalona had already been recalled and optioned twice over the first few months of the season and when he was optioned for the third time on June 14th, Tyler Walker was recalled.  Walker had gone to spring training with the Mariners but had been released on March 29th.  Ten days later on April 9th, the Phillies signed him and sent him to the IronPigs until his services were needed in mid-June.

Walker proved to be a somewhat reliable reliever for the Phillies in the second half of 2009, and he was used on several occasions for two-inning stints.  He'd appear in 32 games for the Phillies, making his inclusion on this Missing Links list somewhat surprising.  In 35 1/3 innings, Walker had an impressive ERA of 3.06 and a 2-1 record.  In fact, his ERA had been under 3 for most of his time with the club until two late season appearances in which he didn't retire a batter but allowed four runs.  Walker didn't appear in any postseason games for the Phillies and he was released on November 10th.

I was pleasantly surprised to see him in attendance this past August at the 10-year reunion of the 2009 N.L. pennant winning team.

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  260
Born:  May 15, 1976, San Francisco, CA
Drafted:  Drafted by the New York Mets in the 2nd round of the 1997 amateur draft, June 3, 1997.
Major League Teams:  New York Mets 2002; San Francisco Giants 2004-2006; Tampa Bay Devil Rays 2006; San Francisco Giants 2007-2008; Phillies 2009; Washington Nationals 2010

Phillies Career

32 games, 2-1, 3.06 ERA over 35 1/3 innings
Acquired:  April 9, 2009 - Signed as a minor league free agent formerly with the Seattle Mariners organization.
Debut:  June 16, 2009 - Relieved Clay Condrey in the 10th inning of a game the Blue Jays would go on to win, 8-3.  Condrey departed having allowed a pair of runs and with the bases still loaded.  Walker allowed all inherited runners to score before inducing a groundout to end the inning.
Final Game:  October 3, 2009 - Pitched two scoreless innings after relieving Cole Hamels in the fourth.
Departed:  November 10, 2009 - Granted free agency and signed as a free agent by the Washington Nationals, January 25, 2010.

0 Walker Baseball Cards in My Collection

Complete Chachi Checklist
2009 Chachi #42
2010 Chachi Transactions #10
2019 Chachi Alumni Weekend #9 (with Paul Bako)

2001 Upper Deck #289

2003 Fleer Tradition #348

2006 Topps Heritage #185

2007 Upper Deck #217

2009 Chachi #42

Other Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card:  2001 Upper Deck #289
First Topps Base Card:  N/A
Last Mainstream Card:  2007 Upper Deck #150
Other Notable Cards:  1998 Multi-Ad South Atlantic League Top Prospects #24, 2002 Fleer #529, 2003 Fleer Tradition #348, 2003 Topps Total #294, 2006 Topps Heritage #185

Sources:  Baseball Reference and The Trading Card Database

Phillies Missing Links of the 2000s
Gallery - Cards 1 to 34

This is a continuing series looking at those players who spent time with the Phillies but possess no baseball card proof of their time in Philadelphia.  In some cases, the First and Last Mainstream cards listed above have been subjectively chosen if multiple cards were released in that year.