1961 Fleer Baseball Greats #2 Grover Cleveland Alexander

Twins 7, Phillies 1
Spring Training Game 26 - Saturday Afternoon, March 28th in Fort Myers
Record - 11-14-1

One Sentence Summary:  Jerome Williams struggled though another outing as the Phillies dropped the game to the Twins, 7-1.

What It Means:  As Jim Salisbury points out in this Tweet, the Phillies have lost four in a row and have been outscored 28-3 in those games while hitting .190.

What Happened:  Williams allowed six runs (four earned) on nine hits in his four innings of work.  The offense managed five hits with their sole run coming as a result of Odubel Herrera's RBI single in the third.

Featured Card:  We're entering the dog days of spring and it's getting harder to come up with a relevant card to feature after these meaningless losses.

With that in mind . . . I read a fascinating article on the Phillies spring training from 1915 in this morning's Philadelphia Inquirer.  The article features a steamer voyage to Florida, gaping alligators and tales of Coffee Pot Park.  There's also a nice picture of future Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander sipping his coffee in the bleachers while wearing his snazzy Phillies warm-up sweater.

1971 Fleer Laughlin World Series #13 1915 World Series

Phillies 8, Cardinals 2 (6 1/2 Innings)
Game 17 - Friday Night, April 19th in Philadelphia
Record - 7-10, 4th Place, 6 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The offense plated five first inning runs as Roy Halladay enjoyed his second straight effective outing in a rain-shortened 8-2 win over the Cardinals.

What It Means:  It means the four game losing streak is over and hopefully the Phils can turn things around at home.

What Went Right:  Halladay gets credited with a complete game victory in which he allowed just two runs on two hits.  He struck out six on the way to his 201st career win.

The big first inning hits were delivered by John Mayberry, Jr. (double), Ben Revere (triple) and Humberto Quintero (double).

Featured Card:  Sure, I could have gone with a Halladay card for this post, but like most of America we were much more focused on Watertown last night.  Once the Phillies game went into a rain delay, we left the news on and followed along as law enforcement officials finally captured the lone surviving terrorist who was behind the horrific Boston bombing last Monday.

As a small tribute to the people of Boston, I wanted to feature a Phillies card that had some connection to the Red Sox.  I thought this one, which commemorates Boston's third World Series title in 1915, was appropriate.

1980 SSPC Baseball Immortals #14 Grover Alexander

Cardinals 8, Phillies 3
Game 49 - Sunday Afternoon, May 27th in St. Louis
Record - 25-24, 5th Place, 5 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Roy Halladay left after two innings with a sore right shoulder, making the outcome of the game somewhat meaningless.

What It Means:  Doom and gloom.

What Went Wrong:  Halladay allowed a first inning grand slam to Yadier Molina.  He retired the Cardinals in order in the second, but was then lifted for pinch-hitter Pete Orr in the top of the third.  The early reports were that he left as a precautionary measure after experiencing soreness in his right shoulder.

Juan Pierre had three hits and two RBIs for the Phils.

Featured Card:  Had the Phillies won today, it would have marked their first four-game sweep in St. Louis since August 1913.  Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander went 22-8 for the '13 Phillies.  Although the lack of box scores from that year on either Baseball Reference or Retrosheet makes it difficult to tell if he actually won any of those four games against the Cardinals, I'm assuming he probably did.  I'm in that kind of mood.

1961 Golden Press #2 Grover Cleveland Alexander

Blue Jays 7, Phillies 4
Game 85 - Sunday Afternoon, July 3rd in Toronto

One Sentence Summary:  Cliff Lee was rolling along as the best pitcher in baseball until the Blue Jays hit three quick home runs off him in the eighth and the Phils fell, 7-4.

What It Means:  The Phillies record is now 53-32 and they have a 4 game lead over the Braves in the East.

What Went Wrong:  The Phils jumped to a quick lead with four runs in the second off Blue Jays starter Jo-Jo Reyes.  However, the Blue Jays scored seven unanswered runs to come from behind and avoid the sweep.

It all happened so quickly.  Heading into the bottom of the eighth, Lee (9-6) was cruising behind a 4-3 lead.  With little warning, Eric Thames homered to center, Jose Bautista hit a bomb to left, Adam Lind singled and Edwin Encarnacion capped it with a two-run home run.  Just like that, it was 7-4 Jays and Lee's day was over.

Featured Card:  Lee's scoreless inning streak was halted in the third when he allowed the first Marlins run.  His 34 scoreless innings moved him past Larry Andersen's 32 2/3 scoreless innings for second place on the Phillies all-time list.  Only Hall of Famer Grover Cleveland Alexander's streak is longer, as Ol' Pete threw 41 consecutive scoreless innings in 1911.

I picked up this Alexander card a few months ago from CheckOutMyCards.com.  The 33-card Golden Press set was included in book form with perforations so that collectors could remove the cards from the book.  Each of the subjects featured are Hall of Famers.  It's a cool looking set and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we're seeing sell sheets for the 2013 Topps Golden Press set.

All-Stars:  It was announced this afternoon that Placido Polanco was voted by fans as the starting third baseman for the National League All Star squad.  Also making the team were three of the Four Aces - Lee, Roy Halladay and Cole Hamels.  Shane Victorino will once again try to make it to Phoenix via the Final Vote, which is currently under way over at MLB.com.

1983 Donruss Hall of Fame Heroes #23 Grover Alexander

I can say with absolute, 100% certainty that my Aunt Edna does not read this blog. In any event, I'd like to wish her a happy 95th birthday, and I'm looking forward to our visit with Aunt Edna this afternoon.

95 years! To put that into perspective, my Aunt Edna was just a 1-year-old when Grover Cleveland "Pete" Alexander went 31-10 to lead the Phillies to their first World Series appearance in 1915. The Phils lost to the Red Sox (4 games to 1) in that World Series, but Pete won Game 1 at the old Baker Bowl. (It's interesting to note that all 4 games lost by the Phils were by a margin of only one run).

Also interesting - Babe Ruth had only one at-bat during this World Series, as he pinch-hit for Red Sox pitcher Ernie Shore in the 9th inning of Game 1. Pete induced a ground-out to first base by the Babe.