Phillies 3, Nationals 2
Game 138 - Monday Night, September 2nd in Philadelphia
Record - 63-75, Tied for 3rd Place, 21 1/2 games behind the Braves
One Sentence Summary: The Phillies posted another come-from-behind victory, courtesy of clutch eighth inning hits from
Jimmy Rollins and
Carlos Ruiz.
What It Means: I was at this game, and I wondered if it would be the last time I'd see starting pitcher
Cole Hamels pitch to Ruiz.
What Went Right: Hamels was brilliant in his seven innings of work, allowing just a run on two hits while striking out eight. 69 of Hamels' 87 pitches were strikes. The offense was quiet through the first seven innings, but then came alive with two outs in the eighth.
Recent call-up
Cesar Hernandez walked and then was doubled home by Rollins. After
Chase Utley was intentionally walked, Ruiz singled home Rollins to give the Phillies a 3-2 lead.
Jonathan Papelbon walked a tight-rope in the ninth before finally recording the third out and earning his 24th save.
Featured Card: When looking for a card for this post, I was surprised to see that Rollins only has base cards in the Topps flagship, Opening Day and Heritage sets this year. He doesn't have a base card in the Gypsy Queen release, but he does have a mini relic card, featured here.
Field Report: My son Doug and I attended this game together, and it was Doug's last Phillies game of
the season. (I'm heading to one more game later this month with my wife.) We've developed a little routine during the season and it's likely to carry over to 2014.
We arrive early, walk around and check out the Majestic Clubhouse store, get a box of popcorn for Doug, Doug devours popcorn during the first few innings, we wait until the fifth or sixth inning and get water ice and then we walk around the ballpark shortly after the seventh inning stretch. We left in the top of the eighth in this game, so we missed the late comeback, but it was still a fun night.
Here are a few interesting things to pass along to fellow Phillies fans/collectors:
-
Roger Bernadina had a giant 2011 Topps style card in the Ashburn Alley starting line-up, but Hernandez did not.
- All
Michael Young t-shirts and jersey are 75% off.
- The team issued postcard sets are now just $3 and two different vendors told me there wouldn't be another set this year. "This is it," one of the vendors told me. "They're not adding any more cards this year."
- I picked up a
John Kruk "action figurine" that was free with the purchase of a $10 Phillies Yearbook.
