Game 26 - 2020 Topps Big League #47 Aaron Nola

Phillies 3, Nationals 2
Game 26 - Wednesday Night, August 26th in Washington
Record - 12-14, 3rd Place, 4 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Aaron Nola looked great through seven innings and the Phillies took the lead with a pair of RBI singles from Alec Bohm and Bryce Harper in this 3-2 win.

What It Means:  This series was cut short when the Phillies unanimously voted not to take the field on Thursday night to protest the latest instance of racial injustice in our country following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.  The Phillies join several other MLB, NBA and NHL teams in protesting for change.

What Happened:  On Wednesday night, Nola struck out 8 and allowed a pair of runs on five hits before yielding to the bullpen.  Tommy Hunter and Brandon Workman nailed down the win, although Workman made it interesting with Braves runners on the corners when he struck out Victor Robles to end the game.  Rhys Hoskins hit his third home run of the season to tie the game 1-1 in 3rd.

With the Nationals holding a 2-1 lead, Didi Gregorius led off the seventh with a triple to left and came home when Bohm singled.  Harper later singled the speedy Quinn home to take the lead.  This was the 12th Phillies win for manager Joe Girardi, but the 1,000 win for his managerial career.

Featured Card:  Nola improved his record to 3-2 with the win and lowered his ERA to an even 3.00.  He leads the club with 48 strikeouts through 36 innings pitched.

2019 Choice Lehigh Valley
IronPigs #7

Transaction:  Before the game, the Phillies traded Austin Davis (lhp) to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a player to be named later and cash.  Davis had been designated for assignment on August 21st when an extra 40-man roster spot was needed following the Red Sox trade.  Davis had his most success with the club in 2018, appearing in 32 games during his rookie campaign and pitching to a 4.15 ERA over 34 2/3 innings.  Overall, Davis appeared in 50 games for the Phillies over the past three seasons, going 1-2 with a 5.86 ERA.

Arrived During the 2020 Season

• David Hale (rhp) - 8/21/20, Acquired from the New York Yankees for Addison Russ (rhp).
• Brandon Workman (rhp) and Heath Hembree (rhp) - 8/21/20, Acquired from the Boston Red Sox with cash and a player to be named later for Nick Pivetta (rhp) and Connor Seabold (rhp).

Departed During the 2020 Season 

• Nick Williams (of) - 8/15/20, Selected off waivers by the Cincinnati Reds. 
• Edgar Garcia (rhp) - 8/18/20, Traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later.
• Nick Pivetta (rhp) - 8/21/20, Traded to the Boston Red Sox with Connor Seabold (rhp) for Brandon Workman (rhp), Heath Hembree (rhp), a player to be named later and cash.
• Austin Davis (lhp) - 8/26/20, Traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a player to be named later and  cash.

2020 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2020 Season Summary Index / 2020 Chachi Set Checklist

2020 Chachi #21 Austin Davis

#54
Austin Richard Davis
Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  225
Opening Day Age:  27
Born:  February 3, 1993, Scottsdale, AZ
How Obtained:  Selected by Phillies in the 12th round of the June 2014 amateur player draft
Contract Status:  Arbitration eligible in 2022, free agency eligible in 2026
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 2018-

First Phillies Card:  2018 Phillies Team Issue 2 Update #54
First Phillies Minor League Card:  2015 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #5
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  2018 Phillies Team Issue 2 Update #54

Newest Card Added:  2019 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #7

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

8 - Davis baseball cards in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 8/11/20.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2018 Chachi #40
2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #4 - with Luis Garcia and Victor Arano
2019 Chachi #35
2019 Chachi Photo Cards #54
2020 Chachi #21

Austin Davis struggled mightily over the first few weeks of this strange season, and his ERA was 21.00 after four appearances.  He was optioned to the Lehigh Valley alternate training site following the Orioles series sweep.

Davis' only Phillies baseball card to date can be found in the the second series 2018 team-issued photo card update set.

2020 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2020 Season Summary Index / 2020 Chachi Set Checklist

2019 and 2020 Chachi Photo Cards - Signed!

In February, before the coronavirus shut everything down, fellow collector Rick made his annual trip to Clearwater with copies of Chachi photo cards in hand.  He was able to get a number of the photos signed and he was gracious enough to get duplicate cards signed for me as well.

The cards for Jay Bruce, Austin Davis, JD Hammer and Cole Irvin are from last year's photo card set, while the Deivy Grullon and Blake Parker cards are from this year's set.  The Parker card is officially an uncorrected error card, as he's currently and has always been #53 with the Phillies.  He even included his correct uniform number within his signature.

Thanks again to Rick for sending these along, as they brightened up what had been an otherwise glum day.  I hope we're all back to trying to obtain player autographs relatively soon.

And I hope you and your families are staying safe and healthy, helping where you can and focusing on staying positive.

2019 Chachi #35 Austin Davis

#54
Austin Richard Davis
Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  225
Opening Day Age:  26
Born:  February 3, 1993, Scottsdale, AZ
Drafted:  Selected by the Phillies in the 12th round of the June 2014 draft
Teams:  Phillies 2018-
Acquired:  Via draft
Contract Status:  Arbitration eligible in 2022, free agency eligible in 2025

2015 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #5

2018 Chachi #40

2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #4

First Phillies Minor League Card:  2015 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #5
First Phillies Card:  2018 Phillies Team Issue 2 Update #54
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  2018 Phillies Team Issue 2 Update #54
First Topps Flagship Base Card:  N/A
Newest Card Added:  2018 Phillies Team Issue 2 Update #54

2018 Phillies Team Issue 2 Update #54

7 - Davis baseball cards in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 5/13/19.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2018 Chachi #40
2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #4 (with Luis Garcia and Victor Arano)
2019 Chachi #35
2019 Chachi Photo Cards #54

2019 Chachi Set Checklist
Virtual Phillies Wall - Featuring Current Active Roster

2019 Chachi #30 Victor Arano

#64
Victor Teodoro Arano
Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'2"  Weight:  220
Opening Day Age:  24
Born:  February 7, 1995, Veracruz, Mexico
Signed:  Signed by the Los Angeles Dodgers as an amateur free agent, April 4, 2013
Teams:  Phillies 2017-
Acquired:  Acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers with Jesmuel Valentin for Roberto Hernandez, August 28, 2014
Contract Status:  Arbitration eligible in 2021, free agency eligible in 2024

2015 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #1

2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs #BCAP-VA

2017 Chachi #62

2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival

First Phillies Minor League Card:  2015 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #1
First Phillies Card:  2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs #BCAP-VA
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  2018 Phillies Team Issue #64
First Topps Flagship Base Card:  2018 Topps #675
Newest Card Added:  2019 Phillies Team Issue #64

2018 Phillies Team Issue #64

19 - Arano baseball cards in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 5/3/19.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2017 Chachi #62
2018 Chachi #20
2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #4 (with Luis Garcia and Austin Davis)
2019 Chachi #30

2019 Chachi Set Checklist
Virtual Phillies Wall - Featuring Current Active Roster

Game 20 - 2019 Chachi Photo Cards #9 Phil Gosselin

Phillies 8, Rockies 5
Game 20 - Saturday Night, April 20th in Denver
Record - 12-8, 1st place, 1 game ahead of the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies temporarily rebounded from their horrendous Friday night loss to down the Rockies, 8-5.

What It Means:  The Phillies would need a win on Sunday to split the four-game series with the Rockies.  (Spoiler alert: It didn't happen.)

What Happened:  The big hits in this game were a three-run double from Phil Gosselin in the fourth and a three-run home run (5) from Bryce Harper in the seventh.  Andrew McCutchen provided some insurance with a solo home run (4) in the ninth.  Aaron Nola pitched somewhat better than his previous starts, working out of trouble during most of his 5 2/3 innings of work.  He allowed three runs on nine hits while striking out nine.

Featured Card:  Harper's homer was big, but it was Gosselin's double that gave the Phillies a 4-3 lead.  I've already featured the above card in an earlier post, but since I have no Gosselin cards to feature here, I'll go with this one again.  I've since had to add two more cards to the Chachi Photo Cards insert set (see below).

Transactions:  Three players landed on the disabled list on Saturday - reliever Victor Arano (elbow), infielder Scott Kingery (hamstring) and shortstop Jean Segura (hamstring).  The loss of both Kingery and Segura to hamstring injuries means that Gosselin will be the team's starting shortstop for at least the next 10 days.  Drew Anderson (rhp), Austin Davis (lhp) and Mitch Walding (3b) were all recalled from Lehigh Valley.

2019 Chachi Photo Cards #54

2019 Chachi Photo Cards #29

Game 147 - 2018 Phillies Team Issue Update #54 Austin Davis

Phillies 5, Marlins 4
Game 147 - Saturday Night, September 15th in Philadelphia
Record - 76-71, 2nd place, 6 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies rode two big hits and seven relievers to this 5-4 win over the Marlins.

What It Means:  The Braves lost and their magic number to clinch the division stayed at 9 with 15 games to play.

What Happened:  Vince Velasquez gave up four runs in the 2nd and was lifted for pinch-hitter Justin Bour in the bottom of the inning.  Bour delivered, lining a single to left scoring two runs.  The other big hit came from Cesar Hernandez who contributed a three-run home run (12) in the 5th to give the Phillies the lead for good.  Those were two of the team's total of four hits on the night.

Featured Card:  The bullpen pitched seven shutout innings, allowing two hits and walking none.  Pat Neshek closed it out to add his 5th save of the season.  Austin Davis had the longest outing, going 1 1/3 innings and lowering his season ERA to 3.48.  I was happy to see Davis had received one of the eight update cards inserted into the team's photo card set, as this is his first official Phillies baseball card.  Davis' only other baseball cards can be found within Phillies minor league team sets over the past several seasons.

Game 135 - 2018 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #8 Austin Davis

Cubs 7, Phillies 1
Game 135 - Saturday Night, September 1st in Philadelphia
Record - 72-63, 2nd place, 3 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The offensive struggles continued and Zach Eflin was hit around in his five innings of work as the Cubs defeated the Phillies, 7-1.

What It Means:  The Braves came from behind to beat the Pirates, increasing their lead in the division to three games.  As Scott Lauber pointed out in his Tweet, Eflin has a 6.20 ERA since the roster shuffling that sent him to AAA temporarily.

What Happened:  Other than a Nick Williams RBI single in the 4th, the Phillies offense was dormant.  The Cubs tacked on three late inning runs against relievers Edubray Ramos and Austin Davis.  Davis' two runs allowed were unearned due to his own throwing error.

Featured Card:  Davis was at the center of a bizarre scene in the 8th inning.  While consulting the small piece of paper he's kept in his back pocket all season for upcoming pitch selections, umpire Joe West approached Davis and confiscated the paper.  It was a frustrating moment in a frustrating game in what has been a frustrating second half.  (Davis has yet to appear on a Phillies baseball card.)

Transactions:  The first wave of September roster additions arrived with Aaron Altherr, Dylan Cozens and Yacksel Rios being recalled from Lehigh Valley.  Pedro Florimon, Ramos and Davis were all activated from the disabled list and Jesmuel Valentin was designated for assignment to make room for Florimon on the 40-man roster.

Finally, Mark Leiter, Jr., recently designated for assignment in order to add Jose Bautista to the 40-man roster, was claimed off waivers by the Blue Jays.  In two seasons with the Phillies, Leiter appeared in 39 games and made 11 starts.  He departs with a 3-7 record and a 5.03 ERA over 107 1/3 innings.

2018 Topps #573

Leiter, Jr. Complete Chachi Checklist
2017 Chachi #37
2017 Chachi Phillies Phestival #18
2017 Chachi In Action #4
2018 Chachi #37

Arrived During the 2018 Season

Trevor Plouffe (4/23/18) - Signed as a minor league free agent, formerly with the Texas Rangers organization.
Asdrubal Cabrera (7/27/18) - Acquired from the New York Mets for Franklyn Kilome.
Wilson Ramos (7/31/18) - Acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays for a player to be named later or cash.
Aaron Loup (7/31/18) - Acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays for Jacob Waguespack.
Justin Bour (8/10/18) - Acquired with cash from the Miami Marlins for McKenzie Mills.
Luis Avilan (8/22/18) - Acquired from the Chicago White Sox for Felix Paulino.
Jose Bautista (8/28/18) - Acquired from the New York Mets for a player to be named later or cash.

Departed During the 2018 Season
Drew Hutchison (6/5/18) - Designated for assignment and elected free agency.
Hoby Milner (7/15/18) - Sold to the Tampa Bay Rays.
Zac Curtis (7/31/18) - Designated for assingnment and claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers, 8/7/18.
Jake Thompson (8/14/18) - Traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for cash considerations.
Mark Leiter, Jr. (9/1/18) - Claimed off waivers by the Toronto Blue Jays.

2018 Chachi #40 Austin Davis

#54
Austin Richard Davis
Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Left  Throws:  Left  Height:  6'4"  Weight:  224
Opening Day Age:  25
Born:  February 3, 1993, Scottsdale, AZ
Drafted:  Selected by the Phillies in the 1st and 12th round of the June 2014 draft
Teams:  Phillies 2018
Acquired:  Via draft

2015 Choice Lakewood
BlueClaws #5

4 Davis Baseball Cards in My Collection per The Phillies Room Checklist
First Phillies Minor League Card:  2015 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #5
First Phillies Card:  N/A
First Topps Flagship Base Card:  N/A
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  N/A
Newest Card:  2017 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils Update #55

First Mention on The Phillies Room:  June 19, 2018 - Prior to the game, the Phillies made the somewhat surprising move of optioning one-time closer Hector Neris to Lehigh Valley.  Neris is 1-3 with a 6.00 ERA so far this season and his June ERA is 9.45.

Lefty reliever Austin Davis had his contract selected to take Neris' place in the bullpen.  A 2014 12th round draft pick, Davis has baseball card appearances in four Phillies minor league team sets to date.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2018 Chachi #40

Card statistics through 6/19/18.

Highlights from the 2018 Phillies Phestival (Part 1) #StrikeOutALS

2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #1

2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #2

2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #3

I still can't believe we had never attended this event until last year.  On Thursday afternoon, Jenna and our two sons attended the annual Phillies Phestival benefiting the ALS Association.  For those of you not familiar with this event, it's the Phillies' signature charity event featuring an afternoon of player autograph stations, a silent auction, mystery grab bags for sale featuring signed memorabilia and everything else Citizens Bank Park has to offer.  The Phillies raised over $725,000 during the afternoon, passing the $18 million mark in terms of money raised for the charity since 1984.

We have a close family friend currently battling ALS, and I've recently become more involved with the Association.  My employer was a table sponsor at the event, giving us the opportunity to arrive early and have our pictures taken with Cesar Hernandez and coach Jose David Flores.  As I did last year, I've made a set of special edition cards to commemorate our day, and I'll break the set into two separate posts.

Here are my best memories from the event:

• We hustled.  We learned from last year that you go as quickly as you can to each autograph station, saving the other fun stuff for last after the players stop signing.  There were 20 total autograph stations and we hit 14, breaking into groups of two about 45 minutes into the event.  Had we broken up earlier, we probably could have hit more but it was fun to stick together for the beginning.  For the record, we missed the tables of Nick Williams/Andrew Knapp, Scott Kingery/Dylan Cozens, Rhys Hoskins, Charlie Manuel, Gabe Kapler/coach Rob Thomson and Tommy Hunter/coach Rick Kranitz.  No offense to the last table mentioned, but my autograph-seeking son flat out opted to pass on their table.

•  As was the case last year, everyone was exceedingly pleasant.  I stood in line by myself for the 1993 Alumni table, adding autographs of Kevin Stocker, Tommy Greene, Larry Andersen, John Kruk, Larry Bowa and Mickey Morandini.  Somewhat predictably, that bunch spent the time I was in line cracking jokes and discussing their plans for the evening.

• Thanks to fellow collectors Steve F. and Rick for the texts with table updates and leads on potential new photo cards.  The only new photo cards seemingly available from the event is a new card of J.P. Crawford in the style of the 2017 team-issued update set and a new Phillies Alumni photo card for former manager Charlie Manuel.  I've updated the 2017 Phillies Team Issue Update post here, and I'll have a comprehensive post on the Alumni Cards out soon.

2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #4

2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #5

2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #6

2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #7

2018 Chachi Phillies Phestival #8

• Relatively new additions Austin Davis, Mitch Walding and Dylan Cozens had nothing available to sign.  My hope was that the Phillies would produce special photo cards for the trio but they were sitting at their stations with nothing but Sharpies in front of them.

• Our oldest son Doug was on a mission to get as many autographs as possible in the two-hour signing period and by his count, he came away with 35 different autographed cards!  Credit needs to go to our youngest son Ben who helped his older brother with his mission, at one point telling Victor Arano that his name was Doug so that Arano would personalize the autograph for his brother.  Ben does not show the same zeal for autograph collecting as his brother, but I was beyond proud of him for being helpful.

• Doug and I were the last two people in line to get Jake Arrieta's autograph.  He was actually unbuttoning his jersey as we walked in, getting ready to leave the room.  He saw Doug round the corner, put his jersey back on and posed for a picture with Doug.  Great memory.

• Our luck with the mystery grab bags wasn't great, but I'm fine with that as everything went towards a great cause.  We came away with autographed baseballs from Luis Garcia (x 2) and Adam Morgan and an autographed hat from Hector Neris, as well as 3 Mike Schmidt bobble heads and a mini Harry Kalas statue.

Phillies Phestival Memory Lane

2017 Part 1 and Part 2

2018 Part 1 and Part 2

Game 70 - 2018 Topps #444 Aaron Altherr

Phillies 6, Cardinals 5 (10)
Game 70 - Monday Night, June 18th in Philadelphia
Record - 38-32, Tied for 2nd place, 3 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Nick Pivetta struck out 13, but the Phillies needed a two-out, two-run walk-off double in the 10th from Aaron Altherr to seal this 6-5 win over the Cardinals.

What It Means:  The Phils have crept back into a tie for second place with the Nationals.

What Happened:  Pivetta was gifted a 4-run lead in the 1st inning on an Odubel Herrera 3-run home run (10) and Andrew Knapp's RBI single.  He departed after 7 1/3 innings having allowed two runs on just four hits and with his team holding a 4-2 lead.

Victor Arano was called on in the 9th to secure the save, and he blew it.  He struck out Yairo Munoz to seemingly end the game, but his wild pitch allowed Munoz to reach and Yadier Molina to score to make it a 4-3 ballgame.  Adam Morgan relieved Arano and allowed a single to Kolten Wong to tie the score.  In the 10th, Jake Thompson allowed a home run to Tommy Pham to start the inning.

2017 Grandstand Reading
Fightin Phils Update #55

Featured Card:  Trailing 5-4 in the 10th, Rhys Hoskins singled and the Cardinals opted to intentionally walk Carlos Santana.  Altherr made them pay with a double to left (misplayed by Marcell Ozuna) and the Phils had themselves a dramatic 6-5 win.  Altherr was only in the game as Nick Williams had been hit square in the nose with a ball caroming off the outfield wall, causing him to exit the game.

Transaction:  Prior to the game, the Phillies made the somewhat surprising move of optioning one-time closer Hector Neris to Lehigh Valley.  Neris is 1-3 with a 6.00 ERA so far this season and his June ERA is 9.45.

Lefty reliever Austin Davis had his contract selected to take Neris' place in the bullpen.  A 2014 12th round draft pick, Davis has baseball card appearances in four Phillies minor league team sets to date.