Game 50 - 2010 Topps National Chicle #21 J.A. Happ

Blue Jays 5, Phillies 3
Game 50 - Sunday Afternoon, May 27th in Philadelphia
Record - 29-21, 2nd place, 1/2 game behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Former Phillie J.A. Happ held the Phillies offense in check while reliever Tommy Hunter had another rough outing in this 5-3 loss.

What It Means:  The Phillies were in first place for less than a day as the Braves won on Sunday.  They'll hope to get back to the top spot during a four-game series in Los Angeles.  The Braves are back home against the Mets.

What Happened:  Nick Pivetta started and allowed two runs while striking out seven in his five innings of work.  Hunter managed just two outs in the sixth before being pulled having allowed a pair of Jays runs to score.  The only Phillies offense came in the sixth when Maikel Franco, Carlos Santana, Aaron Altherr and Nick Williams strung together four straight singles to score three runs.

Featured Card:  Happ has been tough on the Phillies since they traded him to the Astros in the July 2010 Roy Oswalt deal.  In his five starts against his former team, Happ is 5-0 with a 1.45 ERA.

2016 Topps - Phillies Cards (So Far)

2016 Topps Update #US112

2016 Topps Update #US199

2016 Topps #154

2016 Topps Update #US300

My wife and kids purchased a 2016 Topps factory set for me for Christmas and while this year's flagship design isn't my favorite, I still enjoyed looking through the set.  I believe in the adage of "Once a Phillie, Always a Phillie" which is why as I was going through the set I found myself absent-mindedly setting aside the past, current and future Phillies.  I ended up with a nice little stack of cards and for no other reason than I find this stuff interesting and entertaining, here's a list of the cards with Phillies connections in the 2016 Topps factory set, with the cards from the Update series thrown in for good measure.

This list will grow in future years, and I'm including four players (marked with an *) who haven't officially suited up for the team yet.

At some point in the coming weeks, I'll take a closer look at the 2016 Topps Phillies cards.  Until then, this page links to all my past Topps Phillies posts.

National League East (33 - 5 without Phillies)
Atlanta Braves (2) - #82 Michael Bourn, #US271 Jeff Francoeur
Miami Marlins (0)
New York Mets (0)
Philadelphia Phillies (28)
Washington Nationals (3) - #266 Jonathan Papelbon, #342 Jayson Werth, #US112 Ben Revere

National League Central (3)
Chicago Cubs (0)
Cincinnati Reds (0)
Milwaukee Brewers (1) - #152 Kyle Lohse
Pittsburgh Pirates (1) - #169 Charlie Morton
St. Louis Cardinals (1) - #US199 Brandon Moss

National League West (7)
Arizona Diamondbacks (1) - #104 Jeremy Hellickson
Colorado Rockies (1) - #US82 Chad Qualls
Los Angeles Dodgers (3) - #351 Chase Utley, #US245 Howie Kendrick*, #US300 A.J. Ellis
San Diego Padres (1) - #163 Joaquin Benoit*
San Francisco Giants (1) - #154 Hunter Pence

2016 Topps #449

2016 Topps #622

2016 Topps #512

2016 Topps Update #US116

American League East (7)
Baltimore Orioles (1) - #6 Jimmy Paredes
Boston Red Sox (1) - #77 Clay Buchholz*
New York Yankees (0)
Tampa Bay Rays (0)
Toronto Blue Jays (5) - #349 Ben Revere, #449 J.A. Happ, #655 Domonic Brown, #US35 Joaquin Benoit*, #US179 Ezequiel Carrera

American League Central (0)
Chicago White Sox (0)
Cleveland Indians (0)
Detroit Tigers (0)
Kansas City Royals (0)
Minnesota Twins (0)

American League West (6)
Houston Astros (2) - #270 Pat Neshek*, #622 Ken Giles
Los Angeles Angels (0)
Oakland Athletics (1) - #512 Ryan Madson
Seattle Mariners (0)
Texas Rangers (3) - #588 Cole Hamels, #US38 Cole Hamels AS, #US116 Jake Diekman

Memory Lane

1970 Topps - 114 cards with Phillies connections
1973 Topps - 107 cards with Phillies connections
1979 Topps - 111 cards with Phillies connections, plus one more
1985 Topps - 153 cards with Phillies connections
1988 Topps - 154 cards with Phillies connections
2016 Topps - 56 cards with Phillies connections, as of 1/2/17

2009 Upper Deck Inkredible #INK-JH J.A. Happ

Blue Jays 13, Phillies 2
Game 67 - Thursday Night, June 16th in Philadelphia
Record - 30-37, 4th place, 11 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies suffered through a brutal beat-down from the Blue Jays, not doing anything right, and losing by a lopsided 13-2 score.

What It Means:  Since the team's high-water mark of 24-17 on May 18th, they're 6-20, which is the worst record in baseball during that span.  May 18th was the day the Phillies were briefly tied with the Nationals for first place in the division and they're now 11 games back.

What Happened:  Aaron Nola had his worst ever start, getting pulled in the fourth after he couldn't retire a batter.  He allowed eight runs on six hits.  David Hernandez was on the mound for an awful eighth inning, allowing four runs on five hits.  This was also the inning during which Odubel Herrera thought he had caught the third out and nonchalantly tossed the ball into the outfield stands.

Manager Pete Mackanin called his first ever post-game team meeting following the game.

Featured Card:  Former Phillie J.A. Happ is having a nice season for the Jays.  He earned his eighth win in this game, allowing just three hits in his seven innings of work.

Be sure to check out the 2016 Season Summary page with game results and links to game summary posts.

2010 Upper Deck #384 J.A. Happ

Blue Jays 3, Phillies 0
Game 30 - Monday Night, May 5th in Philadelphia
Record - 15-15

One Sentence Summary:  The lethargic Phillies shuffled through another loss, this time falling 3-0 to J.A. Happ and the Blue Jays.

What It Means:  The Phillies haven't scored since the first inning of Sunday afternoon's game.

What Happened:  Jose Reyes hit a lead-off home run to start the game and that was all the Blue Jays would need for the win.  They tacked on a few more runs against Kyle Kendrick as the Phillies pitcher eventually dropped to 0-3 on the season.

Starting shortstop Freddy Galvis snapped an 0 for 24 skid with a third inning single.  He'd finish the game going 1 for 5 to raise his average to .056.

Featured Card:  Happ made his first start of the season for the Blue Jays, pitching five shutout innings and allowing just three hits.  I wrote about his trade to the Astros (for Roy Oswalt) back in a July 2010 post, which can be found here.

Field Report:  My wife Jenna and I went to this game, and as expected we were not happy with the outcome.  Other than finding a concession stand that was actually grilling dollar dogs, the night was pretty much a bust.  At one point, echoing the feelings of Phillies fans everywhere when they realized that Galvis, John Mayberry, Jr. and Jayson Nix were all in the same line-up, Jenna turned to me and said, "This is awful."

There were a lot of empty blue seats at this game, which means there were fewer people to appreciate (?) the custom Nix card featured in the starting line-up hanging outside of Ashburn Alley.  The Phillies are now 1-1 in games I've attended this season.

2009 Topps Phillies

2009 Topps #500, #200, #557 and #73

In the latter part of 2008 into the early part of 2009, all was right with the world if you were a Phillies fan.  The team had just been crowned World Champions and we were all living in the afterglow of the magical 2008 season.  My fellow Phillies fans wanted to talk about the team and relive the memorable moments from the championship season.  The Philadelphia Comcast station constantly re-ran the key games from the 2008 postseason, and played interviews with all our new heroes.  For me personally, I wanted to find a way to somehow connect with fellow Phillies fans and baseball card collectors.  I wanted to keep the magic going and show off some of the cool custom baseball cards I was creating.  So on the evening of March 30, 2009, I started this blog.

I tracked every game of the 2009 campaign on this blog, including the team's return to the postseason for the third straight season.  I discovered other baseball card and Phillies-related blogs and I've made some genuine friends along the way.  The 2009 season didn't end the way I wanted it to end, but I definitely enjoyed the ride.

The Set

2009 Topps #525 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  Remember the good old days, when Topps base sets had 792 cards, and 792 cards only?  There weren't any gimmicks, no short-printed cards sharing the same number in the set as another card and once you had all 792 cards - you stopped?  Topps rolled out two series of 330 cards in 2009 (for a total of 660 cards), but they added 35 short-printed cards of various Hall of Famers and one gimmick card of C.C. Sabathia with his new team, the Yankees.  The update set added 330 regular cards and 25 short-printed cards.
My very brief thoughts on the set:  This set's design has really grown on me.  My one complaint would be that the silver foil text on the front of the cards is a little too difficult to read, particularly on the postseason highlight or league leaders cards.
Notable competition:  Sadly, this was the final year Upper Deck held a MLB license.  They produced some memorable sets in their final year with a license, including the retro (and popular) O-Pee-Chee set and the super-retro Goudey set.  For the record, I'm still trying to complete a 2009 Upper Deck set.

2009 Topps #397, #525, #107 and 2009 Topps Update #UH203

2009 Phillies
Record and finish:  For the first time in franchise history, the Phillies reached the World Series in consecutive seasons.  Their 93-69 record was a game better than their record in 2008, and they finished 6 games ahead of the Marlins in the N.L. East.  The Phillies defeated the Rockies in four games in the N.L.D.S. and they once again took out the Dodgers in five games in the N.L.C.S.  Unfortunately, the Yankees trumped the Phils in six games in the World Series, and a repeat was not to be.  Neither the Phillies or the Yankees have been back to the World Series since.

Key players:  The Phillies had four big bats in the middle of their line-up that carried the offense throughout the season.  Chase Utley batted third most of the season, and he finished with a .282 average, 31 home runs and 93 RBIs.  Batting clean-up, Ryan Howard once again had a huge season, hitting 45 home runs while driving in 141.  Jayson Werth continued his emergence, hitting .268 with 36 home runs and 99 RBIs, while newcomer Raul Ibanez contributed 34 home runs and 93 RBIs.

On the mound, Joe Blanton, J.A. Happ and Jamie Moyer each finished with 12 wins.  Cole Hamels suffered from poor run support (a recurring theme) and finished with a 10-11 record and a 4.32 ERA.  Hamels led the team with 168 strikeouts.  The Phils added two key starting pitchers for the second half of the season.  Cliff Lee (see key events below) went 7-4 with a 3.39 ERA in his 12 starts.  Future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez joined the rotation in mid-August and went 5-1 with a 3.63 ERA in 9 starts.  Brad Lidge struggled mightily after his perfect 2008, converting 31 of 42 save opportunities and owning an astronomical ERA of 7.21.  Ryan Madson continued to impress with 10 saves.

Key events:  On April 13th, long-time Hall of Fame broadcaster Harry Kalas passed away before the Phillies game at Nationals Park.  The team honored Kalas with several moving memorial ceremonies and the players and coaches wore a black circle bearing the initials "HK" on the fronts of their jerseys for the remainder of the 2009 season.  Howard became the fastest player in Major League history to hit 200 home runs on July 16th, breaking Ralph Kiner's record.  Prior to the non-waiver trade deadline, the Phils pulled off a blockbuster deal, acquiring starting pitcher Lee and outfielder Ben Francisco from the Cleveland Indians for four prospects.

2009 Phillies in 2009 Topps
Cards needed for a complete team set:  Thanks to appearances on various postseaon highlight and league leaders cards, the complete Phillies team set from 2009 Topps consists of  41 cards.
Who's in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#397 Carlos Ruiz (c), #500 Ryan Howard (1b), #200 Chase Utley (2b), #525 Jimmy Rollins (ss), #107 Pedro Feliz (3b), #UH150 Raul Ibanez (lf), #73 Shane Victorino (cf), #557 Jayson Werth

2009 Topps #650, #207, 2009 Topps Update #UH30 and 2009 Topps #428

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 5 cards

#207 Joe Blanton, #650 Cole Hamels, #UH30 J.A. Happ, #428 Jamie Moyer, #UH218 Cliff Lee

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 2009 - 12 cards

#12 Drew Carpenter, #20 Brad Lidge, #103 Kyle Kendrick, #186 Ryan Madson, #291 Chris Coste, #632 Brett Myers, #UH72 John Mayberry, Jr., #UH80 Matt Stairs, #UH93 Pedro Martinez, #UH203 Ben Francisco, #UH248 Chan Ho Park, #UH267 Miguel Cairo

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 2009 - 2 cards

#44 Geoff Jenkins, #245 Pat Burrell

• Postseason Highlights cards - 4 cards

#139 Matt Stairs (N.L.C.S. Game 4), #191 Shane Victorino (N.L.D.S. Game 2), #278 Brad Lidge (World Champs), #299 Cole Hamels (World Series Recap)

• 2008 National League Leaders cards - 2 cards

#81 Ryan Howard (Home Run Leaders), #147 Ryan Howard (RBI Leaders)

• Classic Combos cards - 1 card, #601 Ryan Howard & Jimmy Rollins
• 2009 MLB Home Run Derby cards - 1 card, #UH26 Ryan Howard
• 2009 National League All-Star cards - 5 cards

#UH71 Chase Utley, #UH129 Shane Victorino, #UH136 Raul Ibanez, #UH151 Jayson Werth, #UH260 Ryan Howard

• Manager card - 1 card, #496 Charlie Manuel

2009 Topps Update #UH218, #UH93, 2009 Topps #20 and 2009 Topps Phillies #PHI13

Who's out:  Pinch-hitter extraordinaire Greg Dobbs is the biggest Phillies omission from the 2009 Topps set.  Dobbs appeared in 97 games and hit .247 in 154 at-bats.  Back-ups Paul Bako (44 games) and Eric Bruntlett (72 games) should have also appeared on cards.  Bruntlett could have earned a card solely on the important role he played in the 2008 postseason.  (The light-hitting infielder scored the winning run in World Series Game 3.)  Four key relievers also got omitted:  Chad Durbin (4.39 ERA in 59 games), Clay Condrey (3.00 ERA in 45 games), Tyler Walker (3.06 ERA in 32 games) and Scott Eyre (1.50 ERA in 42 games).

Phillies on other teams:  A number of players appearing as Phillies in the update set had cards in the base set with their former teams - Ibanez (#6 with the Mariners), Cairo (#82 with the Mariners), Lee (#180 with the Indians), Park (#272 with the Dodgers) and Francisco (#624 with the Indians).  Bako appears with the Reds on card #491.  (I altered Bako's Topps Heritage card here to give him his sole Phillies Topps card, in virtual form only.)
What's he doing here:  I have no complaints with Topps giving cards to both Jenkins and Burrell.  This would be Burrell's final Phillies card before departing for Tampa Bay, and Jenkins provided a key hit in the clinching World Series Game 5 in '08.
Cards that never were candidates:  There are six players who were on the 2009 Phillies World Series roster who didn't have base or update Topps cards - Bruntlett, Dobbs, Bako, Durbin, Eyre and rookie reliever Antonio Bastardo.
Favorite Phillies card:  Without a doubt, it's card #278, featuring Lidge in the midst of the celebration following the final out of the 2008 World Series.

2009 Topps Update #UH150, 2009 Topps #278 and 2009 Topps Update #UH248

Other Stuff
Recycled:  Until flipping through my 2009 Phillies binder in preparation for this post, I had completely forgotten that Topps didn't issue an Opening Day set in 2009.  The set debuted in 2005, took the year off in 2009, and came back in 2010.  It's worth noting that the 15-card Topps Phillies retail set contains nine cards with player pictures different from what ended up in the flagship set.  I was happy to see this when I bought the set, and I wish they'd make this a regular occurrence.
Memory Lane:  In the early spring of 2009, I booked a trip to Walt Disney World for our family beginning on Halloween.  I picked that arrival date figuring the World Series would be over and I could even attend the World Series parade if the Phillies were lucky enough to repeat.  However, thanks to the money grab that is the World Baseball Classic, the whole season got pushed back a week and we arrived in Disney just in time to for me to watch Games 3 through 6 while on vacation.  I chronicled the 2009 World Series, and our Disney trip, in a series of November 2009 posts:

Game 1 - Phillies 6, Yankees 1 - Chase & Cliff Bomb Bombers
Game 2 - Yankees 3, Phillies 1 - Phils, Pedro Drop Game 2
Game 3 - Yankees 8, Phillies 5 - Werth's 2 Homers Not Enough
Game 4 - Yankees 7, Phillies 4 - Excruciating Loss: Yanks Up 3-1
Game 5 - Phillies 8, Yankees 6 - Chase Utley, You are the Man!
Game 6 - Yankees 7, Phillies 3 - Repeat Bid Falls Short

2007 Chachi #42 J.A. Happ

Giants 7, Phillies 2
Game 94 - Friday Night, July 20th in Philadelphia
Record - 41-53, 5th Place, 13 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  Vance Worley imploded in the sixth, allowing a grand slam to Brandon Crawford, as the Giants rocked the Phillies, 7-2.

What It Means:  Will this infernal season ever end?  At 17-28, the Phillies have the worst home record in the National League.

What Went Wrong:  The Phillies couldn't capitalize with runners in scoring position in the second, fourth and fifth innings against Tim Lincecum, who has struggled this season.  Worley actually pitched a decent ballgame until the fateful sixth inning.  His final line - six runs, six hits, three walks and nine strikeouts.

Featured Card:  In former Phillies news, Ben Francisco and J.A. Happ were swapped for each other yesterday as part of a ten-player trade pulled off between the Astros and Blue Jays.  This has absolutely nothing to do with yesterday's Phillies game, but the odds of the Phillies pulling off their own trades increase with each painful loss.  The non-waiver trade deadline is just 10 days away.

2010 Topps Heritage #77 J.A. Happ

Astros 3, Phillies 2
Game 126 - Wednesday Night, August 25th in Philadelphia

Tonight in Philadelphia, the Phillies' Roy Halladay squared off against the Astros' J.A. Happ in what promised to be an intriguing pitching match-up.  Happ of course was traded to Houston in July as part of the deal that brought pitcher/left fiedler Roy Oswalt to town.  The Astros struck first on a Hunter Pence solo home run in the 4th and Jayson Werth countered with a solo home run of his own in the 5th.  Both home runs were the first hits allowed by each of the starting pitchers.

Moments later, the Astros took the lead back when ex-Phillie and Phillie Killer Michael Bourn launched his second home run of the year into the right field stands.  The same pattern repeated itself when the the Phils tied it up in the 6th (Placido Polanco RBI-double) but the Astros retook the lead in the 7th (Humberto Quintero RBI-single).  Unfortunately for the Phils, both teams were finished scoring for the night.

A scoring opportunity was wasted in the 7th when Ben Francisco leaned too far off the 3rd base bag and was picked off by catcher Humberto Quintero.  (No word as to whether or not Brett Myers was making faces at Francisco from the Astros' dugout.)  In the end, Happ outdueld Halladay, and the Phils managed only 7 hits against Happ and 4 Astros' relievers.  The team will stumble into the series finale tomorrow afternoon, hoping to salvage at least one game of the 4-game set before heading off to the distant West Coast.

Depressing Tweet of the Night:  Via Todd Zolecki - If this score holds, Phillies will have scored two or fewer runs in six of their last seven games.

2004 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects #BDP77 J.A. Happ

Nationals 8, Phillies 1
Game 103 - Friday Night, July 30th in Washington

Well that didn't exactly go as planned. Nyjer Morgan tripled on the first pitch thrown by Roy Oswalt in a Phillies uniform and eventually came around to score. Oswalt, who admitted to being a little "tight" in his postgame press conference, never really found his rhythm in his first game as a Phil. He allowed 5 runs (4 earned) over 6 innings of work, on 7 hits. The rest of the team seemed to be playing in a daze as well, as the outfield - Raul Ibañez, Jayson Werth and Domonic Brown - accounted for all 6 of the team's hits with 2 a piece. One of Werth's hits was a solo home run in the 7th, his 15th of the year.

Houston's Happ: And of course while all this was going on, J.A. Happ, #30 for the Houston Astros, pitched 6 shutout innings, allowing just 2 hits while striking out 6. In his honor, I'll feature a baseball card tonight which is photographic proof the man once had hair.

The Newest Houston Astros (and a Toronto Blue Jay)

2010 Topps #89 J.A. Happ
2010 Bowman Prospects #BP104 Anthony Gose
2010 Multi-Ad Lakewood BlueClaws #27 Jonathan Villar

There has been a deal. Well, actually that's kind of old news. Phillies trades have always excited me, starting back around the time Bob Walk was getting traded for Sarge Matthews.

So on Thursday afternoon, when word came through the Twitterverse that the Phils had acquired Roy Oswalt (plus cash) for J.A. Happ, Anthony Gose and Jonathan Villar, I was positively in a quiver. It’s an exciting time to be a Phillies fan, but we unfortunately have to bid a bittersweet farewell to one budding prospect and two guys we never really knew.

Happ was professional to the end and I was struck by just how many Phillies players were quoted as saying how much they'd miss the guy. He thanked the Phillies’ organization in a subdued press conference and he spoke to how difficult it would be to leave the only organization he's ever known. He joins a floundering Astros organization where he'll be surrounded by old friends Brett Myers, Pedro Feliz, Michael Bourn, Jason Michaels and Nelson Figueroa. (He and Myers might not be together for long, as it's recently been rumored that Myers is the next pitcher to be shipped out of Houston.) Happ starts tonight against the Brewers and The Phillies Room wishes him continued success against all teams in the National League, except the Phillies.

I don't know much about Gose other than he was a highly-touted outfield prospect, ranked as the organization's 5th best prospect on the highly regarded Phuture Phillies website. Upon acquiring him, the Astros immediately spun him off to the Blue Jays for another highly-touted prospect – first baseman Brett Wallace. Gose appeared in a few insert sets in this year's Bowman issue, and I'm sure we'll see him featured on baseball cards in a Blue Jays' uniform in a few years' time. For now, he’ll join former teammate Travis d'Arnaud on the Dunedin Blue Jays. I know even less about shortstop Jonathan Villar, other than he's very young, and various news outlets initially reported his name as Villan yesterday.

A Few Other Thoughts: The best analysis of the entire transaction can be found on the previously mentioned Phuture Phillies blog. If Figueroa was still with the Phillies, would he have been forced to give up his #44 to Oswalt? Most likely.

2010 Chachi #17 J.A. Happ

J.A. Happ only started two games this year before landing on the disabled list with a strained left forearm. Recent reports indicate he may not be back until late May, at the earliest. Happ prefers to pronounce his fist name as simply "Jay," which is a source of much confusion among national baseball broadcasters. He's #17 in this year's Chachi set.

Phillies debut: June 30, 2007
How acquired: Selected by Phillies in the 3rd round of June 2004 draft
Others wearing #43 in the 2000s: Andy Ashby 2000, Thomas Jacquez 2000, Randy Wolf 2001-2006, J.A. Happ 2008-2009
2009 Postseason: Happ had a 2.70 ERA in 6 relief appearances.
Pictured: NLDS Game 3, October 11, 2009 - Happ started against the Rockies, lasting just 3 innings in the frigid temperature.

2009 Topps Update & Highlights #UH30 J.A. Happ

NL Rookie of the Year voting was announced on Monday and the Marlins' Chris Coghlan edged out the Phillies' J.A. Happ for the award. Happ faltered somewhat in September and made only one start in the Postseason, but he still had an incredible rookie year. Happ finished with a 12-4 record, a 2.93 ERA (8th in the NL) and he tied for 1st in the NL in shutouts with 2. (Five NL pitchers had shutouts in 2009, including Cole Hamels.)

Happ joins Kyle Kendrick (5th in 2007), Marlon Byrd (4th in 2003), Jimmy Rollins (3rd in 2001) and Pat Burrell (4th in 2000) as Phillies receiving ROY votes in the '00s, but not enough votes to win.

Four Phillies have won the award since its inception in 1947, as voted on by the Baseball Writers' Association of America: Jack Sanford (1957), Richie Allen (1964), Scott Rolen (1997) and Ryan Howard (2005).

Welcome: The Phils added three prospects to their 40-man roster today - lefty pitcher Yohan Flande, righty pitcher Jesus Sanchez and outfielder Quintin Berry. Rosters need to be set by Friday to protect players from the annual Rule 5 draft and the Phils currently have 10 open spots to fill.

2009 Chachi #63 Victory Leaders - Blanton, Happ & Moyer

With the team's success this year, it's hard to believe no pitcher had more than 12 wins in 2009. After the trio featured on this team leader card, the rest of the Top 10 Phillies victory leaders were: Cole Hamels (10), Cliff Lee (7), Clay Condrey (6), Ryan Madson (5), Pedro Martinez (5) and Brett Myers (4). Tied for tenth on the team with 3 wins this year were Kyle Kendrick, Rodrigo Lopez and Chan Ho Park. Nothing against Rodrigo, but talk about getting lost in the shuffle after the Pedro and Cliff Lee acquisitions!

Other starting pitcher and victory stuff:

- The Phillies haven't had a 20-game winner since Steve Carlton won 23 games in 1982.

- Recently, the Phils have had their share of years when the team leader in this category had 12 or fewer wins, including: Brett Myers in 2006 (12), Randy Wolf in 2000 (11) and Curt Schilling in 1996 (9). The '96 Phillies were a very bad team.

- The Phillies used 12 starting pitchers in 2009, compared with just 7 in 2008.

2009 Chachi #65 ERA Leaders - J.A. Happ & Joe Blanton

Pedro Martinez will start tomorrow night's pivotal NLDS Game 3 against the Rockies. The two gentlemen who led the team in ERA for the year will sit and wait until manager Charlie Manuel announces his starter for Sunday night's Game 4.

I'm a little surprised at this decision. It's no secret the Rockies struggle against left-handed pitching and the cold weather would seem to be more advantageous for a power pitcher. Compelling arguments could be made for either J.A. Happ or Joe Blanton to start this game. In the end, it comes down to Charlie's gut and for the moment, Pedro is "his guy."

This will be Pedro's first Postseason appearance since Game 3 of the 2004 World Series. He won that game against the Cardinals, pitching seven strong innings and allowing only three hits while striking out six. He threw 98 pitches that night, which is in line with the 85 to 100 pitches Charlie is hoping to get from him tomorrow night. Go Phils!

Team ERA Leaders: To qualify for the ERA title, a pitcher needs to have pitched at least 162 innings. The only Phillies to reach this mark for the year were J.A. Happ (2.93 ERA), Joe Blanton (4.05), Cole Hamels (4.32) and Jamie Moyer (4.94).

2008 Chachi #38 J.A. Happ

Phillies 7, Rockies 0

It's a good problem to have . . . In what many suspect is J.A. Happ's last start in the Phillies' rotation, the rookie lefthander struck out a career-high ten and pitched a complete game shutout against the Rockies tonight. It just so happens Pedro Martinez was also pitching tonight for the Phils' AA affiliate in Reading in what is probably his last rehab start. Pedro pitched six solid innings, striking out 11. It's been theorized that when J.A.'s rotation turn comes around again next week, it will be occupied by Pedro going forward.

Jamie Moyer has struggled at times, but the team is justifiably reluctant to move the 46-year-old career starting pitcher to the bullpen. It's a good problem to have . . .

As has been standard operating procedure for the Phillies, the offense was provided by the long ball. Pedro Feliz and Jimmy Rollins went back-to-back in the 2nd inning (as we were on our way back from the rides), and Jayson Werth added a 3-run home run in the 5th.

2008 Multi-Ad Lehigh Valley IronPigs #9 J.A. Happ

The Phillies won again today, shutting out the second place Marlins, 5-0. So I'll make an official announcement - it's a great time to be a Phillies fan! The team is 13 games over .500 and they now enjoy a 7 game lead in the NL East. This is the largest lead held by the Phillies this late in the season since 1993. They look unbeatable, so it's all rainbows and lollipops right now for The Phillies Room.

Former IronPig J.A. Happ pitched like an ace again today, shutting out the Fish through seven innings and improving his record to 7-0. He's cracked the top 5 on the NL ERA leader board, and his 2.68 ERA trails only Dan Haren, Chris Carpenter, Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain. (Pretty good company!)

Jimmy Rollins had three hits (single, double, triple) and Raul Ibañez had two more RBI to pace the Phils' offense.

2009 Upper Deck Inkredible #INK-JH J.A. Happ AU

A masterful pitching performance this afternoon has improved my mood after the embarrassing Phillies loss on Friday night. The Phils beat the Blue Jays 10-0 today, as J.A. Happ pitched his first career complete game shutout.

The win accomplished several things:

- It's got to improve Happ's confidence and hopefully it gives him some momentum going into his next start.

- It rests an overtaxed bullpen.

- It makes Charlie Manuel look like a managing mastermind since he called a closed-door 20-minute meeting following Friday night's loss. Whatever he said worked.

Jayson Werth was the offensive star of the game, going 4 for 4 with 2 home runs and knocking in 3. Ryan Howard also went 3 for 4 in the winning effort. Jimmy Rollins continues his sabbatical on the bench.

2006 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #NNO J.A. Happ

So the first 2 games against the Red Sox haven't gone as hoped. The Phils send J.A. Happ to the mound later today to salvage the series and it's not like they're facing Josh Beckett or anything . . .

Wait, what's that? They are facing Josh Beckett? The Josh Beckett who is 3-1 with a 0.31 ERA in his last 4 starts? This is the guy with 76 strikeouts in 76.1 innings pitched this year? I see.

2008 Upper Deck World Series Champions #PP-22 J.A. Happ

In his 3 starts since taking over Chan Ho Park's spot in the pitching rotation, J.A. Happ is 2-0 with a 2.45 ERA. Last night, he helped the Phils sweep the Padres with another fine pitching performance. In the midst of a 6-game winning streak, the Phillies are now a season high 11 games over .500. A few more quick items from last night's 5-1 victory:

- Ryan Howard hit a 2-run home run in the first to give his team the early lead.

- Starting in right, Greg Dobbs went 2 for 4 to raise his season average to .200. He made a potentially game-saving, outstanding catch in the 2nd inning, robbing what could have been a bases-clearing 3-run double from Padres' pitcher Chris Young.

- Shane Victorino left the game in the 6th with a strained left hip.

- J.C. Romero pitched an inning and a third in his first appearance of 2009.

- Two more late night games, and then I can resume my normal sleep patterns.

2007 Topps 52 #145 J.A. Happ

OK. So that didn't go exactly as planned. The Phillies led the Yankees this afternoon, 4-2, going into the bottom of the 9th. Brad Lidge surrendered 3 runs in the 9th and the bad guys won, 5-4. And that's all I'm going to say about that. Cole Hamels takes the hill tomorrow to try to win the rubber match of the series.

Some positives from today:

- J.A. Happ: In his first start of the year, J. allowed only 2 runs over 6 innings, striking out 4.

- John Mayberry, Jr.: Starting in right field, John homered and doubled in his Major League debut.

- Raul Ibañez: Raul hit his Major League leading 17th home run. Is this guy for real?

Some negatives from today:

- Brad Lidge: See above. Brad is now 0-2 with 3 blown saves and a 9.16 ERA.
- Fox: After John Mayberry, Jr. hit his first career home run, the cameras located John Mayberry, Sr. in the stands and focused on his reaction after the home run and over the next few innings. Except it wasn't actually John Mayberry, Sr. It was a random dude in the stands. Fox later found the real John Mayberry, Sr., interviewed him, and apologized to the viewers for its earlier mistake.

2009 Chachi #19 J.A. Happ

I think Harry would have wanted us to get back to baseball . . .

So on to the Phillies' 2009 opening day bullpen! We'll start with J.A. Happ, the lefty long-man, currently toiling in the bullpen until he's needed back in the rotation.

Phillies debut: June 30, 2007

How acquired: Selected by Phillies in the 3rd round of June 2004 draft

2008 Postseason: J.A. beat out Rudy Seanez for the 25th spot on the Phillies' Postsean roster. He pitched 3 innings in NLCS Game 3.

Pictured: October 12, 2008 - NLCS Game 3