Game 56 - Giants' Bullpen Stifles Phils

2021 Topps Archives #56

Giants 1, Phillies 0 (10 Innings)
Game 56 - Late Tuesday Night, May 28th in Philadelphia
Record - 38-18, 1st Place, 5 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies lost their season-high third game in a row in a lifeless affair in San Francisco.

What It Means:  I am so glad I decided to turn this game off in the fourth inning and go to bed.

What Happened:  Zack Wheeler did his job, pitching six strong innings and allowing two hits while striking out nine.  The offense couldn't get anything going against the Giants, who went with a bullpen game.  The Phillies left nine runners on base and were 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.

In the 10th, with no score in the game, ghost runner Brandon Marsh started at second and was moved to third when Kody Clemens grounded out to first.  Alec Bohm and J.T. Realmuto couldn't push across Marsh and the game went to the bottom of the 10th.  Matt Strahm gave up a few fly balls as the Giants scored the winning run on a sac fly to left.

Featured Card:  The reliever who went the longest out of the Giants' bullpen was former Phillies' prospect Spencer Howard, making his Giants debut.  Spencer threw four scoreless innings, scattering five hits and striking out four.  Here's one of Howard's many, many Phillies cards issued in 2021.

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

A Look Back at the Phillies Transactions - 2020 to 2021

2021 Topps Heritage #337

2021 Topps Heritage #442

2021 Chachi Departures #2

2021 Topps Heritage #69

2021 Topps Heritage #421

I put together this listing each year for the sake of completeness, and similar to recent years I feel the need to hit Publish and quickly move on for the good of my own mental health.

Departures - 2020-2021 Offseason

• Deolis Guerra - rhp (10/14/20) - Elected free agency, signed with the Oakland Athletics (2/2/21).
• Trevor Kelley - rhp (10/14/20) - Elected free agency, signed with the Chicago Cubs (12/14/20).
• Jose Alvarez - lhp (10/28/20) - Elected free agency, signed with the San Francisco Giants (3/6/21).
• Jake Arrieta - rhp (10/28/20) - Elected free agency, signed with the Chicago Cubs (2/17/21).
• Jay Bruce - of (10/28/20) - Elected free agency, signed with the New York Yankees (2/12/21).
• Tommy Hunter - rhp (10/28/20) - Elected free agency, signed with the New York Mets (2/14/21).
• Brandon Workman - rhp (10/28/20) - Elected free agency, signed with the Chicago Cubs (2/18/21).
• Phil Gosselin - inf (10/30/20) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency, signed with the Los Angeles Angels (2/11/21).
• Heath Hembree - rhp (10/30/20) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency, singed with the Cleveland Indians (2/5/21).
• Adam Morgan - lhp (10/30/20) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency, signed with the Chicago Cubs (2/12/21).
• Blake Parker - rhp (10/30/20) - Outrighted off 40-man roster, elected free agency, signed with the Cleveland Indians (2/16/21).
• David Phelps - rhp (10/30/20) - Club option declined, elected free agency, signed with the Toronto Blue Jays (2/11/21).
• David Robertson - rhp (10/30/20) - Club option declined, elected free agency, signed with the Tampa Bay Rays (8/16/21).
• Reggie McClain - rhp (12/10/20) - Selected by the Yankees in the minor league portion of the annual rule 5 draft.
• Garrett Cleavinger - lhp (12/29/20) - Traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers with the Phillies receiving Jose Alvarado in exchange from the Tampa Bay Rays.
• Kyle Garlick - of (1/22/21) - Claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Braves.
• Victor Arano - rhp (1/22/21) - Claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Braves.
• Cole Irvin - lhp (1/30/21) - Traded to the Oakland Athletics for cash considerations.

Coming Back - 2020-2021 Offseason

• Ronald Torreyes - inf (10/15/20) - Elected free agency, re-signed with the Phillies (1/4/21).
• J.T. Realmuto - c (10/28/20) - Elected free agency, re-signed with the Phillies (1/29/21).
• Didi Gregorius - ss (10/28/20) - Elected free agency, re-signed with the Phillies (2/10/21).

2021 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs Update #26

2021 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #11

2021 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #3

2021 Topps Allen & Ginter #29

2021 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #7

New Additions - 2020-2021 Offseason

• Jose Alvarado - lhp (12/29/20) - Acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays with the Dodgers receiving Garrett Cleavinger in exchange.
• Neftail Feliz - rhp (1/4/21) - Signed as a free agent.
• Sam Coonrod - rhp (1/9/21) - Acquired from the San Francisco Giants for Carson Ragsdale.
• Archie Bradley - rhp (1/18/21) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cincinnati Reds.
• David Paulino - rhp (1/18/21) - Signed as a free agent.
• Matt Moore -lhp (2/3/21) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks.
• Chase Anderson - rhp (2/8/21) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Toronto Blue Jays.
• Matt Joyce - of (2/10/21) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Miami Marlins.
• Brandon Kintzler - rhp (2/10/21) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Miami Marlins.
• Travis Jankowski - of (2/12/21) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Cincinnati Reds.
• Brad Miller - inf (2/17/21) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the St. Louis Cardinals.

Arrived During the 2021 Season

• Jorge Bonifacio - of (5/25/21) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Detroit Tigers.
• Cam Bedrosian - rhp (7/7/21) - Signed as a free agent formerly with the Oakland Athletics.
• Hans Crouse - rhp, Kyle Gibson - rhp and Ian Kennedy - rhp (7/30/21) - Acquired from the Texas Rangers with cash for Josh Gessner, Kevin Gowdy and Spencer Howard.
• Freddy Galvis - inf (7/30/21) - Acquired from the Baltimore Orioles for Tyler Burch.

Departed During the 2021 Season

• David Hale - rhp (6/27/21) - Granted free agency.
• Neftali Feliz - rhp (7/3/21) - Granted free agency, signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers (7/5/21).
• Spencer Howard - rhp (7/30/21) - Traded to the Texas Rangers with Josh Gessner and Kevin Gowdy for Hans Crouse, Kyle Gibson, Ian Kennedy and cash.
• Brandon Kintzler - rhp (8/2/21) - Released.
• Chase Anderson - rhp (8/27/21) - Released, signed with the Texas Rangers (8/31/21).
• Vince Velasquez - rhp (9/12/21) - Released, signed with the San Diego Padres (9/15/21).
• Enyel De Los Santos - rhp (9/13/21) - Selected off waivers by the Pittsburgh Pirates.
• Matt Joyce - of (9/26/21) - Released.

Phillies Trade Deadline Round-Up (Hooray?)

On Friday afternoon, the Phillies pulled the trigger on a trio of trades that will hopefully make them a better team for the rest of this season and potentially beyond.  I don't know enough about the prospects dealt or most of the players received to compose an in-depth analysis, so this post will focus on the baseball cards of the players leaving the organization and the new players who we'll get to know better in the coming months.

2021 Indianapolis Indians Team Issue

2019 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #8

Trade #1 - Warming Up

Phillies acquire Braeden Ogle (lhp) from the Pittsburgh Pirates for Abrahan Gutierrez (c)

This doesn't help the team immediately, but Braeden Ogle is a highly-rated pitching prospect who had yet to appear in the majors with the Pirates.  Drafted in the fourth round of the 2016 draft, Ogle had a 3.13 ERA over 31 2/3 innings pitched this season with the Triple-A Indianapolis Indians.  To date he's appeared on some pre-rookie cards with Leaf and a few Pirates' minor league team sets.

Abrahan Gutierrez was supposed to head to the Pirates in the aborted Tyler Anderson deal.  He was batting .288 with the Low-A Clearwater Threshers, and I have two of his baseball cards in my collection, both from 2019 Lakewood BlueClaws team sets.

2021 Topps Heritage #224

2020 Topps Heritage #213

2020 Bowman Prospects #BP-119

2021 Topps Gypsy Queen #231

2019 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #7

Trade #2 - The Big One

Phillies acquire Kyle Gibson (rhp), Ian Kennedy (rhp), Hans Crouse (rhp) and cash for Spencer Howard (rhp), Kevin Gowdy (rhp) and Josh Gessner (rhp).

Kyle Gibson was an All-Star this year with the Rangers and in 19 starts he's 6-3 with a 2.87 ERA.  He came up with the Twins in 2013, where he spent the first seven seasons of his career.  Gibson has appeared in six Topps flagship sets beginning in 2013, and then between 2015 and 2020.  He's in the 2021 Topps Heritage set, and I imagine he'll receive an All-Star card in the 2021 Topps Update set.

Veteran Kennedy is in his 15th big league season and in 32 games with the Rangers this year he has a 2.51 ERA with 16 saves.  Kennedy was a 21-game winner with the Diamondbacks in 2011, and he converted to a closer in 2019, saving 30 games for the Royals.  He's appeared in Topps flagship sets most years dating back to 2010, and he appears with the Royals in this year's flagship set.  He could assume the closer role with Ranger Suarez potentially returning to the starting rotation.

Crouse is interesting here, as he's apparently one of the Rangers' top pitching prospects.  His most readily available cards can be found in the 2020 Bowman set.

I'm genuinely sad to see Spencer Howard go, and it's tough to accept he went from the team's top pitching prospect to a complete question mark in such a short span of time.  I have 36 of his cards in my Phillies collection to date, and I'll continue to root for him even if he's wearing a Rangers uniform.  Kevin Gowdy was the Phillies' second round pick (after Mickey Moniak) back in 2016 and Josh Gessner was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Australia.  Gowdy has appeared on a few Bowman and minor league team set cards, and Gessner doesn't have any baseball card appearances yet.

2021 Topps #274

2019 Choice Williamsport Crosscutters #3

Trade #3 - The Reunion

Phillies acquired Freddy Galvis (ss) and cash from the Baltimore Orioles for Tyler Burch (rhp)

The popular Freddy Galvis returns to his original team, where he was the everyday shortstop for three seasons between 2015 and 2017.  Galvis is expected to provide a defensive upgrade to the team's poorly fielding infield.  He's in the 2021 Topps flagships set as well as this year's Topps Heritage set, with the Reds.  I currently have 49 Galvis cards in my Phillies collection and I'm looking forward to adding a few more.  Tyler Burch is a 23-year-old reliever who has played in the Phillies system since 2019.  I have one card of his in my collection from the 2019 Williamsport Crosscutters team set.

Game 94 - 2021 Topps Heritage #106 Spencer Howard IA

Yankees 6, Phillies 5 (10 Innings)
Game 94 - Wednesday Night, July 21st in New York
Record - 47-47, 2nd Place, 3 1/2 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies couldn't capitalize against a Triple-A Yankees bullpen, ultimately dropping this game in 10 innings by a score of 6-5.

What It Means:  The Phillies are a frustrating team to watch.

What Happened:  The offense had plenty of chances, but went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position and left 12 runners on base.  With the game tied 2-2, Hector Neris had a rough seventh inning, allowing three runs on three hits, including a two-run home run by Rougned Odor to put the Yankees up, 5-3.  A two-run single from Luke Williams in the eighth tied the game at 5-5, but the Phillies were unable to score again in the 9th or 10th.  The Yankees finally won in the 10th when Ryan LaMarre singled home Gary Sanchez with the winning run.

Featured Card:  Injuries and lack of vaccinations dictated this to be a bullpen game, and Spencer Howard got the abbreviated start.  He pitched extremely well, giving up a hit and a walk in three scoreless innings of work while striking out a pair.

Transaction:  Howard (rhp) was recalled and Mickey Moniak (of) was sent back down.

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

Game 64 - 2021 Topps Heritage #148 Spencer Howard

Dodgers 3, Phillies 1
Game 64 - Late Monday Night, June 14th in Los Angeles
Record - 32-32, 2nd Place, 4 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Spencer Howard allowed two Dodgers home runs and the Phillies offense went 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position in this 3-1 loss.

What It Means:  After a 6-2 homestead and recent offensive outbursts, the Phillies showed some signs of jet lag in Los Angeles.

What Happened:  Howard allowed only two hits - a two-run home run to Will Smith in the fourth and a solo home run to Chris Taylor in the fifth.  Connor Brogdon and Bailey Falter shut down the Dodgers after that with four solid innings of relief.  The Phillies plated a run in the first on a Bryce Harper RBI-single, but then they couldn't find a clutch hit the rest of the night.

Featured Card:  Given his top prospect status, I have a ton of Howard's cards in my collection just waiting for a good excuse to be posted.  With nothing much going on in this game, and Howard pitching relatively well, here's his Boyhood Photos of the Stars card from this year's Heritage release, showing him pitching for his home town Dodgers in his local Little League.  Howard grew up in Southern California, rooting for the Dodgers.

Transaction:  Enyel De Los Santos (rhp) was optioned to Lehigh Valley with Falter (lhp) getting recalled.

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

2021 Chachi #33 Spencer Howard

#48
Spencer Lee Howard
Starting Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  210
Opening Day Age:  24
Born:  July 28, 1996, San Luis Obispo, CA
How Obtained:  Selected by Phillies in 2nd round of June 2017 amateur player draft
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 2020-

First Phillies Card:  2017 Bowman Draft Recommended Viewing #RV-PHI
First Phillies Minor League Card:  2017 Choice Williamsport Crosscutters #13
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  N/A

Newest Card Added:  2021 Bowman #16

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

32 - Howard baseball cards in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 5/21/21.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2018 Chachi BlueClaws Harry Potter Night #11 - with Damon Jones
2020 Chachi #37
2021 Chachi #33

As of this writing, Spencer Howard has been up with the Phillies in 2021 for two short stints, and has been on the active roster for six games.  After using him in relief in three games, the Phillies reversed course and sent him back to Lehigh Valley to stretch him out again as a starting pitcher.

We first met Howard at a BlueClaws' Harry Potter theme night in 2018, as Howard and fellow pitching prospect Damon Jones were stationed at a table pre-game signing autographs and taking pictures with fans.  Admittedly, we had no idea who Howard or Jones were at the time and I think the duo helped us find their cards in our newly purchased BlueClaws team sets.

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

Game 11 - 2021 Topps Opening Day #9 Spencer Howard

Mets 4, Phillies 0 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
Game 11 - Monday Night, April 13th in Flushing
Record - 6-5, Tied for 1st Place, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Marlins

One Sentence Summary:  Aaron Nola labored again and the offense was dormant again as the Mets shut out the Phillies, 4-0, sweeping both ends of the double header.

What It Means:  Not great.  The Phillies now share first place with the Mets and their 4-3 record.

What Happened:  Nola battled through five innings, giving up three runs on seven hits while striking out seven.  Unfortunately, the bats couldn't get going against Marcus Stroman, who held the Phillies to four hits over six innings.  Defensive adventures continued with Adam Haseley misjudging a ball in the fourth that might have led to three Mets runs in the inning.

Featured Card:  Top pitching prospect Spencer Howard was added as the 27th man for this double header, and Howard made his season debut relieving Nola in the sixth.  Howard gave up a run on two hits and walk and was sent back down to the alternate training camp in Lehigh Valley following the game.

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

2020 Chachi #37 Spencer Howard

#48
Spencer Lee Howard
Starting Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  210
Opening Day Age:  24
Born:  July 28, 1996, San Luis Obispo, CA
How Obtained:  Selected by Phillies in 2nd round of June 2017 amateur player draft
Major League Teams:  Philadelphia Phillies 2020

First Phillies Card:  2017 Bowman Draft Recommended Viewing #RV-PHI
First Phillies Minor League Card:  2017 Choice Williamsport Crosscutters #13
First Phillies Team Issued Card:  N/A

Newest Card Added:  2020 Bowman 1990 Bowman #90B-SH

Topps Flagship Set Appearances (0):  N/A

18 - Howard baseball cards in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 8/10/20.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2018 Chachi BlueClaws Harry Potter Night #11 - with Damon Jones
2020 Chachi #37

Spencer Howard switched from the #83 he wore during spring training/Summer Camp to a more respectable #48 prior to his big league debut this past Sunday.

We first met Howard at a BlueClaws' Harry Potter theme night in 2018, as Howard and fellow pitching prospect Damon Jones were stationed at a table pre-game signing autographs and taking pictures with fans.  Admittedly, we had no idea who Howard or Jones were at the time and I think the duo helped us find their cards in our newly purchased BlueClaws team sets.

He's appeared in a number of Bowman and Topps minor league sets since 2017, as well as six different (by my count) Phillies minor league team sets.

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

Game 10 - 2020 Bowman Prospects #BP-55 Spencer Howard

Braves 8, Phillies 0 (Game 2 - 7 Innings)
Game 10 - Sunday Afternoon, August 9th in Philadelphia
Record - 4-6, Tied for 3rd Place, 3 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Braves spoiled Spencer Howard's much-anticipated debut with an 8-0 drubbing of the Phillies.

What It Means:  It's not going well.

What Happened:  Howard was OK in his debut, going 4 2/3 innings and allowing four runs on seven hits, including home runs to Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuna, Jr.  Trevor Kelley and Austin Davis couldn't keep the Braves from scoring, allowing four more runs in their 2 1/3 innings of work.  Kelley's ERA is now up to 10.13, while Davis' actually went down to 16.88.

Rhys Hoskins showed signs of life, going 2 for 2 and increasing his average to .172.  Max Fried and two Braves relievers held the Phillies offense to four hits.  At this point, 10 games in, only Bryce Harper (.272), J.T. Realmuto (.290) and Didi Gregorius (.265) have respectable offensive numbers.

Featured Card:  As a top prospect, Howard already has his fair share of Bowman baseball cards and he's appeared in Phillies minor league team sets dating back to 2017.  Now that he's officially made his debut, we'll undoubtedly see a lot more of his cards in the coming weeks and months.

Transaction:  To get Howard on the 40-man roster, Enyel De Los Santos (rhp) was somewhat surprisingly designated for assignment.  De Los Santos had been on the team's active roster for a few days last week, but didn't see any game action.  Cole Irvin (lhp) was optioned to Lehigh Valley to make room for Howard on the active 28-man roster.

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

Grapefruit Game 19 - 2019 Topps Pro Debut #53 Spencer Howard

Phillies 5, Twins 1
Spring Training Game 19 - Tuesday Afternoon, March 10th in Clearwater
Record - 13-5-1

One Sentence Summary:  Zack Wheeler looked great and the offense kept plugging along in this 5-1 win over the Twins.

What It Means:  Bryce Harper exited the game in the first after being hit in the foot on a pitch from Twins starting pitcher Sean Poppen.  Harper would later say he was just fine.

What Happened:  Wheeler went four innings, allowing a run on four hits while striking out six.  Top pitching prospect Spencer Howard made his spring debut and pitched a scoreless inning of relief.  Didi Gregorius had an RBI-single in the first, snapping his 0 for 22 streak.  J.T. Realmuto would later add a two-run home run and Logan Forsythe hit a home run to left that might still be in the air.

Featured Card:  Howard will most likely open the season in the rotation for the Triple-A IronPigs, but I have to think we'll see him pitching in Philly at some point in 2020.

Camp Head Count:  61 - 3 = 58.  LHP Garrett Cleavinger and RHP Mauricio Llovera were optioned to Lehigh Valley while 1B Darrick Hall was reassigned to minor league camp.

2020 Chachi New Additions #2

2020 Chachi New Additions #3

15 Prospects Coming to Camp as Non-Roster Invitees

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #1

2019 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils #10

2019 R-Phils Phillies Top 25 Prospects #5

2019 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #10

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #7

Right on schedule, the Phillies released a list of 15 prospects invited to camp as non-roster invitees.  These 15 join the list of the prior four (officially) announced invitees.  For this next batch, instead of listing out their last major baseball card appearance, I've listed their most recent card added to my collection as most of these guys are still waiting for their first major baseball card appearance.

For me, the two most interesting names on this list are Alec Bohm and Spencer Howard, as both have a realistic chance of contributing to the 2020 Phillies.  Bohm could be the team's regular third baseman at some point this upcoming season while Howard could find himself in the starting pitching rotation.

2019 Topps Heritage Minor League #27

2018 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #13

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #12

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #13

2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #6

Player (position) - 2019 Organization - Last Major Baseball Card Appearance

1.  Phil Gosselin (inf) - Phillies - 2017 Topps Heritage #135 (Diamondbacks)

2.  Josh Harrison (inf) - Tigers - 2019 Topps Heritage #552 (Tigers)

3.  Mikie Mahtook (of) - Tigers - 2019 Topps #477 (Tigers)

4.  Matt Szczur (of) - Diamondbacks - 2018 Topps Heritage #528 (Padres)

Player (position) - 2019 Organization - Last Card Added to Collection

5.  Alec Bohm (inf) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #1

6.  Connor Brogdon (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #44

7.  Kyle Dohy (lhp) - Phillies - 2019 R-Phils Phillies Top 25 Prospects #5

8.  Tyler Gilbert (lhp) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #10
9.  Darick Hall (1b) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #7
10.  Spencer Howard (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Topps Heritage Minor League #27
11.  Damon Jones (lhp) - Phillies - 2018 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #13
12.  Henri Lartigue (c) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #12
13.  Austin Listi (1b-of) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #13
14.  Nick Maton (ss) - Phillies - 2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #6
15.  Mickey Moniak (of) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #15
16.  Ramon Rosso (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #19
17.  Addison Russ (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #20
18.  Zach Warren (lhp) - Phillies - 2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #33
19.  Luke Williams (inf-of) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #23

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #15

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #19

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #20

2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #33

2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #23

Game 103 - 2019 R-Phils Phillies Top 25 Prospects #11 Spencer Howard

Braves 9, Phillies 2
Game 103 - Friday Night, July 26th in Philadelphia
Record - 54-49, 3rd place, 6 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Braves easily handled the bone-spurred Jake Arrieta and a flat Phillies team in this 9-2 loss.

What It Means:  In perhaps one of the most important series of the season, the Phillies looked awful in the opener.

What Happened:  Arrieta labored through five innings and with a fully rested bullpen Cole Irvin got the ball in the sixth with the Braves up, 5-1.  By the time Irvin was done, the Braves held a 9-1 lead as he twice walked batters with the bases loaded, forcing in runs.  Jean Segura hit a meaningless seventh inning home run (11).  The offense went 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position, including Irvin's at-bat in which he inexplicably came to the plate in the sixth with runners at first and second with one out.

Featured Card:  In more upbeat Phillies news, top pitching prospect Spencer Howard made his Double-A debut with Reading.  He struck out 10 of the 20 batters he faced, hitting 98 mph on the radar gun.

Game 93 - Jake Arrieta & We Head Back to the @BlueClaws!

Phillies 2, Marlins 0
Game 93 - Friday Night, July 13th in Miami
Record - 53-40, 1st place, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Jake Arrieta dominated the Marlins in this 2-0 win in Miami.

What It Means:  With the Braves losing, the Phillies hold a game and a half lead in the division.

What Happened:  Arrieta pitched seven strong innings, allowing just three hits.  Victor Arano and Pat Neshek pitched the final two frames, with Neshek securing his first save of the season.  Neshek became the 9th pitcher with a save this season tying a franchise record.  (Per this Matt Gelb Tweet.)

Aaron Altherr doubled home the first run in the 2nd and Maikel Franco added an insurance run with a solo home run (13) in the 9th.  In the 6th, a fine throw from Scott Kingery, following a good play and throw from Aaron Altherr in the outfield, nailed Cameron Maybin at the plate to keep the Marlins off the board.

Featured Card:  Apologies to Arrieta, but I need to go with a few BlueClaws-themed cards for this post as our July ballpark tour continued.

Field Report:  We're still trying to recover from our recent road trip, but we couldn't miss the opportunity to celebrate Harry Potter night with the BlueClaws on Friday night.  We've become big fans of the Harry Potter universe over the past few years, and the boys were excited for a night of baseball and magic.

Upon entering the ballpark, both boys were sorted into their houses with Ben landing in Gryffindor and Doug declared to be a Ravenclaw.  (For the record, they considered themselves to be a Hufflepuff and Gryffindor, respectively.)  Pitching prospects Spencer Howard and Damon Jones were signing autographs at a table outside the team store so we immediately added their signatures to a few hastily purchased team sets.

While Ben was busy selecting his wand from a make-shift Ollivander's Wand Shop, Doug was on the prowl for player autographs.  By his final tally, he secured 16 total signatures with Jhailyn Ortiz, Howard and Kyle Young signing everything he handed to them.  Prior to the start of the 9th inning, Doug caught the attention of first baseman Quincy Nieporte and Nieporte tossed him a baseball.  The game was great and the post-game Harry Potter-themed fireworks were fantastic.  For an encore, Doug ran the bases following the fireworks.

The BlueClaws secured a 7-0 win over the Asheville Tourists, thanks to a strong outing from Andrew Brown.  Brown pitched seven shutout innings, striking out seven.  Matt Vierling, a 2018 fifth round draft pick, hit his first home run for the BlueClaws and went 3 for 4.  Remember the name Matt Vierling . . . he was impressive and I predict we'll see him in red pinstripes sooner rather than later.

Memory Lane 
2013 BlueClaws Game
2014 BlueClaws Game
2015 BlueClaws Game
2016 BlueClaws Game
2017 BlueClaws Game
2018 BlueClaws Game 1 and Game 2