Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA 8-11, 4th Place, 4 1/2 games behind the Braves
One Sentence Summary: The Phillies continued to play uncompetitive baseball in this 9-0 loss to the first place Braves.
What It Means: The Phillies stink right now, and they own the worst run differential in the National League with a -34 mark.
What Happened: Taijuan Walker's first inning woes continued. He allowed two first inning runs and seven runs overall in four painfully long innings. The bullpen contained things a little, but the Phillies couldn't muster any offense, managing six hits overall and going 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position. Bryce Harper had three of those hits, including a triple.
Featured Card: The Phillies have lost three consecutive games at home by at least six or more runs for the first time since the awful 1989 season. That happened May 16th, 17th and 19th in 13-5 and 6-0 losses to the Giants, followed by a 8-2 loss to the Padres. Mike Schmidt would announce his retirement on May 29th, and blockbuster trades would follow in June, shipping out Chris James, Steve Bedroscian and Juan Samuel and bringing in John Kruk, Terry Mulholland and Lenny Dykstra, among others. Maybe a blockbuster trade is what the 2026 Phillies need now?
Ken Howell was battered in the second game in that 1989 streak, allowing six runs on five hits and four walks over four innings of work.
Dodgers 3, Phillies 2 Game 35 - Sunday Afternoon, May 19th in Philadelphia Record - 13-22, 5th Place, 10 1/2 games behind the Mets
One Sentence Summary: The Dodgers squeaked by the Phillies in this 3-2 loss.
What It Means: Over 35,000 fans were treated to a Sunday afternoon pitching duel between Charles Hudson and Fernando Valenzuela. As a bonus, all kids received a free Phillies windbreaker.
The Phils took two out of three from the Dodgers and the Giants would come to town next for three games beginning on Monday night.
What Happened: The Dodgers scored first with back-to-back triples in the first from Bill Russell and Ken Landreaux. Greg Brock hit a solo home run off Hudson in the fourth to make it 2-0 Dodgers. Ozzie Virgil singled home Von Hayes, who had doubled and then stolen third, for the Phillies' first run in the fourth. Hudson was victimized by the long ball again in the sixth when Mike Marshall hit a solo home run. Ken Howell recorded the final five outs for the Dodgers, allowing a solo home run to Mike Schmidt in the ninth, before locking down his fifth save of the season. Four of his five outs were recorded on strikeouts.
Hudson went eight innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out four.
Featured Card: Both pitchers for the Dodgers in this game would eventually pitch for the Phillies, which would have blown my 11-year-old brain. Valenzuela came to the Phillies during the strike-shortened 1994 season, appearing in eight games and going 1-2 with a decent 3.00 ERA.
Injuries cut short Howell's time with the Phillies. He was acquired prior to the 1989 season and the expectation was he'd be a front of the rotation pitcher for the club for several years. He made 50 starts for the Phillies in 1989 and 1990, going 20-19 with a 3.85 ERA. I didn't realize he had been the closer for the Dodgers at this point in his career. He preserved this win for Valenzuela by striking out Hayes with the bases loaded to end the eighth inning.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10:10 Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles, CA
Phillies 28-56, 5th Place in the N.L. East Dodgers 46-37, 1st Place in the N.L. West
Phillies Probables:Sean O'Sullivan (1-6, 5.76), Chad Billingsley (0-2, 7.71), Adam Morgan (1-1, 2.13), Kevin Correia (0-3, 6.56) Dodgers Probables: Juan Nicasio (1-2, 2.18), Brett Anderson (5-4, 3.00), Clayton Kershaw (5-6, 3.08), Zack Greinke (7-2, 1.48)
At the Ballpark: All fans attending tonight's ballgame will receive a Maury Wills bobblehead. On Wednesday night, fans will receive a Dodgers Hello Kitty plush toy.
Phillies Leaders Average:Ben Revere - .291 Runs: Ben Revere - 43 Home Runs:Ryan Howard - 13 RBIs: Ryan Howard - 38 Stolen Bases: Ben Revere - 19
1985 Topps Appreciation: I'm featuring a quartet of Dodgers from the 1985 Topps set with Phillies connections for this installment of 1985 Topps Appreciation. Of the four players featured, Mariano Duncan had the most memorable tenure with the Phillies, as he was a member of the 1993 N.L. Championship squad.
It's easy to forget Pat Zachry's time with the club as the former N.L. Rookie of the Year wrapped up his 10-year career with 10 mostly forgettable games with the 1985 Phillies. Ken Howell was supposed to lead the Phillies pitching staff in 1989 (and beyond) but arm injuries curtailed his career and he made only 51 starts for the Phillies in '89 and '90.
And Fernando-Mania briefly (and quietly) invaded Philadelphia in the strike-shortened 1994 season, when Fernando Valenzuela went 1-2 in eight games for the Phillies before moving on to the Padres for the 1995 season.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 10:10 Dodger Stadium – Los Angeles, CA
At the Ballpark: There are a few great giveaways during this series. On Tuesday night, all fans will receive a nice looking Dodgers fleece blanket. On Thursday night, all fans will receive a Clayton Kershaw Cy Young Bobblehead. This definitely beats the Rockies Dinger Bobblehead Bunny Gnome, or whatever it was.
Programming Note: The Phillies Room staff and series preview production department is currently away on spring break. As such, these crucial game preview posts are lacking any current won-loss records, pitching probables and Phillies team leaders. We will return to business as usual next week.
1988 Topps #92 and #149
1988 Topps Appreciation: Today's Appreciation features a former Phillie and a future Phillie. Len Matuszek came up through the Phillies system and made his debut at the end of the strike-shortened 1981 season. He played in parts of the 1982 and 1983 seasons, before being named the team's starting first baseman to start the 1984 season and given the unenviable task of trying to replace Pete Rose. In 101 games that season, Matuszek hit .248 with 12 home runs and 43 RBIs. Following the season, he was shipped to the Blue Jays for three prospects including Phillies Room favorite Dave Shipanoff.
Matuszek played just a season in Toronto before finding a home for 2 1/2 more seasons in L.A. with the Dodgers. Along with his 1988 Score card, this card represents Matuszek's final tribute card following his final season in 1987.
I remember Ken Howell coming to the Phillies thinking he was the answer to all the team's problems. He wasn't. Howell spent the first five seasons of his career with the Dodgers before being swapped to the Orioles in December 1988 and then flipped to the Phillies four days later. He arrived with Gordon Dillard from the O's in exchange for outfielder Phil Bradley. Injuries seriously limited Howell's time with the Phillies, as he appeared in just 51 games for the team, going 20-19 with a 3.85 ERA.
The early '90s were an awkward time for me. I was an awkward teenager with awkward hair and awkward acne collecting awkward baseball cards. Flipping through my binder of 1990 Phillies cards recently, there was one overriding theme - these cards did not age well. Cards from the '50s and '60s are classics, cards from the '70s are cool and cards from the '80s remind me of a happy childhood. Cards from the '90s are . . . awkward.
1990 Topps #542 (Back)
The Set
Number of cards in the set: No surprises here. There were 792 cards in the base set and another 132 cards added to the traded series for the ninth year in a row. (There would be two more years with this configuration before Topps mixed it up in 1993.)
My very brief thoughts on the set: It amazes me that the creative people at Topps actually gave the green light to this set. There are too many posed shots and there are too many orange and purple and green Phillies cards. It's not an attractive set and it may actually be my least favorite Topps flagship set of all time. If anyone cares to defend this set and show me the error of my ways, please leave a comment. (I just re-read those last few sentences. I honestly don't mean to come off as angry about the 1990 Topps set. I still managed to hand collate the set back in the day, so I wasn't completely disgusted by it.)
Notable competition: If I was forced to pick a favorite set from 1990, I'd have to go with Score's set. Donruss did this, Fleer had a completely uninspiring design, and Upper Deck basically just copied their 1989 design but rotated the base line to the top of the card. The Leaf set was cool, but they didn't sell packs of Leaf at my Wawa and even if they did, the packs would have been too expensive for me.
1990 Topps #216, #297, #269 and #577
1990 Phillies
Record and finish: The Phillies actually showed some signs of life in 1990, going 77-85. They finished in a fourth-place tie, 18 games behind the Pirates.
Key players:Lenny Dykstra flirted with the National League batting title all season, finishing the year with a .325 average. Von Hayes (.261, 17 home runs, 73 RBIs) and Darren Daulton (.268, 12 home runs, 57 RBIs) also enjoyed decent years. John Kruk hit .291 in his first full season with the Phils. Pat Combs (10-10, 4.07 ERA) and Terry Mulholland (9-10, 3.34 ERA) gave the team two reliable starting pitchers for the first time in a few years. Roger McDowell (22 saves), Darrel Akerfelds (3.77 ERA in 71 games) and Joe Boever (2.15 ERA, 6 saves) anchored the bullpen.
Key events: On August 3rd, in a trade that blew my mind at the time, the Phillies acquired Dale Murphy from the Braves (with Tommy Greene) for Jeff Parrett, Jim Vatcher and Victor Rosario. I was thrilled when this move was made, as it seemed (at the time) that Murphy was the final piece the Phillies were seeking to put them over the top. Mulholland pitched the first no-hitter by a Phillies pitcher at Veterans Stadium on August 15th.
1990 Phillies in 1990 Topps
Cards needed for a complete team set: There are 29 Phillies cards in the base set and another 3 Phillies cards in the traded set.
Who’s in:
Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards
#542 Darren Daulton (c), #216 Ricky Jordan (1b), #297 Tom Herr (2b), #269 Dickie Thon (ss), #577 Charlie Hayes (3b), #469 John Kruk (lf), #515 Lenny Dykstra (cf), #710 Von Hayes (rf)
Phillies appearing on Turn Back the Clock cards - 1 card, #662 Mike Schmidt
As much as I didn't care for the set, I was grateful that Topps gave us one last Schmidt card following the year he retired. His 1980 Topps card is featured on the card looking back to ten years prior.
Who’s out: It would have been awesome if Murphy had been included in the traded set, but he was left out. (Both Fleer and Score managed to work him into their update sets.) Jose DeJesus, acquired in a March trade with the Royals, should have also made it into the traded set. DeJesus went 7-8 in 22 starts for the Phils. There are also quite a few bench guys, rookies and relievers deserving of cards, including Rod Booker (73 games), Sil Campusano (66 games), Mickey Morandini (made his debut in September), and Boever.
Phillies on other teams: Martinez appears with the Pirates on card #686 and he made it into the traded series as a Phillie. Four players only had cards with the former teams - #410 Joe Boever (Braves), #534 Louie Meadows (Astros), #595 Jose DeJesus (Royals), #750 Dale Murphy (Braves).
1990 Topps #662
What’s he doing here: A few years back, the player's union came up with a bunch of baseball card related rules that prevented Topps (and Upper Deck at the time) from including players in "main" sets who were not on team's 40-man rosters. It's a good rule. I remember opening a pack of 1990 Topps cards and coming across the card of Phillies top draft pick Jeff Jackson and thinking "Why?" I didn't want cards of draft picks. I wanted cards of players whose names I was seeing in box scores - the utility guys, middle relievers and defensive replacements. Jackson never made it to the majors as he kicked around the minors until hanging up his spikes in 1998. I mean no disrespect to Jackson here, but I would have rather pulled a card of Chuck McElroy.
Cards that never were candidates: Murphy, Boever, DeJesus, Booker, Campusano and Morandini. I'll also add Wes Chamberlain to the long list, as Chamberlain was acquired from the Pirates at the end of August and hit .283 in 18 games.
Favorite Phillies card: I'll go with Kruk's card, by default. Kruk is pictured with his pre-beard and mullet look.
Other Stuff
Recycled: As far as I know, Topps hasn't gone back to this design for any Phillies cards. And why would they? I took a stab at creating a final tribute Schmidt card a few years ago.
Blogs/Websites: I can't say I'm shocked there isn't a blog dedicated to this set. However, I love that Shoebox Legends did a series of posts highlighting his favorite cards from his "guilty pleasure" set. I'd also like to highly recommend The Greatest 21 Days, which is highlighting each and every card from the 1990 CMC minor league set.
Did You Know?: Other than a few oddball issues, Schmidt wouldn't be featured on another mainstream baseball card until 1994's Ted Williams set. When these new Schmidt cards were released, it was big news for me at the time and I remember actively seeking out his cards from the main Ted Williams set and the special 9-card insert set which chronicled the slugger's career. It seems strange now to go three to four years without a new baseball card of a Hall of Famer. Over the past few years especially, it seems as if Schmidt is featured in just about every "legends" based insert set that Topps releases.
1989 Topps #385, #358, 1989 Topps Traded #49T and #63T
Happy new year! Here's to a wonderful 2012 for you and your friends and family.
The 1989 season was a hot mess for the Phillies. Mike Schmidt tearfully announced his retirement, fan favorites Chris James, Steve Bedrosian and Juan Samuel were all sent packing, and the team continued to underwhelm with another last place finish. Here and now, with the 2012 Phillies about to begin their journey in about 45 days, I'm reminded again just how much distance there is between today's team and the team I somehow managed to root for some two decades ago.
1989 Topps #154 (Back)
The Set
Number of cards in the set: For the eighth year in a row, Topps issued 792 cards in its base set and another 132 in its traded series.
My very brief thoughts on the set: I never really cared for this set although I recently enjoyed flipping through the set with my son Doug. For the record, and this is completely unofficial, there are three Doug's in the set - Dascenzo, Drabek and Jones. We may have missed a few since we were too pre-occupied with the discovery that there are two guys named Candy in the set. But I digress.
Was 1987 the last great Topps baseball card set (in my opinion, of course?) When I look through the Topps base set cards from 1988 through 2011, there isn't one complete set that really stands out. I like the 1993 set, but was it a great set? I'm fine with chalking this observation up to the fact that the sets I like the most are sets I first encountered during my childhood. But is there something more to it? Has Topps produced a great, universally adored baseball card base set since 1987? These are deep questions for a New Year's Day.
Notable competition: Upper Deck entered the fold in 1989 with it's ground-breaking set, holograms on the back and all. This next statement will make me sound crotchety, but baseball cards and baseball card collecting hasn't been the same since I opened that first foil-wrapped Upper Deck pack. Fleer, Donruss and Score were all afterthoughts to me in 1989. Topps resurrected the Bowman name in 1989 with an extra large, underwhelming set featuring the first Phillies cards of a lot of the players the team acquired prior to the start of the 1989 season.
Record and finish: Have I already mentioned that 1989 was a hot mess for the Phils? The team started the year with what seemed like dozens of new faces and a bunch of more new faces would join the team before the season was over. They managed to win two more games than in the prior year, going 67-95 on their way to a second straight last place finish.
Key players:Von Hayes was the only consistent offensive threat in the line-up, putting up a respectable .259 average with 26 home runs and 78 RBIs. When your next two offensive power houses are Ricky Jordan (.285, 12 home runs, 75 RBIs) and Dickie Thon (.271, 15 home runs, 60 RBIs), you know it's going to be a long year. New second baseman Tommy Herr hit .287 and John Kruk hit .331 after being acquired from the Padres for James in June. Ken Howell and Jeff Parrett led the pitching staff with 12 wins a piece and Roger McDowell saved 19 games for the Phils after they had shipped former closer Bedrosian to the Giants. Rookie Pat Combs gave the team hope for the future when he won four games and pitched to a 2.09 ERA following his September call-up.
Key events: In late May, future Hall of Famer Schmidt called a press conference in San Diego to announce his retirement. Although he was hitting just .203 with 6 home runs at the time, his decision still came as a shock. Steve Jeltz lost his starting shortstop job to Thon, but he did manage to hit two home runs from both sides of the plate in the same game, making him the first Phillie in history to do so. As mentioned at the outset, GM Lee Thomas was extremely busy, trading away popular players and netting Kruk, Randy Ready, Lenny Dykstra, McDowell, Terry Mulholland, Dennis Cook and Charlie Hayes in three seperate trades. And my hero, Bob Dernier, hit a thrilling, game-winning, inside-the-park home run against the Giants on May 15th. The video is terrible, but it's hard not to get chills listening to the call from Harry Kalas:
1989 Phillies in 1989 Topps
Cards needed for a complete team set: There are 28 Phillies cards in the base set and Topps added another 11 Phillies cards to its traded set.
Who’s in:
Cards of the eight starting position players - 7 cards
#187 Darren Daulton (c), #358 Ricky Jordan (1b), #49T Tom Herr (2b), #119T Dickie Thon (ss), #63T John Kruk (lf), #27T Lenny Dykstra (cf), #385 Von Hayes (rf)
All three players (Mulholland, Cook and new third baseman Charlie Hayes) acquired from the Giants for Bedrosian were omitted from the traded set. However, the players acquired from the Mets for Samuel (Dykstra and McDowell) on the same day as the Bedrosian deal, made it into the traded set as Phillies. This baffles me. (For the record, all three appear in Fleer's update set.)
1989 Topps Traded #79T, #95T, 1989 Topps #418 and #707
Who’s out: As mentioned previously, Charlie Hayes, Mulholland and Cook were all left out, despite their prominent roles with the team, for better or worse, during the second half of the season.
Phillies on other teams: Brace yourselves. There are 16 players in the base set who played with the Phils in 1989 but appear on other teams. First, here are the 11 who ended up as Phillies in the traded set - #93 Ken Howell (Dodgers), #176 Jeff Parrett (Expos), #235 John Kruk (Padres), #259 Larry McWilliams (Cardinals), #435 Lenny Dykstra (Mets), #463 Steve Lake (Cardinals), #551 Randy Ready (Padres), #692 Steve Ontiveros (Athletics), #709 Tom Herr (Twins), #726 Dickie Thon (Padres), #735 Roger McDowell (Mets). And here are the 5 who didn't - #41 Terry Mulholland (Giants), #91 Floyd Youmans (Expos), #132 Curt Ford (Cardinals), #338 Jim Adduci (Brewers), #667 Dwayne Murphy (Tigers).
1989 Topps #74
What’s he doing here: Parrish was traded to the Angels on October 3, 1988, the day after the 1988 season ended. Of course, this was back in the day when the sets were coming out shortly after Thanksgiving, so it might have been too late to airbrush anyone even for a trade that early in the offseason. But . . . the Phils hired new manager Leyva on October 3, 1988, and managed to airbrush him into a Phillies hat in time for his card to appear within the 1989 Topps set.
Cards that never were candidates: There are a whopping 19 players who appeared with the Phillies during the 1989 season, but did not appear as Phillies in the 1989 Topps set. I've narrowed the list down to seven players who should have had Phillies cards - Combs, Charlie Hayes, Mulholland, Cook, outfielder Dwayne Murphy (9 home runs in 98 games), outfielder Curt Ford (.218 average in 108 games) and reliever Randy O'Neal (appeared in 20 games with a 6.23 ERA). On second thought, maybe O'Neal doesn't necessarily need a Phillies card. Ford appears in the 1989 Bowman set as a Phillie.
Favorite Phillies card: I have to go with Dernier's card. It's his last major Topps baseball card and it's always been a favorite of mine.
Other Stuff
Recycled: Schmidt's card is reprinted in the 2001 Topps Archives set.
To celebrate the first week of Spring Training, I'm sharing one of my annual rituals. Each year I go through the active rosters, coaching staffs and non-roster invitee lists to see where former Phillies have landed. This post looks at the NL West and the AL West.
NL West Arizona Diamondbacks Non-Roster Invitees - Infielders Cody Ransom (10) and Andy Tracy (08-09)
Colorado Rockies
The Rockies don't have one former Phillie donning the purple and silver this spring.
Staff - First base coach Davey Lopes (coach 07-10) and bullpen coach Ken Howell (89-90)
San Diego Padres Staff - Hitting coach Randy Ready (89-91; 94-95) and bullpen coach Darrel Akerfelds (90-91)
San Francisco Giants 40-Man Roster - Outfielders Pat Burrell (00-08) and Aaron Rowand (06-07)
1989 Donruss #487
AL West Los Angeles Angels 40-Man Roster - Outfielder Bobby Abreu (98-06) Non-Roster Invitee - Pitcher Eric Junge (02-03)
Oakland Athletics
There are no former Phillies on the 40-man roster, but there are plenty of former Phillie farm hands - Gio Gonzalez, Josh Outman, Adrian Cardenas and Michael Taylor
