2011 Topps Heritage #249 Vance Worley

Phillies 11, Pirates 4
Spring Training Game 16 - Saturday Afternoon, March 12th in Bradenton

Rays 6, Phillies 2
Spring Training Game 17 - Saturday Afternoon, March 12th in Clearwater

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies won and lost today as split squads battled the Pirates and the Rays.

What It Means:  John Mayberry, Jr. and Vance Worley improved their chances of making the team while Kyle Kendrick struggled.  Kendrick looked fine until the third inning against the Rays, when he allowed back-to-back bombs to Ben Zobrist and Johnny Damon.  Before it was over, he would allow five runs in his four innings of work.

Top Hitters:  Against the Pirates, Pete Orr tripled to lead off the first and fourth innings, on his way to a 3 for 5 day.  Ross Gload also added three hits, while Mayberry and Cory Sullivan each drove in three runs.

Top Pitchers:  Worley started against the Pirates and cruised through the first three innings before allowing a home run to Lyle Overbay in the fourth.  He struck out five in his 3 1/3 innings of work.  Mike Zagurski added two shutout innings. 

2011 Topps Heritage #249 (Back)

Featured Card:  With a 4-year-old toddler and an 11-month-old baby, sometimes Saturday night means a trip to Target to do the grocery shopping for the week.  Not as crazy as Saturday nights used to be for us, but crazy nonetheless.  While making our way to the Star Wars aisle to see if our local Target had restocked yet from Christmas (they hadn't), Doug and I stopped at the baseball card aisle to see if there was anything interesting to be had.  Lo and behold, I found several blasters of 2011 Topps Heritage, along with rack packs and individual packs.  This Vance Worley card was the first Phillie pulled from the box.  Almost makes me wish I still collected the complete Topps Heritage set.  Almost.

And when did they stop putting gum into packs of Topps Heritage?

Other Stuff:  General Manager Ruben Amaro, Jr. signed a four-year contract extension this afternoon, taking him through the 2015 season . . . Former Phillie R.J. Swindle pitched a scoreless ninth innings for the Rays.