Game 46 - Sunday Afternoon, May 22nd in Philadelphia
One Sentence Summary: Matt Harrison and Neftali Feliz shut out the Phillies, as the offense continued to sputter along.
What It Means: The Phils didn't sweep, but they at least won the series. They're now 28-18.
What Went Wrong: The Rangers scored only twice, but it's hard to beat a team when you don't score at all. Raul Ibanez probably should have caught Mitch Moreland's fly ball in the sixth, but he didn't. It was ruled a double and Michael Young came home for the Rangers first run. They pushed across their second run when Adrian Beltre scored on a Craig Gentry suicide squeeze in the eighth. Beltre had doubled off J.C. Romero to start the inning.
The Phillies mustered just five singles and they've now scored three or fewer runs in nine straight games.
What Went Right: Roy Oswalt (3-2) pitched well, scattering eight hits over seven innings while striking out three.
Featured Card: A comment from 14,000 Phillies on my recent post on Jeremy Giambi reminded me of the long line of "wrong" brothers finding their way into Phillies pinstripes. Mike Maddux fell slightly short of his brother Greg's Hall of Fame caliber accomplishments, but he's carved out a very successful career as a Major League pitching coach. He's in his third season with the Rangers following six seasons with the Brewers.
Maddux appeared in the Phillies Tastykake sets in 1985 and 1986 before breaking through with rookie cards in the 1987 sets from Donruss, Fleer and Topps. He'd appear with the Phillies on baseball cards in 1988, 1989 and 1990, including this card from the 1989 Topps Big set.
Transactions: I don't think it's officially official yet, but Chase Utley will be activated in time for tomorrow night's game against the Reds. Also, Vance Worley will be recalled to take Joe Blanton's spot in the rotation once Blanton is placed on the disabled list. The odd-man-out is Pete Orr, who has been optioned to AAA Lehigh Valley.
Thank you for the mention -- coincidentally, you highlighted the very same Mike Maddux card I was contemplating posting about today. No worries, however, I have plenty of ideas to fall back on.
ReplyDeleteGreat minds . . .
ReplyDeleteI actually chose this card on purpose because I knew you were going to be posting on Maddux as well and I thought, "Surely, there's no way he'd dig out this Topps Big card." Should have gone with the 1987 Topps card!