1998 Fleer Tradition #118 Rico Brogna

Braves 5, Phillies 3
Game 38 - Saturday Afternoon, May 14th in Atlanta

Joe Blanton (AP)

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies managed just three hits against the Braves this afternoon, and the bullpen duo of J.C. Romero and Kyle Kendrick allowed the Braves to tack on late runs.

What It Means:  I am not a fan of Romero.  The Phils fall to 25-13 and since the Marlins won today, their lead in the division slips to just two games.  They'll go for the series win tomorrow afternoon in the annual Civil Rights Game, behind Roy Halladay.  Halladay and the rest of the Phils will be wearing '74-style baby blue throw-back uniforms.

What Went Wrong:  Before I could even envy the throw-back Negro League uniforms sported by both teams this afternoon, Joe Blanton had allowed back-to-back home runs to Martin Prado and Nate McLouth to start the first inning.  I'm fairly certain Blanton is not completely healthy yet.  He lasted just five innings before getting pulled for Romero.  Romero and Kendrick gave up three runs in the sixth on three hits and two walks.

Braves starter Jair Jurrjens had a perfect game going until pinch-hitter Michael Martinez singled with two outs in the sixth.  Martinez would come around to score on Jimmy Rollins' RBI-double.  The Phillies added two runs in the eighth, but it wasn't enough to overcome the deficit created by Blanton, Kendrick, Romero and a bunch of quiet bats in the middle of the Phillies line-up.

Featured Card:  Consider this to be Part Two to yesterday's post over on the 14,000 Phillies blog.  As mentioned in that post, there are only two Phillies baseball cards featuring the Negro League replicas worn by the team during a 1997 game.  Scott Rolen's 1998 SkyBox Dugout Axcess card and this 1998 Fleer Tradition card for Rico Brogna.  The jerseys worn by the Phillies today match up with what you see here, but the hat they wore today featured a red, block "P" without the white star.