2002 Fleer Tradition #61 Jimmy Rollins

Mets 2, Phillies 1 (14 Innings)
Game 27 - Sunday Night, May 1st in Philadelphia

One Sentence Summary: From David Hale's excellent Philled In blog, "Fans Celebrate a Big Win During a Phillies Loss."

What It Means: "So Americans understand the costs of war. Yet as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies. We will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights like this one, we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda’s terror: Justice has been done." President Barack Obama, May 1, 2011.

What Went Right: See the quote above. When the news began making its way through Citizens Bank Park, fans started chanting, "U-S-A! U-S-A!"

Todd Zolecki's laptop during the game

What Went Wrong: The Phillies lost the game in the 14th. The offense left 11 runners on base and went 1 for 8 with runners in scoring position. Manager Charlie Manuel was ejected at the end of the seventh after Brian Schneider was called out on a check swing with the bases loaded.

The Phils finally broke through with a run in the eighth when Ryan Howard's single to left drove home John Mayberry, Jr. They had a chance to take the lead, but Raul Ibanez grounded out to second, extending his slump to 0 for 34.

Radio announcers Scott Franzke and Larry Andersen were given the night off. I was forced to listen to the Phillies TV announcers on the radio, and then I tried the ESPN announcers, and then I finally just gave up and muted the TV altogether.

At around 11:00 pm, E.S.T., I switched over to NBC and kept track of the game on MLB Gameday.

Featured Card: In 2002, many baseball card sets and subsets embraced the stars and stripes in a show of renewed patriotism. I've always liked the 2002 Fleer Tradition set for its retro design, and for the little American flag appearing on the front of each card.

Transactions: Outfielder Domonic Brown and infielder Brian Bocock were activated from the disabled list and optioned to AAA Lehigh Valley.