2011 Topps Lineage 3D Ryan Howard

Phillies 9, Dodgers 8
Game 117 - Wednesday Afternoon, August 9th in Los Angeles

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies overcame a 6-0 deficit to win, 9-8, and complete the sweep of the Dodgers.

What It Means:  Seriously, the Phillies are just awesome this year.  They were down 6-0 and I thought to myself, "I bet they win this thing."  It's not cockiness, it's just pure confidence that this team is going to find a way to win no matter what.  They're now 77-40 and they finished up their ten-game road trip with nine wins to one loss.  The 9-1 mark is the best ten-game road trip record in franchise history.  The game's easy, Harry.

What Went Right:  Hunter Pence started the scoring with a two-run home run in the fourth and starter Vance Worley (destined for an early shower) added a run with an RBI-single.  The Phils scored twice in the fifth to pull within a run of the Dodgers.

In the sixth, they tied it up on Chase Utley's two-run single and took the lead thanks to Ryan Howard's two-run home run to left.  It was Howard's 25th homer of the year and his 90th and 91st RBIs.

Ryan Madson allowed a run in the ninth, but escaped further trouble to record his 22nd save.

Featured Card:  I like 3D cards more than I like shiny, chrome-y cards.  Of all the Topps Lineage Phillies cards I've won in on-line auctions over the past week, this is the only card that I pulled out of its envelope and handed to Jenna saying, "This is a cool card."  High praise indeed.  Similar to the Topps Stand-Up cards, all on-line checklists have this card as #T3D3 in the set but there's no actual numbering on the card itself.  And you can't tell from the scan, but the card has slightly rounded corners.

The card is modeled after a 12-card test issue put out by Topps in 1968 - the first 3D set of its kind.  Kellogg's would issue it's first 3D set a few years later in 1970.