Stick-Ons and Diekman's Debut

2012 Topps Heritage Stick-Ons
#38 and #39

Phillies 4, Astros 3 (10 Innings)
Game 37 - Tuesday Afternoon, May 15th in Philadelphia
Record - 18-19, 5th Place, 5 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Hunter Pence redeemed himself with a game-winning, walk-off home run after his error in the ninth allowed the Astros to tie it up.

What It Means:  The victory marked the first time this season the Phillies have won three in a row.  Following the game, they were just a game under .500.

What Went Right:  Cliff Lee pitched another wonderful game, striking out ten in eight innings while just allowing a run on five hits.  Chad Qualls entered the game in the ninth* and coughed up the lead with an assist from Pence's error in right.  Fortunately, Jake Diekman, making his Major League debut, shut down the Astros, striking out three in 1 1/3 inning of work.  He was awarded with his first big league win for his efforts, as Lee inexplicably remains winless on the season.

Pence's 10th inning blast was his second of the game.  Brian Schneider added a two-run home run in the second and the back-up catcher has very quietly put up a .303 average.

2009 Multi-Ad Lakewood
BlueClaws #11

Featured Cards:  I'm going with multiple "cards" for this post.  Lee and Pence were the stars of this game, and I'm featuring their floating head Stick-On stickers inserted into packs of 2012 Topps Heritage.  While the base Topps Heritage set uses the 1963 Topps design, these Stick-Ons are based on what the Standard Catalog deems "Peel-Offs" inserted into packs of 1963 Topps cards.  The Stick-Ons or Peel-Offs or whatever you want to call them are roughly the size of the current year Topps Stickers.

I also wanted to pay tribute to Diekman, whose fastball topped out at 96 mph in this game.  Diekman was one of the final cuts in Spring Training, and the hope is that he becomes a key cog within a Phillies bullpen that has struggled so far in 2012.  As far as I can tell, Diekman has only three minor league baseball cards as of this writing, including what I believe to be his first professional baseball card which I've featured here.