Game 61 - Saturday Afternoon, June 9th in Baltimore
Record - 29-32, 5th Place, 7 games behind the Nationals
One Sentence Summary: Defensive mistakes, including three errors, cost the Phillies as they lost in extras to the Orioles, 6-4.
What It Means: The Phillies stink right now. It's a fact.
What Went Wrong: The fourth inning was the team's undoing, as Jimmy Rollins, Vance Worley and Mike Fontenot each committed an error. B.J. Rosenberg, making his Major League debut, surrendered the walk-off home run to Adam Jones in the 12th after pitching a scoreless 11th.
Featured Card: Jim Thome recently returned from the disabled list for the sole purpose of serving as the team's designated hitter during its nine-game American League road trip. It's been reported that his bad back will make it nearly impossible for him to play the field at this point. So reading between the lines, you have to wonder if this is Thome's (second) swan song with the Phillies.
In the fourth inning of this game, Thome hit his first home run of the season. It was meaningful for a few reasons. First, it was his first home run as a Phillie since June 23, 2005 - nearly seven years ago. Second, it marked his 605th career home run. Thome is only one of eight players in the 600-home run club and he needs six more to pass Sammy Sosa for seventh place on the all-time list.
I'm trying to soak in each of Thome's at bats at this point as much as I can. There's no telling how soon this future Hall of Famer will have his last at-bat as a Phillie, and possibly the last at-bat of his career.
Is Thome a HOFer?
ReplyDeleteI think it will be this Sunday, vs. the Blue Jays.
ReplyDeleteYes, he's a Hall of Famer. He's in the 600 home run club without ever having been remotely linked to steroid use. Maybe not a first-rounder, but he's in.
ReplyDeleteJim from D - You may be right. Are there any A.L. teams in need of a DH?
The Phillies stink right now. It's a fact.
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, Phillies' PR guru Scott Palmer is nowhere to be found.