Tuesday, April 23, 2013

2013 Topps Gypsy Queen #269 Ben Revere

Phillies 7, Cardinals 3
Game 19 – Sunday Night, April 21st in Philadelphia
Record – 8-11, 4th Place, 5 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Highlighted by Ben Revere's go-ahead RBI single and a three-run home run from Erik Kratz, the Phillies rode a four-run eighth inning to victory, winning late against the Cardinals, 7-3.

What It Means:  It means the Phillies won an exciting ballgame, but I was sound asleep when it happened.  I lasted through seven innings, but my eyelids just got too heavy around 11 P.M.  Hosting a birthday party for your three-year-old son tends to do that kind of thing.  The Phils split the series with the Cardinals and they opened another four-game set last night, this time with the Pirates.

What Went Right:  First things first – Kyle Kendrick pitched a great ballgame. In six innings, Kendrick allowed two runs on eight hits while striking out six.  Trailing 3-2, Laynce Nix hit a pinch-hit double in the bottom of the seventh to score Kratz with the tying run.  That set up the heroics from Revere and Kratz in the bottom of the eighth.

Featured Card:  I recently received my Phillies master team set from this year's Topps Gypsy Queen release, which includes the Revere card seen here.  A post over at 14,000 Phillies has already pointed out the numerology problem with Revere's card.  Earlier yesterday, I read a post from Wrigley Wax that nicely sums up my feelings towards the Gypsy Queen release, now in its third year:

"But honestly, as long as there is Allen and Ginter, why is Gypsy Queen necessary?"

True, these are nice cards, but the entire set seems kind of redundant when you consider that Topps already puts out a very successful baseball card set – Allen and Ginter's – with a turn of the 20th century feel to it.  Other than his card in the Phillies team issued set, Revere has yet to appear on a baseball card wearing an actual Phillies uniform.

Some sort of cold/horrible allergy fit has overtaken me, meaning there will be a one game lag in the game summary posts until I'm able to stay awake past 9:30 at night.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

One reason why Gypsy isn't redundant: there are only cards of baseball players. This is the third straight year I've decided to assemble a complete set to go along my Phillies team set, and the fact that I don't have to put up with cards of Stan Lee, Kristie Yamaguchi & Cpt. Jack Glasscock.

If A&G stuck to baseball players only, I'd agree with criticism, but until then, I'm happy with Gypsy Queen. :-)

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I hit "post" before I finished editing my comment. The sentence ending in "Glasckcock" should have ended with "is a big reason why I prefer GQ over A&G."

Jim said...

I see your point. I wasn't thinking about the two sets from a pure set collector's perspective. Rather, I was thinking about the two different sets from a team set collector's perspective.