Game 31 - Saturday Night, May 4th in Philadelphia
Record - 14-17, Tied for 3rd Place, 4 games behind the Braves
One Sentence Summary: Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez baffled the Phillies, as the Marlins won the 2-0 pitcher's duel.
What It Means: So much for the sweep!
What Went Wrong: The Phillies managed just one hit - a first inning single from Freddy Galvis. For the rest of the night, it might as well have been my son's tee-ball team up there against Fernandez. Cole Hamels actually pitched a decent ballgame. He allowed two solo home runs in his eight innings of work while striking out six.
Featured Card/Field Report: I took my son Doug to this game, and despite the crappy product on the field, we actually really enjoyed ourselves. Here are a few highlights of our outing:
- I took a picture of the new 2011 Topps-style Delmon Young card hanging in Ashburn Alley amongst the Phillies starting line-up.- I made it a point to stop at the Newstand below the starting line-up cards to ask if the postcard set now contained a Jonathan Pettibone card. The guy working there seemed knowledgeable enough and he responded to my query with - "Nope, he's the only one that's missing, but he'll be in the second set that gets released around the All-Star break." So there you have it.
- Doug enjoyed his first ever double cheeseburger. He was amazed and thrilled to discover that such a thing existed.
- Late in the game, they showed a clip on the jumbo scoreboard of Shane Victorino making a leaping catch in center field. (I missed the context of the clip.) Doug's favorite Phillie up until last summer was Victorino, and his ears perked up at the mention of his name. That led to a lengthy conversation about why the Phillies had to trade him, and can they get him back, and who decided to trade him, and that it didn't seem fair. These were all good points raised by a six-year-old and I did my best to answer him.
It seems like for every Phillies fan, there are definitely more questions than answers these days. My personal Phillies record this year is now 1-2.
I can certainly see the appeal with Victorino. Easy guy to watch play.
ReplyDeleteYes, but did you ask if there was a Carrera card in the set?
ReplyDeleteAt first I chuckled at the Carrera question, but then I realized, actually there could have been one added since he joined the team on, what, about day #4 of the season? That's earlier than Pettibone. It's worth checking into. I'll probably buy a second set at the ALS Phestival in 10 days just to have some to get signed, so I will post here if no one does before then.
ReplyDeleteAnyone notice whether any retail stores have the 2013 retail team set yet? It's about $8 at the stadium, but I have yet to see it at Five Below, Wal-Mart or Target, three places where it has been available in the past (and typically--or in the case of Five Below, always--for $5). Maybe CBP has an excludive on it for some time period.
Also, anyone have an extra John Mayberry Jr. from last year's retail set they'd like to trade? I accidentally had him autograph that one insetad of his regular card at last year's Phestival, and it has a differently cropped photo than the regular card--so now I have a gap in my Phillies binder. D'ohh!
Crap, I didn't even think of Carrera. They wouldn't do that do us, would they?
ReplyDeleteSteve - I'll check my local Target for the retail set the next time I'm there.
Jim, I was being completely seriously when I asked that question, because they *would* do that to us.
ReplyDeleteSteve, really nice catch on the Mayberry -- I never noticed it until you pointed it out (upon reading your comment, I immediately pulled out the card to see it for myself). The difference in cropping is so slight that I don't even know why Topps bothered.