1987 Fleer #188 Rick Schu

Tigers 2, Phillies 1
Game 103 - Friday Night, July 26th in Detroit
Record - 49-54, 3rd Place, 9 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies dropped their sixth in a row, as Doug Fister and the Tigers easily contained the reeling team, 2-1.

What It Means:  Following the Phillies this year has gone from frustrating to just flat out depressing.  Never mind the fact that the team sleepwalked through another loss last night, the news that truly made me a little nauseous was that Cliff Lee was scratched from tonight's start with a "stiff neck."  This revelation came shortly after ESPN reported that the Phils were now listening to offers on Lee.  I get that baseball is a business and that the team is probably going nowhere in 2013, but trading Lee would mean the team doesn't really expect to go anywhere in 2014 either.

This all makes me want to take some time off from the blog, head to the shore and run a week's worth of pre-scheduled Gallery Week posts.  I just hope nothing major happens with the Phillies while I'm gone . . .

What Went Wrong:  The offense was held to four singles by Fister and Tigers closer Joaquin Benoit.  Cole Hamels dropped to 4-13, but pitched seven strong innings allowing just two runs on six hits.

Featured Card:  I have 18 different Rick Schu Phillies cards in my collection.  I'm not going to stop featuring his cards until the Phillies win again.

P.S.  I'll do a massive, one-day game summary post catch-up upon returning from vacation.  I sure hope I'm not featuring seven more Schu cards.

P.P.S.  Maybe by next week, I'll need to create a Chachi card for new Phillies pitcher, Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez.  Who saw that coming?