The Phillies Room: 2013 Topps Heritage #332 John McDonald

Dodgers 5, Phillies 0
Game 122 - Saturday Night, August 17th in Philadelphia
Record - 53-69, 4th Place, 21 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary: The Phillies continued their descent into the depths of the N.L. East with a 5-0 loss to Clayton Kershaw and the Dodgers.

What It Means: It means that interim manager Ryne Sandberg is now 0-2, and the Phils have yet to score a run on his watch.

What Went Wrong: Kershaw dominated an anemic Phillies offense, limiting the team to three hits in his eight innings of work. Sadly, the Phils had just as many errors in this game as hits. Kyle Kendrick put in a decent outing, allowing just two runs (one earned) in his six innings of work.

Featured Cards: John McDonald wasn't supposed to play in this game, but starting third baseman Michael Young left after the second with sore ankle and McDonald found himself manning the hot corner. McDonald never even had a chance against Kershaw and his 0 for 3 on the night dropped his (National League) average to .093.

2013 Topps Heritage #186

McDonald was traded by the Diamondbacks to the Pirates at the end of Spring Training for a player to be named later (PTBL) or cash. In mid-June, the Pirates sent him to the Indians for another PTBL or cash. A few weeks later, the Phillies got in on the action, acquiring McDonald from Cleveland . . . for a PTBL or cash. The 38-year-old journeyman infielder went 2 for 31 (.065) with the Pirates, 0 for 7 with the Indians and he's now 3 for 16 with the Phils.

Casper Wells started in center in this game. Not to be outdone by McDonald, Wells has been with five different organizations in 2013. He started the season in the Mariners organization where he had hit .228 and .216 with Seattle in 2012 and 2011 respectively. The Blue Jays claimed Wells off waivers on April 10th. Twelve days later, the Blue Jays sold him to the A's, who then sold him to the White Sox a week later. Finally, a little over a week ago, the Phillies picked him up off waivers from the White Sox. In total, Wells has been with five different organizations this year and he's hitting .150 (12 for 80) overall.

Now I'm no genius, but how can the Phillies expect to even compete when these are two of our options off the bench at this point? And are McDonald and Wells really in the team's plans for 2014? Of course, Wells doubled off Kershaw in the eighth, so I probably have no idea what I'm talking about.

Field Report: I took my six-year-old Doug to this game, and despite the shoddy product on the field, we enjoyed ourselves. Doug posed next to a "Thank You Charlie" sign in front of the Steve Carlton statue beyond the outfield gate. Popcorn, cherry water ice and a little Lego Phanatic figurine made it a successful game in Doug's eyes. If only Sandberg had it so easy.

I should stop keeping track of this, but the Phils are now 3-8 in games I've attended this year.