Sunday, October 20, 2013

Phillies in the Postseason - Part One

2007 Finest #155, 2007 Topps Allen & Ginter's #266,
2005 Donruss Diamond Kings #382 and 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen #293
Like the rest of us, the Phillies have been sitting at home over this past month watching the eight remaining teams compete in the 2013 postseason.  To keep myself occupied during these late postseason games, I decided to look back at the ex-Phillies appearing in this year's postseason and see how they fared.  I'll start with those teams eliminated first and then work my way up to the eventual World Champions.  The years in parentheses are the years each player, coach or manager spent with the Phillies.

Cincinnati Reds - 2nd N.L. Wild Card - Lost Wild Card game to the Pirates
The only ex-Phillie with the Reds is first base coach Billy Hatcher (1994)

Cleveland Indians - 1st A.L. Wild Card - Lost Wild Card game to the Rays
This was manager Terry Francona's (manager, 1997-2000) first year at the helm for the Tribe and his team exceeded everyone's expectations.  Center fielder Michael Bourn (2006-2007) went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in the Wild Card game.  Bench coach Brad Mills (coach, 1997-2000) also reunited with Francona in Cleveland after a rough stint as the Astros manager.

Atlanta Braves - N.L. East Champions - Lost N.L.D.S. to the Dodgers, 3-1
Freddy Garcia (2007) was the starting pitcher in the decisive Game 4, and he actually pitched a decent ballgame.  Garcia left after six innings with the Braves up, 2-1 against the Dodgers.  The Braves bullpen, overseen by pitching coach Roger McDowell (1989-1991) coughed up the lead and the Dodgers advanced to the N.L.C.S.

Tampa Bay Rays - 2nd A.L. Wild Card - Lost A.L.D.S. to the Red Sox, 3-1
Delmon Young (2013) went 3 for 11 in five postseason games with the Rays.  He started the scoring against the Indians in the Wild Card Game with a solo home run.  Third base coach Tom Foley (1985-1986) also spent some time with the Phils.

Pittsburgh Pirates - 1st N.L. Wild Card - Lost N.L.D.S. to the Cardinals, 3-2
Outfielder Marlon Byrd (2002-2005) went 8 for 22 (.364) in his first ever postseason after 12 seasons in the Majors.  In his first postseason at-bat, Byrd homered off the Reds Johnny Cueto, helping the Pirates advance to the N.L.D.S.  Pirates third base coach Nick Leyva (manager, 1989-1991) returned to the postseason for the first time since serving in that same capacity with the Blue Jays in 1993.

Thanks to reader Mark for recently sending me the Byrd card seen at the top of this post.

Oakland Athletics - A.L. West Champions - Lost A.L.D.S. to the Tigers, 3-2
First baseman/DH Brandon Moss (2011) went 2 for 18 (.111) in his second postseason with the A's, starting in all five games against the Tigers.

I'll follow-up with a post on the ex-Phillies on the four teams that advanced to both League Championship series.

5 comments:

Section 36 said...

Hopefully you'll be able to wait a bit before writing about the performance of one Phillies Phavorite in particular!

(so, that's why you love him!)

Jim said...

Very happy for the Flyin' Hawaiian!

We'll definitely be rooting for the Sox on Wednesday night.

Steve F. said...

Good to see VIctorino having some success. I would prefer that both teams lose the WS, but I suppose I am rooting for Victorino, so while I may not actually cheer for the Sox, I'll root more strongly for the Cards to lose.

Brandon Moss's release by Ruin Tomorrow, Jr. really irks me. Moss had a great year at AAA in 2011, and then Howard went down with the Achilles tear. So does Ruin give the kid a chance? No. He jettisons him and signs Ty Wigginton who stunk, but no worse than he had been doing for years (i.e., it was expected), and meanwhile Moss has a higher OPS than (IIRC) nearly every Philly starter the last two years. And about 100 points higher than Howard the last two years! Oh, and did I mention he's making about the major league minimum, some $24.5 million less than Howard.

Another nice move brought to you by the brilliant mind of Ruin.

MarkyMark said...

Jim,thanks for the shout out for the Marlon Byrd card. Your very welcome,and keep up the good work with Phillies Room! Best regards,Mark.

Jim said...

It definitely would have been nice to have Brandon Moss around, along with Jason Grilli. My hope is that Ruben makes a few key acquisition this offseason to get the team back on track and into the 2014 postseason. If not, I sincerely hope he's elsewhere in 2015.

Mark - Thanks again for the trade!