Game 2 - Wednesday Night, April 8th in Philadelphia
Record - 1-1, Tied for 2nd Place, 1 1/2 games behind the Braves
One Sentence Summary: Newcomers Aaron Harang and Jeff Francoeur starred in the Phillies' first win of the season as they defeated the Red Sox, 4-2.
What It Means: It means the Phillies won't go 0-162 this season and it means that they'll go for the series win tonight behind starting pitcher David Buchanan.
What Happened: Harang was fantastic in his Phillies debut, pitching into the seventh inning and allowing just two hits while striking out eight. He was perfect until Pablo Sandoval singled with two outs in the fourth.
Francoeur launched a home run to deep left center field in the sixth after Darin Ruf had walked and Cody Asche singled. Chase Utley's sacrifice fly in the seventh scored Ben Revere to give the Phillies an insurance run.
Jonathan Papelbon was called upon to record a four-out save after Ken Giles continued his early season struggles. Giles loaded the bases and walked a run home before yielding to Papelbon. The closer got out of the inning (barely) when Hanley Ramirez flew out to deep left. On a warmer night, Ramirez would have had his second grand slam of the season. Papelbon closed the door in the ninth to record his first save of 2015.
Featured Card: Francoeur's first Phillies card appears in the just released team issued set. He gets the honors for this game over Harang since before he hit his home run I was honestly starting to think the Phillies wouldn't score any runs all season.
How can one obtain one of these team issued Francoeur cards?
ReplyDeleteHi Colbey. The complete 43-card set is available for sale at Citizens Bank Park for $5. You can also find cards and complete sets on eBay, although I've seen these wildly overpriced.
ReplyDeleteIf you're out of town, your best bet might be to call the Majestic Clubhouse Store and try to place a mail order for the set.