Nationals at Phillies: April 10th to April 12th

Friday and Saturday 7:05, Sunday 1:35
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA

Nationals 1-2, Tied for 3rd Place in the N.L. East, 2 games behind the Braves
Phillies 1-2, Tied for 3rd Place in the N.L. East, 2 games behind the Braves

Nationals Probables:  Gio Gonzalez (0-0, 0.00), Doug Fister (0-0, 0.00), Max Scherzer (0-1, 0.00)
Phillies Probables:  Jerome Williams (0-0, 0.00), Cole Hamels (0-1, 7.20), Sean O'Sullivan (0-0, 0.00

At the Ballpark:  Sunday is Kids Opening Day and all fans 14 and under will receive a Turkey Hill Phillies Bat Pack.  The picture from the Phillies website sure looks like a backpack to me, but it's officially being called a Bat Pack.

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Carlos Ruiz - .375
Runs:  Ben Revere - 2
Home Runs:  Jeff Francoeur - 1
RBIs:  Jeff Francoeur - 3
Stolen Bases:  Ben Revere - 1

Wins:  Aaron Harang - 1
ERA:  Aaron Harang - 0.00
Strikeouts:  Aaron Harang - 8
Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 1

1985 Topps Traded #121T

1985 Topps #448

1985 Topps Appreciation:  Derrel Thomas earned two Phillies Topps cards to mark his short time with the club - one in the 1985 Topps Traded set and one in the 1986 Topps set.  I originally wrote about my confusion regarding Thomas' Phillies origin story in this post, noting:

1985 Fleer #314

To be honest, I'm not sure how Thomas came to be with the Phillies.  His Baseball Reference page says he was granted free agency by the Angels in November 1984 and then the Phillies purchased him from Miami (Florida State) in May 1985.  Was this some sort of independent league back in the day?  In any event, Thomas appeared in 63 games for the 1985 Phillies, hitting just .207 but seeing time at shortstop, left field, center field, second base and third base.  He even caught two innings in a game back on August 21, 1985, hitting a three-run home run in the process.

I was confused in 1985 when I came across Thomas' 1985 Fleer card showing him with the Angels.  Unbeknownst to me and unsuspecting Topps collectors, Thomas spent the last month of the 1984 season with the Angels, but Topps denied the transaction by maintaining that Thomas was still with the Expos at the end of 1984.  Flipping his 1985 Topps card over, Topps acknowledges Thomas' 14 game stint with the Angels in his career statistics.  It also baffled me as to why Topps didn't at least include a "Now with Angels" byline on the front of his card.