Thome Joins Wall of Fame! Howard Hits Slam! #ChachiNow!

2016 Phillies Team Issue 2 #25

2016 Phillies Team Issue 2 #6

Phillies 10, Rockies 6
Game 117 - Friday Night, August 12th in Philadelphia
Record - 54-63, 4th place, 14 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  On the night Jim Thome was inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame, Ryan Howard hit a grand slam and Jake Thompson earned his first Major League win.

What It Means:  Party like it's 2005!

What Happened:  The suddenly hot Howard hit his grand slam in the fifth inning and he finished the night with three hits and five RBIs.  (Not to be completely overlooked is the fact that the Rockies Charlie Blackmon had three home runs in this game.)

Thompson pitched five innings, allowing three runs on two hits and three walks.  He made Phillies history in the second inning, becoming just the second player in franchise history to strike out four batters in one inning.  Doc White had accomplished the feat first back in 1902.  Thompson struck out rookie David Dahl to start the inning, but the ball went to the backstop and Dahl reached first. Thompson then struck out the next three Rockies batters.

2016 Chachi #56

Featured Cards:  There was a lot going on for this game!  Thompson earned the latest #ChachiNow (also known as a 2016 Chachi Highlights) card for his historic feat.  Howard should definitely get some recognition for his blast in this game.  And I wanted to call attention to the fact that the Phillies have updated their team-issued photo card set with several additional cards.  At the top of the "new" set is an Alumni card for Thome.  (I'll update this set's listing here for the new cards.)

Field Report:  We purchased four tickets to this game since we didn't want to miss the induction of Thome into the Phillies Wall of Fame.  I have a personal streak going of five years in a row that I've attended the Wall of Fame ceremonies and I hope to keep the streak going next year.

The Phillies do an unbelievable job at honoring their former players and the pre-game ceremony honoring Thome was no exception.  Charlie Manuel introduced him, Bobby Abreu was on hand to unveil the plaque in Ashburn Alley and Howard presented Thome with a replica of his plaque. Messages were played on Phanavision from Nick Punto, David Bell, Chase Utley (in his Dodgers uniform), Jimmy Rollins (retired?) and Tim McGraw.  Thome's speech was fantastic and I'm glad my sons got to see this great Phillies slugger honored.  (Click the pictures below to enlarge.)

Manuel inducts Thome

Abreu unveils Thome's plaque

Thome's speech

In other news . . . It was ridiculously, smoking HOT.  We missed the two biggest highlights of this game due to taking cover in the Hall of Fame Club (Thompson's four strikeouts) or heading home to be rescued by air conditioning (Howard's slam).

Transaction:  In a somewhat surprising move, outfielder Cody Asche was optioned to Lehigh Valley to make room for the activated Peter Bourjos.  I would have thought that Jimmy Paredes would be the odd man out when Bourjos was ready to return, but Asche's cold bat earned him a demotion.

Memory Lane - Past Induction Ceremonies/Alumni Weekends

2009 - Harry Kalas

2010 - Darren Daulton

2011 - John Kruk

2012 - Mike Lieberthal

2013 - Curt Schilling

2014 - Charlie Manuel
2015 - Pat Burrell
2016 - Jim Thome

Be sure to check out the 2016 Season Summary page with game results and links to game summary posts.