Game 32 - Jimmy Rollins Officially Retires

2019 Chachi Greatest Moments #2

Nationals 10, Phillies 8
Game 32 - Saturday Night, May 4th in Philadelphia
Record - 18-14, 1st place, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies fell late to the Nationals in this game, but the Jimmy Rollins retirement ceremony held before the game went off perfectly in a fitting tribute to the franchise's all-time hits leader.

What It Means:  Yes, this loss was tough.  But we still experienced one of the more exciting and engaging atmospheres at Citizens Bank Park in recent memory.

What Happened:  Down 5-3 going to the bottom of the seventh, the Phillies strung together four RBI doubles from Rhys Hoskins, J.T. Realmuto, Sean Rodriguez and Phil Gosselin to take a 8-5 lead.  The euphoria from that half inning was short-lived however as the Nationals took a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the eighth on back-to-back home runs from Kurt Suzuki and Victor Robles off the unhittable (until now) Adam Morgan.

2019 Chachi Friendly Encounters #9

1976 SSPC #467

Featured Cards/Field Report:  The four of us enjoyed this game (at least until the eighth inning) with the boys' Uncle Drew and Aunt Wendy from a new area for us - Section 206 in left field.  As usual, the Phillies did a fantastic job with the pre-game ceremony honoring Jimmy Rollins and I was very impressed with Rollins' speech especially given he delivered it without the benefit of any notes.  He singled out Phillies lifer Lee Elia as someone who had put him on the right path early in his career, and he also recognized former general manager Ed Wade as the first architect of the 2008 Championship team.  Former teammates Marlon Anderson, Wayne Gomes and Bobby Abreu were in attendance along with franchise luminaries Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa and Charlie Manuel.  Shane Victorino represented the 2008 team with video messages being played from Ryan Howard and Chase Utley.

Before the top of the first inning, Rollins put on his familiar #11 Phillies jersey and ran out to shortstop to take one last ground ball.

Entering the ballpark, we received our replica 2008 Jimmy Rollins World Series rings (a surprisingly nice giveaway) and we stopped by Greg Luzinski's perch by Bull's BBQ to collect this year's allotment of autographs and pictures from him.

Transactions:  Odubel Herrera was activated from the Injured List and long-time Phillie Aaron Altherr was designated for assignment to make room for him.  Altherr first came up to the Phillies for a pair of games in 2014.  So far this season, he was hitting .034 (1 for 29) in very limited playing time and the player who was arguably one of the team's best in 2017 finds himself in limbo for now.