1985 Game 1 - 1985 Fleer Limited Edition #6 Steve Carlton

Braves 6, Phillies 0
Game 1 - Tuesday Night, April 9th in Philadelphia
Record - 0-1, Tied for 2nd Place, 1 game behind the Cubs and Mets

One Sentence Summary:  The offense was quiet in this 6-0 season opener loss to the Braves at The Vet.

What It Means:  This would be the first of 101 different line-ups used by manager John Felske throughout the 1985 season.

What Happened:  Starting pitcher Steve Carlton deserved better as his offense provided only three hits, and his defense contributed six errors.  In six innings, he allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out three.

Rick Mahler and Bruce Sutter combined to shutout the Phillies.  The Phillies had a their best chance to score in the bottom of the fourth.  Jeff Stone led off with a triple but was doubled off third when Juan Samuel popped up to Mahler a batter later.  Dale Murphy had a pair of RBIs for the Braves.

Looking at the Phillies' opening day lineup, only Samuel at second, Mike Schmidt at third and Von Hayes in center were holdovers from the 1984 opening day lineup.  Carlton started every opening day for the Phillies between 1972 and 1986 with the exception of 1976, which was started by Jim Kaat.

Featured Card:  I'm assuming Lefty's Fleer Limited Edition card isn't really all that limited.

Opening Day Roster:  Here's the opening day roster for Felske's club.  Kiko Garcia must have been hurt to start the season as he wouldn't appear in a game until April 23rd.

Starting pitchers (4) - Steve Carlton, John Denny, Jerry Koosman, Shane Rawley
Relief pitchers (6) - Larry Andersen, Don Carman, Kevin Gross, Al Holland, Charles Hudson, Pat Zachry
Catchers (3) - Bo Diaz, Ozzie Virgil, John Wockenfuss
Infielders (6) - Luis Aguayo, Kiko Garcia, Steve Jeltz, John Russell, Juan Samuel, Mike Schmidt
Outfielders (6) - Tim Corcoran, Greg Gross, Von Hayes, Garry Maddox, Jeff Stone, Glenn Wilson
Disabled List (1) - Joe Lefebvre

I'm going to try to stick to a schedule of posting these game summaries to coincide with the actual start time of the games.  Back in 1985, home night weekday games started at 7:35.

I'd love to hear your memories of this season (good or bad) in the comments.