Thursday, April 7, 2022

Spring Training Game 20 - Opening Day is Tomorrow!

2021 Bowman x
Keith Shore #12
Phillies 9
, Rays 2
Spring Training Game 20 - Wednesday Afternoon, April 6th in St. Petersburg
Record - 10-7-3

One Sentence Summary:  Playing with what will most likely be the opening day line-up, the Phillies blasted five home runs and Ranger Suarez was perfect through 3 2/3 innings.

What It Means:  The Phillies (and me) are ready for opening day.

What Happened:  Bryce Harper hit his spring training leading seventh and eighth home runs, raising his spring average to .400 and his spring OPS to 1.575.  Rhys Hoskins added a two-run home run in the first, the red hot Mickey Moniak hit a two-run home run in the second (his sixth) and Johan Camargo hit a solo home run in the eighth.  Most of the regulars were pulled after their second or third at-bats with low-level Phillies minor leaguers getting the chance to play at Tropicana Field.

Suarez was unhittable, and the relievers that followed him easily handled the Rays line-up as well.

Featured Card:  I hope to post many Harper cards this season.  I had told myself I'd focus less on collecting newer Phillies cards this year and more on adding to my vintage set builds.  But with opening day tomorrow, I feel sudden the urge to head to eBay or COMC and add as many new 2022 Phillies cards to my collection as possible.  I'll need plenty of newer cards to post throughout the season, especially when the Phillies play well into the postseason.  Let's go.

This is an odd card from an online set released by Topps last year with the artist Keith Shore digitally replicating the pose from Ken Griffey, Jr.'s 1989 Bowman card.  There are 40 cards in the set, released in four different waves, and Harper was part of Wave 2, which had a print run of 3,864 sets.  Alec Bohm is in the set too, but I'll wait a few more years (at least) to add any of the high-priced Bohm cards to my collection.

Camp Head Count:  32

Still officially at 32, and there will be a series of roster moves before Friday's opener to place several players on the injured list and clear a 40-man roster spot for Bryson Stott.

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