Sunday, August 3, 2025

Game 109 - Rollins, Wade Join Wall of Fame; The Durantula Era Begins

Detroit Tigers  4 
Philadelphia Phillies  5 

2025 Topps Now #493
Friday Night, August 1st
Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
62-47, 1st Place, 1/2 game ahead of the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies stormed back to take a late-inning lead and Jhoan Duran dramatically and theatrically introduced himself to Philadelphia in this 5-4 win over the Tigers.

What It Means:  The Phillies temporarily retook sole possession of first place.

What Happened:  Ranger Suarez got the start, and allowed three runs on four hits in seven innings of work.  The big blow was a three-run home run by Gleyber Torres in the top of the third.  Trailing 3-0, the Phillies began their comeback in the bottom of the seventh.  With the bases loaded (Nick Castellanos single, Otto Kemp single, Harrison Bader walk), Bryson Stott brought home the first run with a sacrifice fly.  Back-to-back singles from Trea Turner and Kyle Schwarber then tied the score.  Orion Kerkering surrendered a solo home run to Wenceel Perez in the top of the eighth, giving the Tigers the lead again.

Castellanos singled again to start the rally in the bottom of the eighth, and Kemp doubled him home with the tying run.  Stott barely beat out an infield single, scoring Kemp for the lead.

Featured Card:  And then the lights went out in the ballpark, flames appeared on the scoreboards and large spiders started crawling across the illuminated screens.  In the dark, music blaring and 40,000+ cell phone flashlights waving, new Phillies closer Duran ran in from the bullpen.  He needed four pitches to retire the Tigers and seal the win.  Topps could have picked a way better picture to commemorate the moment, but I'm glad they at least gave him a Topps Now card.

Field Report:  We all attended and enjoyed the pregame Wall of Fame induction ceremony for Ed Wade and Jimmy Rollins from Section C in the Diamond Club.  Once again, the Phillies showed they're the best in the sport at honoring their legacy and paying tribute to their past.  The game itself was pretty boring until the seventh inning, when it turned into a playoff game atmosphere.  And Duran's entrance was by far one of the coolest moments I've ever witnessed at Citizens Bank Park, and that's saying something.

We attended all Wall of Fame ceremonies between 2012 and 2023, breaking the streak last year with a college visit.  A new streak began this year, likely to be broken in a few more years when college visits start up again.


Transaction:  With the trade deadline acquisitions ready to go, some moves needed to be made.  Duran (rhp) and Bader (of) were activated.  Johan Rojas (of) was optioned to Lehigh Valley and Daniel Robert (rhp) was placed on the injured list with a blister.

Wall of Fame Memory Lane
2009 - Harry Kalas
2010 - Darren Daulton
2011 - John Kruk
2012 - Mike Lieberthal
2013 - Curt Schilling
2014 - Charlie Manuel
2015 - Pat Burrell
2016 - Jim Thome
2017 - Tribute to Jim Bunning, Dallas Green and Darren Daulton (replacing Pete Rose)
2018 - Pat Gillick and Roy Halladay
2019 - Bobby Abreu (Part One and Two)
2020 - Manny Trillo
2022 - Bake McBride and Ron Reed
2023 - Ruly Carpenter, John Quinn and Scott Rolen (Part One and Part Two)
2024 - David Montgomery
2025 - Jimmy Rollins and Ed Wade

2 comments:

John Bateman said...

Durantula now that is a nickname - agreed kind of a boring Topps now card

night owl said...

Really not much for theatrics at a baseball game. Baseball is not pro wrestling. And as a fan, I don't like participatory stuff. But I guess that's the way it's going. I'm sure it was an experience.