Game 124 - Bullpen Falters as Nats Avoid Sweep

2013 Finest 1993 Finest #93F-CR

Nationals 6, Phillies 4
Game 124 - Sunday Afternoon, August 18th in Philadelphia
Record - 73-51, 1st Place, 7 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Two late runs were the difference in this game, as the Nationals scored off All-Star relievers Matt Strahm and Jeff Hoffman to steal a 6-4 win over the Phillies.

What It Means:  The Phillies won three out of the four games with the Nationals, and they're off to Atlanta to face off against the second place Braves with a crucial series beginning Tuesday night.

What Happened:  Taijuan Walker started for the Phillies, and departed after 4 2/3 innings with the Nationals leading, 3-2.  Tanner Banks gave up another run in the top of the sixth, but the Phillies battled back to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the sixth on back-to-back home runs from Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh.  The usually reliable Strahm and Hoffman gave up runs to the Nationals in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively.  In the bottom of the ninth, with J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper available off the bench, Edmundo Sosa singled to start the inning but then Cal Stevenson grounded into a rally-killing double play.

Featured Card:  The Phillies hosted another fantastic pre-game ceremony before this game, this time recognizing alumni, Wall of Famers and key moments from the first 20 years of Citizens Bank Park.  There were memorable moments from the first few years (2004-07), the dynasty years (2008-11) and recent years (2019-23), with almost no reference of the dark times (2012-18), other than Rhys Hoskins' home run tear in 2017 as a rookie.  I'll go with a card for Carlos Ruiz here, as he served as a stand-in during the ceremony for the late, great Roy Halladay.

2024 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2024 Season Summary Index / 2024 Chachi Set Checklist

Game 138 - Padres Crush Phils

1993 Fleer #518

Padres 8, Phillies 0
Game 138 - Late Tuesday Night, September 5th in San Diego
Record - 76-62, 2nd Place, 14 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Padres hit Phillies' starter Michael Lorenzen hard, and the offense managed three hits in this forgettable shutout loss.

What It Means:  Fortunately the game started too late for many fans to witness this debacle or have their nights ruined by a bad game.

What Happened:   Lorenzen lasted six innings, giving up seven runs (six earned) on eight hits and three walks.  He struck out only one batter.  Dylan Covey absorbed the final two innings, allowing one more Padres run.  Padres' starter Pedro Avila baffled the Phillies' line-up, allowing two hits in his 6 2/3 innings.  The Phillies collected singles from Brandon Marsh, Jake Cave and Edmundo Sosa and Nick Castellanos grounded into three double plays.

Featured Card:  My goal to catalog my Phillies baseball card collection over at TCDB.com is progressing slowly along, and I'll next turn my attention to my 1993 Phillies binder.  This 1993 Fleer card of current Phillies broadcaster is one of the cards in my 1993 Phillies binder, as the former Padres pitcher rejoined the Phillies prior to the 1993 season.

Transaction:  Trea Turner (ss) was placed on the Paternity List, and Weston Wilson (inf) was recalled from Lehigh Valley.  Turner is expected to rejoin the team on Friday.

2023 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2023 Season Summary Index / 2023 Chachi Set Checklist

1993 Medford Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  45
Card Size:  4" x 6"

Description:  For the fifth year in a row, the card fronts feature a photo with the player's, coach's or manager's name in a red band with white text.  The card backs feature biographical information along with complete career statistics.  Medford Food Company was in the third year of its sponsorship of the set.  Size-wise, the cards lost an eighth of an inch with this set, settling into the 4" x 6" size that has been used for each team-issued photo card set produced by the Phillies as of this writing.

I always thought this was one of the weakest of the team issued sets from the 1990s, and it's a shame since the 1993 squad is really the only team from the 1990s worth remembering.  Some of the cards suffer from strange cropping, dark backgrounds and/or blurry photos.

How Distributed:  As originally detailed in this post from March 2013, the original 35-card set was available for sale at Veterans Stadium through at least early August.  A five-card update set was available for sale at some point during the second half of the season.  A second 36-card set was sold at the ballpark late in the season which included a Bobby Thigpen card and four photo variations of players included within the original 35-card set.  This second set would have been sold at The Vet at some point after Thigpen's acquisition from the White Sox on August 10th.

Complete Set Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the front of cards): 

1. Kyle Abbott (#37 - LHP) 2. Ruben Amaro (#33 - OF) 3. Larry Andersen (#47 - RHP) 4. Bob Ayrault (#53 - RHP) 5. Kim Batiste (#5 - INF) 6. Juan Bell (#24 - INF) 7. Larry Bowa (#2 - Third Base Coach) 8. Wes Chamberlain (#44 - OF) 9. Darren Daulton (#10 - C) 10. Jose DeLeon (#50 - RHP) 11. Mariano Duncan (#7 - INF) 12. Lenny Dykstra (#4 - OF)

13. Jim Eisenreich (#8 - OF) 14. Jim Fregosi (#11 - MG) 15. Tyler Green (#28 - RHP) 16. Tommy Greene (#49 - RHP) 17. Dave Hollins (#15 - INF) 18. Pete Incaviglia (#22 - OF) 19. Danny Jackson (#27 - LHP) 20. Ricky Jordan (#17 - 1B) 21. John Kruk (#29 - 1B-OF) 22. Denis Menke (#14 - Hitting Instructor) 23. Mickey Morandini (#12 - INF) 24. Terry Mulholland (#45 - LHP)

25. Johnny Podres (#46 - Pitching Coach) 26. Todd Pratt (#23 - C) 27. Ben Rivera (#34 - RHP) 28. Mel Roberts (#26 - First Base Coach) 29. Mike Ryan (#9 - Bullpen Coach) 30. Curt Schilling (#38 - RHP) 31. Milt Thompson (#25 - OF) 32. John Vukovich (#18 - Dugout Assistant) 33. David West (#40 - LHP) 34. Mitch Williams (#99 - LHP) 35. Phillie Phanatic

Complete First Update Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the front of cards):

1. Jeff Manto (#30 - INF-C) 2. Roger Mason (#48 - RHP) 3. Kevin Stocker (#19 - INF)

4. Mike Williams (#41 - RHP)          5. 1993 Phillies All-Stars

Complete Second Update Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the front of cards):

1. Darren Daulton (dugout background) 2. Tommy Greene (dugout background) 3. Mickey Morandini (dugout background)

4. Bobby Thigpen (#37 - RHP) 5. Mitch Williams (bright background)

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (0):  N/A

First Appearance in Phillies Team Issued Set (13):  Bell, DeLeon, Eisenreich, Green, Incaviglia, Jackson, Manto, Mason, Pratt, Stocker, Thigpen, West, Mike Williams
Returning Players in Phillies Team Issued Set (23):  Abbott, Amaro, Andersen, Ayrault, Batiste, Chamberlain, Daulton (x 2), Duncan, Dykstra, Greene (x 2), Hollins, Jordan, Kruk, Morandini (x 2), Mulholland, Rivera, Schilling, Thompson, Mitch Williams (x 2)

Manager (1):  Fregosi
Coaches (6):  Bowa, Menke, Podres, Roberts, Ryan, Vukovich

Phillie Phanatic (1):  The Phanatic is shown walking on the field with the green and black Veterans Stadium outfield wall behind him.

Broadcasters (0):  N/A
Other Cards (1):  1993 Phillies All-Stars, featuring Mulholland, Daulton, Fregosi, Kruk and Hollins.

Set Composition:  The original 35-card set includes the entire 25-man opening day roster and adds cards for Kyle Abbott and Ruben Amaro.  Amaro would be called up in mid-June, but Abbott would spend the entire season pitching in the minors.  The four players added to the first update set first appeared with the Phillies between mid-May and early July, with Kevin Stocker being the newest member of the bunch having been recalled on July 7th.

As mentioned above, the second update set only included one new player - Bobby Thigpen.  The reliever was acquired from the White Sox on August 10th in exchange for Jose DeLeon.

Omissions:  Early season roster additions who could have made an appearance in the first update set include Mark Davis, Doug Lindsey, Tim Mauser and Joe Millette.  All spent time with the club prior to Stocker's debut.  Joining the club prior to Thigpen's acquisition, but omitted from the second update set was Paul Fletcher, but he pitched in just one game.  September additions left out entirely were Tony Longmire, Donn Pall, Kevin Foster and Brad Brink.

Variations/Rarities:   Comments on earlier posts and e-mails from fellow collectors have led me to the six cards listed below, which I'm calling Non-Set Variations.  How and why these cards were created and issued is still unknown to me, although it's possible the Mike Schmidt card was created for the Annual Phillies ALS Charity Event, held on August 2nd.  Then again, the card comes with a printed black facsimile autograph, so it's doubtful it would have been created for Schmidt to add his actual signature.

Dale Murphy was released by the Phillies on April 3, 1993.  I originally thought the Davis and Mauser cards would have been created for the ALS event, but Davis was released on July 2nd and Mauser was traded to the Padres for Mason on July 3rd, a month before the cards would have been needed had both players still been with the team.

Non-Set Cards 1. Mark Davis 2. Tim Mauser 3. Dale Murphy

4. Dickie Noles (Blue Cross Blue Shield logo on back)   5. Mike Schmidt (with black facsimile autograph) 6. Kevin Stocker (running)

Also See:  1993 Topps Phillies; 1993 Medford Phillies Variations (March 2013) and Update (April 2013)

Resources:  Beckett.com; Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils)

This set was originally featured in a post back in November 2014, and I'm going through these older team-issued set posts to update them with new information learned (if any) over the past six years.

1992 Medford Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards / 1994 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

1980-1999 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page

Game 147 - Jays Jolt Phils in Convincing Loss

1993 Topps #235

Blue Jays 18, Phillies 11
Game 147 - Tuesday Night, September 20th in Philadelphia
Record - 80-67, 3rd Place, 13 1/2 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  The Blue Jays demolished Kyle Gibson and a few Phillies relievers in this brutal 18-11 loss.

What It Means:  At least the Phillies scored 11 runs?  Having witnessed none of this debacle, I can only imagine watching the actual game was painful.

What Happened:  On the positive side, Dalton Guthrie hit his first big league home run and Kyle Schwarber hit his 40th home run of the season, making him the first Phillies slugger in the 40 home run club since Ryan Howard connected for 45 home runs in 2009.  J.T. Realmuto went 5-for-5, including his 20th home run of the season.  Back-up catcher Garrett Stubbs made his fourth relief appearance of the season and was the only Phillies pitcher on the night not to give up any runs.

On the negative side, actual Phillies full-time pitchers gave up 18 runs on 21 hits.  Gibson was scorched for seven runs on 12 hits in  his five innings of work, giving him a September ERA of 9.68 in his four starts so far this month.

Featured Card:  Of course the last time the Phillies and Blue Jays scored 29 combined runs in a game was on October 20, 1993 in Game 4 of the 1993 World Series.  That game was actually way more painful than this game as Mitch Williams blew his first of two World Series saves, with the Blue Jayes winning, 15-14.

2022 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2022 Season Summary Index / 2022 Chachi Set Checklist

1993 Topps Phillies Team Set

#510 Jim Fregosi MG

#317 Kyle Abbott

#43 Ruben Amaro

#126 Bob Ayrault

#679 Kim Batiste

#773 Cliff Brantley

#154 Wes Chamberlain

#180 Darren Daulton

#371 Mariano Duncan

#740 Len Dykstra

#291 Tommy Greene

#72 Jeff Grotewold

#208 Mike Hartley

#17 Dave Hollins

#712 Stan Javier

#585 Ricky Jordan

#340 John Kruk

#649 Tom Marsh

#531 Joe Millette

#262 Mickey Morandini

#555 Terry Mulholland

#445 Dale Murphy

#479 Todd Pratt

#622 Ben Rivera

#421 Curt Schilling

#99 Mike Williams

#235 Mitch Williams

#818 Brad Brink CA

#161 Chad McConnell DP

#408 Darren Daulton AS

Traded

#37T Tyler Green

#73T Pete Incaviglia

1992 Topps Phillies Team Set / 1994 Topps Phillies Team Set

2022 Chachi #29 Joe Girardi MG

#25
Joseph Elliott Girardi
Manager

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  5'11"  Weight:  195
Opening Day Age:  57
Born:  October 14, 1964, Peoria, IL
Contract Status:  Signed through 2022 with a club option for 2023
Major League Teams:  Chicago Cubs 1989-1992; Colorado Rockies 1994-1995; New York Yankees 1996-1999; Chicago Cubs 2000-2002; St. Louis Cardinals 2003
As a Coach:  New York Yankees 2005
As a Manager:  Florida Marlins 2006; New York Yankees 2008-2017; Philadelphia Phillies 2020-

First Phillies Card:  N/A
Newest Card Added:  2020 Topps Allen & Ginter Field Generals #FG-6
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (16):  1990-1998, 2000-2003, 2008-2010

1 - Girardi baseball card in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 5/7/22.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2019 Chachi #69 - New Manager HL
2020 Chachi Preseason Photo Cards #25
2020 Chachi #31
2020 Chachi Fan Favorites #24
2021 Chachi #27
2021 Chachi #58 - Weird Game HL
2021 Chachi Fan Favorites #15
2022 Chachi #29

1990 Topps #12

1993 Topps #425

1997 Topps #291

2003 Topps #521

2009 Topps #555

2022 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2022 Season Summary Index / 2022 Chachi Set Checklist

2022 Chachi #28 Corey Knebel / 2022 Chachi #30 Phillies Coaches