Game 77 - Mets Batters Mash 7 Solo Homers, Crushing Phils

New York Mets	11
Philadelphia Phillies	4

2016 Topps Gypsy Queen #234

Saturday Night, June 21st

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
46-31, Tied for 1st Place, 10 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Mets hit seven solo home runs, four off Phillies' starter Mick Abel in the first three innings of the game, in this 11-4 thrashing.

What It Means:  Flush it.  And I despise the Mets.

What Happened:  Abel was hit hard, allowing the four solo home runs and departing with his team trailing, 4-3.  Joe Ross, Michael Mercado and Taijuan Walker contributed to the barrage, each allowing a solo home in the later innings.  The Phillies scored twice in the first, on an RBI double from Nick Castellanos and an RBI ground out from Max Kepler.  They briefly took the lead in the second when Otto Kemp doubled, went to third on a ground out and scored on a wild pitch.

Featured Card:  Matt Gelb posted on Bluesky that Abel is the fifth pitcher in Phillies history to allow four or more home runs in three innings pitched or fewer.  He joins the club also occupied by Jerad Eickhoff (2019), Brian Sanches (2007), Vicente Padilla (2005) and Robert Person (1999).

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Game 27 - Six-Run Fourth Inning Propels Phils to Victory

Philadelphia Phillies	10
Chicago Cubs	4

2016 Topps #475

Saturday Afternoon, April 26th

Wrigley Field - Chicago, IL
14-13, 2nd Place, 5 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Jesus Luzardo continued to impress and Max Kepler had his biggest game yet with his new club, as the Phillies downed the Cubs, 10-4.

What It Means:  The win split the series and ended the five-game losing streak.  Hopefully a lengthy winning streak is coming next.

What Happened:  Luzardo improved to 3-0, allowing three hits and two unearned runs in six innings of work, while striking out five.  A costly error by Trea Turner led to the unearned runs in the fifth.  This was the sequence in the big fourth inning - Kyle Schwarber was hit by a pitch, Nick Castellanos singled, J.T. Realmuto singled, Kepler singled, scoring Schwarber.  Alec Bohm singled, scoring Castellanos, and Johan Rojas hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Realmuto.  Bryson Stott singled, scoring Kepler and Bryce Harper capped the inning with a two-run double.  That chased Cubs' pitcher Ben Brown, a former Phillies' farmhand.

Three more runs scored in the sixth on an RBI-single from Turner and a two-run double from Schwarber.  Kepler ended his big day with a solo home run, his second of the season, in the seventh.

Featured Card:  Collectors are still waiting for Kepler's first Phillies card.  Here's his rookie card from the smokey 2016 Topps set.

Transaction:  Phillies Room Favorite Kody Clemens has joined Kepler's former team.  Clemens (inf) was traded to the Minnesota Twins for cash considerations, given the popular back-up was out of minor league options.  In parts of three seasons with the Phillies, Clemens batted .220 with nine home runs and 31 RBIs.  He appeared in 97 games, playing every position except catcher and center field.

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Game 26 - Losing Streak Reaches Four as Bats Snooze

Philadelphia Phillies	0
Chicago Cubs	4

2016 Topps Bunt #91

Friday Afternoon, April 25th

Wrigley Field - Chicago, IL
13-13, 2nd Place, 5 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  As the offense continued to look for timely hits, Colin Rea and four Cubs' relievers combined to shutout the Phillies in this 4-0 loss.

What It Means:  The Phillies are a miserable lot right now, having lost four in a row and getting tagged with their third shutout already this season.  Since taking two out of three from the powerhouse Dodgers at the start of the season, they are 6-11.

What Happened:  The game was delayed over two hours at the outset due to rain and the gametime temperature was 45 degrees.  Taijuan Walker threw 86 pitches in just three innings, allowing a pair of runs on six hits.  Relievers Tanner Banks and Carlos Hernandez gave up two more runs.  The Phillies showed some life in the seventh after J.T. Realmuto singled and Alec Bohm walked to start the inning.  Cal Stevenson struck out, Bryson Stott popped out and Trea Turner grounded out in quick succession to end the threat.

Featured Card:  Former Cub Kyle Schwarber is batting .111 (2 for 18) with eight strikeouts in his last five games.  Stott, Turner, Bryce Harper and Schwarber were a combined 1 for 15 in this game.

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Game 12 - Phils Drop Rainy, Lengthy Finale in Atlanta

Philadelphia Phillies	2
Atlanta Braves	4

11 Innings

2016 Topps #132

Thursday Night, April 10th

Truist Park - Atlanta, GA
8-4, Tied for 1st Place, 2 games ahead of the Marlins

One Sentence Summary:  An alarming lack of offense, a steady rain and a bomb of a two-run home from Marcell Ozuna off Joe Ross sent the Phillies to a 4-2 defeat.

What It Means:  After losing two of three in Atlanta, the Phillies next head to St. Louis for a weekend series.

What Happened:  The Phillies scored single runs in the third and 11th innings.  Kyle Schwarber hit his sixth home run of the year in the third, tying the game at 1-1.  Jesus Luzardo turned in another strong performance, allowing a run on six hits while striking out six in his six innings of work.  A nearly three-hour rain delay interrupted the game before the seventh inning.  When the game resumed, Carlos Hernandez, Jordan Romano, Matt Strahm and Tanner Banks threw four scoreless innings in relief.

In the top of the 11th, Johan Rojas walked with the bases loaded to score Nick Castellanos with the go-ahead run.  But Ross couldn't retire the Braves int he bottom of the 11th, giving up a lead-off double to Austin Riley to score zombie runner Ozzie Albies.  Ozuna launched an 0-1 slider 413 feet for the game-winning blast, ending the game at close to 1am.

Featured Card:  Ross is in his eighth big league season, and he came up with the Nationals in 2015.  He missed all of 2020 due to the pandemic and the 2022 season as a result of injury.  Ross appeared in each Topps flagship set between 2016 and 2020.

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2025 Topps - The First Phillie!

I didn't hesitate earlier this year when the e-mail from Topps arrived in my inbox alerting me that boxes of 2025 Topps Series One were on sale from their website.  I've missed out in the past, having to go to the secondary market (eBay) and paying an upcharge when the need to open new baseball cards inevitably overpowered me in prior Februarys.  I didn't go crazy, adding just a hobby box and a blaster to my cart, and then waiting patiently for the February 12th release date.

The box was waiting for me when I arrived home on Wednesday, but sports practices required us to wait until Thursday to open the first packs of 2025 Topps as a family.  The first Phillie, this Alec Bohm card, came quickly within the first pack I opened.

Topps has been on a roll over the past several years, and with the exception of the misfire with 2020's design, the 2025 Topps design adds to four solid set designs in the past five years.  Updating my top ten gallery below, the 2025 set takes the place of the 2015 set in the #2 spot, with 2015 leaving the list after 10 years (!).  I've used this summary in the past to describe the new Topps flagship design, but this is what a baseball card in the year 2025 should look like - crisp, great photo, modern graphics, some non-intrusive glittery effects and a little bit of silver foil with the Topps logo.  I really like that we get the team's logo and name going up the side of a card, and the curved lines along the left border are a nice modern update to the 1982 Topps design.

We were particularly impressed with how Topps found a new way to display the player's position.  The diamond in the bottom right indicates where the player would stand on the field, and it's one of those things I can't believe we've not seen on a baseball card before.  The backs are nice and clean too, as has been the case in recent years, and kudos to Topps for once again making the card number easy to find and easy to read.  My only very minor complaint is that some of the teams have player's last names in black (not white) making those harder to read.  I would have preferred Topps go with all white for every last name for each team.

Revisiting my top ten ranking below, I might move 2022 and 2019 ahead of 2023.  I still don't like the bottom three, but 2021 may eventually take over the worst design spot in my mind.

Best - 2024 Topps #194

#2 - 2025 Topps #7

#3 - 2023 Topps #278

#4 - 2022 Topps #249

#5 - 2019 Topps #303

#6 - 2016 Topps #15

#7 - 2018 Topps #26

#8 - 2021 Topps #79

#9 - 2017 Topps #247

Worst - 2020 Topps #221

Past First Phillies

2010 Topps #300 Chase Utley

2011 Topps #242 Brad Lidge

2012 Topps #98 Domonic Brown

2013 Topps #6 Ryan Howard
2014 Topps #90 Ethan Martin
2015 Topps #309 Maikel Franco
2016 Topps #15 Ryan Howard
2017 Topps #247 Hector Neris
2018 Topps #26 Cesar Hernandez
2019 Topps #303 Ranger Suarez
2020 Topps #190 Aaron Nola

2021 Topps #79 Roman Quinn

2022 Topps #249 Zack Wheeler

2023 Topps #278 Aaron Nola

2024 Topps #194 J.T. Realmuto

2025 Topps #7 Alec Bohm

Game 127 - Lack of Magic as Phils Exit Atlanta

2016 Topps Heritage #107

Braves 3, Phillies 2
Game 127 - Thursday Night, August 22nd in Atlanta
Record - 74-53, 1st Place, 6 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Braves starter Spencer Schwellenbach baffled the Phillies and the offense folded quietly in this 3-2 loss.

What It Means:  It could have been a lot worse, as the Phillies escape Atlanta having lost only one game in the standings.

What Happened:  Schwellenbach channeled Cy Young, holding the Phillies to three hits and a pair of runs while striking out nine.  Cristopher Sanchez took the loss, allowing three runs on nine hits.  The Phillies' offense managed a single from Bryce Harper in the first, a single by Bryson Stott in the seventh and an RBI-double from J.T. Realmuto a few batters later to score Stott.

Featured Card:  The Phillies scored just six runs in these three games against the Braves.  I found this post from Baseball Paul interesting, noting the last time the Phillies won a series in Atlanta while ahead of the Braves in the standings was back in May 2016.  Andrew Bailey was the winning pitcher and Jeanmar Gomez secured his 13th save of the season.

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The First Phillie - 2024 Topps!

Topps mixed things up this year, making collectors wait until January 11th to reveal the design of its 2024 flagship set.  In year's past, the design was released in August or September and when the season came to a close with no announcement and no inkling as to what the 2024 Topps cards would look like, I was a little worried.  I prepared myself to be underwhelmed whenever the design was finally released.

My first thought on seeing the design in mid-January:  These are cool.  My second thought:  The neon-like team name is fantastic, and how has Topps not done this before?  This is what a baseball card in 2024 should look like.  It's a modern look with the foggy border elements Topps likes so much from recent years, but collectors are given a solid photo, a unique way of presenting the team name, the team logo and clearly legible names and positions.  It's a great looking card, and it springs to the top of my list of favorite Topps flagship releases over the past 10 years.

The set was officially released on Valentine's Day, but I didn't open my first packs until February 19th.  My wife Jenna found three blaster boxes at our local Target that day, and I happily opened all three after dinner.  In the past, we've made a big show of the first packs of the year, but this year was a little more subdued.  The First Phillie hunt was extremely anti-climatic, as J.T. Realmuto was staring at me atop the first plastic-wrapped bunch of 59 cards I took from the first box I opened.

This is an exciting design, and Topps clearly creates its base cards now to work well with multiple parallel versions.  It wasn't until I had the cards in hand that I realized the team name and photo borders have foil-like features to them.  Scans don't do the cards justice, as these elements can't really be seen unless you're holding them.  I had a blue-bordered Alec Bohm card in one of my three boxes, and I like the full blue border more than the smoky black and white border on the normal base cards.  That's my only complaint, and if I had designed the cards, each card would have a border color corresponding to the player's team.  I like the backs too - very clean, with complete career statistics as has always been the norm with Topps flagship sets.

Finally, it's a promising sign of things to come that three of my top four sets over the past 10 years are all recent releases.  With 2014 dropping off the list, here's a look at my updated rankings:

Best Five:  2024, 2015, 2023, 2022, 2019

Bottom Five:  2016, 2018, 2021, 2017, 2020

Best - 2024 Topps #194

#2 - 2015 Topps #309

#3 - 2023 Topps #278

#4 - 2022 Topps #249

#5 - 2019 Topps #303

#6 - 2016 Topps #15

#7 - 2018 Topps #26

#8 - 2021 Topps #79

#9 - 2017 Topps #247

Worst - 2020 Topps #221

Past First Phillies

2010 Topps #300 Chase Utley

2011 Topps #242 Brad Lidge

2012 Topps #98 Domonic Brown

2013 Topps #6 Ryan Howard
2014 Topps #90 Ethan Martin
2015 Topps #309 Maikel Franco
2016 Topps #15 Ryan Howard
2017 Topps #247 Hector Neris
2018 Topps #26 Cesar Hernandez
2019 Topps #303 Ranger Suarez
2020 Topps #190 Aaron Nola

2021 Topps #79 Roman Quinn

2022 Topps #249 Zack Wheeler

2023 Topps #278 Aaron Nola

2024 Topps #194 J.T. Realmuto

The Tradition Continues! - 2023 First Phillie Winner

I surprised myself last week by deciding to buy a hobby box of Topps Series One, as I'm still riding the high of the Phillies being in the World Series and this is the first flagship set design in several years I really like.  As much as I enjoyed the 2022 Topps design, it was almost too plain for me and this year's design will definitely not be accused of that.  There's a lot going on here.

I appreciate that Topps recognizes a somewhat under appreciated tradition of having two photos - one action, one portrait - on the front of its flagship cards every 20 years in years ending in -3.  This started in 1963, came back in 1983, kept the tradition going in 2003 and makes its triumphant return in 2023.  Well done, Topps.  While I expect the 2043 Topps baseball cards to just be holograms we launch from our tricorders, hopefully the two photos on the front return for a fifth time in the sequence.

Since I've been opening packs of Topps flagship cards, we've had a family tradition of seeking the First Phillie of the year.  My Dad and I started the tradition in the early 1980s, I carried it through, some years by myself, through the early 2000s, and the practice has continued with my wife and sons since then.  On late Friday afternoon, not soon after the box had been delivered to the door, we selected our packs and commenced the search for the First Phillie of 2023.  There was some controversy this year as Doug pulled a league leaders card featuring Kyle Schwarber seconds before I found this Aaron Nola card in my first pack.  Ben quickly followed with the J.T. Realmuto card in his first pack.  Consulting the hallowed family First Phillie bylaws, I'm awarding First Phillie honors this year to myself, as the league leaders card doesn't quite count.

Yes, the fronts of these cards are busy.  Yes, there are a few too many design elements crammed on the bottom of the cards.  But I like them, and these seem to me what baseball cards should look like in the year 2023.  Our box had amazing collation, as we didn't have any doubles and we were just 14 cards short of a complete 330-card first series set.  There seemed to be way fewer inserts and parallels than in prior years, and I was completely fine with that.  My one continued gripe with Topps flagship is that I wish the checklist grouped subsets together.  League leaders and the combo card/checklists should be grouped sequentially and not dropped in randomly throughout the checklist.  

Revisiting a ranking of Topps flagship sets from the past 10 years, the 2023 Topps set, at least for now, finishes near the top.  I think I could flip flop the 2022 and 2019 designs in these rankings too:

Best Five:  2015, 2023, 2022, 2019, 2016

Bottom Five:  2018, 2014, 2021, 2017, 2020

Best - 2015 Topps #309

#2 - 2023 Topps #278

#3 - 2022 Topps #249

#4 - 2019 Topps #303

#5 - 2016 Topps #15

#6 - 2018 Topps #26

#7 - 2014 Topps #90

#8 - 2021 Topps #79

#9 - 2017 Topps #247

Worst - 2020 Topps #221

Past First Phillies

2010 Topps #300 Chase Utley

2011 Topps #242 Brad Lidge

2012 Topps #98 Domonic Brown

2013 Topps #6 Ryan Howard
2014 Topps #90 Ethan Martin
2015 Topps #309 Maikel Franco
2016 Topps #15 Ryan Howard
2017 Topps #247 Hector Neris
2018 Topps #26 Cesar Hernandez
2019 Topps #303 Ranger Suarez
2020 Topps #190 Aaron Nola

2021 Topps #79 Roman Quinn

2022 Topps #249 Zack Wheeler

2023 Topps #278 Aaron Nola

2022 Chachi #67 Chris Devenski

#47
Christopher Michael Devenski
Relief Pitcher

Bats:  Right  Throws:  Right  Height:  6'3"  Weight:  211
Opening Day Age:  31
Born:  November 13, 1990, Cerritos, CA
How Obtained:  Signed as a free agent with the Phillies, August 29, 2022
Contract Status:  3rd year arbitration eligible, free agency eligible in 2023
Major League Teams:  Houston Astros 2016-2020; Arizona Diamondbacks 2021-2022; Philadelphia Phillies 2015-

First Phillies Minor League Card:  N/A
First Phillies Card:  N/A
Newest Card Added:  N/A
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (3):  2016, 2019-2020

0 - Devenski baseball cards in my collection per The Phillies Room Checklist as of 10/1/22.

Complete Chachi Checklist
2022 Chachi #67

2016 Topps Update #US270

2019 Topps #598

2020 Topps Update #U-223

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2022 Chachi #66 Dalton Guthrie / 2022 Chachi #68 Phils Clinch Wild Card HL

Game 128 - Bucs Snap Win Streak with Shutout

2016 Topps Archives Fan
Favorites Autographs #FFA-CH

Pirates 5, Phillies 0
Game 128 - Sunday Afternoon, August 28th in Philadelphia
Record - 72-56, 3rd Place, 9 1/2 games behind the Mets

Post-Vacation Catch-Up II, Post 8 of 11

One Sentence Summary:  Roansy Contreras and three Pirates relievers held the Phillies to four singles in this deflating 5-0 loss.

What It Means:  After riding high through a six-game winning streak, the Phillies looked flat in this game and they didn't appear to ever really be in it.

What Happened:  Noah Syndergaard couldn't repeat the success of his last start, allowing five runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings of work.  The bullpen kept the Pirates off the board after Syndergaard exited, but the Phillies offense couldn't get anything going.  The line-up went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position, leaving seven runners on base.

Featured Card:  Before the game, former Phillies third baseman Charlie Hayes threw out the ceremonial first pitch to his son, Ke'Bryan Hayes, the current Pirates third baseman.  This is the one signed card of the elder Hayes in my collection, from the 2016 Topps Archives release.

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