Game 7 - 2015 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #2 Willians Astudillo

Twins 6, Phillies 2
Game 7 - Saturday Afternoon, April 6th in Philadelphia
Record - 5-2, 2nd place, 1/2 game behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Missed opportunities and a shaky bullpen doomed the Phillies, as they dropped the middle game of the series to the Twins, 6-2.

What It Means:  The Phils will go for the series win this afternoon with Zach Eflin on the mound.

What Happened:  The offense had opportunities for big innings in the 6th and 8th innings, but couldn't come up with a big hit.  Bryce Harper was thrown out at home to end the 6th inning, as he was trying to score on a Cesar Hernandez fly ball.  With the bases loaded in the 8th, Hernandez grounded out to first to end the inning.

Jake Arrieta pitched seven innings, allowing three runs in the 3rd on a wild pitch and back-to-back home runs to Max Kepler and Willians Astudillo.  Seranthony Dominguez allowed a 3-run home run to Eddie Rosario in the 9th, putting the game away for the Twins.

Featured Card:  Astudillo came up through the Phillies system, playing for their minor league teams between 2009 and 2015.  Now a super utility player for the Twins, Astudillo was one of the first autographs my son Doug added to his collection at a BlueClaws game back in 2014.

Game 94 - 2013 Bowman Prospects #BP30 Willians Astudillo

Marlins 2, Phillies 0
Game 94 - Saturday Afternoon, July 14th in Miami
Record - 53-41, 1st place, 1 1/2 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Aaron Nola labored through the 1st inning, allowing two Marlins runs, and the Phillies offense seemed to have taken off early for the All-Star break in this 2-0 loss.

What It Means:  Nola reached the 500 career strikeout mark, becoming the fastest pitcher in Phillies history to reach that milestone.  Nola needed just 480 innings for his 500 K's.  (Per Meghan Montemurro Tweet.)

What Happened:  This was a rather forgettable game for the team, as the offense left 9 on base and went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.

Featured Card:  The Phillies didn't give me much to work with for this game in terms of a featured card, so I was glad to see former Phillies prospect Willians Astudillo in the news.  Astudillo was a catcher for the Lakewood BlueClaws when we visited the Low-A team for the second time back in 2014, and he was one of the players who signed a baseball card for Doug's then small collection.

After 9 seasons in the minors, Astudillo made his big league debut with the Twins on June 30th and the 5-foot-9 catcher/outfielder/infielder made his pitching debut on Saturday against the Rays.  The story and some video can be found here.

2nd Annual Lakewood BlueClaws Outing

2014 Brandt Lakewood
BlueClaws #5

Cardinals 6, Phillies 5 (12 Innings)
Game 129 - Saturday Night, August 23rd in Philadelphia
Record - 57-72, 5th Place, 17 1/2 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phils fell in extra innings to the Cardinals, 6-5, after Marlon Byrd's big two-run single in the eighth tied up the game.

What It Means:  It means these losses are getting increasingly frustrating, and at least two Phillies (starting pitcher David Buchanan and left fielder Domonic Brown) were critical of manager Ryne Sandberg following the ballgame after both players deemed they were removed from the game prematurely.

What Happened:  Brown botched a couple of balls badly in the sixth, ultimately leading to three runs.  Buchanan was chased after five having thrown 90 pitches and allowed two runs on eight hits.  Daniel Descalso scored the Cardinals winning run in the 12th after Ken Giles began the inning by walking him.  Descalso came in to score on a Matt Carpenter sacrifice fly.

2014 Brandt Lakewood BlueClaws #3, #29, #31 and #4

Featured Cards/Field Report:  We missed the bulk of this game as we were taking in our second ever BlueClaws game in Lakewood, New Jersey.  The BlueClaws are the Phillies Low A team playing in the South Atlantic League.  We were once again able to get first row tickets right behind the BlueClaws bullpen, and my oldest son Doug spent the bulk of the hour leading up to the game tracking down autographs.

He got autographs from BlueClaws home run leader (and Phillies top prospect) Dylan Cozens along with catcher Willians Astudillo.  He also got autographs from former big leaguers Gregg Legg and Les Lancaster, both of whom were ejected in this game for arguing balls and strikes.

Our youngest son Ben was the recipient of a baseball when BlueClaws starting pitcher Ranfi Casimiro finished his pre-game warm-up, walked over to Ben and handed him his ball.  I wanted to include Casimiro's card in this post because his generosity was such an awesome gesture.  There were a ton of kids seeking autographs (and demanding baseballs) in our section and Casimiro made it a point to walk over to the youngest, quietest kid and hand him a ball.  Ben went to bed clutching both the baseball and his new BlueClaws giant foam finger.

It was a great night of baseball along with a fun night for our family, and we'll be back for another game (or two) in 2015.

Memory Lane
2013 BlueClaws Game