2015 @ReadingFightins Holiday Set

I may be mistaken, but I don't recall ever seeing a holiday themed baseball team set before.  The Reading Fightin Phils Tweeted out a few weeks back that they had released a limited edition holiday themed team set.  The team wisely advertised the set as a great stocking stuffer idea, so I picked up two sets for my stocking and Doug's stocking.  (His set turned into a belated birthday gift.)

The set is notable for including the entire late season roster, which features most of the top prospects in the Phillies system . . . at least until the recent Ken Giles deal.  The set also features all six (!) Fightin Phils team mascots.  Where possible, players are featured wearing their gaudy "Christmas in July" uniforms, and I've picked a few of my favorites to show off here.

Also of interest is that this set contains the first Phillies-related cards for non-roster invitee Reinier Roibal, along with a few of the top prospects acquired from the Rangers - Jake Thompson and Nick Williams - in the Cole Hamels trade.

I'm not sure exactly how "limited" these sets actually are, but I'm glad I added this festive set to my collection.

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Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Visiting @TrentonThunder & Utley's Final Days with the Phils

Brewers 4, Phillies 2
Game 117 - Saturday Night, August 15th in Milwaukee
Record - 46-71, 5th Place, 17 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Chase Utley homered and doubled in the game, but Justin De Fratus couldn't keep the Brewers off the board in the seventh as the Phillies eventually lost, 4-2.

What It Means:  The Phillies have lost four of their last five after a modest hot streak following the All-Star break.

What Happened:  Utley raised his average to .213 and he's now hitting .500 (13 for 26) with five doubles since his return from the disabled list last week.  Sloppy play (Cody Asche and Jeff Francoeur both committed errors) and mental mistakes (Luis Garcia opted not to throw a runner out at second in the eighth) led to most of the Brewers runs.

2014 Topps Pro Debut #135

Phillies Room favorite Art Charles at bat

2015 Choice Trenton Thunder #33

Featured Cards/Field Report:  We decided to venture northwards to Trenton last night and pay our first visit to Arm & Hammer Park (formerly Mercer County Waterfront Park) to watch the visiting Reading Fightin Phils take on the home Trenton Thunder.  The Thunder are the Double-A affiliate of the Yankees, and I was very surprised that there were way more Phillies fans in attendance last night than Yankees fans.  (Or maybe the Phillies fans were just more vocal.)

We got our first look at the newly acquired Nick Williams (2 for 4 with 2 RBIs) and starting pitcher Jake Thompson (6 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts) who were both still in the Rangers organization for our last Reading game.  We were also really impressed with catcher Andrew Knapp who went 1 for 4 and threw out three would be base stealers.  Knapp is hitting .405 in 38 games since being recallsed from Clearwater.  Third baseman Angelo Mora had a pair of hits and scored twice while closer Stephen Shackleford recorded his franchise high 27th save in the 4-2 Fightin Phils win.

Our boys got the chance to meet the Thunder's mascot Boomer, who is . . . some sort of yellow and purple something with sunglasses.  The boys also enjoyed watching Derby serve as the Thunder's bat dog.  Derby dutifully retrieved Thunder players' bats from the home plate area during the early innings of the game.  It was a fun night and we'll be checking the schedule next season to see when the Fightin Phils are back in Trenton.

Fun at the @ReadingFightins Game!

Rubber Ducks 3, Fightin Phils 2 (15 Innings)
Saturday Night, June 13th in Reading

One Sentence Summary:  The Fightins fell in 15 innings to the Rubber Ducks by a score of 3-2.

What It Means:  This was the third straight extra inning game played by the Fightins, and my family was there!  We called it a night following the 10th inning after a 3-1 family vote determined it was time to go.  My eight-year-old son Doug was the lone dissenter in the vote, although he was sound asleep no more than 10 minutes into our ride home.

What Happened:  As it turned out, Aaron Nola made his final Double-A appearance as he was promoted to the Triple-A IronPigs on Sunday afternoon.  Nola pitched five innings, allowing two runs on five hits.  Brian Pointer hit a solo home run in the second while J.P. Crawford went 0 for 6 at the plate.  (Several of Crawford's outs came from very hard hit balls.)  Phillies Room favorite Art Charles went 1 for 7 but impressed us all with his hustle on the field.

Pre-game corn

Aaron Nola on the mound

J.P. Crawford at the plate

Crazy Hot Dog Vendor!

Featured Cards/Field Report:  We had a blast!  After our false start a few weeks ago, we were anxious to try to get back to another Fightin Phils game.  We sat in Box 3 (the green seats) in Row 24 and had a great view of the action.  The boys loved the mascot band, the between inning entertainment and of course . . . the Crazy Hot Dog Vendor!  (Our oldest son figured out that the vendor wasn't riding a real ostrich.  Our youngest son Ben still isn't quite sure.)

We'll definitely be back for another game!

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2015 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils Top Prospects #1

2015 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils #12

2015 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils #36

2015 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils Top Prospects #9

For the baseball card collector, the 2015 Reading Fightin Phils team set borrows the design of the 1993 Topps set and includes 35 cards.  The team store was also selling a 10-card Top Prospects set which borrows the design of the 1953 Topps set and (as advertised) includes the Phillies top ten prospects who are all current members of the Reading squad or who have recently passed through on their way to the big leagues.

Goodbye Young, Hello BlueClaws

2013 Bowman Platinum #38

Cubs 4, Phillies 3
Game 136 - Saturday Afternoon, August 31st in Chicago
Record - 62-74, 4th Place, 21 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Cubs came from behind twice to down the Phils, 4-3.

What It Means:  The Phillies will try for the series win this afternoon and then head home for a series with the Nationals.

What Went Wrong:  Cliff Lee struggled through his five innings of work, allowing three runs (two earned) on nine hits while walking three.  Zach Miner allowed the Cubs to take the lead for good on the second pitch he threw in the sixth when Starlin Castro homered to center.

Michael Young had three hits and a costly error, which serves as a perfect microcosm of his Phillies career.

Featured Card:  When I woke up on Sunday morning, I learned that Young had been traded away to the Dodgers.  Last night, we learned of John McDonald's departure (to the Red Sox) from Vin Scully while listening to the Dodgers game driving home from the Lakewood BlueClaws game.  I'll have more on the BlueClaws game below.

Young hit .272 in 125 games for the Phillies this season and to say his defense at third was shaky would be extremely favorable.  Still, his presence on the team did gain him a few fans - most notably my wife and my six-year-old son, Doug.  Both were sad when I informed them this morning that Young, with McDonald, were now ex-Phillies.

With the exception of Topps Archives, Young had Phillies cards in all the major Topps releases this year.  This is perhaps his final Phillies card, from the Bowman Platinum set.

2013 Brandt Lakwood BlueClaws #5, #9, #17 and #31

Doug and Art Charles

Field Report:  We packed up the boys and made the 90-minute trek to Lakewood, NJ on Saturday night to take in a Single-A Lakewood BlueClaws game.  An inning into the game, I was telling my wife that we definitely need to go to more minor league games.

Our seats were awesome, the food was good, the tickets were cheap, the players were nice and the boys had fun.  On top of that, we got to see some good baseball and get more familiar with players who could be appearing in Chachi sets by 2015 or 2016.  In particular, this year's first round pick, J.P. Crawford, looked fantastic on a few plays at short.

I bought Doug a BlueClaws team set and he had fun before the game tracking down autographs of several BlueClaws players and former Phillie (now coach) Aaron Fultz.  Art Charles, Larry Greene, Jr., and Chace Numata were very accommodating with their autographs and they helped to make my son's night.

We'll be going back to a game next season as the 90-minute drive was definitely well worth it.