Game 128 - Phils Come Back, But Duran Blows 1st Save

Washington Nationals	5
Philadelphia Phillies	4

1961 Post #115

Friday Night, August 22nd

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
74-54, 1st Place, 6 games ahead of the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Jhoan Duran proved he's human, blowing his first save with the Phillies, as the Nationals prevailed by a 5-4 score.

What It Means:  He wasn't going to save them all, and as manager Rob Thomson pointed out in his postgame comment, "Even Mariano blew 80 games."

What Happened:  The Nationals jumped on Taijuan Walker for three runs in the first when he gave up a pair of walks and a three-run home run to Riley Adams.  Walker settled down after that, pitching five innings and not allowing any more runs.  Trailing 3-1, Bryson Stott tied the game with a two-run home run in the sixth.  J.T. Realmuto hit a solo home run in the seventh to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead.  Duran retired the first batter he faced in the ninth, but then gave up a double to Dylan Crews and RBI single to Daylen Lile to allow the Nationals to tie the game.  When Lile tried to steal third, Realmuto threw the ball into left field, and the Nationals took the lead as Lile came home on the error.

Featured Card:  Duran has a ways to go before he catches the Phillies' all-time blown saves leader, Turk Farrell, who had 32 with the club.  The most recent challenger to Farrell's record was Hector Neris, who had 26 blown saves between 2014 and 2021.

Field Report:  I enjoyed this game from Section 214 with a few friends, and it was a great evening, despite the loss.  It was a stressful week, to say the least, and some normalcy and a few beers with friends were just what I needed.

2025 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2025 Season Summary Index / 2025 Chachi Set Checklist

Phillies at Astros: April 28th to April 30th

2014 Topps Heritage High Numbers #H555

1965 Topps #80

Friday 8:10, Saturday 5:10 and Sunday 7:10
Minute Maid Park - Houston, TX

At the Ballpark:  The Phillies return to the scene of the crime for this weekend series in Houston.  Tonight, the first 10,000 fans will receive a Jeremy Pena replica jersey, and there's also a postgame fireworks show.  On Saturday, the giveaway is an Orbit (Astros' mascot) World Series flag bobblehead, and on Sunday, fans will receive a set of Astros World Champions coasters.  Blah.

Phillies 13-13
Tied for 3rd Place in the N.L. East, 4 games behind the Braves

Phillies Probables
Aaron Nola (1-2, 5.40)
Zack Wheeler (2-1, 4.73)
Bailey Falter (0-4, 4.50)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Bryson Stott - .339
Runs:  Nick Castellanos - 22
Home Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 5
RBIs:  Alec Bohm - 20
Stolen Bases:  J.T. Realmuto and Trea Turner - 4

Wins:  Three tied with - 2
ERA:  Bailey Falter - 4.50

Strikeouts:  Zack Wheeler - 34
Saves:  Jose Alvarado - 4

Astros 14-11
Tied for 1st Place in the A.L. West, 1/2 game ahead of the Angels

Astros Probables
Framber Valdez (2-2, 2.25)
Cristian Javier (2-0, 3.21)
Jose Urquidy (1-2, 5.64)

Astros Leaders
Average:  Mauricio Dubon - .330
Runs:  Mauricio Dubon and Jeremy Pena - 18
Home Runs:  Yordan Alvarez - 6
RBIs:  Yordan Alvarez - 27
Stolen Bases:  Jeremy Pena - 6

Wins:  Hunter Brown - 3
ERA:  Framber Valdez - 2.25

Strikeouts:  Framber Valdez - 34
Saves:  Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly - 2

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

1965 Topps - 1st Series Phillies Alumni

In celebration of the completion of the first series (cards 1 to 88) of our 1965 Topps set, here's a look at each card from that first series featuring a former, current or future Phillies player, coach or manager.  You can follow along as we collect this set here.

#13

#15

#16

#20

#22

#23

#33

#36

#52

#62

#64

#67

#72

#75

#80

1965 Topps 2nd Series Phillies Alumni

Baseball Card Show Report - Valley Forge 4

1941 Play Ball #9

1957 Topps #174

1958 Hire's Root Beer #43

1959 Topps #338

On Sunday, Doug and I attended the Philadelphia Sportscard & Memorabilia Show in Valley Forge. Doug had actually saved Christmas money for this show and he's spent the last few weeks preparing his checklists.  We had a fantastic day, and I'm OK with the fact that Doug came away with way more cards than I did.  I'm always grateful to those dealers that give Doug some extra attention, especially when they realize that this kid is truly a collector and not just looking for the big hits.

There were four former Phillies signing autographs on Sunday, and Doug admittedly had never heard of any of them.  That being said, we still decided to buy four autograph tickets so that he could at least meet them and add to a growing autograph collection.  I'll have a separate post coming up to show off our new autographs.

Doug was very happy going through the bargain bins and he added a small stack of vintage (1970s is vintage to him) Hall of Famer cards to his collection.  He also came away with a bunch of newer Phillies cards and some more Mike Trout cards for his growing player collection.  He's within a few cards now of completing his 2016 Topps Opening Day set, and he needs just one more card (Johnny Bench) for a complete 2016 Topps Bunt set.  Not to leave out his brother Ben, Doug hunted down an autographed Ben Revere card and a signed 8 x 10 photo of Revere for his brother's collection.

1948 Philadelphia Bulletin Stand-Ups

1949 Philadelphia Bulletin Phillies

While we weren't adding cards to Doug's collection, I managed to add a bunch of cool cards to my collection as well.  The "newest" card I brought home was from 1971:

• I wanted to add at least one of the four following big stars to my 1971 Topps set:  Ernie Banks, Willie Mays, Bench or Roberto Clemente.  I came away with both the Banks and Bench cards along with several other semi-stars and a few high numbers.  I'm slowly making progress on this set and once it's completed I'll be the proud owner of a complete run of Topps sets from 1970 through 2015.
• I picked up a nice assortment of Phillies cards from the 1950s and 1960s, with the highlight being the addition of Sparky Anderson's rookie card from the 1959 Topps set.
• I found a gorgeous (and cheap!) Pinky May card from the 1941 Play Ball set.
• I found a few oddball Dick Sisler items from newspaper sets from the late 1940s.
• Finally, I added two 1911 T205 Gold Border Phillies cards to my collection, and I'll show these off in a future post.

It was truly a fantastic day and we're already making plans for our next big baseball card show outing!

Memory Lane

Valley Forge 1 - September 2010 - Thinking of my Dad
Valley Forge 2 - October 2012 - Doug's first baseball card show
Valley Forge 3 - September 2014 - Meeting Darren Daulton
Valley Forge 4 - September 2016

1958 Topps #76 Dick Farrell

Phillies 6, Tigers 5
Spring Training Game 10 - Thursday Afternoon, March 12th in Lakeland
Record - 5-4-1

One Sentence Summary:  Led by Andres Blanco's two-run triple, the Phillies rode a six-run fifth inning to a 6-5 win over the Tigers.

What It Means:  Ten games into the spring schedule and the offense finally showed a little pop.

What Happened:  Along with Blanco's big hit, Odubel Herrera and Jeff Francoeur each had a pair of hits.  David Buchancan impressed with three scoreless innings of relief.

Featured Card:  No offense to Blanco or the other Phillies, but of much more interest to me and other baseball fans on Thursday afternoon was Will Ferrell's stunt of playing for ten different teams over five different spring training games.  Unfortunately, the event (which raised funds for cancer research) took place in Arizona so the Phillies weren't able to participate.

I'm hoping Topps is able to issue a special ten-card set as part of a future release to commemorate Ferrell's day.  In the meantime, the closest I can come to paying tribute to this event is by featuring a card of former Phillies pitcher Dick "Turk" Farrell.  (No relation, and different last names but close enough.)

1969 Topps #531 Dick Farrell

Braves 15, Phillies 13 (11 Innings) 
Game 25 – Wednesday Night, May 2nd in Atlanta 
Record – 12-13, 4th Place, 3 1/2 games behind the Nationals 

One Sentence Summary:  For the first time all season, the bats did their job while the pitching fell apart, and the Phillies lost a thriller in Atlanta in extras, 15-13.

What It Means:  It means shock.  Roy Halladay was handed a six-run lead and the Phillies scored 13 runs . . . but they still lost.  This is one of those games you seriously hope the team quickly rebounds from and puts behind them.

What Went Wrong:  Halladay didn’t make it out of the sixth inning.  In the fifth, with the Phils up 6-0, Halladay allowed the Braves to tie up the game on five singles and a crushing grand slam from Brian McCann.  Halladay surrendered two more runs in the sixth and his night was done.  When it was all over, Halladay’s perfect record of 107-0 when given at least a four-run lead was history.

The offense kept pounding away and the bullpen had a 12-8 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth. But the bullpen duo of Jose Contreras and Michael Schwimer allowed five runs to score (four earned), handing the lead back to the Braves again.   The Phils would tie it up in the ninth, but Chipper Jones’ walk-off, two-run home run in the 11th off Brian Sanches gave the Braves the win.

Carlos Ruiz had seven RBIs in the loss, with two doubles and a huge three-run home run.  It was the first time a Phillies catcher has ever had seven RBIs in a game since the stat starting being tracked in 1920.  Chooch would have had the featured card in this post, if not for the implosions from Halladay and the bullpen.

Featured Card:  This was the first game the Phillies had scored 13 runs and lost since August 3, 1969. In that heart-breaking loss, Tony Taylor drove in five runs with two homers, Johnny Callison had a four-hit night and Deron Johnson joined the party with five hits. The Reds scored 10 runs in the fifth with most of the damage coming off reliever Turk Farrell. Farrell recorded only one out while allowing six runs on six hits.  This is Farrell's hatless offering from the 1969 Topps set.  Sorry again, Chooch.

1958 Philadelphia Phillies Picture Pack

My father-in-law is doing his best to keep busy during his retirement, and one of his many projects has been to diligently clean out closets, desks and other storage spaces around his house.  So far, I've been the beneficiary of some really cool baseball and Phillies finds as a result of his clean-ups, including the cards I'm displaying in this post.  At first, I wasn't sure what these were, but with a little research I've determined that this is the complete 1958 Jays Publishing Phillies team set.  There are 12 photos in total and they've been protected all these years in a brown envelope advertising "Twelve Phillies Photos" for just 25¢.  The photos are 5" x 7" with blank backs.

The Standard Catalog lumps all 681 versions of these photos, issued between 1958 and 1965, into one massive listing.  Beckett separates the photos by year and by team, and I found a great resource here with the Phillies checklists for each of the sets from 1958 through 1965.  The only thing that threw me off a little is that the images I found on the internet when doing a search for "Jays Publishing Phillies," contain the full team name, listed on the fronts of the photos as "Philadelphia Phillies."  These photos omit the city and just list the team name.  That being said, I'm still fairly confident these are the 1958 Jays Publishing Phillies photos.

(UPDATE (2/16/12):  Please see the first comment below from Matthew, a/k/a 14,000 Phillies, for the correct identification of this set.)

So many, many thanks to my father-in-law for adding these to my collection and here's hoping he continues to clean and find cool Phillies stuff!

1968 Topps Phillies

1968 Topps #225, #139, #122 and #415

With no fanfare, let's jump right into an analysis of Phillies baseball cards in the 1968 Topps set, affectionately known as the "burlap" set.

1968 Topps #139 (Back)

The Set

Number of cards in the set:  Topps went back to 598 cards in 1968 after jumping up to 609 cards in 1967.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  At this point, I'm anxious to get into the '70s, since I just don't know that much about these sets from the late '60s.  I didn't own any '68 Topps cards as I was growing up, so I have no emotional connection to these cards.

Notable competition:  It's still just a few oddball sets providing scant competition for Topps.  There are Phillies cards in the Bazooka, Coca-Cola, Arco and Nabisco sets from 1968.

1968 Phillies

Record and finish:  The team dipped down below .500 for the first time since 1961, finishing with a record of 76-86.  They tied for 7th place in the National League, 21 games behind the dominant Cardinals.

Key players:  Despite his troubles (see below), Dick Allen led the offense with his .263 average, 33 home runs and 90 RBIs.  Johnny Callison, with 14 home runs, was the only other Phillie to hit more than 10.  On the pitching side, Chris Short had another fine year, going 19-13 with a 2.94 ERA.

Key events:  Here's the first sentence of the 1968 season summary per The Phillies Encyclopedia - "The Dick Allen-Gene Mauch fight went from simmer to boil, cost Mauch his job, and turned the fans against Allen worse than ever."  The entry then goes on to summarize the various conflicts between player and manager beginning in spring training and culminating with Mauch's dismissal on June 14th.  Coach George Myatt served as interim manager for two games before Bob Skinner was brought in on a permanent basis.  And I love that Jim from Downingtown currently sponsors the 1968 Phillies page over at Baseball Reference with the cavaet, "Hey, SOMEONE needs to like this team!"

1968 Topps #190, #327, #245 and #284

1968 Phillies in 1968 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 30 cards needed for a complete 1968 Topps Phillies team set.  That's 270 total Phillies Topps cards from the '60s and 443 Phillies Topps cards overall.

Who’s in:  First, please refer to this post from Jim from Downington's 1968 Topps Baseball blog with regards to team distribution and then come on back here for the Phillies break-down -

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 7 cards

#306 Mike Ryan (c), #190 Bill White (1b), #39 Cookie Rojas (2b), #327 Tony Taylor (3b), #225 Dick Allen (lf), #245 Tony Gonzalez (cf), #415 Johnny Callison (rf)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#139 Chris Short, #81 Larry Jackson, #112 Woodie Fryman, #262 Rick Wise

1968 Topps #81, #112, #262 and #217

• Base cards of other players who played with the Phillies in 1968 - 11 cards

#17 Dick Hall, #59 Don Lock, #98 Gary Sutherland, #173 John Boozer, #217 Turk Farrell, #284 John Briggs, #396 Bobby Wine, #434 Rick Joseph, #448 Gary Wagner, #512 Grant Jackson, #567 Clay Dalrymple

• 1968 Rookie Stars cards - 2 cards

#348 Larry Colton/Dick Thoenen and #579 Larry Hisle with the Braves' Mike Lum

1968 Topps #7

• League Leader cards - 4 cards

#1 Batting Leaders with Gonzalez, #7 ERA Leaders with Jim Bunning and Short, #9 Pitching (Victory) Leaders with Bunning and #11 Strikeout Leaders with Bunning

• Manager card - 1 card for Gene Mauch, #122
• Team card - 1 card, #477

Who’s out:  The team's regular shortstop, Roberto Pena, appeared in 138 games but did not get a Topps baseball card in 1968.  Pitcher Jerry Johnson started 11 games and had a record of 4-4 with a 3.24 ERA. Johnson would get a Phillies card in the 1969 Topps set, but Pena (to date) has never had a Phillies baseball card.  He was selected by San Diego in the October 1968 expansion draft and appeared in the 1969 Topps set with the Padres.

Phillies on other teams:  Surprisingly, none.

What’s he doing here:  Dick Thoenen shares a Rookie Stars card with Larry Colton, despite pitching in just 1 inning with the team in 1967.  It would be his first and last appearance in the Majors.

Cards that never were candidates:  Pena, Johnson and rookie Don Money, acquired in December 1967 from the Pirates along with Woodie Fryman for Bunning.  Money made his Major League debut in April and appeared in four games.  Interim manager Myatt could be a candidate for a 1968 Topps "update" card as well.  Skinner would appear as the team's skipper in the 1969 Topps set.

Favorite Phillies card: I'll go with Short's card edging out Mauch's final manager card.

1968 Topps #306, #396, #59 and #567

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Baseball Cards Magazine used the '68 Topps design for their Repli-Cards in 1993.  Look for the design in the upcoming 2017 Topps Heritage set.

Blogs/Websites:  As mentioned previously, head on over to the 1968 Topps Baseball blog once you've finished up with this post.

Did You Know?:  Series 1 of the '68 Topps set, the first 109 cards, feature a "wider" burlap design than the rest of the cards in the set, which featured a finer burlap design.  I'd love to hear the behind the scenes story that led to Topps changing the burlap pattern following the first series of the set.

1967 Topps Phillies

1967 Topps #37, #126, #248 and #268

Before you read this post, you should go check out the post from Jim from Downingtown on the 1967 Phillies on his 1967 Topps Baseball blog.  I'll wait until your back and listen to a little more Sgt. Pepper's, which I'm playing to get me in the mood to write about the Phillies during the Summer of Love.  (By the way, my favorite song from the album is still "A Day in the Life," but "Getting Better" continues to grow on me.)

You're back?  Far out.  Now that you know everything you should know about the '67 Phillies and their baseball cards, here's my humble contribution to the topic.

The Set

1967 Topps #326 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  There are 609 cards in the set, the largest number of cards in a set to date for Topps.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  I like it.  Off the top of my head, if I had to rank the Topps sets from the '60s, this would be in third place behind the '65 and '63 sets.    It would have received higher marks from me if the Phillies team name was in red instead of yellow.

Notable competition:  Topps is over a decade away from any type of real competition.  In 1967, Phillies players could be found in the Bazooka set or in one of the first ever safety sets, the 1967 Phillies Safe Driving set featuring 13 players.

1967 Phillies

Record and finish:  The team took a few steps backward, finishing in fifth place with a record of 82-80 and 19 1/2 games behind the pennant winning Cardinals.

Key players:  Third baseman Richie Allen paced the offense (.307, 23 home runs, 77 RBIs) despite missing time with a hand injury.  Left fielder Tony Gonzalez finished second in the league in batting with his .339 average, behind Roberto Clemente's .357 average.  Jim Bunning finished with a 17-15 record and 2.29 ERA and lost five 1-0 games, according to The Phillies Encyclopedia.  Chris Short also pitched well (2.39 ERA in 199 1/3 innings) despite his 9-11 record.

Key events:  Both first baseman Bill White and Allen missed significant playing time in 1967 due to freak accidents.  White tore his Achilles tendon while playing paddleball at home.  Allen, while pushing a car down a street, inadvertently broke through one of the car's headlights with his hand.

1967 Topps #187, #326, #427 and #508

1967 Phillies in 1967 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 35 Phillies cards in the 1967 Topps set, besting the previous high of 30 cards in the 1965 set.

Who’s in:  Here's the break down -

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#53 Clay Dalrymple (c), #290 Bill White (1b), #595 Cookie Rojas (2b), #450 Dick Allen (3b), #466 Bobby Wine (ss), #548 Tony Gonzalez (lf), #376 Don Lock (cf), #85 Johnny Callison (rf)

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 5 cards

#560 Jim Bunning, #229 Larry Jackson, #395 Chris Short, #37 Rick Wise, #359 Dick Ellsworth

• Base cards of other players who played with the Phillies in 1967 - 13 cards

#14 Phil Linz, #68 Bob Buhl, #126 Tony Taylor, #142 Jackie Brandt, #187 Pedro Ramos, #205 Dick Groat, #268 John Briggs, #326 Bob Uecker, #427 Ruben Gomez, #443 Tito Francona, #489 Doug Clemens, #508 Dick Hall, #529 Gary Wagner

1967 Topps #402

• Base cards of players who didn't play with the Phillies in 1967 - 1 card

#48 Terry Fox, who spent 1967 in the minors

• 1967 Rookie Stars cards - 2 cards

#402 Grant Jackson/Billy Wilson and #587 Gary Sutherland with the Mets' Don Shaw

• League Leader cards - 3 cards

#238 Strikeout Leaders with Bunning, #242 RBI Leaders with Allen and #244 Home Run Leaders with Allen

• Manager card - 1 card for Gene Mauch, #248
• Team card - 1 card, #102
• Combo card - 1 card, #309 Hurlers Beware with Allen and Callison

Who’s out:  Outfielder Billy Cowan appeared in 34 with the Phillies, but he was left out of the set.  Reliever John Boozer was also omitted, despite appearing in 28 games.

Phillies on other teams:  #18 Gene Oliver with the Braves, #190 closer Turk Farrell with the Astros and #198 Chuck Hiller with the Mets

What’s he doing here:  Wilson shares a card with Grant Jackson, but he wouldn't debut with the Phillies until 1969.

Cards that never were candidates:  Topps had cards for all the main players in the 1967 season (except Cowan and Boozer), so there's not a lot to choose from here.  Farrell deserves a Phillies card since he's featured as an Astro in the set.  Dallas Green wrapped up his 8-year career with 8 games with the Phils and long-time Phillie Terry Harmon was just starting his career when he appeared in two games in July as a pinch-runner.

Favorite Phillies card:  This one's easy.  The Hurlers Beware card featuring Allen and Callison epitomizes 1960's Phillies baseball, and it could be the best Phillies baseball card of the decade.

1967 Topps #190, 2003 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #143,
2010 Topps The Cards Your Mom Threw Out #CMT74 and 2001 Topps Archives #340

Other Stuff

Recycled:  Similar to the 1966 Topps design, Topps has only come back to this design a few times for its Archives sets and retro-based inserts.

Blogs/Websites:  As referenced at the start of this post, please check out the fine 1967 Topps Baseball blog for more appreciation and general information on the 1967 Topps set.

Did You Know?:  On the day the Beatles released their Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, June 1st, the Phils defeated the Dodgers in Los Angeles by a score of 6-1.  Allen had four RBIs, including a 3-run home run in the sixth off Claude Osteen.