2006 Multi-Ad Reading Phillies #1 Gio Gonzalez

Nationals 2, Phillies 1
Game 43 - Monday Night, May 21st in Philadelphia
Record - 21-22, 5th Place, 5 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  A lack of offense and some questionable base-running led to the latest Phillies loss on a rainy night in Philly.

What It Means:  Just like that, the six-game winning streak is gone and in its place is a three-game losing streak.  The Phils once again have a losing record.

What What Wrong:  The bats were relatively quiet through the first five innings thanks to Nationals starter Gio Gonzalez.  The Phils had legitimate chances to not only score, but possibly take the lead, in the sixth, eighth and ninth innings, but it was not to be.  The sixth was particularly painful as they wasted a second and third with no outs opportunity with nary a run to show for it.  Placido Polanco had two base-running gaffes in the inning contributing to the futility of the inning.  Overall, the offense left 10 men on base and went 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position.

On the bright side, Kyle Kendrick had a great start, allowing two runs on five hits over seven innings.  He also made a nice play at the plate to prevent another Nationals run in the third.  He's quietly tallied a 2.25 ERA over his last four starts.

Featured Card:  I wrote about Gonzalez back in December when there were rumors swirling that the Phils could be trying to obtain their former farmhand.  A few weeks following that post, the A's traded Gonzalez to the Nationals and he's lived up to the hype.  He's now 6-1 with a 1.98 ERA following his performance against the Phillies last night.

This is one of only a few minor league cards of Gonzalez in my collection, as the phenom spent only the 2006 season within the Phillies organization.  The design of this card borrows heavily from the 1994 Donruss set.

2006 Bowman Chrome Draft Future's Game Prospects #FG7 Gio Gonzalez

I found it fascinating yesterday to sit at work* and hit the refresh button every five to ten minutes on the MLB Trade Rumors website.  While most of the baseball world was waiting to find out where Albert Pujols was going to end up, I was more interested in the Phillies alleged pursuit of pitcher Gio Gonzalez.

Gonzalez was originally property of the Phillies following his acquisition from the White Sox as part of the Aaron Rowand/Jim Thome trade in November 2005.  The Phillies then traded him and Gavin Floyd back to the White Sox in December 2006 for Freddy Garcia.  Ouch.

The experts speculated that the 26-year-old Gonzalez would join the Phillies rotation and the team would then trade away Cole Hamels before Hamels reached free agency at the end of the 2012 season.  Domonic Brown and either Kyle Kendrick or Joe Blanton would head to the A's for Gonzalez with the Phillies possibly ending up with reliever Craig Breslow as well.  While I liked the idea of acquiring Gonzalez, I hated the idea of possibly parting with Hamels.

In any event, an update came through at 2:04pm yesterday that the "Phillies [Were] Out on Gio Gonzalez."  So that's that.

Of course, it's only a matter of time before Ruben Amaro, Jr. pulls the trigger on some shocking out-of-the-blue move, just like he's done the last two winters.

*By "sit at work" I mean "focus on continually improving and enhancing myself while efficiently and diligently attending to my professional obligations."