Philadelphia Phillies at New York Yankees - Phils Head to the Bronx

2005 Topps Update #UH63

2005 Topps #98

Friday, July 25th - 7:05
Saturday, July 26th - 1:05
Sunday, July 27th - 1:35

Yankee Stadium - New York, NY
Tonight, the first 18,000 fans will receive a sliding Anthony Volpe bobblehead.

Philadelphia Phillies 58-44
2nd Place in the N.L. East, 1/2 game behind the Mets

Phillies Probables
Taijuan Walker (3-5, 3.75)
Ranger Suarez (7-4, 2.66)
Zack Wheeler (9-3, 2.39)

Phillies Leaders
Average:  Trea Turner - .290
Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 72
Home Runs:  Kyle Schwarber - 34
RBIs:  Kyle Schwarber - 78
Stolen Bases:  Trea Turner - 25

Wins:  Cristopher Sanchez and Zack Wheeler - 9
ERA:  Zack Wheeler - 2.39
Strikeouts:  Zack Wheeler - 164
Saves:  Jordan Romano - 8

New York Yankees 56-46
2nd Place in the A.L. East, 4 1/2 games behind the Blue Jays

Yankees Probables
Will Warren (6-5, 4.91)
Marcus Stroman (2-1, 5.64)
Carlos Rodon (10-7, 3.10)

Yankees Leaders
Average:  Aaron Judge - .345
Runs:  Aaron Judge - 90
Home Runs:  Aaron Judge - 37
RBIs:  Aaron Judge - 84
Stolen Bases:  Jasson Dominguez - 14

Wins:  Max Fried - 11
ERA:  Max Fried - 2.62

Strikeouts:  Carlos Rodon - 139
Saves:  Devin Williams - 15

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

@Section_36 to the Rescue - Life, Liberty & the Pursuit of Baseball Cards

2007 Bowman Heritage Rainbow Foil #219

2007 Fleer #106

2007 Topps Update #UH103

2007 Upper Deck #393

Strange days indeed.

I've been in a bit of a funk since November 9th, and to be honest I haven't much felt like spending time with baseball cards.  But over the past few weeks, I came to the realization that there had to be some middle ground between reading about every new controversial move made or message delivered by the incoming administration and putting my head in the sand and pretending none of this matters.  In the weeks and months that follow, it will be extremely important to keep informed and to keep up with what's actually going on in our country.

But it's also important to occasionally enjoy some baseball cards.  I hadn't added many new baseball cards to my collection for quite some time until a surprise package showed up a few weeks back from Section 36.  For the eighth (!) year in a row, I was the recipient of a large assortment of Phillies baseball cards from Section 36 and it turns out that sorting through these cards and reminiscing about the "good old days" was exactly the therapy I needed after weeks of disappointment and angst.

For the uninitiated, Section 36 purges his collection every 10 years of non-Red Sox and other non-essential cards.  It was 2007's turn to receive the purge treatment, and I gladly inherited a nice stack of 2007 Phillies cards.  There are always some surprises from other years in a Section 36 package, and along with the 2007 Phillies cards I received an inordinate amount of Bobby Abreu and Chase Utley cards.  A Mike Trout card also found its way into the package, and that card quickly disappeared into my son Doug's player collection.

So when in doubt, and when things seem to be getting a little too squirrelly in our country and a break is needed, my advice is to sort through baseball cards.  Thanks again to Section 36 for providing some therapy.

We're The Phillies Room and we approve this message.

Memory Lane - Section 36 Purge
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007

2016 Chachi #71 Leading Firemen - Gomez, Neris, Mariot

Perhaps the hardest thing to watch during the latter part of the Phillies season was the complete implosion of Jeanmar Gomez as the team's closer.  Unofficially removed from the closer's roll during the final weeks of September, Gomez tallied a 19.13 ERA (17 earned runs in 8 innings) over his final 12 games.  The emergence (and dominance) of Hector Neris as an extremely effective late inning reliever means that he's probably one of the few pitchers guaranteed a spot in the team's 2017 bullpen.

Memory Lane - Chachi Leading Firemen Cards
2005 - Billy Wagner, 38
2006 - Tom Gordon, 34
2007 - Brett Myers, 21
2008 - Brad Lidge, 41
2009 - Brad Lidge, 31
2010 - Brad Lidge, 27
2011 - Ryan Madson, 32
2012 - Jonathan Papelbon, 38
2013 - Jonathan Papelbon, 29
2014 - Jonathan Papelbon, 39
2015 - Jonathan Papelbon, 17 (no card created)
2016 - Jeanmar Gomez, 37

2005 Chachi #59

2006 Chachi #68

2007 Chachi #66

2008 Chachi #62

2007 Topps Opening Day #185 Tom Gordon

Marlins 7, Phillies 0
Game 25 - Saturday Afternoon, May 2nd in Miami
Record - 8-17

One Sentence Summary:  The Marlins easily handled the Phillies, shutting them out 7-0.

What It Means:  The 2015 Phillies are not a very good baseball team.  They've now lost five in a row and they'll try to avoid the series sweep this afternoon.

What Happened:  Cole Hamels was hit pretty hard, allowing a three-run home run to Martin Prado in the second.  Overall, he surrendered six runs on ten hits in six innings of work.  The offense never even got a runner into scoring position.

Featured Card:  Dee Gordon, son of former Phillies closer Tom Gordon, is on fire right now.  He collected three more hits in this game to raise his league leading average to .440.  He scored three times and stole a few bases for good measure.

Transaction:  Struggling starting pitcher David Buchanan was optioned to Triple-A Lehigh Valley and reliever Elvis Araujo was recalled to take his place.  Another roster move will be needed on Tuesday when Chad Billingsley is activated from the disabled list to make his first start of the season.

2013 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils Update #14 David Buchanan

Phillies 5, Dodgers 3
Game 46 - Saturday Afternoon, May 24th in Philadelphia
Record - 21-25, 4th Place, 5 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Backed by timely offense from the top of the order, rookie David Buchanan won his Major League debut, as the Phillies defeated the Dodgers 5-3.

What It Means:  Buchanan certainly has ginormous shoes to fill as he (hopefully) temporarily takes Cliff Lee's spot in the rotation, but the rookie righty looked good in his first start.

What Happened:  Chase Utley gave Buchanan a two-run lead in the first with a home run to right scoring Ben Revere.  Utley should have been out on the pitch before, but Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis dropped what appeared to be a routine foul pop-up, giving Utley new life.  Revere finished the day with four hits, tying a career high, and three runs scored.  Jimmy Rollins also added two RBIs.

Featured Card:  Buchanan will hopefully receive some consideration for set inclusion late in the season, but for now this is his most recent baseball card.

Transaction:  Buchanan took the roster spot of reliever Luis Garcia, who was placed on the 15-day disabled list.

Field Report:  This was the first game my four-year-son Ben and I had ever attended where it was just the two of us.  I checked with Ben on the ride home, and he confirmed that he had had "a lot of fun" and that "the game was exciting."  We just missed visiting with the Phanatic before the game and if returning alum Pedro Feliz was signing autographs before the game, we missed that too.  However, after a hot dog, half a box of popcorn and a full inning in the Phanatic Phun Zone, the game was deemed a success.

Phanatic Phun Zone

Visiting the Phanatic's bedroom

Tom Gordon & Pedro Feliz

Another highlight (mostly for me) was watching Feliz throw out the first pitch to fellow alum and Dee Gordon's father, Tom Gordon.  I also took my chance on a $40 autographed baseball grab bag (all proceeds go to charity) and came away with a signed Carlos Ruiz ball.  I'm proud to say it's now officially the first autographed baseball in Ben's collection.  The win raised my personal 2014 record to 2-3.

2006 Topps Phillies

2006 Topps #398, #359, #205 and #396

Our first son, Doug, was born in 2006.  Those of you who are parents know that the birth of a child pretty much trumps any and all other events that took place during the nine months proceeding the blessed event, and the arrival of Doug was no different for us.  I've spent the last six and a half years enjoying every minute with Doug and his little brother, Ben.

The Set

2006 Topps #359 (Back)

Number of cards in the set:  There are 659 cards in the regular set if you don't count the Alex Gordon or Alay Soler cards (discussed briefly below) and another 330 cards in the Update and Highlights series.

My very brief thoughts on the set:  There were a couple of key turning points with the 2006 Topps set.  First, Topps digitally altered some players uniforms to show them with their new teams.  Phillies fans received cards of Tom Gordon and Aaron Rowand in Phillies uniforms months before catchers and pitchers even reported to Spring Training.  (Even though Gordon's card still says he's with the Yankees.)  I was OK with this, but I would have been fine had they waited to show these players in their new uniforms in the second series or the update set.  The second turning point was the first-time inclusion of gimmick cards in the set.  This was the year of the Alex Gordon "rookie card" and the surprise addition of a short-printed card for Mets prospect Alay Soler into packs of Topps Series Two.  Other bloggers have railed against Topps and their abuse of the set collector, and I won't go into that here.  But this was the first year I thought to myself, "I'll probably never be a modern Topps set collector again," and it was a sad realization.  Negativity aside, the actual cards are nice.  They're bright and colorful, with a 1972 Topps vibe due to the arched team name at the tops of the cards.  

Notable competition:  This is the first year that MLB and the Player's Association instituted their new annual limits on the number of baseball card sets that could be released.  For this reason, there were still a lot of sets released by Topps (20 by my unofficial count) and Upper Deck (also 20), but not as many as in prior years.  Upper Deck acquired the Fleer brand name and 6 of their 20 releases carried the Fleer or Ultra banner.

2006 Topps #33, #412, #182 and #20

2006 Phillies

Record and finish:  The Phillies fell just short of the postseason yet again, going 85-77 and finishing three games behind in the Wild Card race.  They finished 12 games behind the Mets in the N.L. East.

Key players:  Four home grown players - Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jimmy Rolllins and Cole Hamels - had tremendous seasons and gave fans a reason to hope for the future.  Howard (.313, 58 home runs, 149 RBIs), Utley (.309, 32 home runs, 102 RBIs) and Rollins (.277, 25 home runs, 83 RBIs) each set franchise records for home runs at their respective positions.  Howard's 58 home runs blew away Mike Schmidt's franchise record of 48 home runs in a season and helped him secure the N.L. MVP honors.  Pat Burrell (.277, 29 home runs, 95 RBIs) had another solid season and Phillies fans were properly introduced to Shane Victorino (.287, 46 RBIs) after Rowand broke most of his face while running at full steam into the center field wall at Citizens Bank Park.  Hamels made his debut in May and went 9-8.  New closer Gordon made the All-Star team and saved 34 games.

2006 Topps #358

Key events:  With Howard ready for prime time, Jim Thome was dealt to the White Sox in November 2005 for Rowand.  The new center fielder forever endeared himself to Phillies fans with his amazing running catch on May 11, 2006, which left him battered and bruised.  I commemorated the catch with a Chachi card that can be found here.  Rollins' hitting streak that began in 2005 ended early in the 2006 season at 38.  Utley strung together a 35-game hitting streak of his own.  Looking to shake things up as the Phillies were seemingly out of the race by the non-waiver trade deadline, General Manager Pat Gillick traded away the following veteran players - Sal Fasano, David Bell, Bobby Abreu, Cory Lidle, Rheal Cormier and Ryan Franklin.  Improbably back in the race a month later, Gillick then dealt for veterans Jamie Moyer and Jeff Conine in August.

2006 Phillies in 2006 Topps

Cards needed for a complete team set:  There are 34 Phillies cards in the base and traded sets, with 7 of those cards featuring Howard.  That's what back-to-back Rookie of the Year and MVP campaigns will do for you.

Who's in:

• Cards of the eight starting position players - 8 cards

#33 Mike Lieberthal (c), #398 Ryan Howard (1b), #359 Chase Utley (2b), #205 Jimmy Rollins (ss), #412 David Bell (3b), #396 Pat Burrell (lf), #182 Aaron Rowand (cf), #20 Bobby Abreu (rf)

Bell and Abreu still had the most starts at their respective positions, in spite of their mid-season departures.

2006 Topps #432, #408, 2006 Topps Update #UH145 and 2006 Topps #141

• Cards of the starting pitching rotation - 4 cards

#432 Brett Myers, #408 Jon Lieber, #UH145 Cole Hamels, #141 Randy Wolf

• Base cards of players who played with the Phillies in 2004 - 7 cards

#41 Rheal Cormier, #163 Tom Gordon, #306 Danny Sandoval, #364 Ryan Madson, #UH20 Jeff Conine, #UH25 David Dellucci, #UH139 Scott Mathieson

I was definitely bummed when I realized that Topps left Moyer out of the Update series.  Especially since they dedicated 30 cards to an unneeded Team Leaders subset.

• Base cards of players who didn't play with Phillies in 2004 - 3 cards

#83 Endy Chavez, #97 Kenny Lofton, #139 Jason Michaels

• Rawlings Gold Glove Award cards - 1 card, #259 Bobby Abreu
• Award cards - 1 card, #265 Ryan Howard (Rookie of the Year)
• National League Leaders cards - 2 cards, #UH210 Ryan Howard (Home Run Leaders), #UH212 Ryan Howard (RBI Leaders)
• 2006 MLB All-Star cards - 3 cards, #UH233 Chase Utley, #UH266 Tom Gordon, #UH273 Ryan Howard
• 2006 MLB Home Run Derby cards - 1 card, #UH283 Ryan Howard
• Team Leaders cards - 1 card, #UH292 Ryan Howard and Tom Gordon
• Multi-player combination cards - 1 card, #650 Pat Burrell and Mike Lieberthal (Philly Phanatics)
• Team card - 1 card, #602
• Manager card - 1 card, #286 Charlie Manuel

Before going much further, I need to mention that Topps and the Phillies paired together to release an awesome 26-card Fan Appreciation Day set to fans attending the September 24th game.  This set is fantastic in that it gave collectors Topps Phillies cards of Victorino, Abraham Nunez, Chris Coste and several of the team's relief pitchers.  14,000 Phillies has a great write-up of the set in his Phillies Database.

Also, there are other Phillies cards available as special inserts that utilize the 2006 Topps design.  Coste has a card within a set available only within Topps factory sets, appropriately named the Topps Factory Set Rookie Bonus set.  (Fabio Castro, who spent time with the Phillies in 2006, appears with the Rangers in this set as well.)  Hamels, Chris Roberson, Mathieson and Matt Smith all received 2006 Topps Chrome-style cards in the Topps Chrome Rookie Logos insert set.

Finally, for the first time, Topps released a retail-only 14-card set, which I have yet to track down.

2006 Topps #163, #364, 2006 Topps Phillies Fan Appreciation Day #25 and

2006 Topps Factory Set Rookie Bonus #19

Who's out:  If you just consider the Topps flagship and update sets, the following deserving players were shut out - Victorino, Nunez, Lidle and relievers Geoff Geary, Aaron Fultz and Arthur Rhodes.  However, if you includes the Fan Appreciation Day set, the only notable omissions are Lidle, Franklin, Moyer and fan favorite Fasano.

Phillies on other teams:  Moyer (#358 with the Mariners) and Dellucci (#402 with the Rangers) are in the second series with their former teams.  Topps took the photo used for Dellucci's card and switched him into a Phillies uniform for their Topps Chrome set.

2006 Topps #402 and 2006 Topps Chrome #208

What's he doing here:  I have no complaints on any of the player selections.  Topps must have used mid-December 2005 as the deadline to digitally change players into their new uniforms.  Gordon signed with the Phillies on December 6th, and Lofton signed with the Yankees on December 20th.

Cards that never were candidates:  Similar to the above exercise, if I include the Fan Appreciation Day cards as "official" cards, I'd say that only these guys are true candidates for cards that never were - Moyer, Franklin, Lidle, Fasano and rookie Carlos Ruiz, who played in 27 games for the '06 squad.  Sadly, Lidle perished in a plane crash in October 2006 and Topps gave him an In Memoriam card in the update series.

Favorite Phillies card:  I've always liked Madson's card, which shows him following through on a pitch.

Other Stuff

Recycled:  As mentioned a few times, the design was used in the stadium give-away Fan Appreciation Day set, with the silver foil being replaced with yellow ink.

Did You Know?:  Only one of the players (Smith) received in Gillick's mid-season purge ever made it to the Majors with the Phillies.  Here's the list of the prospects acquired - Hector Made, Wilfredo Laureano, C.J. Henry, Jesus Sanchez, Carlos Monasterios, Matt Smith, Justin Germano and Zac Stott.  Most importantly, the deals cleared the way for the young nucleus to take over and lead the team to its best five-year run in franchise history.

2008 Chachi #25 Tom Gordon

Dodgers 4, Phillies 3
Game 56 - Monday Night, June 4th in Philadelphia
Record - 28-28, 5th Place, 4 games behind the Nationals and Marlins

One Sentence Summary:  Jonathan Papelbon gave up the lead in a non-save situation as the Dodgers and some questionable umpiring defeated the Phillies, 4-3.

What It Means:  The Phillies fell back to a .500 record after hitting the season high-water mark on Friday at three games above.

What Went Wrong:  Todd Zolecki offered this break-down of Papelbon's year-to-date performance via Twitter:

In 15 save opportunities - 15 saves, 0.00 ERA, 15 IP, 7 H
In non-save opportunities - 6.48 ERA, 8.1 IP, 11 H

With injuries to the bullpen continuing to mount, Papelbon is just going to have to figure out how to pitch in lower pressure situations.  And once again, the offense had their chances, but no one could come up with a clutch hit or a sac fly or even a ground ball to the right side when needed.

In more positive news, Chase Utley played in his first extended spring training game yesterday afternoon, going 3 for 4 with a home run.

Featured Card:  With the score tied 3-3, Dee Gordon greeted Papelbon in the ninth inning with a lead-off triple.  (Papelbon would argue following the inning that he should have struck out Gordon on a questionable ball call.  The home plate umpire - a Triple-A fill-in - was brutal all night to both clubs.)  Gordon would later come around to score the eventual winning run.

Dee's father, Tom Gordon, was in the middle of his third and final season with the Phillies when he learned that his son had been selected by the Dodgers in the fourth round of the 2008 amateur draft.  Almost exactly four years later, Gordon the younger would contribute to the Phillies latest loss.

2006 Topps Update & Highlights All-Star Stitches Jersey Relics #AS-TG Tom Gordon

The Phillies Room Salutes Phillies All-Stars of the 2000s

All-Star Games: As an Red Sox - 1998; As a Yankee - 2004; As a Phillie - 2006 (PNC Park, Pittsburgh)

All-Star Game Performance: Flash pitched a scoreless 8th inning in the 2006 All-Star Game, striking out Joe Mauer. In three All-Star Game appearances, Tom threw 2 1/3 innings, giving up an earned run and four hits.

2006 Chachi #25 Tom Gordon

Welcome back Flash. Tom Gordon was activated by the Arizona Diamondbacks a few days ago, and pitched a scoreless inning for them on Tuesday night. It was his first big league appearance since July 5, 2008, when he blew a save opportunity against the Mets. The Mets would go on to beat the Phils 9-4 in that game. (In retrospect, no big deal).

Flash spent significant time on the DL during his tenure with the Phillies (2006-2008). His best year by far was his first year, when he saved 34 games, made the NL All-Star team, and held opposing hitters to a .233 average.