Summer Camp Game 1 - 2020 Topps Now Road to Opening Day #OD-271 Bryce Harper

Phillies 7, Nationals 2
Summer Camp Game 1 - Saturday Night, July 18th in Washington
Record - 15-5-1

One Sentence Summary:  In front of no fans at Nationals Park, the Phillies returned to exhibition play with a decisive 7-2 win over the Nationals.

What It Means:  This is the first live game summary post I've had the pleasure to compose since the 20th game of spring training back in mid-March.  Live baseball is back for now.

What Happened:  Aaron Nola started and looked ready for the start of the regular season.  Against a line-up of Nationals regulars, Nola pitched five strong innings allowing a hit while striking out four.  Max Scherzer started for the Nationals and got hit fairly hard in his first Summer Camp outing.  Didi Gregorius, masked up, hit a three-run home run in the first and Bryce Harper followed that up with a three-run home run of his own in the second.

Featured Card:  Harper continues to look locked in and for whatever it's worth, his 1 for 3 performance raised his spring/summer exhibition average to .474.  There have continued to be baseball card releases during the shut-down, including this card from the Topps Now Road to Opening Day set that arrive in my mail box in early May.  According to the Topps website, there were 496 of these sets produced.

Camp Head Count:  49 - 4 = 45.  The Phillies officially removed four players from their roster on Saturday afternoon.  Two of the moves were procedural with right-handed pitcher Victor Arano optioned to "Phillies Alternate Training Site," per the team's website, and catcher Henri Lartigue removed from the Player Pool.

The other two moves were somewhat surprising, as the team announced the release of veterans Francisco Liriano (lhp) and Logan Forsythe (inf).  Both seemed to have a real chance of making the 30-man opening day roster given their spring performances, but manager Joe Girardi has indicated the Phillies could go with a more youthful bullpen and bench.  Related to the Phillies' bench, the team also announced super utility man Neil Walker had made the club and a corresponding roster move will eventually be needed to add him to the 40-man roster.

2020 Chachi Almost #5

2020 Chachi Almost #6

2020 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2020 Season Summary Index / 2020 Chachi Set Checklist

Non-Roster Invitee List - 25 . . . and Counting?

2014 Topps Heritage #417

2014 Topps Heritage #317

2014 Topps Heritage #73

2012 Topps Heritage #121

No sooner had I posted on Tuesday an update to the Phillies non-roster invitee list with the Post Title, "Non-Roster Invitee List - 21 and Done?" did news start coming out on Twitter on the signing of several more veteran players.  The Phillies added four fairly well-known players to the invitee list, bringing the total to 25 and the total tally of players coming to camp to 65.  I've been tracking this kind of thing since 2012 and this is the highest number of players since the 67 who were in camp in 2016.

Veteran right-handed pitchers Bud Norris and Drew Storen, along with lefty Francisco Liriano and infielder Neil Walker will all get serious looks down in Clearwater.  Norris is a 10-year veteran who most recently pitched for the Cardinals in 2018.  He enjoyed his best years with the Orioles in the mid-2000s and was a 15-game winner in 2014.  Storen is the former Nationals closer who lost his job to Jonathan Papelbon in 2015.  He has 99 career saves and last pitched for the Reds in 2017.

Liriano is a 14-year veteran and had a decent year for the Pirates last season, appearing in 69 games and pitching to a 3.47 ERA.  And finally Walker also had his best seasons with the Pirates in the early 2000s.  He was with the Marlins last year and hit .261 in 115 games.

Walker, Liriano, Andrew McCutchen and Josh Harrison were all teammates on the 2015 Pirates team that won the N.L. Wild Card and all four will be in camp with the Phillies in 2020.  Other former Phillies on the 2015 Pirates team include Sean Rodriguez, Pedro Florimon, A.J. Burnett, Charlie Morton, J.A. Happ, Jared Hughes, Antonio Bastardo, Vance Worley and Joe Blanton.

Player (position) - 2019 Organization - Last Major Baseball Card Appearance

1.  Phil Gosselin (inf) - Phillies - 2017 Topps Heritage #135 (Diamondbacks)

2.  Josh Harrison (inf) - Tigers - 2019 Topps Heritage #552 (Tigers)

3.  Mikie Mahtook (of) - Tigers - 2019 Topps #477 (Tigers)

4.  Matt Szczur (of) - Diamondbacks - 2018 Topps Heritage #528 (Padres)
5.  Christian Bethancourt (c) - NC Dinos (Korea) - 2017 Topps #697 (Padres)
6.  Ronald Torreyes (inf) - Twins - 2019 Topps #537 (Twins)
7.  Francisco Liriano (lhp) - Pirates - 2019 Topps Update #US61 (Pirates)
8.  Bud Norris (rhp) - Blue Jays - 2018 Topps #686 (Cardinals)
9.  Drew Storen (rhp) - Royals - 2017 Topps Heritage #573 (Reds)
10.  Neil Walker (inf) - Marlins - 2019 Topps Update #US132 (Marlins)

Player (position) - 2019 Organization - Last Card Added to Collection

11.  Alec Bohm (inf) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #1

12.  Connor Brogdon (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #44

13.  Kyle Dohy (lhp) - Phillies - 2019 R-Phils Phillies Top 25 Prospects #5

14.  Tyler Gilbert (lhp) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #10
15.  Darick Hall (1b) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #7
16.  Spencer Howard (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Topps Heritage Minor League #27
17.  Damon Jones (lhp) - Phillies - 2018 Choice Lakewood BlueClaws #13
18.  Henri Lartigue (c) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #12
19.  Austin Listi (1b-of) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #13
20.  Nick Maton (ss) - Phillies - 2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #6
21.  Mickey Moniak (of) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #15
22.  Ramon Rosso (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #19
23.  Addison Russ (rhp) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #20
24.  Zach Warren (lhp) - Phillies - 2019 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #33
25.  Luke Williams (inf-of) - Phillies - 2019 Choice Reading Fightin Phils #23