2012 Chachi #28 Coaches - Sam Perlozzo, Juan Samuel, Mick Billmeyer

#2

Samuel Benedict Perlozzo

First Base Coach

Bats: Right  Throws: Right  Height: 5'9"  Weight: 175

Born: March 5, 1951, Cumberland, MD

Home: Tampa, FL

Teams - As Player: Minnesota Twins 1977, San Diego Padres 1979

Teams - As Coach:  New York Mets 1987-1989, Cincinnati Reds 1990-1992, Seattle Mariners 1993-1995, Baltimore Orioles 1996-2005, Seattle Mariners 2008, Phillies 2009-

Teams - As Manager:  Baltimore Orioles 2005-2007

#12

Juan Milton Samuel

Third Base Coach

Bats: Right  Throws: Right  Height: 5'11"  Weight: 190

Born: December 9, 1960, San Pedro de Macoris, DR

Home: Estero, FL

Teams - As Player: Phillies 1983-1989, New York Mets 1989, Los Angeles Dodgers 1990-1992, Kansas City Royals 1992, Cincinnati Reds 1993, Detroit Tigers 1994-1995, Kansas City Royals 1995, Toronto Blue Jays 1996-1998

Teams - As Coach:  Detroit Tigers 1999-2005, Baltimore Orioles 2007-2010, Phillies 2011-

Teams - As Manager:  Baltimore Orioles 2010

#17

Michael Frederick Billmeyer

Bullpen Coach

Bats: Left  Throws: Right  Height: 6'2"  Weight: 255

Born: April 24, 1964, Funkstown, MD

Home: Hagerstown, MD

Teams - As Coach:  Phillies 2009-

Pirates at Phillies: June 25th to June 28th

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 7:05, Thursday 1:05

At the Ballpark:  Monday and Tuesday nights are fireworks nights at the ballpark.  I've only ever attended one Phillies fireworks show, and it was absolutely spectacular.

1979 Topps Flashback:  This is the final meeting of 2012 between these two teams, so I'm featuring the final three Pirates cards from the 1979 Topps featuring players with Phillies connections.

Bill Robinson spent three season (1972-1974) patrolling the Phillies outfield before being traded to Pittsburgh and helping the 1979 Pirates win their fifth and most recent World Championship.  Robinson's eight years with the Pirates were by far the most successful of his 16-year career.  In June 1982, Robinson was shipped back to the Phillies where he finished out his career as a spare outfielder and right-handed bat off the bench.  The Phils released him in June 1983.

1979 Topps #637, #117 and #264

Grant Jackson began his 18-year career with six seasons with the Phillies.  Initially a relief pitcher, Jackson developed into a semi-reliable starting pitcher for the Phils in the late 1960s.  Between 1965 and 1970, he went 23-43 with a 3.99 ERA.  Jackson was traded to the Orioles following the 1970 season in the deal that brought Roger Freed to Philly.  Not counting his 1 game appearance in 1982, Jackson spent five full seasons with the Pirates between 1977 and 1981.  He pitched 4 2/3 scoreless innings against the Orioles in the 1979 World Series.

Don Robinson is perhaps best remembered by Phillies fans as the pitcher who surrendered Mike Schmidt's 500th career home run on April 18, 1987.  Robinson faced off against the Phillies quite a bit during his nine-plus seasons with the Pirates (1978-1987) and his four and a half seasons with the Giants (1987-1991).  The Phillies picked up Robinson during their awful 1992 season.  He compiled a 1-4 record and a 6.18 ERA in eight starts before the Phillies released him, ending his Major League career.

2012 Chachi #27 Coaches - Pete Mackanin, Rich Dubee, Greg Gross

#5

Peter Mackanin, Jr.

Bench Coach

Bats: Right  Throws: Right  Height: 6'2"  Weight: 200

Born: August 1, 1951, Chicago, IL

Home: Scottsdale, AZ

Teams - As Player: Texas Rangers 1973-1974, Montreal Expos 1975-1977, Phillies 1978-1979, Minnesota Twins 1980-1981

Teams - As Coach:  Montreal Expos 1997-2000, Pittsburgh Pirates 2003-2005, Phillies 2009-

Teams - As Manager:  Pittsburgh Pirates 2005, Cincinnati Reds 2007

#30

Richard Peter Dubee, Jr.

Pitching Coach

Bats: Switch  Throws: Right  Height: 6'2"  Weight: 200

Born: October 19, 1957, Brockton, MA

Home: Sarasota, FL

Teams - As Coach:  Florida Marlins 1998-2001, Phillies 2005-

#21

Gregory Eugene Gross

Batting Coach

Bats: Left  Throws: Left  Height: 5'11"  Weight: 175

Born: August 1, 1952, York, PA

Home: West Chester, PA

Teams - As Player: Houston Astros 1973-1976, Chicago Cubs 1977-1978, Phillies 1979-1988, Houston Astros 1989

Teams - As Coach:  Phillies 2001-2004 and 2010-

1981 Phillies - The Missing Links

1981 Fleer #22, 1981 TCMA Oklahoma City 89ers #7 and #9 and 1994 Topps Traded #130T

There's only one new addition to the Missing Link Phillies players in 1981 as there were only 36 different Phillies players in the strike-shortened season.  The addition of Donruss and Fleer to the baseball card landscape forever altered collecting patterns, as we collectors now had a choice of which product would receive our hard-earned lawn mowing money.  Of course Donruss and Fleer are now long gone and we're stuck with collecting whatever product Topps decides to dole out.  But I digress.

3 Cards or More
31 Players

2 Cards
**John Vukovich (153 games from 1970-1971, 1976-1977 and 1979-1981) - 1980 Burger King Phillies #8 and 1981 Fleer #22
**Mark Davis (11 games in 1980 and 1981, 25 games in 1993) - 1982 Topps #231 and 1993 Ultra #437

1 Card
Dan Larson (21 games from 1978-1981) - 1980 Phillies Postcards #15

0 Cards
Jerry Reed (11 games from 1981-1982)
Don McCormack (5 games from 1980-1981)

1993 Upper Deck
Then and Now #TN6

Ryne Sandberg, who played just 13 games with the 1981 Phillies, could have made the list, if not for his Phillies cards issued following his Hall of Fame playing career.  I believe his first official Phillies card was the 1993 Upper Deck Then and Now card.  This insert card featured a head shot of Sandberg as a Phillie over a holographic image of him as a Cub.  Topps gave him a Phillies card in its 1994 Traded set and two more cards within its 2010 National Chicle set.

Jerry Reed began his nine-year career with 11 forgettable games with the declining Phillies in 1981 and 1982.  He compiled a 1-1 record and a 6.08 ERA before being packaged with two other prospects in the deal with the Indians that brought John Denny to the Phillies.  Reed spent three seasons in Cleveland, three more seasons in Seattle and finished up with a half season in Boston.  He had to wait until 1986 for his "rookie" cards, appearing with the Indians in the 1986 Fleer and Topps sets.

Past Missing Link Posts
1980 Phillies - Orlando Isales and Don McCormack

1990 Phillies - Louie Meadows

1991 Phillies - Dave LaPoint

1992 Phillies - Darrin Chapin and Mickey Weston

1993 Phillies - None

1994 Phillies - Tom Edens and Bob Wells

1995 Phillies - Jim Deshaies, Kevin Elster, Omar Olivares, Chuck Ricci and Dennis Springer

1996 Phillies - Glenn Dishman, Bronson Heflin, Manny Martinez and Rafael Quirico

1997 Phillies - Rob Butler and Mike Robertson

1998 Phillies - Robert Dodd and Matt Whiteside

1999 Phillies - Joel Bennett, Domingo Cedeno, Joe Grahe and Torey Lovullo

2000 Phillies - Clemente Alvarez, Kirk Bullinger, Mark Holzemer and Bryan Ward

**UPDATE (6/19/15) - I know now that Vukovich had additional Phillies baseball cards in the 1971, 1980 and 1981 Phillies Photocards sets.  Davis has additional team issued cards in the 1982 Tastykake Phillies set and in the style of the 1993 Medford Phillies set.

2001 Upper Deck Hall of Famers Endless Summer #ES3 Mike Schmidt

Starting tomorrow morning, The Phillies Room will be running on auto-pilot as I'm taking a short, albeit much needed, summer vacation.

My five-year-old son Doug graduated from pre-school last week and he'll start kindergarten in the fall.  His teacher Miss Kim told the students (and their parents) in her commencement address to always remember to "try your best" and to "be nice to everyone."  She also told her students how important it will be as they get older to "relax every once in a while and just have fun."  Little did Doug know, but he was receiving some of the best advice he'll ever get.

So on Miss Kim's advice, I'm going to relax this week and just have fun.

1999 Pacific Invincible Thunder Alley #13 Scott Rolen

Philadelphia and the surrounding regions experienced a little bit of our own thunder alley last night, causing the postponement of game one of the Rays-Phillies series.  After almost three hours of steady rain, the game was finally called.

The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader on Sunday.

I wonder why Pacific decided to call this particular insert set "Thunder Alley?"  There's nothing either thunderish or alleyish about the design or the card's theme at all.  I guess it does have a better ring to it than Pacific Invincible Gold Bricks with Fancy Neon-Like Team Logos.  (This is the kind of thing I think about during rain delays.)

Rays at Phillies: June 22nd to June 24th

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Friday 7:05, Saturday 4:05, Sunday 1:35

Rays 38-31, 3rd Place in the A.L. East, 3 1/2 games behind the Yankees
Phillies 33-38, 5th Place in the N.L. East, 9 games behind the Nationals

Rays Probables:  James Shields (7-4, 3.72), Alex Cobb (3-3, 3.82), David Price (9-4, 3.08)
Phillies Probables:  Cliff Lee (0-3, 3.48), Kyle Kendrick (2-7, 5.29), Cole Hamels (10-3, 3.25)

At the Ballpark:  Tonight is the Sound of Philadelphia Celebration at the ballpark.  Tomorrow night, and I'm not making this up, is Mama Lucia Meatballs Ladies Night.  All women attending the game will receive a special Phillies print, courtesy of Mama Lucia Meatballs.  And on Sunday afternoon, all kids will get a Jonathan Papelbon t-shirt.

Phillies Leaders

Average:  Carlos Ruiz - .347

Runs:  Hunter Pence - 47

Home Runs:  Hunter Pence - 13 

RBIs:  Hunter Pence - 42

Stolen Bases:  Shane Victorino - 15

Wins:  Cole Hamels - 10

ERA:  Cole Hamels - 3.25

Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 99

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 17

1989 Score Hottest 100 Stars #26 Juan Samuel

Rockies 4, Phillies 1
Game 71 - Thursday Night, June 21st in Philadelphia
Record - 33-38, 5th Place, 9 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The offense shut things down for the night following Jimmy Rollins' lead-off home run and the Phillies couldn't overcome four late Rockies runs.

What It Means:  What's worse - the fact that the Phillies lost again, or the fact that I'm starting to get used to it?

What Went Wrong:  Vance Worley was cruising along until the seventh, when he allowed a two-out, two-run home run to Chris Nelson.  Michael Schwimer allowed another two-run home run (to Willin Rosario) in the ninth, pretty much sealing the win for the Rockies.  The offense was 0 for 9 with runners in scoring position.

Featured Card:  I may eventually end up flat out abandoning my policy of not featuring a current card of a current Phillie following a loss.  Fact is, I want to feature more 2012 cards, but the Phillies have been doing their best to thwart my efforts.  I dug out the blog's bylaws and the blog's executive committee took a vote last night on this rule, but we were deadlocked.  So in lieu of a relatively new card of Jimmy Rollins, featured here is a card of current third base coach Juan Samuel.

Why Samuel, you might ask?  Rollins led off the game last night with his 39th career lead-off home run, padding his lead on the all-time Phillies list in that category.  Samuel is second on the list with 14, and Lenny Dykstra is third with 12.

Heat + Win = Minis

2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini #325,
2011 Topps Allen & Ginter's Mini Black #99 and
2012 Topps Gypsy Queen Mini #2a

Phillies 7, Rockies 6
Game 70 - Wednesday Night, June 20th in Philadelphia
Record - 33-37, 5th Place, 8 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies lucked into a walk-off win, overcoming the Rockies in the ninth and winning the ballgame, 7-6.

What It Means:  I'll take it.

What Went Right:  The Rockies kept taking the lead, and the Phillies kept battling back.  Despite Joe Blanton's and Jonathan Papelbon's best efforts to hand this one to the Rockies, the Phillies managed to pull off the win.  Prior to the dramatic ninth inning, the big hit for the Phillies was a three-run home run from Michael Martinez.

Featured Cards:  I couldn't decide which player deserved the featured card in this post, so I went with three mini cards.  Ty Wigginton started the Phils rally in the ninth with a two-out single and Hunter Pence doubled him home to tie the score at 6-6.  After Carlos Ruiz was intentionally walked, Shane Victorino reached on an infield single and Placido Polanco reached on an error by Todd Helton, allowing Pence to come home with the winning run.

The Pence mini is his non-variation card from the Gypsy Queen Mini set, while the Victorino card is one of the mini variations not available as a standard sized card in the regular base set.  Polanco was left out of this year's Gypsy Queen set, so I'm showing off his  fancy black parallel mini card from last year's Topps Allen & Ginter's release.

Field Report:  It was ridiculously hot at the ballpark tonight.  Game-time temperature was 95 degrees and Jenna and I decided to forgo actually sitting in our seats and at least find a place to watch the game where there was a slight breeze.  After having dinner at Harry the K's, we ended up finding a nice spot to view the game from the rooftop porch.  So instead of sweltering in our seats (and sitting, of course), we opted to enjoy the breeze above Ashburn Alley and stand.  Surprisingly enough, it was an enjoyable way to watch the ballgame.  The Phillies are now 3-4 in games I've attended this year.

Of importance to fellow collectors of the Phillies team-issued sets:  An employee manning the Newstand in Ashburn Alley told me he expects the Second Edition of the postcard-sized cards to be available for sale following the All-Star break.

2012 Topps Museum Collection Momentous Material Jumbo Relics #MMJR-JRO Jimmy Rollins

Phillies 7, Rockies 2
Game 69 - Tuesday Night, June 19th in Philadelphia
Record - 32-37, 5th Place, 8 games behind the Nationals

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies hit, pitched and caught the ball better than the Rockies, winning 7-2.

What It Means:  For at least last night, the Phillies looked as if they actually remembered how to play the game.

What Went Right:  On the day rookie Freddy Galvis was suspended 50 games for testing positive for performance enhancing drugs, the Phillies and their fans needed some good news.  Jimmy Rollins, Carlos Ruiz, John Mayberry, Jr. and Cole Hamels delivered, doing everything right in a win against the Rockies.

Rollins scored three times and went 2 for 2 with two walks.  Mayberry and Ruiz each contributed a two-run home run.  And Hamels overcame a rough first inning to win his 10th game.  He allowed just the two runs on six hits while striking out seven.

Featured Card:  I have no idea why this card ended up in my collection.  I typically don't go after relic or jersey or patch cards, especially those found in high-end products like this year's Topps Museum Collection.  My guess is that I bid on this card on eBay at its low opening price and I came away the winner.  It's definitely a cool card, and probably the largest jersey piece of Rollins' in my collection.  Making it even cooler is the fact that it looks to be from one of the retro-style Phillies uniforms the team has occasionally broken out over the past few years.

And remember when Topps just used to number its cards using . . . numbers?  Those were the good old days.

Rockies at Phillies: June 19th to June 21st

Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia, PA
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 7:05

Rockies 25-40, 4th Place in the N.L. West, 16 games behind the Dodgers
Phillies 31-37, 5th Place in the N.L. East, 9 games behind the Nationals

Rockies Probables:  Josh Outman (0-2, 8.44), Alex White (2-5, 5.56), Jeff Francis (0-1, 12.46)
Phillies Probables:  Cole Hamels (9-3, 3.34), Joe Blanton (6-6, 4.93), Vance Worley (3-3, 2.80)

At the Ballpark:  Today is Irish Heritage Night and fans attending Thursday night's game will receive a MLB Network drawstring back pack.

Phillies Leaders

Average:  Carlos Ruiz - .354

Runs:  Hunter Pence - 46

Home Runs:  Hunter Pence - 13 

RBIs:  Hunter Pence - 39

Stolen Bases:  Shane Victorino - 15

Wins:  Cole Hamels - 9

ERA:  Cole Hamels - 3.34

Strikeouts:  Cole Hamels - 92

Saves:  Jonathan Papelbon - 17