SNAPSHOTS 2015 05 08: Mets @ Phillies

As a fan it is tough to watch a bad team, but if you look hard enough there are appealing games on the schedule. Friday Nights was one of those:

-It was a Friday Night, a good opportunity for a worker bee like myself to get to a game
-The weather was favorable
-The Division Leading New York Mets were in town
-And there was a Big Time Pitching matchup, Matt Harvey vs Cole Hamels

SnapShots

2015 04 08 Cole Hamels

Cole Hamels was the Ace that won out this time. He held the Mets to four hits and a manufactured run through seven innings. The Phillies southpaw recorded 8 Ks against 2 walks. The bullpen did the rest, Ken Giles perfect inning, Papelbon recovers from a leadoff single with a couple of Ks and a line out.

Freddy Galvis and Dilson Herrera 2015 05 08

The Offense was led by Freddy Galvis who had 3 hits and a couple of stolen bases along with Ryan Howard who had a pair of RBIs including a solo Homer

Matt Harvey 2015 05 08

Prior to Friday night's start Harvey had handled the Phillies pretty easily. His night wasn't bad just not as dominant as prior outings. Three runs over six for the Dark Knight, one of those runs was pretty much scored by Freddy Galvis' legs in the first inning. Freddy singled, stole 2nd, and came home on a Ryan Howard ground single when Galvis was attempting steal third.

 

Cole Hamels vs John Mayberry Jr 2015 05 08

Beautiful Night for a ballgame, nice to get a W vs a quality starter.

Sources and Links
baseball-ref

RTC: 2015 Topps Opening Day #111 Dilson Herrera

With the Mets coming into town for the weekend, in our Reading the Competition feature we take a look at a 2015T OD  card of Mets prospect Dilson Herrera. 

2015 Topps Opening Day #111 Dilson Herrera

Baseball America ranked Dilson Herrera as the #46 MLB prospect going into the 2015 season.

The Colombian born Middle Infielder got a taste of the Majors in 2014 and I imagine he will at some point work his way into a platoon situation with Daniel Murphy. Herrera's offensive numbers throughout four minor league seasons have shown him to be a decent contact hitter with some pop. He has a .300 career BA in the Minors with double digit homers each of the last two seasons.

It should also be noted that Dilson is currently only 21 years of age and has played well versus older competition.

Herrera was acquired by the Mets as part of a trade that sent Marlon Byrd to the Pittsburgh Pirates. It will be interesting to see how he stacks up with Ben Lively who the Phillies got in return for Marlon Byrd this past off-season.   

2015 Topps Opening Day 
I tried to get a sharp scan of this card but it never was as good as I needed, so this may be hard to spot. Or you can check the Topps Website here and use the magnification function - which I have done beolw. What is the name on the Bat Barrell? .

Is it me or does it say Wifredo Tovar?

The oddity is that the bat knob has the #2, which is Herrera's number - clearly seen on his uniform on the card above. So we have a Bat that has Herrera's number on the knob but appears to have Tovar's (who wore #70 with the Mets) name on the barrel.

A quick search revealed this,  Apparently Tovar wore #2 at Binghamton. I suppose he had a case of bats made and still has a few of them - and Dilson Herrera must like them. 

Dilson Herrara's card number in flagship is #241, same image minus the OD Logo.

Sources and Links
Collect the Mets - Matt Reynolds
Baseball-ref
Topps
Cardboard Connection

Original posted 2015 0507
Update 2015 0515 - Added magnified Photo