Game Report: 2016 09 12 - Pirates 2 @ Phillies 6

The Phillies turned another page in their 2016 rebuild during Monday Night's 6-2 victory over the struggling Pirates.

Not one but two of their prospects crossed milestones: Jorge Alfaro made his Major League Debut and Roman Quinn got his first home start. Even sweeter each of the rookies recorded their first hits as well.

Snapshots

Roman Quinn got to bat at CBP for the first time and had a pretty good night. He went 2-4 with a pair of doubles, 2 RBIs and a walk.

After a tough first inning Jeremy Hellickson settled down and pitched into the 7th only allowing 1 unearned run and three singles.

Gerrit Cole's first start off of the DL didn't go well. He was lifted after two innings. He gave up 5 Runs on four hits and four ugly walks.

 Freddy Galvis homered for the Good Guys.

I understand how Roman Quinn got the Anonymous Treatment in the Topps Starting Lineup department. However....

How is it that Jeremy Hellickson doesn't have a card yet?

GGA

Good Guy Awards go out to the Pirates Josh Harrison (above) and David Freese who each signed a bunch of autographs pregame.

 I picked up my first Rob Manfred Baseball on Monday Night.

Moving on Up

Now that school is back in session tix for selected games are even cheaper $14 for a night at the ballpark ain't bad, even if your watching a fourth place team. The Phillies recorded their 64th Win last night which guarantees they will finish with an improved record over the 63-99 of 2015.

Sources
Baseball-Ref

NL Wild Card: 2013 Topps Chrome Gerrit Cole (rc)

In tonight's Wild Card game the Host Pirates will be sending out their ace Gerrit Cole.


2013 Topps Chrome #210 Gerrit Cole (RC)

I believe this is from the bonus parallels that showed up with racks of 2013T Chrome. The combo of the Pirates Black & Yellow with the Topps Orange parallel and the season this is the perfect Halloween card.

I will be rooting for the cross-state Pirates tonight and hope they don't run into any unfriendly ghosts.

With Jake Arrieta going for the Cubs and Cole (19-8, 2.60 ERA, 148 ERA+, 4.5 WAR) for the Pirates, I am expecting an exciting pitching matchup with some bizarre batting hero in tonight's winner or go home special. 

Sources and Links
2015 Playoff Index
baseball-ref

RTC Pirates: Gerrit Cole NL April 2015 Pitcher of the Month

Tonight the Phillies open their series with Pirates by facing the reigning NL pitcher of the month. Gerrit Cole

2015 Topps Opening Day #22 Gerrit Cole

The 24 year old right-handed hurler earned the award with a stellar 1.76 ERA, 4-0 start. In is 30 2/3 innings of work he struck out 35 while only allowing a single home run (Reds Todd Frazier)

2011 Draft
Gerrit Cole was the first overall pick of the 2011 draft and is one of the big reasons the Pirates have high hopes for the 2015 season.

We are nearing the four year mark for the 2011 draft and several big names have already emerged from the class. Cole is one of three impressive RHP from the first round who have already emerged, The other two are the Marlins Jose Fernandez and The A's Sonny Gray. Kolten Wong, George Spiringer, and the injured Anthony Rendon lead the batters from the round. Mookie Betts is the most significant player taken after the opening round.

The Phillies did not have a First Round Pick in 2011, There second round pick, Roman Quinn, has been a success so far and is off to a good start in 2015 with AA Reading. In the latter rounds the Phillies were able to pick up two players that are currently making contributions at the Major League Level Cody Asche (4th round) Ken Giles (7th).

Sources and Links
2015 Topps Index
WAR and the Draft

Baseball-Ref
MLB Pirates

Bucket or Chuck-It 2013 Topps Chrome Value Pack

The break in the 2013 PostSeason gives us the chance to clear out some old stuff from the Draft Folder.  Today we add to our Bucket or Chuck-it with a "Value Pack" of 2013 Topps Chrome.

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2013 Topps Chrome #208 Cliff Lee

I have admitted it before, parallels are lame and rarely show creativity, but boy am I a sucker for them. Not to the point where I would pick up a hobby box, but I typically pick up a couple of packs each year.  

Opening a pack is generally fun, even if most of the cards are ones that I have seen previously.  The Cliff Lee card above is the base chrome. It is the same photo featured on his series 1 card

Highlights 

 1972 Topps Retros appear once again.  Yu Darvish is probably one of the better players in the set.

As with 2011 Value packs contain 3 Orange parallel cards.  This is the best card I picked up among the bonus cards.  I don't see Gerrit Cole on the S1 or S2 checker for 2013 Topps, so this may be what the Cole card will look like in 2013 U&H.

 Refractors are the lowest level parallel in Chrome. I picked up one player from each of the FLA franchises as the two parallels.

 

Selected foursome of the base cards, Mike Nunino and Alex Colome RC. Former Phil Hunter Pence, in what I believe is a photoshopper.  Victor Martinez here to fill out the quartet. 

 The Last 2 orange cards were Wainwright and Nick Maronde RC.

Topps Chrome Curse?

Topps Chrome comes out and finally puts an Oriole on the cover, 5 minutes later Manny Machado rolled his knee.

Bucket or Chuck-it Verdict

I got a pretty good pack, but the $9.50 price point for 15 cards takes some of the fun out of busting packs - Verdict = Chuck-it. 

And what makes this a value pack.  The Target I was at didn't sell individual packs at all, so there were only 2 ways I could pick up Topps Chrome - Value Packs and Blasters (32 cards/ $20). Shenanigans.

2013 Topps Chrome #210 Gerrit Cole (RC)

Congrats to the Pirates and Rookie Starter Gerrit Cole

2013 Topps Chrome #210 Gerrit Cole (RC)

Near as I can tell this is Gerrit Cole's first card since reaching the Majors (he is not in Series 1 or 2), so we have a true rookie card here. Actually this is a parallel of his RC, the base would be straight chrome rather than orange.   

Mostly I wanted to post this card before it gets end off to its future home with the Pirates Treasure Room.