Snapshots: 2014 07 25 & 27 D-Backs @ Phillies

Been a strange week in what has been a forgettable season for the Philadelphia Phillies. Team Phungo ended up going to the bookends of Phils 3 game series with Diamondbacks. Fortunately these were the two games the Phillies won 9-5 on Friday Night and 4-2 on Sunday.

Turned out Ryan Howard's name came up an awful lot this weekend.

Friday night Howard was out of the lineup for the 3rd consecutive game.  Yet he had the honor of being the subject of the cover photo for our ticket. Each night a Phillies player is also the representative for their Charitable Ticket Program.  On Friday in a continuation of the unfortunate confluence of events Howard's Sluggers were the beneficiaries of the ticket program - on a night when the actual Slugger never played.

Snapshots

Marlon Byrd 

It was 25th of July and the Phillies celebrated Christmas July. As part of the festivities the player pix were outfitted with holiday attire. Marlon Byrd got a Santa Cap and an ugly sweater.


The Phanatic got into the Holiday Spirit as well, here he celebrates with a couple of Phillies ballgirls. 

 

Grady Sizemore

I was disappointed the Phillies have gotten away from the Topps sponsored game day lineup cards. They have opted to use their own design shown here. I believe this is this is the same design that is used on their postcard player sets. Grady Sizemore has only been with the club since the beginning of the month, so this is sort of like his first card as a Phil. 

Sunday

 Ryne Sandberg and Chase Utley

Sunday was Hall of Fame day, to mark the occasion all MLB players wore a special 75th anniversary of the HoF patch. Here we have HOF second baseman Ryne Sandberg with Chase Utley who may someday find his way into the Hall.

Good Guy Award

Ryan Howard 

As mentioned above Ryan Howard had a crazy week. He was in the lineup on Sunday but still found time to sign autographs almost right up to the anthem.  About 15 minutes later Howard blasted a line drive Home Run into the left-centerfield bleachers.

In addition to Howard, Darin Ruf and Chase Utley also get GGAs for taking some time to greet the fans and pen some signatures.   

Paul Goldschmidt

One of the reasons the Phillies won the series was they were able to keep D-Backs slugger Paul Goldschmidt in check.  Goldschmidt was 2-11 on the weekend.

Sunday was also Cole Hamels T-Shirsey day. Here he is being interviewed by Scott Palmer.

Vidal Nuno got the start for Arizona. The rookie was acquired by the D-Backs earlier this month in the trade that sent Brandon McCarthy to the Yankees.

Marlon Byrd has been the subject of trade rumors in recent weeks. Here it appears that he made sure to get one last good meal off of the Phillies buffet.

Sources
Baseball-ref.com
Philles Behind the Pinstripes

Snapshots: 2014 05 02 Nationals 5 @ Phillies 3

On Friday Night The Phillies lost to the Nationals 5-3 and took sole possession of last place in the NL East. Marlon Byrd got he Phillies off to a quick 3-0 start with a Home Run in the first, but that was it for the Phillies scoring.  The Phils were up 3-2 going into the 8th but Mike Adams and rest of the bullpen were unable to hold that lead. 

Snapshots

 
 Cliff Lee vs Tyler Moore

It was a beautiful night - this is a shot of Cliff Lee pitching to Tyler Moore to start the 3rd inning.Unfortunately later in this AB Moore would hit a line drive Home Run to left.  

Cliff Lee Warm Up

Notice anything odd here. This is Lee warming up by doing his fake pitch to towards 2nd base. He does this prior to the start of each inning. I am going to try out a few different angles to see if I can get a good shot of this interesting/odd quirk of Lee's routine.

Stephen Strasburg
Lee wasn't the only star pitcher featured on Friday Night. Stephen Strasburg took the hill for the Nationals.

Cliff Lee and Stephen Strasburg

The bullpens are side by side on different levels at CBP. I had ambitions of getting both Lee and Strasburg throwing pitches in a single picture, but I was too impatient to wait around for the right shot.

Marlon Byrd

All of the Phillies scoring took place on a single swing of the bat by Byrd, This is a photo of the right fielder At Bat later in the game. He is demonstrating his quck high step timing the incoming pitch.  

Ben Revere & Denard Span

Both Centerfielders in the game were members of the same Twins outfield in 2012.  This is the in happy time prior to the game....

Cliff Lee vs Denard Span: Benches Clear

Cliff Lee and Denard Span had a disagreement regarding Span taking an elongated break out of the batters box in the 5th inning. Stephen Strasburg had just batted, and Span may have been trying to extend his pitchers half-inning break.  Benches cleared, names were called, no one got ejected and life continued.

Couple of interesting notes on the melee - Here we see Denard Span is separted from the remaining players by the umpiring crew. Cliff Lee is relatively close to Span with Cody Asche and Ryan Howard doing what they can to keep their pitcher out of trouble. I like how the main participants are on the left of the shot while the onrushing crowd of the benches comes in from the right - creates just a little tension in the photo.

I think the benches were issued warnings and Home Plate Umpire Jim Reynolds who talked to each reliever that entered the game - I am assuming he spoke to them regarding the handling of timeouts. Later in the game when one of the Nats relievers was dawdling he did allow Chase Utley to call a somewhat late time out
 

 Jayson Werth & Garry Maddox

Garry Maddox was on hand for the game. He was greeting some sort of VIP fan group during BP - here he welcoms Jayson Werth to the group.

  Nats Celebrate

Anthony Rendon caught the last out, a pop out by Freddy (.032 Batting Average) Galvis. Here Rendon shown holding the ball out to give to closer Rafael Soriano. 

Snapshots Opening Day Brewers @ Phillies 2014 04 08

The Phillies Home Opener started off with lots of promise, but ended with a 10-4 loss and the heavy weight of disappointment,  

The long list of grievances for the day included

- Old man winter keeps his dying fingers clutched upon us - Opening Day was delayed a day and when it did come was a bit windier and colder than expected.
-That same windy weather caused the thrilling Navy Leap Frog parachute drop to be cancelled. This is the 2nd consecutive time this has happened for a Phungo Opening Day trip.
-Before we even left for the stadium it was announced that Chase Utley would be out due to the flu.
-The Phillies had a series of fielding gaffes and looked like they were in the first day of spring training rather than the first day of the regular season.
-Kyle Kendrick who we finally decided may have a big season, completed imploded and was unable to execute a big pitch when needed.
-and Finally the player who got top billing on the sports day did it in the game we were attending, unfortunately he was the one guy on the field you couldn't possibly root for - Ryan Braun.

Even with those complaints Team Phungo had a fun day and we are looking forward to the 2014 Phillies season with guarded optimism.

Snapshots


2014 04 08 Steve Carlton & Jamie Moyer

The honorary first pitch was thrown out by Jamie Moyer who was accompanied by Steve Carlton. The pair of southpaws represent the Phillies two World Championship teams.


2014 04 08 Ryan Braun

This is Braun batting in the 6th inning when he flied out to to center. Oddly I took about a dozen pix of Braun and not one was during one of his HR ABs. In addition to his three Homers Braun also robbed Carlos Ruiz of a muli-RBI hit at a key point early in the game.

As I mentioned above, it is tough enough seeing your team get beat badly - it is much worse when the one guy that is out there having a career day is the one guy you just want to boo loudly,

2014 04 08 Kyle Kendrick

Interesting shot of Kendrick taken from the upper deck. After Tuesday's game my enthusiasm for his 2014 season is less than it was earlier in the week.


2014 04 08 Marlon Byrd

Marlon Byrd returns to the Phillies after eight years crisscrossing the baseball landscape.

 
2014 04 08 Phillies Starting Line Up Cards

Starting Line Up Cards are updated for 2014, but they are not affiliated with Topps. The cards do sort of remind me of the Topps Stickers that have come out the last couple of years.
  

2014 04 08 Sixto Lezcano Jersey

I didn't expect to see one of these. Sixto Lezcano played for the Phillies as well as the Brewers and actually was a contributor to the 1983 Wheeze Kids.

2014 04 08 Phillie Phanatic

My favorite Photo of the day - The Phanatic looks a bit dejected here, standing in front of the backdrop of excitement provided by the Opening Day logo.

Sources
Baseball-ref

2002 Topps #331 Marlon Byrd

Against the wishes of Team Phungo the Phillies have brought back outfielder Marlon Byrd.

2002 Topps #331 Marlon Byrd

I just want the Phillies to get younger they go out and get a 36 year old outfielder.

Marlon Byrd is coming off a fine 2013, which may have been the best of his career. He knocked out 24 homers with a very nice .291 BA resulting in a 138 OPS+. If he puts up anywhere near those numbers in 2014 or 15 I will post my apologies to the Phillies Ruben Amaro and Marlon Byrd, but I just can't see it happeing.


2002 Topps Prospects
I may have mentioned this before - I think 2002 Topps is ugly. I suppose it isn't a bad design but boy do I dislike the color, what is that light brown/orange not sure. Beyond the color, I am also not sure why Topps felt it necessary to write their name on the cards twice - once as a logo and once at the top in "2002 Topps". This happened on the base cards not just cards that are included in the prospects subset from which this Marlon Byrd gem was culled.

Remember Subsets. Back before half the pack was Inserts there were subsets. Subsets where all the cards were packed together in one area instead of spread throughout the set like the recent League Leader abominations. In 2002 one of the Subsets was Prospects. 2002 Topps was released in 2 series, the Prospects subset runs from card #307(Jason Lane) thru #326 (Jason Bay RC) in series 1. For Series 2 the Prospect start at #671 (Juan Cruz RC) and finish at #695 (Dan Johnson RC).

The Phillies are represented by Byrd in S1 and Taylor Buchholz (#675) and  Nate Espy (#680) in S2. Jason Bay (photoed with the Expos) is probably ended up with the best career among the 50 prospects. Other Notables include Hank Blalock (#309), Freddy Sanchez (#313), Boof Bonser (#317), and Rich Harden (#687). 

Despite all my complaints regarding Marlon Byrd, I must note that out of the 45 prospects in the 2002 subset, Byrd is the last one standing. Jason Bay announced his retirement in 2013. and beyond that I cannot find anyone else that remains active. 

Sources
baseball-ref.com
baseball card database
baseballcardpedia

2010 Pull N Junk Playoffs: Junk - First Quarter

I am going to start with Junk first - The Junk pulls are so much more fun.  Here are the nominees for Junk of the Year from the First Quarter.


January

2009 Topps T206 #26 Chein-Ming Wang
Topps gets the nod here for including Wang in a year end set despite that fact that he barely played (and poorly at that) for a World Championship Team.
 

February

Chunky guys from 2010 UD 
Pablo Sandoval
Marlon Byrd
Carlos Lee

I didn't like this set at all.  It was just drab.    


March


 
 2010 Topps Opening Day #M15 Mr Met

Any Mr Met card is sure to get a Junk o the Month nomination from Team Phungo 

Ok Your Turn Phungo Readers:

What is Junk of the Month for the first Quarter of 2010:
1 - Chien Ming Wang
2 - Pablo Sandoval
3 - Marlon Byrd
4 - Carlos Lee
5 - Mr Met


Please vote in the Comments.

2010 Topps Series 2 - Wawa v Target

okay so I am way behind - everybody else is oohing and ahhing over A&G and I am still working with Series 2. thats ok. I was never good at being the NKotB - I stopped in at BC Collectibles and I just couldn't $6+tax for a pack of Ginter. So here is my experiment with 2010 topps 2.

Quick experiment in 2010 Topps Series 2 packs. Our local convenience store is carrying some baseball cards, and they were the first place this years S2 packs. I also picked up a pack during a recent trip to target. Here is what we found

Both packs are 12 cards and went for $1.99. Wawa must of messed up their pricing and didn't charge tax on their packs. whoohoo Team Phungo saves 12 cents.

The Challenger - Wawa

2010 Topps 2020 #T16 David Wright 2010 Topps #462 Alcides Escobar 2010 Topps Gold #480 Red Sox Team (#153/2010)


For the record the first card in the pack was of Manny Parra. Just doing best in pack and inserts here. Escobar was the best in the pack both in star quality and as far as the photo. The Yankees Team card was in this pack - with the Sox - go figure. Kung Fu panda was the Topps Attax card. The Pack yielded no Phillies.

Overall a pretty lackluster pack.

The Veteran - Target
2010 Topps #516 Marlon Byrd
2010 Topps #490 Michael Bourn
2010 Topps 2020 #T2 Gordon Beckham
2010 Topps Gold #426 Mark Reynolds (#1046/2010)
2010 Topps Gold #464 Francisco Liriano (#311/2010)

Johan Santana and Matt Cain were both in this pack, but a Met ain't making the cut in this post. Cain got bumped by the former Phils. I wish somebody had not pointed out that the photography looks a little off on the portrait style cards in this set. Still I like the Bourn card. It's a nice touch when a leadoff speedster is featured on a card bunting. The Topps Attax card was of Alexi Ramrez.

As you can see there were two gold cards in this pack. Which was a unintended bonus, as the pack contained 13 card rather than the advertised 12. While there were no Phils in the Target pack, it is the clear winner. The bonus gold card helps - and the star quality of the pack was MUCH better.

The quality of the Target cards was also better. The foil stamping on the cards from Wawa was all over the place. some above some below some weak.


2020 Topps

Everyone is gaga over the 2020 cards, Frankly I don't get it. The card covering tiles out the faces of the players. The T16 card above could be David Wright or it could be Ty Wiggington. And what is with the red and blue dots all over these cards. Check out any white part of the uniform, nothing but red and blue dots.

February 2010 Pull of the Month and Million Card Give Away Dilemma

The dilemma is what should I do with my pull of the month?


It is one of the best cards I could of asked for - It is a Philllies Card. It is aVintage Card. and it is on Phils 1963 Topps Want List - Check, Check, Check.

Unfortunately somebody posted that the shipping is $2.92 per card + 53 cents for each additional card.

As much as I love this card - $3 to Topps is over the limit for me. Mauch is considered a great tactical manager, but he never reached the World Series - He was the Phils skipper who helmed the team during their historic 1964 collapse.

And his cards are basically commons. A quick study found that a 63 Topps Mauch card did recently sell for over $6 shipped on ebay - it was in EX-MT condition though. There were also over 50 commons that sold for under $2 shipped. I consider Mauch a common and can't see the 3 bucks.

For those of you that keep track of such things - my pull of the month came from a Mantle Card:


Meh of the Month


I could of just randomly selected almost any card that I got in my two rack packs of 2010 UD. And honestly the lamest card was probably the one of Target Field featured in my previous post - although I have started to see some better looking stadium cards from this set recently.

Instead I decided on this triumvirate of rather unflattering photos. I know Carlos Lee is a big man, and ditto for Kung Fu Panda - never thought of Marlon Byrd that way. But I think all three of these photos make these guys look a little chunky.

For a look back at January's Phungo Pull of the Month click here.