Game 136 - Harper, Hoskins, Kingery all Homer; Remembering Chace Numata

Phillies 7, Reds 1
Game 136 - Monday Afternoon, September 2nd in Cincinnati
Record - 71-65, 3rd place, 12 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  Scott Kingery, Bryce Harper and Rhys Hoskins (twice) all homered for the Phillies in this 7-1 series opening win.

What It Means:  The win kept the Phillies at 2 1/2 games behind the Cubs for the second Wild Card.

What Happened:  Four of the Phillies' six hits were of the home run variety, accounting for all seven runs.  Drew Smyly and Jared Hughes combined for seven innings of one run ball with Smyly striking out eight.  Nick Vincent recorded the final three outs in his Phillies debut.

Featured Card:  I'm hoping these two have many, many multi-home run games together and that leads to many more combo baseball cards.  I believe this is Hoskins and Harper's fourth baseball card together as they've appeared on two Topps Now cards (one from the 2018 Home Run Derby and one from this season in July), a Throwback Thursday online exclusive card in the style of 1970 Topps, and this Combo card inserted into packs of Topps Heritage High Numbers.

2017 Choice Reading Fightin
Phils Theme Night #2

Transactions:  Nick Williams joined the team in Cincinnati, giving them 31 active players.  With the IronPigs season ending on Monday, more bench and bullpen reinforcements could be on the way.

* * *

I also wanted to pay tribute to catcher Chace Numata who passed away on Monday after succumbing to injuries sustained in a skateboarding accident.  Numata, who was playing for the Tigers' Double-A team this season, spent his first eight professional seasons in the Phillies organization between 2010 and 2017.  He was one of the first players to ever sign a card for my son Doug back in 2013 at our first Lakewood BlueClaws game.  Based on the tributes pouring in over social media, Numata was a wonderful person and a tremendous teammate.  My sincere condolences go out to his family.  #ForNumi

Phillies Minor League Free Agents & Chachi Almost Cards

2017 Chachi Almost #18

2017 Chachi Almost #20

2017 Topps Update #US171

On Tuesday, Baseball America published a list of 572 new minor league free agents and the list included 16 players from the Phillies organization.  Players in red below saw time with the Phillies over the past few seasons.

RHP:  Michael Mariot, Colton Murray, Miguel Nunez, Jesen Therrien
LHP:  Cesar Ramos
RHP/LHP:  Pat Venditte
C:  Wilson Garcia, Chace Numata, Nick Rickles
1B:  Jake Fox, Brock Stassi
2B:  Angelo Mora
3B:  Harold Martinez
SS:  Hector Gomez
OF:  Christian Marrero, Herlis Rodriguez

Both Mariot and Murray spent time in the Phillies bullpen during the 2016 season, but neither got the call all season long in 2017.  Stassi provided a feel-good story coming out of spring training, as the 27-year-old rookie made the Phillies' opening day roster.  In 51 games, he hit .167 with a pair of home runs and he earned baseball cards in the Topps Heritage High Numbers and Topps Update sets for his efforts.

Moving On - 2017-2018 Offseason

• Henderson Alvarez - rhp (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Ty Kelly - 2b-of (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Kevin Siegrist - lhp (10/4/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Pedro Beato - rhp (10/13/17) - Elected free agency.
• Andres Blanco - inf (11/2/17) - Elected free agency.
• Clay Buchholz - rhp (11/2/17) - Elected free agency.
• Hyun Soo Kim - of (11/2/17) - Elected free agency.
• Daniel Nava - of (11/2/17) - Elected free agency.
• Pedro Florimon - inf-of (11/6/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Jesen Therrien - rhp (11/6/17) - Outrighted off 40-man roster and elected free agency.
• Michael Mariot - rhp (11/6/17) - Elected free agency.
• Colton Murray - rhp (11/6/17) - Elected free agency.
• Brock Stassi - 1b (11/6/17) - Elected free agency.

2017 Chachi Almost #16

2017 Chachi Almost #21

2017 Chachi Almost #24

I also wanted to clear out my draft folder of a bunch of Chachi Almost cards.  I make cards during spring training of every player on the 40-man roster as well as each non-roster invitee if a good photo becomes available.  These cards wait patiently all season to perhaps become official Chachi cards, but if the player doesn't get the call the cards join the Chachi Almost insert set.  Mark Appel, Dylan Cozens, Elniery Garcia, Scott Kingery, Logan Moore, Shane Pullin, Roman Quinn and Alberto Tirado should all be in the mix when the Phillies head to Clearwater in February.

Hector Gomez, Mariot, Murray, Chace Numata and Cesar Ramos will be moving on.

2017 Chachi Almost #13

2017 Chachi Almost #14

2017 Chachi Almost #15

2017 Chachi Almost #17

2017 Chachi Almost #19

2017 Chachi Almost #22

2017 Chachi Almost #23

2017 Chachi Almost #25

Phillies Now Up to 20 Non-Roster Invitees

2011 Topps #639

2015 Topps Update #US293

2016 Topps Pro Debut #50

In a sure sign that we're inching closer to spring training, the Phillies announced 15 new additions to the non-roster invitee list yesterday.  I had originally missed the addition of left-handed pitcher Cesar Ramos, as he was signed to a minor league contract back on January 5th.  The majority of these players spent the bulk of 2016 within the Phillies organization, and the most notable name on the list is top prospect J.P. Crawford.

Here's a run-down of the now 20 players who will be wearing numbers in the 70s and 80s when camp breaks in February.

2016 Choice Reading Fightin Phils Holiday #2

2016 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #10

2015 Immaculate Collection Blue #151

2016 Topps Heritage Minor League #184

Player (position) - 2016 Organization - Last Major Baseball Card Appearance
1.  Sean Burnett (lhp) - Nationals/Dodgers/Braves/Twins/Nationals - 2014 Topps #68 (Angels)
2.  Pedro Florimon (inf) - Pirates - 2014 Topps #568 (Twins)
3.  Hector Gomez (inf) - Korea - 2015 Topps Update #US229 (Brewers)
4.  Daniel Nava (of) - Angels/Royals - 2016 Topps Now #293 (Angels)
5.  Bryan Holaday (c) - Tigers/Rangers/Red Sox - 2014 Topps Update #US117 (Tigers)
6.  Cesar Ramos (lhp) - Rangers/Tigers - 2015 Topps Update #US293 (Angels)
7.  Victor Arano (rhp) - Phillies - 2015 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs #BCAP-VA (Phillies)
8.  Pedro Beato (rhp) - Orioles - 2011 Topps Chrome #199 (Mets)
9.  J.P. Crawford (inf) - Phillies - 2016 Bowman's Best Top Prospects #TP12 (Phillies)
10.  Taylor Featherston (inf) - Angels/Phillies - 2015 Topps Update #US148 (Angels)
11.  Dalier Hinojosa (rhp) - Phillies - 2015 Immaculate Collection #151 (Red Sox)
12.  Rhys Hoskins (1b) - Phillies - 2016 Bowman Draft #BD186 (Phillies)
13.  Scott Kingery (inf) - Phillies - 2016 Bowman Draft #BD128 (Phillies)
14.  Michael Mariot (rhp) - Phillies - N/A
15.  Logan Moore (c) - Phillies - 2011 Bowman Draft Chrome Prospects #BDPP44 (Phillies)
16.  Colton Murray (rhp) - Phillies - 2016 Topps #488 (Phillies)
17.  Chace Numata (c) - Phillies - N/A
18.  Cam Perkins (of) - Phillies - 2014 Bowman Chrome Prospects #BCP86 (Phillies)
19.  Andrew Pullin (of) - Phillies - 2012 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks #BDPP59 (Phillies)
20.  Brock Stassi (1b) - Phillies - N/A

2016 Choice Reading Fightin Phils Playoff #29

2016 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #17

2016 Grandstand Reading Fightin Phils #19

2016 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #20

2016 Grandstand Clearwater Threshers #20

2016 Choice Lehigh Valley IronPigs #21

2016 Reading Fightin Phils Holiday #25

2016 Reading Phillies 50 Greatest Players #42

Goodbye Young, Hello BlueClaws

2013 Bowman Platinum #38

Cubs 4, Phillies 3
Game 136 - Saturday Afternoon, August 31st in Chicago
Record - 62-74, 4th Place, 21 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Cubs came from behind twice to down the Phils, 4-3.

What It Means:  The Phillies will try for the series win this afternoon and then head home for a series with the Nationals.

What Went Wrong:  Cliff Lee struggled through his five innings of work, allowing three runs (two earned) on nine hits while walking three.  Zach Miner allowed the Cubs to take the lead for good on the second pitch he threw in the sixth when Starlin Castro homered to center.

Michael Young had three hits and a costly error, which serves as a perfect microcosm of his Phillies career.

Featured Card:  When I woke up on Sunday morning, I learned that Young had been traded away to the Dodgers.  Last night, we learned of John McDonald's departure (to the Red Sox) from Vin Scully while listening to the Dodgers game driving home from the Lakewood BlueClaws game.  I'll have more on the BlueClaws game below.

Young hit .272 in 125 games for the Phillies this season and to say his defense at third was shaky would be extremely favorable.  Still, his presence on the team did gain him a few fans - most notably my wife and my six-year-old son, Doug.  Both were sad when I informed them this morning that Young, with McDonald, were now ex-Phillies.

With the exception of Topps Archives, Young had Phillies cards in all the major Topps releases this year.  This is perhaps his final Phillies card, from the Bowman Platinum set.

2013 Brandt Lakwood BlueClaws #5, #9, #17 and #31

Doug and Art Charles

Field Report:  We packed up the boys and made the 90-minute trek to Lakewood, NJ on Saturday night to take in a Single-A Lakewood BlueClaws game.  An inning into the game, I was telling my wife that we definitely need to go to more minor league games.

Our seats were awesome, the food was good, the tickets were cheap, the players were nice and the boys had fun.  On top of that, we got to see some good baseball and get more familiar with players who could be appearing in Chachi sets by 2015 or 2016.  In particular, this year's first round pick, J.P. Crawford, looked fantastic on a few plays at short.

I bought Doug a BlueClaws team set and he had fun before the game tracking down autographs of several BlueClaws players and former Phillie (now coach) Aaron Fultz.  Art Charles, Larry Greene, Jr., and Chace Numata were very accommodating with their autographs and they helped to make my son's night.

We'll be going back to a game next season as the 90-minute drive was definitely well worth it.