Game 12 - Offense Racks Up 20 Innings with Zero Runs Scored

Philadelphia Phillies	0
San Francisco Giants	5

2008 Philadelphia Phillies Photocards

Wednesday Afternoon, April 8th

Oracle Park - San Francisco, CA
6-6, 4th Place, 1 1/2 games behind the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies offense continued to snooze in San Francisco and Aaron Nola allowed a three-run home run to Rafael Devers in the seventh in this 5-0 series-ending loss.

What It Means:  Yikes.  The bats are ice cold.  Following an off-day on Thursday, the Phillies open up a nine-game homestead against the Diamondbacks, Cubs and Braves.

What Happened:  This was a 0-0 game heading to the bottom of the sixth, and Nola had authored a strong outing up until that point.  Willy Adames doubled and Luis Arraez walked before Devers hit his blast, giving the Giants a 3-0 lead.  Jose Alvarado was a mess, allowing two more runs in the eighth.  One of those runs was unearned due to Alvarado's own throwing error.  The offense had four singles, including an infield hit, and went 0 for 5 with runners in scoring position.

Featured Card:  I was sad to learn about the passing of Davey Lopes yesterday.  Famous for his play with the Dodgers dynasties in the 1970s and early 1980s, Lopes was the Phillies' first base coach between 2007 and 2010.  I don't know how you'd determine this, but Lopes might be the best first base coach in the team's history.  He worked with Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino, Chase Utley and many others to vastly improve the team's base running game, and he was a huge part of the Phillies' dynasty during those magical years.  He appeared in five team-issued photo card sets during his years with the team.

2026 Virtual Phillies Wall (Coming Soon) / 2026 Season Summary Index / 2026 Chachi Set Checklist

Spring Training Game 18 - Phils' Bats Continue to Mash

Atlanta Braves	9
Philadelphia Phillies	16

2008 Upper Deck
StarQuest Common #SQ-48

Spring Training Game 18

Thursday Afternoon, March 13

BayCare Ballpark - Clearwater, FL

Record - 9-8-1

One Sentence Summary:  Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Max Kepler combined for ten RBIs as the Phillies feasted on Braves' pitching in this 16-9 win.

What It Means:  In their last four games, the Phillies offense has scored a combined 50 runs.

What Happened:  Turner, Schwarber, Bryson Stott and Kepler all homered in this game, with Schwarber's blast a three-run home run that gave the Phillies an 8-1 lead in the second inning.  Tuner's home run, his first of the spring, led off the bottom of the first inning.  After Turner's opening salvo, Bryce Harper walked, Alec Bohm doubled, and J.T. Realmuto tripled them both home.  Stott's home run in the fifth came off old friend Enyel De Los Santos.

Cristopher Sanchez got the start and the win, allowing a run on three hits while striking out five over four innings.  Non-roster relivers Jose Cuas and Koyo Aoyagi didn't help their chances of making the opening day roster, allowing a combined six runs in an inning of work.

Featured Card:  The Phillies announced Jimmy Rollins would be their 2025 Wall of Fame inductee, and I recently added this card to my collection after choosing to have a bunch of recent purchases shipped from COMC.com.  Joining Rollins, and also being honored is former GM Ed Wade, and the Phillies have apparently added an "Executive" Wall of Fame branch?

Camp Head Count:  48

Game 153 - Mets Mash Taijuan

2008 Topps #572

Mets 10, Phillies 6
Game 153 - Thursday Night, September 19th in Flushing
Record - 91-62, 1st Place, 6 games ahead of the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  Taijuan Walker suffered though his latest poor outing, and the Phillies couldn't overcome an early deficit in this 10-6 loss.

What It Means:  The Phillies will have to wait another day to clinch a postseason berth, and hopefully they get back on track tonight with Christopher Sanchez on the mound.

What Happened:  Walker's final line was rough - 3 1/3 innings pitched, 6 hits, 8 runs, 3 walks, a hit batter and a 4 home runs.  His ERA went up to 6.91, putting him with some inauspicious company in terms of all-time worst seasons from a Phillies' starting pitcher.  The Phillies' offense tried to battle back, but the hole dug by Walker was too large to climb out of.  Trea Turner hit a two-run home run in the third and Bryce Harper had a two-run double in the seventh.

Featured Card:  Adam Eaton's name comes up a lot when talking about rough outings from a fifth starter in the midst of a Phillies pennant race.  Eaton was 10-10 with a 6.29 ERA in 30 starts for the 2007 Phillies, and 4-8 with a 5.80 ERA in 21 games for the 2008 Phillies.

2024 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2024 Season Summary Index / 2024 Chachi Set Checklist

2008 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

Number of Cards:  39
Card Size:  4" x 6"

Description:  Full color action photos are featured over a gold tinted background.  The Citizens Bank Park logo makes an appearance on the card fronts for the second year in a row and Jimmy Rollins' card contains a golden logo marking his 2007 National League MVP win. 

The set features a blank-backed header card with a photo of Chase Utley fist bumping a young fan and the declaration that a portion of the proceeds received from the sale of the set would benefit The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.  (This was a nice gesture, and it's odd this is the first and last year - at least publicly - the Phillies have done this.)  The horizontal card backs feature biographical information and complete career statistics.

How Distributed:  The original 37-card set was available at Citizens Bank Park throughout the first half of season.  Given the inclusion of Rudy Seanez, acquired on March 31st, and Chris Snelling, recalled on April 12th, the set was likely not sold until late April.  Following the acquisition of Joe Blanton on August 3rd, cards of Blanton and J.A. Happ were inserted into the set.  The only way to add the two update cards was to purchase the complete set at the ballpark, which included all 37 cards found in the originally released set.

Complete Set Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the back of cards): 

1. Header Card / Chase Utley 2. Mick Billmeyer (#17 - Catching Instructor)    3. Eric Bruntlett (#4 - INF-OF) 4. Pat Burrell (#5 - LF) 5. Clay Condrey (#55 - RHP) 6. Chris Coste (#27 - C) 7. Greg Dobbs (#19 - INF-OF) 8. Rich Dubee (#30 - Pitching Coach) 9. Chad Durbin (#37 - RHP) 10. Adam Eaton (#21 - RHP) 11. Pedro Feliz (#7 - 3B) 12. Tom Gordon (#45 - RHP) 13. Cole Hamels (#35 - LHP)

14. Ramon Henderson (#31 - Bullpen Coach)    15. Ryan Howard (#6 - 1B) 16. Geoff Jenkins (#10 - OF) 17. Kyle Kendrick (#38 - RHP) 18. Brad Lidge (#54 - RHP) 19. Davey Lopes (#15 - First Base Coach) 20. Ryan Mason (#63 - RHP) 21. Charlie Manuel (#41 - MG) 22. Jamie Moyer (#50 - LHP) 23. Brett Myers (#39 - RHP) 24. Jimmy Rollins (#11 - SS) 25. J.C. Romero (#16 - LHP) 26. Carlos Ruiz (#51 - C)

27. Rudy Seanez (#57 - RHP) 28. Steve Smith (#2 - Third Base Coach)    29. Chris Snelling (#9 - OF) 30. So Taguchi (#99 - OF) 31. Milt Thompson (#25 - Hitting Coach) 32. Chase Utley (#26 - 2B) 33. Shane Victorian (#8 - CF) 34. Jayson Werth (#28 - OF) 35. Jimy Williams (#22 - Bench Coach) 36. Phillies Broadcasters 37. Phillie Phanatic

Complete Update Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically with uniform number and position from the front of cards):

1. Joe Blanton (#56 - RHP) 2. J.A. Happ (#43 - LHP)

One and Only Phillies Baseball Card (1):  Seanez

First Appearance in Phillies Photo Card Set (10):  Blanton, Bruntlett, Condrey, Durbin, Feliz, Jenkins, Happ, Kendrick, Lidge, Snelling, Taguchi
Returning Players in Phillies Photo Card Set (17):  Burrell, Coste, Dobbs, Eaton, Gordon, Hamels, Howard, Kendrick, Madson, Moyer, Myers, Rollins, Romero, Ruiz, Utley, Victorino, Werth

Manager (1):  Manuel
Coaches (7):  Billmeyer, Dubee, Henderson, Lopes, Smith, Thompson, Williams
Phillie Phanatic (1)
Broadcasters (1):  Tom McCarthy returned to the Phillies in 2008, and he's joined on this card by Gary Matthews, Chris Wheeler, Scott Franzke, Larry Andersen and Harry Kalas.

Phillies Prospects (1):  Features eight prospects on one card - Tom Barrett, Brad Brink, Steve DeAngelis, Ron Jones, Keith Miller, Brad Moore, Howard Nichols and Shane Turner.  DeAngelis and Nichols never played for the Phillies.
Other Cards (1):  Header Card with Utley

Set Composition:  The Phillies waited a week or so before creating the checklist for this set.  Both Wes Helms and Tim Lahey were on the opening day roster, with Helms lasting just one game and Lahey sticking around for four games.  Snelling was recalled on April 12th when Shane Victorino landed on the Disabled List, and he was active for all of seven games between then and April 19th.

J.A. Happ had a brief stint with the club the first week of July and the last week of July, and was up for good beginning September 1st.  Joe Blanton's inclusion makes sense, and if the Phillies had waited another week, they could have snuck Scott Eyre, acquired on August 7th, into the set as well.

Omissions:  Eyre is the clear omission, especially given his postseason role for the Phillies.  Mike Cervenak could have been included in an update set, as he was on the active roster for 48 games.  Matt Stairs was acquired too late in the season to be an option for the update set, but he would get a 2008-style photo card - see below.

Variations/Rarities:  Fellow collectors Steve and Rick clued me in to the existence of three more cards via comments to this set's original post, back in December 2014.  The Phillies created a card in this style for Stairs to sign at a February 2009 meet and greet.  There was also a late season Meet and Greet in the Hall of Fame Club with Minor League Pitcher of the Year Happ and Minor League Player of the Year, Lou Marson.  Happ is wearing a Lehigh Valley IronPigs jersey in this version.  All three of these rare photo cards have blank backs.

Non-Set Cards 1. J.A. Happ (Lehigh Valley IronPigs) 2. Lou Marson (Reading Phillies) 3. Matt Stairs

Resources:  The Trading Card Database; Phillies collectors Steve and Rick (@rickphils)

This set was originally featured in a post back in December 2014, and I'm going through these older team-issued photo card set posts to update them with new information learned (if any) over the past nine years.

2007 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards / 2009 Philadelphia Phillies Photo Cards

2000-2022 Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page

Game 55 - Phils Can't Get It Going by the Bay

2008 Danbury Mint
Philadelphia Phillies

Giants 8, Phillies 4
Game 55 - Monday Afternoon, May 27th in San Francisco
Record - 38-17, 1st Place, 6 games ahead of the Braves

One Sentence Summary:  The Phillies dropped this Memorial Day matinee with a combination of shaky starting pitching and poor fielding, losing to the Giants, 8-4.

What It Means:  This marks the first back-to-back losses for the Phillies since April 24th and 25th in Cincinnati.

What Happened:  Alec Bohm had two errors, and could have been charged with a third, leading to three Giants' unearned runs.  Taijuan Walker allowed six runs (five earned) in six innings, allowing nine hits and a pair of walks while striking out five.  Kyle Schwarber ended a homerless draught with his 10th home run in the third inning that nearly went into McCovey Cove and Edmundo Sosa hit his league-leading fourth triple.

Featured Card:  I recently added scans of the 2008 Danbury Mint Philadelphia Phillies set to the TCDB, and it was nice to revisit these cards after adding them to my collection 15 years ago.  My Dad is responsible for taking the bait and buying a complete set following the joyous afterglow of the 2008 Phillies World Series victory.  There's a nice red album that came with the set and personalized pockets for each of the 38 22kt gold cards, including this card of current Giants' hitting coach, Pat Burrell.  Cards would come two or three at a time, and he'd drop off the latest arrivals during his frequent visits to his grandson in early to mid 2009.

Fun fact about this set - it's the only place you can find "cards" for short-time Phillies Mike Cervenak and Les Walrond.

Transaction:  Rafael Marchan (c) was activated from the Injured List and optioned to Lehigh Valley.

2024 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2024 Season Summary Index / 2024 Chachi Set Checklist

Spring Training Game 12 - Phils Fall to Rays as Spring Marches On

2008 Topps Update
World Baseball Classic #WBC5

Rays 7, Phillies 3
Spring Training Game 12 - Tuesday Afternoon, March 7th in Clearwater
Record - 5-6-1

One Sentence Summary:  The Rays handled the Phillies fairly easily, winning 7-3 in this mid-spring exhibition game as players started departing for the World Baseball Classic.

What It Means:  The World Baseball Classic, now somehow in its fifth iteration and the first since 2017, kicks off on Tuesday night and will be played through March 21st.  I like the concept of the tournament, and I'll likely watch some of it, but as has been the case in years' past, I'm not too worked up about it.

What Happened:  Bailey Falter, who will likely begin the season as the team's fifth starter, pitched 2 1/3 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits, while striking out three.  Griff McGarry rebounded nicely from his previous outing and threw a scoreless inning.  There wasn't a lot of Phillies offense.  Weston Wilson scored in the seventh as a result of a fielding error.  Wilson would single home Jhailyn Ortiz in the eighth, and Jim Haley would double home Scott Kingery for the team's third and final run.

Featured Card:  I'm sure there have been others, but the only World Baseball Classic baseball card in my Phillies collection is this Chase Utley card from the 2008 Topps Update set.

Camp Head Count:  65

Game 86 - Pujols Sinks Phils One Last Time

2008 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection #237

Cardinals 4, Phillies 3
Game 86 - Sunday Afternoon, July 10th in St. Louis
Record - 46-40, 3rd Place, 7 games behind the Mets

One Sentence Summary:  In a bullpen game necessitated by injuries to a few Phillies starters, the Cardinals pulled out a 4-3 win.

What It Means:  This was a frustrating loss, given the Phillies held a 3-1 lead heading to the bottom of the sixth.  The offense just couldn't keep adding on and the bullpen had a rare poor showing.

What Happened:  Nick Nelson got the spot start and allowed a run in his two innings of work.  Cristopher Sanchez allowed a pair of runs, including a momentum changing home run to Albert Pujols in the sixth.  Seranthony Dominguez was on the mound when the Cardinals took the lead for good on an eighth inning sacrifice fly by Tommy Edman.  The Phillies offense had 11 hits, but couldn't string them together to produce a clump of runs.  Kyle Schwarber hit his 28th home run in the fifth inning.

Featured Card:  Pujols is retiring at the end of this season, and he's a lock to enter Cooperstown once eligible for induction.  Looking through my database of Phillies baseball cards, I have nine cards of his in my collection, all issued between 2003 and 2010, featuring Pujols and at least one Phillies player.  Most of these cards are League Leaders cards, but this card, from the 2008 Upper Deck Ballpark Collection set, is just a random collection of four of the day's top sluggers.

Transaction:  Sam Clay (lhp), on the 40-man roster for a grand total of three days, was claimed off waivers by the New York Mets.

2022 Virtual Phillies Wall / 2022 Season Summary Index / 2022 Chachi Set Checklist

2008 Topps Phillies Team Set

#632 Charlie Manuel MG

#98 Ryan Howard / Chase Utley CC

#58 Ryan Howard LL

#298 Ryan Howard LL

#615 Pat Burrell

#443 Greg Dobbs

#18 J.D. Durbin

#572 Adam Eaton

#573 Tom Gordon

#35 Cole Hamels

#67 Wes Helms

#100 Ryan Howard

#184 Tadahito Iguchi

#28 Kyle Kendrick

#532 Tim Lahey

#496 Brad Lidge

#173 Jamie Moyer

#262 Brett Myers

#30 Jimmy Rollins

#281 Carlos Ruiz

#460 Chase Utley

#238 Shane Victorino

#521 Jayson Werth

#233 Jimmy Rollins MVP

Updates & Highlights

#UH241 Chase Utley AS

#UH304 Brad Lidge AS

#UH184 Chase Utley HRD

#UH228 Joe Blanton

#UH63 Eric Bruntlett

#UH93 Chris Coste

#UH158 Chad Durbin

#UH250 Pedro Feliz

#UH220 Geoff Jenkins

#UH81 J.C. Romero

#UH236 Chris Snelling

#UH278 So Taguchi

2007 Topps Phillies Team Set / 2009 Topps Phillies Team Set

2007-2009 Phillies Alumni Photo Cards

Number of Known Cards:  42
Card Size:  4" x 6"
Description:  I was admittedly completely unaware of the existence of these cards until an eBay search in 2018 yielded photos of team-issued photo cards for Phillies alumni using a design I had never seen before.  The 2008 cards have a blue border with the Phillies Alumni logo along with the player's name and uniform number at the bottom.  The 2009 cards have a gray border with the same Phillies Alumni logo at the bottom, again along with the player's name and uniform number.  Copyright dates and the corresponding year of issuance can be found on the backs of these cards.

How Distributed:  Between 2007 and 2009, the Phillies created special alumni photo cards for returning players to sign at various autograph events, during alumni weekends and as part of any reunion-related public appearances.  A team card for the 1950 National League Champion Whiz Kids was also created.  Fellow collector Rick shared with me his list of these cards, which is where the information below comes from.  He also notes the 2007 Tekulve card was created for an autograph signing with the ex-reliever that was ultimately cancelled due to inclement weather.

Complete 2007 Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Rico Brogna 2. Marty Bystrom (blank back)                 3. Larry Christenson 4. Darren Daulton

5. Terry Harmon (blank back) 6. Von Hayes 7. Ricky Jordan 8. Dickie Noles (blank back, 5 x 7)

9. Mike Rogodzinski                 10. Kent Tekulve 11. Bob Walk 12. Mitch Williams

Complete 2008 Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. 1950 Phillies Team 2. Dick Allen 3. Larry Andersen 4. Ricky Bottalico 5. Jeff Brantley 6. Larry Christenson (same photo as 2007) 7. Gene Garber

8. Dallas Green 9. Terry Harmon 10. Tommy Herr 11. Tommy Hutton                        12. Ricky Jordan 13. Garry Maddox

14. Jerry Martin 15. Gary Matthews 16. Mike Rogodzinski                             17. Juan Samuel 18. Del Unser 19. Ozzie Virgil

Complete 2009 Checklist (Unnumbered, presented here alphabetically): 

1. Bob Boone 2. Ricky Bottalico                   3. Bob Dernier 4. Jim Eisenreich

5. Jim Kaat 6. John Kruk 7. Mike Lieberthal 8. Mickey Morandini

9. Dickie Noles 10. Juan Samuel (same photo as 2008) 11. Tony Taylor

I am actively seeking these cards and please contact me if you have any for sale or trade.  My want list is linked below.

Also See:  I recently updated, hopefully for the final time, my post covering the alumni photo cards issued between 2010 and 2019.

Resources:  Phillies collector Rick (@rickphils).

2000-Present Phillies Team-Issued Photo Cards Want List / Phillies Team Issued Sets Index Page