Sunday, August 13th, 2017
I don't often spring for Diamond Club tickets, but it's
Alumni Day, when the most iconic players in the history of the
Philadelphia Phillies return to be acknowledged by the fans. Unfortunately, all-time hit king
Pete Rose is not among them. He was originally scheduled to be inducted to the
Wall Of Fame yesterday and to attend the celebration today, but due to unproven allegations made by
John Dowd on the radio, the invitation was rescinded.
As unfortunate as
Rose's absence was, it pales in comparison to the fact that
Darren Daulton could not be here.
Dutch passed away
last Sunday from brain cancer. The Phillies legendary catcher was honored before the game and with his number 10 painted on the dirt behind home plate on the field.
The
Mets took an early lead in the top of the first after a
Michael Conforto two run homer. The
Phillies looked like they would do some damage of their own in the bottom half of the inning.
Caesar Hernandez led off with a single. Then,
Freddy Galvis drew a walk and
Odubel Herrera singled to shallow left field to load the bases with no outs. Sadly, they only managed to score a single run when
Rhys Hoskins grounded into a fielders choice for his first career RBI. It was ruled a double play at first before it was challenged and overturned.
Nick Williams and
Maikel Franco flied out to end the inning.
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The moment that I'll never forget from this game happened in the bottom of the fifth.
Freddy Galvis led off the inning with a single.
Odubel Herrera then drew a walk to put a runner in scoring position for first baseman
Rhys Hoskins. The former
Iron Pigs slugger made his
MLB debut on Thursday and went hitless in the first three games of this series against the
Mets. With runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs,
Hoskins hit a line drive to right field for his first hit in the big leagues.
For the second time, the
Phillies had bases loaded with no outs, and for the second time, they only managed to score a single run, and that only came as a result of a wild pitch.
The story of this game was the lack of production from the bottom half of the
Phillies lineup. The 5-9 spots in the lineup combined to go 2 for 19 (both hits coming from
Jorge Alfaro) with one walk and four strikeouts.
Nick Williams,
Maikel Franco and
Hyun Soo Kim were hitless on the night.
So, the
Phillies lost three out of four to the
Mets in this series to fall to 43-72 and just a mere 26.5 games behind the
Nationals in the division. Needless to say, it's not been an especially strong season for the rebuilding
Phillies, but with
Hoskins and
Alfaro, there's reason to be hopeful for the future.