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Phamiliar Phaces

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At Saturday night's Syracuse/Lehigh Valley game, I paid special attention to several players that could be on the bubble for the Phillies post-season roster.  One was the former American League All Star Nestor Cortes .  Signed in August -- just in time to be playoff-eligible -- he had a couple of rough outings initially, but looked solid on Saturday, tossing three shutout innings against the AAA Mets (whose lineup featured top prospect Jefferson Rojas and former big leaguers MJ Melendez and Vidal Brujan).  Between injuries and ineffective by the current 'pen crew, there could be an opening for Cortes if the Phillies make it through the final week and claim a Wild Card. Remember Otto Kemp ? After opening the 2026 season with the Phillies (and big expectations), t he failed to provide that right handed bench strength that Derek Hill and Bryan De La Cruz produced.  And he didn't do make to boost his cause at Lehigh Valley, hitting just .226 (albeit with 17 home runs a...
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If Your Birthday is September 18th...

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...you share it with the late Baseball Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg .  In a deal that nearly parallels Fergie Jenkins, the promising Phillies infielder was traded after the 1981 season to the Cubs (along with Larry Bowa) for veteran shortstop Ivan deJesus.  The move worked short-term: with deJesus in the lineup, the "Wheeze Kids" won the '83 pennant before fading quickly.  After a slow start in Chicago, Sandberg's career took off against the Cardinals in the now-iconic NBC Game of the Week , where he twice homered to tie the game, which the Cubs won in 11 innings.  From there, it was a decade of stardom, with  10 consecutive All-Star appearances, nine consecutive Gold Gloves and a pair of division titles. His baseball IQ and sustained success seemed to mark him as a future standout manager.  After leading the Phillies Lehigh Valley farm club to the playoffs in 2011, he was promoted to Charlie Manuel's coaching staff -- and succeeded him in August 2013. ...
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Destination: Asheville

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One of my goals every year is to visit a ballpark that's "new to me."  Last week, I sorta added Asheville, North Carolina's HomeTrust Park to my list.  Sorta, because the High-A season ended on Sunday September 6th and I didn't arrive until the following day.  And while there were no remaining games -- and no permission to get past the gates -- that didn't stop me or my camera from capturing as much as I could. Previously known as McCormick Field, minor league ball has been played on this site -- a hillside not far from downtown Asheville -- for 102 years.  The current version of the South Atlantic League's Asheville Tourists has been here since 2021.  Riffing on the club's name, here's a look inside the team store, a/k/a "The Tourist Trap." I'm not sure every ballpark should have a brick facade, but this one looks perfect. Six future Hall of Famers played for Asheville on their way to the majors: Sparky Anderson, Craig Biggio, Todd H...
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If Your Birthday is September 11th...

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...you share it with Jacoby Ellsbury .  The speedy Oregonian spent seven often dynamic years  with the Red Sox  -- including two World Championships --  before jumping the Yankees, where his speed, production and health  declined over the next four seasons (2014-'17). Mike Moustakas mashed 215 homers over 13 seasons, the first eight with the Royals - where he was a fixture on their 2014 pennant winners and 2015 World Series champs. Weston Wilson waited six-and-a-half years in the minors before finally reaching MLB.  And what a debut it was -- on August 9th, 2023 -- homering for the Phillies in his first at bat!  He has since moved on to the Mariners and Orioles.  
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DC Bound? Not Yet.

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The Nationals have done a great job this year of promoting players through their minor league system.  Dylan Crews, Andres Chaparro, Yohandy ("Yoyo") Morales and Abimelec Ortiz were in the Rochester lineup when I saw them hosting Buffalo back in April -- all have since played major league games for Washington.  But a former Nats 3rd round draft pick hasn't yet been promoted. Despite slugging 31 homers -- the most for any player that's spent the entire season in AAA -- and batting over .290, Trey Lipscomb has remained with Rochester.  I saw him again last week facing Syracuse where he showcased this impressive swing. A Frederick, Maryland native who played college ball at Tennessee, Lipscomb has struggled his first three minor league seasons and in a pair of short stints in DC (2024 and '25). But his production this year (albeit with 128 strikeouts) should have had him in line for a September call up.  Now 26, one wonders if the organization no longer considers hi...
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If Your Birthday is September 4th...

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...you share it with Mike Piazza , the greatest hitting catcher in baseball history.  427 career homers and .308 lifetime average -- topping those of Bench, Berra and Campanella -- punched his ticket to Cooperstown. Drafted by the Dodgers in the 62nd round of baseball's amateur draft as a favor by Tommy Lasorda to Mike's dad, a longtime family friend, the Phoenixville, PA native became the 1993 NL Rookie of the Year, but wasn't able to hammer out a long-term contract to stay in LA.  Instead, he was flipped in 1998 to the Marlins and then the Mets -- leading them to the 2000 pennant and a place alongside the Yankees in the most recent all-New York World Series.  The emotional peak of his career came the following year with a dramatic walk-off homer for the Mets in their first game after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  Mike finished his career with the Padres -- whom he led to a 2005 NL West title and A's before being inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016, the same year ...
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Milestone for Max

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Congratulations to Max Scherzer , who moved into 9th place on the alltime strikeout list when he whiffed Cal Raleigh in Sunday's seventh inning at Rogers Centre.  #3535 not only passed Gaylord Perry -- but gave him his 10th K of the game -- and 115th double-digit strikeout game of his Hall of Fame-bound career. It was a throwback moment for Max: now 42 and working his 19th (and possibly final) big league season, and having missed considerable time with injuries, Scherzer flashed seven innings of one-hit ball, and walked only one in Toronto's 7-0 victory. (My image of Scherzer is from a 2017 game at Nationals Park in Washington.)  
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