Phillies outfielder left to throw 48 pitches in blowout loss because bullpen phone was off the hook

National Post ^ | June 17, 2015 | Sean Fitz-Gerald

[rickmichaels]

So, Ryne Sandberg, manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, how was your Tuesday night?

“It was ugly,” he told reporters. “That was ugly.”

How ugly?

The Phillies, the worst team in baseball, lost 19-3 to the Baltimore Orioles. It was their eighth straight road loss, which marks the first time the franchise has gone winless on a trip of at least eight games since 1883. Dennis Deitch, from the Delaware County Daily Times, put it into context:

The last time the Phillies had a road trip that consisted of at least eight games and no wins, they we traveling by train and stagecoach to polo fields, playing barehanded in the field and spending their offseasons contracting black lung. So, yes, it was ugly.

[4yearlurker]

I was in a foster home in Phoenix,AZ.

[bankwalker]

watching the phillies?

[4yearlurker]

Okay?????

[Ransomed]

I was actually hoping one of the position guys pitching would throw knuckleballs for something interesting. No such luck.

Freegards

[bankwalker]

Jim Bunning’s perfect game.

[4yearlurker]

At that time in my life I was hoping to get my olive loaf sandwich and green Kool-aid.

[taxcontrol]

LOL - yeah but it would be fun to watch

[Jeff Chandler]

I was at a spring training game once, the last of pre-season. One team ran out of pitchers due to players leaving the stadium early, so they “borrowed” one of the opposing teams’s pitchers.

[Dacula]

I still enjoy that pleasure to this very day, but I had the essence of BBQ to the menu.

Come on over, we are having brats and chicken tonight. Smoked pork shoulder and ribs over the weekend.

---

AM radio, no better way to enjoy the game or life for that matter, back porch, sunny Saturday, a cold one (or three) and baseball.

[fungoking]

Greg Luzinski!

[Jolla]

We are the same age and I have the same memory only its 1966 in west Texas and it was locust making the noise and we are sitting in Grandpas den listening to Denny McLain and the Tigers v Jim Palmer and the O’s - the smell of grandpas El Producto cigar. That moment is one of those memories that I go back and visit often, it was the best of times.

[chajin]

I was actually hoping one of the position guys pitching would throw knuckleballs for something interesting.

I thought I had a pretty mean sidearm screwball (leftie) in little league, though the coach kept putting me in left field instead...

Elmore and Franklin are probably the only position players willing to take one for the team on the mound. With the possible exception of Kiermaier, except that he would probably wheel back and launch it over the backstop netting into the second deck behind the plate :-)

[TBP]

his 1000th win as coach

Manager.

[chajin]

Jim Bunning’s perfect game.

That was on Father's Day; I remember Dad and PopPop (mother's stepfather, both granddads had died when my parents were young) in the backyard grilling, probably burgers, and the B&W pseudo-portable was on a porch table on Ch. 6, which at that time was WFIL, broadcasting the Bunning perfect game. I had just turned 10, and vaguely understood that something big was happening.

That was also the infamous 1964 season when the Phils dropped ten games in a row the last two weeks, and let the Cards win the pennant on the last day of the season. It took ten years, Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, and Greg Lusinski to bring the Phillies back into contention.

[TBP]

I guess Frenchy won’t be available to pitch tonight.

[Paulie]

“Manager.”

Right. Manger.

That’s what happens when I try to work and do FR at the same time...

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

Thank goodness I am a San Francisco Giants fan. We are so spoiled. I love it.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

And they’d do it again in ‘76 by beating my Red Sox. [sniff].

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I was about 3 years old in 1959 when Mr. Jones started playing for the Phillies.

From Wikipedia:

Jones started his major league career with the Phillies in 1947. By 1949, he became the team's starting third baseman, and held that position until 1959. Jones was the top fielding third baseman in the National League during the 1950s. He led the league in fielding percentage five times, in putouts for seven years (also tying a record), and twice in assists and double plays.

Jones' most productive season came as a member of the fabulous 1950 "Whiz Kids" National League champion team, when he posted career-highs in home runs (25), RBI (88), runs (100), hits (163), and led the league in games played (157). He was selected for the All-Star Game in 1950 and 1951.

In 1959, Jones was part of successive trades between the Phillies, Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds. He finished his career with Cincinnati in 1961.

Willie Jones died in Cincinnati, Ohio at age 58.

As a kid, I became a Phillies fan in ’49 - and, especially, 1950.

[Darren McCarty]

Tigers had position players pitch before when the game was a blowout. Andrew Romine, Danny Worth, and Don Kelly did it. Danny Worth actually wasn’t that bad and can throw a knuckleball.