Phillies 2: Another Phine Day Out

MERCH

I didn't think I'd be doing a merch section in this post, but here we are!

First, I probably should've mentioned this as more than just a footnote last time, but the Phillies are a bit different from other teams in that they don't publish a "magazine". Instead, they have these scorecards with a single article plus the standard "how to score a baseball" guide for "programs", which are much more compact (and less expensive than a regular program). At the last Phillies game I was at, I got that game's card plus ones for the games before it, and at this game, I got the scorecards for the games between my last trip and now. As this game's scorecard is the last card for this season, I (think I) now have a full set of Phillies scorecards for the 2026 regular season - NONE of which have a game score recorded in them.

Second, there was a deal on merchandise associated with the Phillies' City Connect identity, where if you got a jersey, hat, and shirt from the team's City Connect collection, it was 40% off (City Connect being a Nike program wherein MOST MLB teams have a special jersey meant to harken to the city they play in)³. I should've mentioned this when I was at Citi Field two days ago, but the Mets also had a 40% off deal on their City Connect jerseys. What that means I'm not fully certain, but I do know that teams tend to cycle through City Connects on a three year schedule (the Mets and Phillies both debuted their current City Connect uniforms in 2024), so it's very possible that one or both teams are planning on releasing new City Connects soon (again, whether or not they hit the field next year is questionable right now).

Finally, I decided to visit the Eagles team store at Lincoln Financial Field across the street (as I had arrived early to ensure that the parking I wanted was available). While I've said that I'm not interested in football things, there are two Eagles players whose jerseys I'm mildly interested in due to a connection I share with them (which also happens to involve the day the Eagles won that Super Bowl over the Chiefs). Alas, I'm not a fan of replica football jerseys as the name and number are usually not that great, and while they did have an Authentic jersey for one of the players, I'm not the biggest fan of the "style" of the jersey they had (it's a throwback), plus it wasn't super discounted like the Sauce Gardner jerseys at MetLife. However, they did have discounted jerseys for a player the team traded this past offseason (including "Authentics" - but those were only available in 3XL and 4XL...).

Your own personal Jesús (hey-soos)

This game ended up being a pitchers' duel - a game where the pitchers for both teams excel and hits and runs are hard to come by. Exactly ONE mistake was made by either side's pitchers, and it was the game's lone relief pitcher who pitched for the Braves - star Phillies hitter Kyle Schwarber turned a misplaced fastball late in the game into one of his patented home runs (commonly known as "Schwarbombs").

That Schwarbomb ended up being enough for Phillies starter Jesús Luzardo, who was absolutely dominant - pitching a complete game shutout (i.e. he was the only Phillies pitcher and gave up zero runs). In the modern era of MLB where pitchers are HEAVILY regulated (i.e. they're pulled after like 70 pitches and/or four innings), it's INSANELY rare for a starting pitcher to even be allowed close to finishing the game by himself - and it seems the crowd knew it as well, as the place LIT UP when he came out to pitch the ninth inning.

With this game in the books, I (am pretty sure1) I have teams remaining that I haven't marked as having seen yet⁴:

• Colorado Rockies
• Chicago Cubs
• Detroit Tigers
• Kansas City Royals
• Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim)
• Wherever-the-hell-they-claim-they-are-from Athletics
• St. Louis Cardinals
• Seattle Mariners⁵
• Texas Rangers
• Toronto Blue Jays

This is almost certainly the final MLB game I go to this year, as I don't see myself going to another game before the end of the regular season (there's only one team I haven't seen yet that's visiting New York or Philly, and it's the Rockies getting fed to the Yankees this week - but I'm busy). Assuming this is the final MLB game I get to see in person before 2028, at least I had a SUPER good game to end this year on (and it was under two hours too!).

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Footnotes

1. This is also part of why I opted to go to Mets/Giants, as I hadn't recorded the Giants on the app either. ↩

2. It should also be noted that all of the games listed were weekday games - this one being the only afternoon game as it fell on a holiday (namely Labor Day). ↩

3. 28 of MLB's 30 teams have had at least one City Connect - the two teams without one being the A's (due to the whole "Screw Oakland - Vegas or bust" thing) and...you can probably guess the other team. ↩

4. There's a chance that there's more than ten teams, as there are a few Mets games I recall going to but don't remember the opponent. I'm almost certain these games were against the Diamondbacks, Marlins, and Astros so I put them in the app, but I could very easily be wrong (the Astros game being my lone visit to Shea Stadium). ↩

5. I ALMOST saw the Mariners TWICE this year: once in Washington, DC (though it was never going to be likely - more on that soon), and then at Yankee Stadium with friends in August, but let's just say there are a fair number of reasons I wasn't able to make it - one of them being my inability to justify willingly buying Yankees tickets (especially in light of several announcements they made in the days before the game...). ↩