Philadelphia Phillies Retro Scorecard Game Recap: April 5, 2002

Let’s take a trip back in time to when Philadelphia Phillies baseball was actually a thing, as I re-live a game I attended 18 years ago today.

Last year, I began pulling some old scorecards of mine from various Philadelphia Phillies games and writing these recaps on their anniversary dates. For this year’s first installment, let’s get things started early. Here’s a look at the Phils’ home opener on April 5, 2002 against the Florida Marlins:

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I excitedly hurry to Veterans Stadium for my first live taste of Phillies baseball in over six months. Just as I had been doing for every game I’d attended over the last several years, I produce one dollar to hand to the guy manning the small scorecard stand near the entrance. He points out that the price is now $2, and I vividly remember smart-alecky 17-year old me saying “Oh, I guess you have to pay for that new stadium” as I begrudgingly produce another dollar from whatever cool wallet I had at the time. In I go, and it’s time to play ball.

Brandon Duckworth is on the mound for the Phils, and he’s no doubt still jazzed from having met me a few months before at a Phillies winter caravan event in Wilmington, Delaware. He hits Preston Wilson with a pitch, but otherwise retires the Marlins in the first with ease.

It’s now the Phils’ turn at the plate, and they’ll be doing it against Marlins pitcher Julian Tavarez, who strangely had also started the previous season’s Phils home opener when he was a member of the Cubs. The Phils get to him right away, with Jimmy Rollins connecting for a leadoff double and Bobby Abreu socking a home run two batters later. It’s 2-0 Phils after an inning, and it’s going to be a good day.

Things stay 2-0 until the bottom of the third, when a fielder’s choice by Mike Lieberthal makes it 3-0. Lieby gives it right back in the top of the fourth, however, as his passed ball allows Cliff Floyd to come home from third base to make it 3-1. Actually, baseball-reference.com has it listed as a wild pitch, but I stick by what I put in my scorecard.

In the bottom of the inning, though, the Phils turn it on. Marlon Anderson walks to lead off, and Duckworth sacrifices him over (his second sac bunt of the game), but he reaches first. I have it down in my book as E3, indicating that Derrek Lee screwed something up, but I honestly have no idea what happened. There was no error officially charged on the play, and Duckworth didn’t get a hit, just the sac.

At any rate, Rollins singles to load the bases, and Doug Glanville raps a hit to plate a run and end the day for Tavarez. Abreu and Scott Rolen then draw back-to-back bases loaded walks, and it’s a 6-1 game. But the trio of Travis Lee-Lieberthal-Pat Burrell comes up empty, and the inning ends finally.

Duckworth gets back in the zone, and he keeps the Marlins off the board over the next two innings. His work is done after six, and the combo of Rheal Cormier and Jose Santiago (who I don’t remember at all) keep it 6-1 as we hit the seventh inning stretch. The teams trade a few more zeroes, and it’s on to the ninth with the Phils up comfortably at 6-1.

On comes Ricky Bottalico, and this is the part where I’m amazed that he was pitching for the Phillies in 2002. He had come back to the Phils in a trade with the Royals for Paul Byrd the previous year, and here he was, back again for what will turn out to be his final season in Philadelphia. He records the first out, but then surrenders three straight hits, allowing a run to score. All of a sudden, it’s a save situation. And in 2002, that meant one thing — Jose Mesa Time.

Joe Table slams the door by retiring both Marlins he faces, and this one is in the books, a 6-2 win for the Phils in their 2002 home opener. It’s a game that I’m glad to recount; it serves as a reminder of how welcome a sight Phillies baseball will be when it finally returns.