Philadelphia Phillies Retro Scorecard Game Recap: May 13, 2000

Cracking open my scorebook from twenty years ago today, when the Philadelphia Phillies lost to the Atlanta Braves, which I know is a real shocker.

Consider this another joint entry in both my retro scorecard recap series and my season-long 20th anniversary retrospective on the terrible 2000 Philadelphia Phillies. If you’ve read any of these before, you might be wondering if this is just a way to rehash games that I’ve seen the Phillies lose to the Atlanta Braves. I mean, seriously. But I swear, I’m not trying to do that specifically. I guess I just spent my entire adolescence that way without realizing it.

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So let’s step back in time to twenty years ago today as the Phils and Braves do battle at Veterans Stadium…

It’s May 13, 2000 and I’m seeing the Phillies and Braves meet for the third time this year after having seen them clash in Atlanta less than a month before for a pair of games, both of which were won by the Braves. The Phillies are looking to return the favor, but they’ll once again have to go through Greg Maddux to get the job done on this night. Opposing him is the Phils’ big offseason acquisition, Andy Ashby.

The first inning is a clean frame for both teams, but Andres Galarraga leads off the second inning with a home run to get the Braves on the board. It stinks to see the Phillies fall behind, but it’s nice to see “The Big Cat” looking strong after missing all of the previous season with cancer. Following Galarraga’s homer, not much else happens until the Phillies play some small ball in the bottom of the third. Like, literally as small as you can get.

The legendary Desi Relaford leads off the inning with a single off of Maddux, then steals second. Ashby isn’t bunting for some reason, but he flies out to right field to advance Relaford to third anyway. Doug Glanville then proceeds to loft a fly ball to center that scores Desi, and the Phillies have tied the game at 1-1 as they execute actual baseball for one of the only times during their entire 2000 season.

Maddux and Ashby lock into quite a duel, but they both get curiously early hooks. Maddux throws 77 pitches in 6 IP, while Ashby throws 78 in 6.1 IP. But neither gets a decision, and the game is in the hands of the bullpen. This probably isn’t going to end well for the Phils. Somehow, though, we get all the way to the bottom of the ninth with the game still sitting at 1-1.

The Braves call upon Rudy Seanez, a veteran reliever for whom Atlanta is his fourth team. He’d go on to pitch for nine different MLB teams in his career, with his final stop being the Phillies in 2008, though he didn’t pitch in that year’s playoffs. But, back in 2000, he’s just trying to get this game into extra innings.

Rob Ducey leads off with a single and is bunted over to second by Glanville. Following a Ron Gant strikeout, Bobby Abreu is intentionally walked so that Seanez can face Scott Rolen, who promptly gets drilled on the first pitch to load the bases. Mike Lieberthal has a chance to be a hero, but you can probably guess without hesitation that he strikes out to end the inning, though at least he didn’t find a way to set a baseball record by grounding into a double play when there were already two outs.

Extra inning time again, just like last month in Atlanta when Brian Hunter hit a walkoff home run to win it for the Braves. Foreshadowing!

Mark DeRosa leads off against the Phillies’ Scott Aldred with a single, then gets bunted to second. Up next is pinch hitter Steve Sisco. Who? Yes, 30-year old Steve Sisco, who only just made his MLB debut last week. He’s 0 for 5 so far as a big leaguer.

You can probably guess what happens next.

Sisco sends one into the night for his first major league hit, and the Braves are up 3-1. This would end up being Sisco’s only career major league home run and his only 2 RBI. He’d go 5 for 27 in the majors and never make it back after 2000. If I didn’t laugh, I’d cry.

At any rate, Aldred gets the last two outs, and we’re on to the bottom of the tenth. Here comes John Rocker, the same controversial Braves reliever whose season debut I saw just a few weeks ago in Atlanta. Great. He mows down Alex Arias and Kevin Jordan for the first two outs, but Relaford singles to keep the game alive. And up steps Brian Hunter.

My dad and I were immediately struck by the possibility that the guy who we saw homer as a Brave to beat the Phillies last month could now turn the tables as a Phil to tie the game against his former team. And I guarantee we were the only two people among the supposed 20,516 at the Vet that night who had been at Turner Field weeks before.

Hunter does not oblige with a dinger, but he does collect an RBI double to make it a 3-2 game. Could the Phillies pull this one off somehow?

No, they can’t, as Rocker blows away Glanville to end the game and force me to mark down another L on a Phillies scorecard of mine. At least it was one of the better Phillies performances by Andy Ashby, who would go on flame out spectacularly before being traded to these Braves in just a few months. 2000 really was the gift that just keeps on giving, or whatever the exact opposite of that is.