Philadelphia Phillies Retro Scorecard Recap: April 8, 2003

The dawn of a new Philadelphia Phillies season means that I’m diving back into my bin of old scorecards yet again, four years in a row now, to bring you a recap of a Phillies game that I attended on the anniversary of the day it was played.

I’ll kick off this year by telling you about an April 8, 2003 game between the Phils and the Atlanta Braves, 19 years ago today. It’s an extreme coincidence that this recap coincides with Opening Day for the 2022 Phillies, as I had this scorecard picked out months ago, before the MLB lockout pushed the schedule back a week. Call it fate, I suppose. Now, let’s go back in time 19 years, to the final season of Veterans Stadium.

The Philadelphia Phillies and Atlanta Braves met at Veterans Stadium on April 8, 2003.

It’s an awful night for baseball here at the Vet, with the temperature at first pitch a supposed 38 degrees. Still, my dad has driven up to La Salle to pick me up and take me to the stadium so I can attend my first Phils game since becoming a college student. Randy Wolf takes the mound for the home squad, while the Braves counter with Jason Marquis. We don’t know it yet, but Marquis will end up going down as the answer to a trivia question by throwing the final pitch at the Vet nearly six months later in a game that I’ve recapped previously.

On this night, Wolf allows two Braves to reach in each of the first two innings, but he manages to keep them off the board. In the bottom of the second, Pat Burrell leads off by reaching on an error by second baseman Marcus Giles, then ends up going to second on an errant pickoff throw by Marquis. A pair of walks later, the sacks are packed, and Wolf steps up to the plate. The Wolfman “helps his own cause”, which I guess is a phrase that we’re not going to be hearing anymore in MLB, knocking in two runs with a single. Jimmy Rollins is up next, and he also singles, plating another run and handing Wolf a 3-0 lead.

Wolf gets himself into trouble in the fourth inning by issuing a pair of walks, then he uncorks a wild pitch, allowing a run to score. Rafael Furcal singles in a run shortly after that, and the lead has been slashed down to a single run. It stays that way until the top of the sixth inning. Wolf retires the first two hitters, but after a walk and another wild pitch, Larry Bowa decides to summon Carlos Silva from the bullpen.

The move backfires, as Silva surrenders an RBI double to 67-year old Julio Franco, and it’s a tie game. Incidentally, Wolf threw just 44 wild pitches in over 2300 career MLB innings, but the two he uncorked on this night really bit him in the backside. The game falls into a stalemate from there, with the Phillies unable to do anything against Atlanta relievers such as Jung Bong, Ray King, and future Phillie (and former Cal Ripken Jr. nosebreaker) Roberto Hernandez.

The game scoots all the way into extra innings, and the Phillies have just two hits, both of which they collected when they scored all three of their runs in the second inning. It’s been particularly ugly for Bobby Abreu and Jim Thome, both of whom are wearing 0-for-5 collars on the night. It’s also brutally cold, and my dad and I make the unusual decision (for us) to leave the game after the tenth inning, regardless of whether it’s over or not. I’ve got class early the next morning, my dad has a long drive ahead of him, and we can’t feel our extremities. April baseball, man.

In the top half of the inning, Jose Mesa retires the Braves in order. Burrell begins the home half by greeting Braves reliever Kevin Gryboski (the closest my name has ever come to appearing in the major leagues) with a single. Brett Myers then pinch hits for Mesa by successfully bunting Burrell to second, and Mike Lieberthal is given an intentional walk.

Marlon Byrd is next, and he hits a ground ball to short. Lieberthal is forced at second, but thankfully Byrd is safe at first to avoid the double play and keep the inning alive. Up next: Tomas Perez. On an 0-1 offering, 3 hours and 28 minutes after the first pitch of the game had been thrown, Perez hits a grounder along the Vet turf that manages to find space up the middle after what seems like an eternity, plating Burrell and giving the Phillies a 4-3 victory.

I’m not sure if Tomas even got one of his signature cream pies that night, because the shaving cream can probably froze. Plus, we were already out on the ramps by the time his teammates swarmed him, moving as fast as our frostbitten bones could carry us. Because of the nature of the baseball season, the vast majority of games fade from memory rather quickly. But I’ll never forget sticking it out for the W on that frigid evening.