Thursday Quickie Quiz & Single Digits: Walk-offs, Losing Streaks, Jay Bruce, Jason Vargas, 1957, 1937

THURSDAY’S QUICKIE QUIZ

>>> Which Phillie had the first walk-off RBI in Citizens Bank Park history? It was the fourth of his career, the first as a Phillie and he would never have another.

(Answer Below)

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THURSDAY’S SINGLE DIGITS

>>> The good news is that thanks to Newsday’s favorite baseball team, the Phillies’ seven-game losing streak looks to be be safely behind them.

The bad news is that only two of the 14 Phillies teams to reach the playoffs did so after suffering a seven-game (or longer) losing streak during the season. Those were in 1976 and 2011, both of whom dropped eight straight and neither of which advanced a playoff round.

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>>> Before joining the Phillies, Jay Bruce had a career batting average of .197 (34-173) against the Mets (one of his former teams, whom he hadn’t faced since 2015) with a .370 slugging percentage.

In the past three days against them, he is 4-10 with two doubles, a home run and a 10th-inning walk-off RBI.

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>>> Here’s how the Phillies’ batters fared Wednesday at the plate:

3-for-22 (.136) . . . vs. Jason Vargas
6-for-15 (.400) . . . vs. other Mets Pitchers

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>>> The Phillies’ registered their first walk-off win of the season Wednesday (in Game 80), leaving just the Orioles and Marlins without one in 2019.

It was the latest first walk-off by a Phillies team by date since 1957, when they did not earn one until July 11 (Game 78).

It was the most games into the season they had gone without one since 1937, when they went through an entire season walk-off-less.

(Thanks, as always, to baseball-reference.com for making that easy.)

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QUICKIE QUIZ ANSWER

>>> Doug Glanville homered leading off the bottom of the ninth on April 18, 2004, to beat the Expos, 5-4, in the fifth game ever played at Citizens Bank Park. It was the only walk-off homer of Glanville’s career.