Remembering Tommy Greene's unlikely 1991 no-hitter

The guy who pitched one of the least likely no-hitters in Phillies franchise history wasn't even supposed to have taken the mound on that Thursday afternoon in Montreal.

Danny Cox, who had appeared twice in the World Series with the St. Louis Cardinals, was the Phils' No. 2 starter in 1991 (behind Terry Mulholland) and was scheduled to take a turn and win the rubber match of a three-game series. 

Trouble was, Cox had apparently pulled a muscle and couldn't go.

Enter Tommy Greene. 

Greene, clearly the add-on in the August, 1990 deal in which GM Lee Thomas acquired late-career slugger Dale Murphy, had pitched in all of 25 games in the majors until May 23, 1991. He was a swing man for then-Phils manager Jim Fregosi, with his last appearance 6 days prior, in mop-up duty where he picked up the win by tossing the final 4 scoreless innings in a 1-0, 16-inning victory over the Cubs.

Despite being one game below .500, the Phillies were a hurting bunch.

Just over 2 weeks prior, a car accident after a bachelor party for outfielder John Kruk resulted in centerfielder Lenny Dykstra -- who drove while intoxicated and crashed his sports car into a tree in Radnor Township in the early morning hours of May 7 -- suffering a broken collarbone, broken ribs and a broken cheekbone, while starting catcher Darren Daulton sustained a fractured left orbital bone and scratched cornea.

So it was Greene and backup Darren Fletcher the battery at Stade Olympique, opposing Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd, who'd pitched alongside Roger Clemens with the Red Sox for 5 seasons

It had been 281 days since Mulholland no-hit the San Francisco Giants and was one throwing error away from pitching a perfect game that instead went in the books as a 6-0 victory and the first Phillies no-no recorded at Veterans Stadium. Greene was on the bench for that one, having been acquired from the Braves just over a week prior. 

As told to MLB.com in 2021, here's Greene's thought process as he took the hill: "Mentally, I told myself I was going to treat this start like I treated my relief appearances. Be aggresstive and go as long and as hard as I can. My thought was 'if I run out of gas, they will put someone else in for me.' Hold nothing back!"

In return, his teammates provided the slimmest of margins for error -- a first-inning RBI triple from Ricky Jordan after Kruk reached with a 2-out double.

Greene did manage to retire 11 in a row at one point, between the 2nd and 5th innings, but had at least 1 runner on base in the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 7th and 8th frames. Along with his career-best 10 strikeouts, he walked 7 batters, including two in the 2nd and two more in the 6th. 

With three outs to go, Philly's offense came to life for the second and final time, on back-to-back doubles from Von Hayes and Fletcher. 

More Greene: "It wasn't until after the seventh inning that I realized I hadn't given up a hit. When I did that, I immediately thought of the three no-hit bids I had coming up through the minor leagues that I lost with two outs and two strikes in the last inning. I said to myself, 'take one batter at a time.' In the bottom of the ninth, I was facing the meat of their order."

Andres Galarraga was his 10th and final punchout for the first out of the 9th. Larry Walker was retired on a routine ground ball to third. 

Tim Wallach was the final batter, and here's Greene's mindset as revealed in that 2021 piece: "I then told myseld I was going straight after Tim. I wasn't getting two strikes again unless he fouled pitches off. 'Fletch' put down the sign for a fastball. By then, I had thrown probably over 100 fastballs out of my 135 pitches. I agreed with his sign and said to myself, 'stay aggressive,' and threw the fastball on the outer half of the plate. He swung and hit probably the hardest ball all day but it was a one-hopper right back to me."

The highlight package from KYW 3 tells the rest of the story: 

If you remember this game well, you might have been playing sick, or hooky, from either work or school. The final contest in the three-game set against the Expos was a Thursday afternoon first pitch, coming at a time when break time for TV watching at either work or school was reserved for things like the NCAA tournament only when local universities were playing.

After a 4-9 start which cost Nick Leyva his job, long-time major leaguer and former Angels and White Sox skipper Jim Fregosi was called upon from his brief stint in the broadcast booth to bring a desperately needed spark. The 2-0 win brought the Phillies up to the .500 mark for the first (20-20) AND last time all season. 

Despite the eventual returns of Dykstra and Daulton, a lack of depth across the roster began to take its toll and by late July, the Phillies were dead last in the NL East. 

Only a 13-game win streak and solid play over the remainder of the schedule -- even after Dykstra was lost for the back end of the season after breaking his other collarbone colliding with the outfield wall in Cincinnati -- brought their record to 78-84, good enough for 3rd place in a weak division.

Greene finished the 1991 campaign with a 13-7 record, 2 more complete games and a 3.38 ERA over 207.1 innings. He endured a mostly injury-plagued career from there, the lone exception a brilliant 1993 campaign during which he finihsed 16-4 with 7 complete games and 2 shutouts for the National League champions. 

The Phillies would not record another no-hitter until April 27, 2003, at the Vet. Kevin Millwood shut down the Giants, 1-0.

Bump and Martone, Part Deux

by Bob Herpen

Phanatic Hockey Editor

Flyers prospects Alex Bump and Porter Martone, as I mentioned in a previous column from the end of the regular season, are former Division 1 college hockey wingers getting looks as potential long-term NHL roster solutions, although both are on separate but distinct trajectories.

Bump, a 5th-rounder who spent 2 years at Western Michigan before turning pro, and Martone, the No. 6 pick last June who exited after one season in Michigan State, will presumably be given every chance to compete for a roster spot – and two may even be held for them to 

lose – but the burden of expectation and the pressure of success may have a larger influence on their growth than performance alone.

One of the key concepts from both GM Danny Briere and head coach Rick Tocchet that emerged at their respective season-ending conferences last week, was that the young guys who entered the lineup later in the season can go away having a taste of what the playoffs mean. 

Let’s not lose sight of the fact that both Bump and Martone have yet to confront what happens *before* the playoffs, namely the grind of participating in a full 82-game season. 

Judging by that metric, Bump has a serious head start on Martone but hasn’t lapped him yet. The 22-year-old lefty shooter logged 9 total appearances with the Phantoms last spring, then worked through an injury-shortened 36 AHL games this year, before 17 regular-season and 6 postseason starts for the Orange and Black punctuated by intermittent scratches.

“Absolutely. I think it was really good for me, just to get more reps, more puck touches, play more meaningful minutes,” Bump said of his season starting in the minors. “I think that really advanced and progressed my game. I’m super happy with my time down there. Obviously I don’t wanna go back but everyone down there makes (the experience) so fun and enjoyable.”

Bump also has a franchise record in his cap – just the third rookie in team history (Dave Poulin, 1983; Todd Bergen, 1985) to score in both his first NHL regular-season and first NHL playoff game. 

Martone, all of 19, took exactly half of his 10-game regular-season stint after bolting from Sparty  in the wake of a 50-point frosh campaign, to figure out just who he is at the top level of the game. He added a solid 10-game playoff slate. I wrote previously that he needed to figure out how to crack the code by starting with only 1 goal in 5 games, and he proved me wrong with relish. 

“Arriving at MSU back in September, you know it was difficult to be able to crack an NHL roster,” he said. “Looking back and talking to management, it was the best decision I could have made. I just didn’t want to come here and just be a part of (the playoff chase), I wanted to come here and make an impact.”

Here’s where the fork in the road arrives for both: Bump, who had a long runway to get to Philadelphia, is not in demand overseas. He won’t participate in the Worlds for Team USA. Martone, on the other hand, who rocketed through 35 games in college and 20 in the NHL since October, is a wanted man by Team Canada, wants that opportunity and already has a goal to his credit. He goes as far as his country goes.

Which one will be more rested, or at least more ready to tackle training camp in September with a full workload is a fair question. 

The odds right now, as they were in early April, are that Martone, the No. 6 draftee, would receive a greater benefit of the doubt but less leeway to earn a permanent spot, while the 5th-rounder may be scrutinized more after 4 months off but given more time to acclimatize. Both need to end up in the same place: contributing energy and offense every shift.

It’s a great problem to have, as Briere said of both players, whose respective rises were not on the call sheet when decisions were made to acclimatize them to the NHL in the season’s final 20 games. 

“I almost forget these little moments because we get in the playoffs and these guys played such a big role that I forgot they made (the NHL roster) and they hung around,” he admitted on May 14. “Their play kinda dictated that they hung around and played more. It’s not like it was planned that way, but to have them experience that and in such a big role (is great).”

Both Bump and Martone are works in progress, with both players displaying self-awareness in their gameplan to get ready for September’s training camp. They both recognized that speed and strength are skills in need of upgrade, with Bump saying he needs more weight and Martone stating he needs more muscle. They are, perhaps, the two keystones to greater stamina and durability.

"Obviously I’m really close to what I want to accomplish,” Bump said when asked if he still carries a chip on his shoulder as a 5th-round draftee.

With 5 goals on 23 shots (21.7%) in the regular season and 2 goals on 10 SOG (20%) in the playoffs, that's right where Bump needs to be, even if there is no revolutionary change to last year's low-event, high-danger approach. Extrapolated across a full season, that would be roughly 150 shots -- or less than 2 per game, to reach 30 goals.

“I know in my head that I can play in this league but I think there’s a lot more to prove and to show what I can do. I think I can do a lot more than what I’ve showed already.”

That chip can be whittled away by his accomplishments being given equal weight by those in charge of editing hype videos for Flyers prospects. It can also disappear with the right deployment by Rick Tocchet and the remainder of the coaching staff. The hope is, from this vantage point, neither will be subject to the amoeba treatment, shuttled from wing to center.

Bump is a “get-up-and-go” type player, who can take a puck from a scrum, create his own space in stride and shoot wherever there’s an open shot. He’s the ideal player on a power play for what was briefly known as the “Hartnell spot” at the edge of either circle roughly 15 feet from the net. 

Martone is a guy who can throw the body down low, in the corners or along the dashers, collect and distribute; he’s also the Wayne Simmonds-type player to chip the puck off net-mouth scrambles they need at even strength or on the advantage that hasn’t arrived since Wayne Simmonds. After his initial blip, 3 goals on 12 SOG (25%) followed in the regular season, but 2 scores on just 23 SOG (8.7%) in the playoffs begs for better choices and optimal positioning.

Collectively, the Flyers notched 240 regulation-time goals on 2,088 shots, a robust 11.5% overall, with an average of 25.46 SOG per contest. Including Bump and Martone on regular shifts would be key to reversing this trend.

Forget any teasers of tragedy in competition. There is no animus between the players, because they’re all part of the same group that will be relied on to take the club to the next level for the next year or two.

“It’s nice to go through it with someone else, like Barks (Denver Barkey) and Marty (Porter Martone). It’s nice to have younger guys around,” Bump added. “We’re with each other every day. You always have someone around to talk to about anything.”

Martone’s confidence already burst through amidst a baptism of fire, it’s up to all involved to build on the foundation. Bump’s foundation laid, his confidence will surely come with greater reliance and steadier work.

At an impressionable age, the only way to find out is by doing. If Martone wears down during the upcoming full-season grind and if Bump takes a while to get up to speed, it’s a very expensive lesson to learn. If both players arrive at the same point despite different offseasons, the rest of the league would pay the price.

2026 Philadelphia Eagles schedule officially released

The National Football League made its master schedule for all 32 franchises official on Thursday night.

The defending NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles begin their slate on Sept. 13, Week 1 — vs. Washington Commanders at 4:25 PM.

Week 2 — at Tennessee Titans (September 20) Week 3 — at Chicago Bears (September 28, ESPN) Monday Night Football Week 4 — vs. Los Angeles Rams (October 4) Week 5 — at Jacksonville Jaguars in London(October 11) Week 6 — vs. Carolina Panthers (October 18) Week 7 — vs. Dallas Cowboys (October 26, ESPN) Monday Night Football Week 8 — at Washington Commanders (November 1, 8:20 PM, NBC) Sunday Night Football Week 9 — vs. New York Giants (November 8) Week 10 — Bye Week 11 — vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (November 22) Week 12 — at Dallas Cowboys (November 26, 4:30 PM, FOX) Thanksgiving Week 13 — vs. Indianapolis Colts (December 6) Week 14 — at Arizona Week 15 — vs. Seattle Seahawks Week 16 — vs. Houston Texans (December 24, 8:15 PM, Prime Video) Thursday Night Football Week 17 — at San Francisco 49ers (January 3, 8:20 PM, NBC) Sunday Night Football Week 18 — at New York Giants (TBD) Some #Eagles schedule notes: There are five scheduled primetime games for the fifth straight year. They have appeared in the third-most primetime games (114) in the NFL since 2000. -The Birds are slated for two Monday night games (at Chicago in Week 3 and vs. Dallas in Week 7) for the second consecutive season. Since 2000, the Eagles have played in the most Monday Night Football games (44) in the NFL. -The Midnight Green marauders travel to London for their third international regular-season game in Week 5 against Jacksonville at Tottenham Stadium. The Eagles previously defeated the Jaguars 24-18 on Oct. 28, 2018, at Wembley Stadium in London. -The Eagles will play on Thanksgiving Day for the eighth time in franchise history, last doing so in 2015. Overall, Philadelphia is 6-1 on Thanksgiving all-time. The .857 winning percentage on the uniquely American holiday is the highest of any team that has played at least 7 games.