I suppose fan sections have come and gone over the years for various Phillies teams. Blame it on the success I suppose but once the sell out streak started, the fan sections pretty much died. However none had the lasting effect like the Wolf Pack did during Randy Wolf's eight seasons with the Phillies. Drated in 1997 and making his debut in 1999, Wolf held down the rotation through much of the club's lean years as the championship core that would eventually win a title began to blossom.
During Wolf's Phillies years, he would go 69-60 with a 4.21 ERA and was an All Star in 2003. After 2006, he left to sign with the Dodgers for 2007. The Phillies were in on him as they looked to add a starter for 2008 yet Wolf chose to stay out west and signed with the Padres. He's mostly bounced around since with his longest tenure with a club being 2 1/2 seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers starting in 2010. He was briefly in the majors last season pitching for Miami.
Earlier in the year, Wolf signed with the Toronto Blue Jays on a minor league deal. He spent all season in Triple-A Buffalo and was quite the workhorse for them making 23 starts, pitching 139.2 innings, going 9-2 with a 2.58 ERA. Last week he was dealt to the Detroit Tigers where he would make his 2015 MLB debut on his 39th birthday last night.
Wolf faced his former Milwaukee teammate Yovani Gallardo who is with the Texas Rangers. Over seven innings, Wolf pitched pretty well. He got hit around in the third allowing four runs (three earned) but would pitch shut out ball for the rest of his evening, striking out five and allowing no free passes.
As we have seen for most of his career, Wolf hasn't been the greatest starting pitcher. Yet as he enters what is most likely the twilight of his career, he has proven that he can still come in and eat innings and hold down the fort for a pitching staff. How long does he hold up from here? Nobody really knows but he still has some gas in the tank and seems like he's willing to use it.
