Mail Day! BIlly and His New Blog On the Block (part 1)

Good day to everybody and welcome yet another glorious work week! Today is actually a pretty short day because we get to take Jacoby to his 9-month Doctor appt. At 6 months, Jacoby was already at 29 inches and 21 lbs, so he is definitely going to be tall. Our goal is to make him the youngest kid ever to ride the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland (which has the tallest height requirement of all the park).

Just before the long weekend, I received a very generous package from Billy in Florida. Billy is a brand new blogger and actually acknowledged me as his reason for starting....no pressure! So for Pete's sake, everybody check out his blog and help make it a raging success! I have been blogging for only a few months myself, but the best advice I can give to you Billy, is just keep writing and see where it takes you from day to day. Some days you are doing a box break, and others you are throwing up a survey on bananas! (I am pretty disappointed in the results, by the way). Good luck on the new venture Billy, and everybody please stop in to BGM838. and welcome a new blogger into our community.

I initially met Billy when started blogging about my 2009 Topps Chrome break. I was looking for others that wanted to do some base-swapping to help me complete the set (since it is kinda my MO), Billy contacted me a spun me a tail of woe about cracking two boxes and ending up with and identical auto in each. Two Wil Venable's. I told him to hang tight as I awaited one more box, and luckily my misfortune of pulling two Yankees turned into a nice little Pena for Venable auto swap. A wonderful deal. Billy was also going to throw in a bunch of chrome base to help me complete the set.

Well, when the package came, there more (much more) than just the auto and the chrome. In fact so many cool cards to write about that I am going to have to split this baby into two "Kill Bill" style. So lets break down bonus material (Sox-themed).


Now I am not at home at the moment, so much of this is from memory, but I start with what I believe is 2007 Turkey Reds. I love Turkey Reds, as you all already know, and these are additions to the collection. I am a bit perplexed on the lack of detail on some of the cards, while the others look rather life-like. I think that this product has really evolved over the last couple of years.

I am getting well-versed in this series..the 2007 Bowman Heritage collection. So much time and attention to detail. My favorite of the bunch has to be of the Captain. I will really miss him when he goes, most likely at the end of this season.

Here we actually have two products, UD Artifacts Dice-K and his introductory press conference shot...this made my 6 in 45 seconds list. Then there are a couple Topps sketch cards that are a nice depiction, though I think the Manny looks a bit off.

Masterpieces is just a classic and this Yaz card is top-notch. I like the Papi too, but he looks a bit Shrekish in this particular pose.

Okay, so I have fully admitted my confusion regarding the big mini craze,but these Goudey are pretty nice, they are from the 2007 set and the Yaz in the middle is an extra bonus. I will be popping a couple of boxes of Goodwins and I hear that there is a mini per pack, so I am getting my tiny storage box dusted off and ready to roll!

Have you ever heard of this guy? I hear he is pretty popular. I was actually unaware that Bowman had minor league images of players ( I thought they just had prospect cards of players in MLB uniforms) so this is different from any other Jacoby that I have. BTW I think it goes without saying that Jacoby is always on my collections list, so if you have any lying around that you don't want, please let me know!

Got a little old school in here! While I admittedly did not really follow the Red Sox until the advent of the Internet (how could I way out here in O-Re-Gon?), one of the reasons I went Red Sox and have not looked back is the rich history involved with the franchise. These cards are fantastic!

That's it for now! I will post the remainders soon, but in the meantime check out BGM838, and help Billy get his blog off on the right foot!

6 in...45! JD's Red Sox Picks

I have always been a big fan of the Ladies at Dinged Corners and amazing posts, and today they came up with a great exercise for everybody to try. Unfortunately I have felt a bit under the weather today, and exceeded the alotted time by give or take 10-15 seconds.

Here are the results of the 30...er...45 seconds binder pull. #1 David Ortiz. Heritage are quickly becoming my favorite brands, and this is without a doubt my favorite Papi.

#2. I will always have a soft spot for Caveman Johnny.

#3 - These artifacts are pretty nice and i have always liked the look of this card...and that is the point, right?

#5. Topps had some great images this year, and really used the landscape effect perfectly in this card (my favorite landscape shot of the set is Pujols' card).

#5. Hard to pick a favorite Jacoby card. But this is the only my hand went to first, and that is the point, right?

#6. I think that I am going to see how many times I can get away with using this card in my blog. I love the dramatic image, the colors, and even think the shiny sticker with blue sig really add to the effect of this card. One of my favorites, hands down.

When I get more organized, I will have to try this game with my phenom folder. That was fun, thanks ladies!

2008 Heritage Pack #4 and Highlights of the Day

Today is Labor Day and we are all happy to have an extra day off this weekend. Unfortunately, none of the family feels that well today. As I write this it is almost 2:00 and I am still in pajama's and a sweatshirt. In my defense, EVERYBODY was in pajamas until just about half hour ago. I am straggling a little bit. Our big mission for the day is to walk to Safeway to buy bread. I need to save my strength.


Here is pretty much the day so far...


6:00 am - Jacoby wakes up. Stacy is already out on the sofa since she was coughing all night, so I get out of bed and stagger downstairs to grab the kid. He is already standing up in the crib and ready to rock and roll. Normally mornings are also times for him to leave us a little "surprise". Phew, no surprise yet, but he sure does not smell good. Oh well, my only goal at this point is to take him upstairs into bed and hope to at least get back to sleep until it is light outside.


7:30 - Success! Stacy has joined me and Jacoby and each of us passes out until now. About this time I realize that there is a lot of day games today and need to hit the computer and sub in my guys for the first week of the playoffs. My strategy is simple...my only hope of winning this week is to hope that my opponent is camping somewhere and does not have anybody subbed in. Other than that I am screwed. Every season I have a great team that magically falls apart all at once in the playoffs. This year is no different.


8:15 - Let's rip my daily pack! My wife points out that if I rip the pack so early, I will have nothing to do for the rest of the day! She is truly enjoying watching me squirm on my self-imposed pack-rip sentence. I make up some excuse about having other cards to scan, blah blah blah, and excitedly tear into pack#3.


10:03 - In our first attempt to put Jacoby down for a nap we excitedly flip on the TV to catch a little "Price is Right". Its a stay at home tradition. WHAT? US Opens womens tennis? Balderdash!


10:07-11:00 - Catch the last hour of Hoosiers on Versus, or Fuse or some crazy guys network. I noticed recently that we a ton of new HD stations, and most of them are sports channels, with a sprinkling of VH1 and MTV as well.


Did you know that Slider from Top Gun was in Hoosiers? That's my revelation of the day. He was Dennis Hopper's (Shooter?) son. Gave his Dad mad props for successfully running the picket fence and the expense of the opponent. Of course anybody can run the picket fence with Jimmy Chitwood running around the fence and popping for two.


11:05 - Time for some Red Sox baseball....uh oh, is that Buehrle on the mound. Balderdash! Jacoby Ellsbury scores in the first, and that...is...about...it. Sox lose.


1:30 - Success! After a month of failed attempts, I have finally convinced my wife to try a stick of Heritage bubble gum. This is my second highlight of the day. Stacy actually looked at her watch and determined that the gum has a life span of exactly 33 seconds!

1:47 - Stacy is excited to watch "Days of Our Lives" only to be disappointed by PGA golf!


2:02 - This part is kinda gross, but I came home on Thursday and discovered that have have a slight sugar ant invasion in the kitchen. We scrubbed everything down but have discovered that a nest must be somewhere behind our dishwasher. I went and got some of that Terrot (the poison, not the fortune telling cards) and have started placing little traps on the window sill. I tore off little pieces of a Joe Wolf Basketball card. It was pretty amazing...one second there was no ants and then the next thing you know there is a ring of them each ponying up to the bar to take back a little poison to the nest. Yesterday there were far less and today there are even fewer, in fact I no longer see any more than two at a time up there. I have lovingly called them "Cliff and Norm". I have also gotten really strict with any ant outside of the window zone. If they are caught in the neutral zone, they are one dead ant. I almost feel like Bill Murray in Caddyshack.


So there you are, all caught up on my day...lets get to that pack shall we?



Michael Young - Still solid in Texas. According to card, has had 4 consecutive 200 hit seasons at shortstop, actually 5 in a row, but played 2nd base on that first season.



Lastings Milledge - I swear I pull more of Milledge than any other player.

Ian Kinsler - Gotta be careful tossing around too many Ranger compliments, bad mojo. Still though, good player, good team.

Dave Roberts - As I mentioned yesterday, these older cards don't reflect important stats like save and steals. Only one steal in his career matters to me.

Adam Dunn - Just MASHES the ball. Four straight seasons of 40+ homers and is currently 5 away from a 5th straight season.

George Posada - Well, my Yankee pulling prowess continues, so far in three packs I have 3 yankees and 0 Red Sox...Why did I say three?
Robby Cano! Of course, why stop at one Yankee in this pack. I guess this is a SP though.

Brian Fuentes - As is this one. two SP's on one pack this time. I am starting to consider this set more and more.

Phenom Report: Jon Lester

Jon Lester took the mound for the Red Sox yesterday in a must-win (at this point pretty much all of the games are must-win when you are in a wild-card race) against the White Sox opposite John Danks.

And Lester was on form, picking up his 12th win of the season, 3rd in the last 4 outings, and has not taken a loss since July 19th. Here is the line:

7.0 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 2 BB, and 8 K's.

Lester's ERA stands at 3.58 and has 198 K's on the season.

Next opponent: Tampa Bay Rays

2008 Heritage "Two-Fer" Pack #2

Here are the results of my "Two-Fer" Sunday rip. I can honestly say that those other five packs seem to be taunting me to open them. They are extra tempting because, unlike many of the packs these days that are very expensive and only contain a few cards, this pack is quite plump with eight cards guaranteed (well, mostly guaranteed unless I 1) pull an auto or a relic, thus defying the massive odds against it) and 2) fall out of my chair and giggle maniacally on the floor ala Homer Simpson. Oh and did I mention the guaranteed gum hit?? It is going to be a long week!
Here are the cards from pack #2


Randy Johnson - Technically I could whine about pulling another Yankee, but I think that I will give the Big Unit a free pass because I don't truly believe he really liked being in New York from day one and his brush with the madness that is the New York media. He came in, did his time, and got the heck outta dodge and now is playing the mentor out in SF with the surprising Giants. I am looking over his Strikout Stats from 1999-2002 when he surpassed 300 Strikouts for four consecutive years. Phenomenal.

Brett Myers - Has a ring, not much else to say. Rings are cool.



Francisoco Cordero - One flaw that I am starting is starting to stand out to me in these old style cards is the lack of stats for saves. While innings pitched clearly indicates that the player is a bullpen guy, there is no saves column.

Chris Duffy - Apparently is in the Brewers farm system these days?

Eric Byrnes - I got nothing.

Kelvin Escobar - According to the card, Kelvim struck out 14 batters in 6 innings on 6/12/07... further research reveals that this was not enough to hold off Josh Hamilton and the Cincinnati Reds in a 5-3 loss.

The Kitchen Debate - Okay it is way too late to break this down, but apparently two stubborn politicians met in a kitchen (it's always a kitchen, isn't it?) and had an "extemporaneous" debate. Too late and too tired to look this word up, but I have visions of the old 80's video game "Food Fight" drifting around in my head.

Josh Hamilton - The man of the pack, and thanks to some previous questions answered, apparently Josh is a short print as well.

More rips tomorrow!

2008 Topps Heritage Pack #1

So here we go with my first of "Two-Fer" Sunday 2008 Topps Heritage Packs.

First off is the gum. I swear this gum looks much better than the 2009 gum. I still can't get my wife to eat any of it though.

Matt Cain - He is a borderline phenom in my collection, so this is a good start.

Jimmy's All-Stars - Last year this card would not really resonate much. This year though...gold! Three pieces of the Buc's fire sale. I hold all three of these guys in high regard and am thrilled that they got a chance to move elsewhere to make a name for themselves.

Question #1 - Are these considered parallels or are they regular set?

Delmon Young - Little brother Delmon, who exploded on the scene with Tampa a few years back. Again, he is sucked into that Minnesota vortex, so I really don't know how he is doing these days.

JJ Putz - I know how he is doing these days!

Question #2 - Ankiels Card has a black number on the back instead of the regular Christmas green and red, what is that all about?

Rick Ankiel - What a cool story. If you start pitching like Nuke LaLuche, re-invent yourself and jump back into the scene. Great story.

Anthony Reyes - Oof...2-14 in his rookie season with the Cards? Topps chalks it up to lack of run support, but failed to mentioned that he would have needed six or more runs in support!

Brad Lidge - Another black square number on the back. Not much to say here. He has a ring. Much respect

Oh heck! Of COURSE I have to pull a Yankee card. It is my MO. I gotta say though, since there are only 10 cards in this series, I guess I should feel fortunate considering these are retail packs, and the Eddie Mathews is a piece of class, but A-Rod? Ugg.

Initially impressions: Dangit. I am really starting to like the look of this set already. I joined this hobby one year too late and already feel like this set would be a nice one to collect.

Oh, almost forgot...Question #3 - When I look up this series in Beckett, they include the High Number additional series in the set. I am going to finish 2009 Heritage come hell or high water, so if I don't chase the High Numbers coming out soon...do I then have an incomplete set again?


For those sharp eyes out there, you may have noticed TWO pieces of gum in that first shot. you caught me, I have already ripped the second pack of "Two-Fer" Sunday. What treasure does it hold? Hang tight, I will post later today! CLIFFHANGER!* (except for those of you that collected this set two years ago and have already seen these cards a billion times).

A Pack a Day! (No, Seriously)

As part two of my great Target adventure, I scoured the $1.59 bin and found these...

Seven packs of 2008 Topps Heritage! Roughly half the cost of this year's model. The fact that they are in the cheapo bin leads me to believe that this is the end of the road for this product, unless I go the hobby box route, that I will never stand a chance on completing this set. But I will rip a few of these and see where it takes me. Here is one catch though...

I am literally going to limit myself to opening one pack per day...

What? Impossible!

I am sure lots of people actually rip open a ton of packs at once, set them aside, and then scan in one pack a day. It's a mirage. I may post a pack, but in reality there are piles of cards and wrappers everywhere! Worse yet, I have nothing to do for the rest of the week except peer into my mail box like Charlie Brown hoping for a Valentine...only to find these...

So I am going to try a nice little experiment and ACTUALLY only rip one of these each day* (since today is Sunday and I want to go back to Target on Friday, today is officially "two-fer" Sunday"). We'll see how shaky the hands get, and what random tasks that I will do to pass the time before next Friday!

RIP!!

Bring on Football!

Today had a decidedly different feel about it...

The first thing that happened was it poured rain, all night, and most of the morning. Poured. We had mid 80's all week and then suddenly it was pouring. It also did not get above 65 degrees all day today. What does that all equal? College football is back baby, yeah.

The first thing Stacy and I did today was take little Jacoby to his 9 month photo shoot at the mall. Jacoby was very well behaved, but this photo shoot took a bit more effort than the other because he is a bit more...mobile than he was at his six-month shoot. As much as the photographer tried to keep Jacoby on the red dot, away he would crawl. We got some great shots of him and a football though (2.99 mini ball at Target...more on that in a minute) and even got a couple of him with me wearing my Seahawk blue.

The came the Oregon State football game. After taking absolute joy in watching the Duck debacle the other day, it was great to see the Rodgers boys (James and Jacquizz) dismantle Portland State. You may not hear a ton about Oregon State if you live East of the the Rockies. You probably hear mostly about Oregon (especially after Thursday night). Truth be told, WE never really hear about Oregon State either in this area. Which is why after six weeks (I am not kidding you) of people hyping up that Oregon game, it was very nice to see everybody get deflated like a popped balloon the next day. That was one UGLY game. Keep your ears peeled for the Rodgers boys this season.

But back to Target for a second. My wife and I needed to go to Target to pick up a football "prop" for Jacoby's photo shoot today. Of course I took advantage of this to check out the card selection at Target. I was all set to pick up a few packs of Goudey...which of course meant that they did not HAVE any Goudey. I was just about to give up the hunt when I found the $1.59 bin, and pulled out a few of these...

2 packs of 2008 Donruss Threads Rookie Class and one pack of 2008 Donruss Classic. Note that both of these feature Adrian Peterson on the foil, whoever the heck he is....(kidding). Well for a buck fiddy, why not give these a go, eh?

First the packs of Rookie Class...

I like the look of these cards and was actually pretty impressed despite the fact that they have a suspiciously UD "Cut and Paste" look about them. The names are all top-notch, but I am a little disappointed with the backs, as they only carry stats for the previous season, and don't really give an insight into the players themselves.

Shawn McDonald - Detroit Lions wideout.....nowhere to go but up, literally.

Thomas Jones- RB, New York Jets. Most definitely over the best years of his career, which was basically one season with the Bears.

Matt Leinart - Arizona Cards...Swami Mike says that Warner takes a tumble this year, and Leinart will be forced into action, and will finally make a name for himself in the NFL.

Josh Reed - I honestly don't even know if he is still a Bill or not, but especially with TO and Evans on the field. If he is still on the team, probably won't hear his name too much.

S-Jack - Oregon State alum that has been injury plagued and offensive line plagued. This year will probably be no different, but I would still take him on my fantasy team any day

Braylon Edwards - AWOL last year with hands of stone, but I sense a comeback year is at hand.

Ted Ginn Jr - Something about the Dolphin run last year seemed a bit too good to believe, and my guess is that this season will prove that to be true.

Bernard Berrian - Minnesota is just some weird vortex where I just don't follow their teams. Its not that the Twins and Vikings don't put a good product on the fields, they just don't cross my radar for some odd reason.

Chris Cooley - I REALLY don't follow the Skins.

Antonio Gates - I do love me some Super Chargers though! Gates is top-notch and due for a comeback season as well.

Hey wait, two packs of Rookie Threads and no rookies? Rip-off!

These are the Classics: These backs are a bit nicer on these, but still only include last years stats...

Joey Gallaway? Is he still playing?

Matt Leinart - See above, this is going to be a good year for Matt

Ronnie Brown - 1/3 of the Wild Cat madness that swept the league this year. I highly doubt Miami tries that little trick again, but Ronnie is the real deal and will get his this year.

Carson Palmer....Next

Laurence Maroney - AHA. How did I know that the Bane of my last two fantasy teams would show up? Maybe this year is the year, but with about 12 running backs working for Coach Bill, I doubt it.

No hits, but what do you expect for 1.59 a pack? I actually like the look of these cards though, especially the classics, and am curious to check out blowout cards to see what they have available.

Back to baseball tomorrow, as I also made some Target baseball purchases to share from the bargain bin!

Mail Call: Troll!

Came home yesterday from a long day at the office and found a nice yellow envelope waiting for me from a Troll in the ol' mailbox. Let's head to the highlight reel...

Two 2009 Topps Heritage Short Prints, floating heads addition! I actually have some news around the short prints. I have gotten more aggressive on the market and yesterday found a way to take care of about 25 of the remaining 49 shortprints. In doing so, I will be having some duplicates heading this way in a couple of days and will be happy to post them up for you if you need them. I am hoping you might have some duplicates and we can do the ol' switcheroo.


In following the theme of my top pitching phenoms yesterday, I received a nice Hernandez chrome in the package. These cards are just fantastic additions for player sets and this was a nice little addition to the trade.

Also included was a Dustin Pedroia Chrome. Okay, so while I Love Pedroia and the Sox, this card is pretty painful to look at. What is UP with the squinty eyes, dopey smile, and clean shaven face? I did a little research thinking that this is on of the "parallel" cards that match the same number and pose of it's 1960 counterpart, but here is that card...
Same card# 15 - CHECK

Same Team - CHECK

Same Position - CHECKAROONIE

Same Squint - ....Not so much....hmm. Well, nice shot Dustin!

In keeping with the Hernandez/Pedroia theme, here a a couple green-backed Goudey, including the mini Fernandez. I like the detail in these a whole lot, and wish I had jumped on this bandwagon earlier in the year. Maybe this will be a set for me to chase next year when prices drop on these. I hear the SP's are just as difficult to gather if not tougher, but the hits we pretty fun from the few retail packs of these I picked up.

This is an excellent little surprise added to the package. 1997 Bowman Heritage. I bought a few packs of these and was pretty blown away with the artwork. Its kinda hard to put a description on these cards, but its almost as if there is a little TOO much shadow detail. Not a bad thing, but these are definitely have a very distinctive look to them. This particular is a chrome refractor variety, which will go great next to the regular version that I was lucky enough to pull!

Also included in the package were several Becketts, Pedroia's, and a little love for Mikey Lowell.

Okay, now this card deserves a little extra attention. THIS Red Sox team is the one that the wheels absolutely fell off of in August of 2006. Let me run down the injuries that plagued my beloved Sox... (courtesy of Boston.com sports)

On the roster but ailing:

LF Manny Ramirez -- Couldn't play yesterday because of contin-
ing right knee soreness

C Doug Mirabelli -- Jammed his left ankle during batting practice on Saturday

LHP Jon Lester -- Hurt back in recent fender-bender; won't make his start tonight (later, was diagnosed with Lymphoma).

RHP Keith Foulke -- Back woes kept him out of Saturday night's game

1B Kevin Youkilis -- Missed two games with stomach flu; back in lineup yesterday in left

RHP Josh Beckett -- Cut finger in last start but will try to take mound tomorrow night

OF Wily Mo Pena -- Injured his left wrist at the plate Friday night and has missed two games
2B Mark Loretta -- Was in lineup yesterday but dealing with sore right quadriceps

On the disabled list:
SS Alex Gonzalez -- Right oblique strain

RHP Tim Wakefield -- Stress fracture in rib cage

OF Trot Nixon -- Strained right biceps

RHP Matt Clement -- Right shoulder strain (If not mistaken, this was also the year that Clement took one to the head in Tampa).

LHP Lenny DiNardo -- Neck strain

C Jason Varitek -- Surgery on left knee

That last one is a biggie. Varitek is a huge part of this team and his ability to call a game and block pitches was never as evident as during the end of that season when Varitek was out, Mirabelli was hurt, and Javy Lopez came in and stunk it up. Most nights were unwatchable, and very rarely did I even recognize the players on the field. It was that bad.

A great card nonetheless though. I will put it right next to my Julian Tavarez and Willy Mo Pena!

Thanks Troll!

Hey folks, sorry that I have not thrown up anything today (wait a tic, that does not sound right, does it)? To be quite honest, the cards have slowed down for the last few days. I am between products waiting for Goodwin Champions, I am pretty much stuck between a rock and hard place with 2009 Heritage short prints, nothing has really come in the mail, and now that JD has become rather mobile, most of my evenings are spent keeping an eagle-eye on his doings!


BUT, I do expect some packages coming soon. Several of you have been very generous and are helping me out with a couple SP's, some Topps Chrome, and an outlet to jettison Yankee puke autos, so thank you very much for that. In the meanwhile I am passing time alphabetizing my prospects and rookie cards. Pretty exciting stuff eh? Ya know what? At first glance the only notable name in the prospect cards that has even sniffed notoriety is Neftali Feliz, the rest are either still cranking it out in the minors, or working at Bobs Big Boy (Two Austin Powers references, one post).




Maybe this is a good opportunity to catch you all up on some of my favorite phenoms! I love collecting young pitchers because it makes watching random teams that much more exciting, and it is like watching your stock rise and fall with each pitch. So I give you my top five phenom pitchers!


1. Tommy Hanson! Hanson! He's so hot right now!


I love watching Tommy take the mound and just mow them down. Nothing shakes the guy up and he seems amazingly focused considering the spotlight he is under. He got the short end of the stick last outing when a rain delay washed out him and Petey after only two innings. I will have to check, but I am pretty sure Hanson took the loss on the game. Bum deal. For those of you looking for a good game with the means, I recommend Hanson vs Nolasco tonight.

2. Yovani Gallardo

Has been on my fantasy team each year since exploding onto the scene a couple years back. He is only 12-10, but a lot of that is due to lack of run support during his starts. He has an impressive 186 strikeouts to this point and a decent 3.56 ERA. Just not the year for the Brew Crew though and he kinda gets lost in the fold sometimes.


Speaking of lost in the fold...


3. Felix Hernadez (I would not really call him my 3rd favorite, but it was a nice segway)...



King Felix is mired in yet another horrible Mariner team this season, but his stats are amazing. 2.65 ERA, 185 K's, 14-5 record, and Cy Young written all over him. I doubt he'll get it, in fact I doubt that many of you even knew that he was doing so well this year. Felix is yet another case of a guy that, if placed square in the National League, would absolutely baffle everybody. Heck, he is already doing it in the American League, but NOBODY NOTICES. He is like the Eeyore of the American League :)


4. Tim Lincecum

Timmy! Has amassed an amazing 222 K's and 2.33 ERA to go with his 13-4 record. Helping to lead an inspired charge for his Giants down the stretch. Griffey Jr has the sweetest swing in baseball, Lincecum has the sweetest delivery in baseball. It's tough to watch Giants baseball, but I try to catch Timmy when I can.

5. Jon Lester

I have said it a million times. How can you NOT cheer for Lester? He kicked cancer to the curb and is back out there throwing no-hitters and shutouts in the toughest division in baseball (actually I don't know if that is still true, but it looks good on paper). Bar-none, He and Jacoby are my favorite Sox, and I love watching Lester take the bump every chance I get.

Honorable mention...Clay Buccholtz (kid is coming around), Johnny Cueto (Best name in the game, but still has control issues), and Zach Grienke (I hear he is good, but again, like Felix, you never really here about him EVER.

In closing, so far nary a single vote for a green, crisp banana? Can I lobby for a green(ish) banana by saying that when you pack a lunch, all of your food does not end up smelling and tasting like banana if it is not super-ripe yet? I'm just sayin.....

Number Swapping!

For some reason or another, Topps has caught fire recently and has been naming off several redemption cards over the past week. It almost seems like the entire Topps staff has come back from summer vacation and has discovered that baseball season is slowely coming to an end (not for my team though!)

So as it stands, I have registered redemptions for #7,#9, and #10 of the Red Hot Rookies. Below is the entire list of 10 redemption cards...


#1 Fernando Martinez
#2 Gordon Beckham (1 in 10 will be autographed)
#3 Andrew McCutchen
#4 Tommy Hanson
#5 Nolan Reimond
#6 Neftali Feliz
#7 Mat Latos
#8 Julio Borbon
#9 Jhoulys Chacin
#10 Chris Coghlan

(courtesy of JayBee)

I am seeking to do a little card swapping for anybody who might be willing to help me out. Of course it does not take a rocket scientist to know that I would like to have the #4 Tommy Hanson card, but I also am interested in the #3 Andrew McCutchen card as well. Is anybody out there willing to trade either of these for either Mat Latos, Jhoulys Chacin, or Chris Coghlan?

On another note...for those of you that have registered redemptions for Allen and Ginter Framed-Auto Redemptions, has there been any movement there?

And the Winner is.....

Curses! I desperately searched for how to turn a screen print into a picture that I can upload into my blog, like you all have when you use Random.org. Of course I could not figure it out (I told you that I am still a greenhorn)! So I did the next best thing and cut-and-pasted into this screen.

So without further ado....the winner of the 10,000 hits contest is......DayF! I am pretty certain that I know who his favorite team is, of course this means that he will have to come out of hiatus and blog about baseball cards again! As I mentioned before, I will update my Chrome Availables tonight. Please shoot me an email to get the ball rolling!

Congrats! And thank you to all for reading my blog!



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Collective Troll
Fan of Reds
Timestamp: 2009-09-01 19:07:25 UTC

Quick Random Thoughts...

Hi Folks, lots going on this morning and then I have a volunteer activity all afternoon, so I have a small window of opportunity to pass along some quick thoughts and notes for today!

• The 10,000 hits drawing is still on! You have until noon today to comment on my 10,000 hits post to be entered in the random.org drawing for the prize! A quick note. I did not get a chance to update my Chrome Availables list last night. Rest assured, there are plenty, as only 5 of the 96 cards helped me towards my base set in that last box! I will have to update this evening and then the winner can pick out the 25 that they would like! Enter the contest no later than 11:59 AM today!

• SP's are a pain in the butt. This really should be it's own posting, but I am just thinking about how absolutely difficult it is to finish off some of these sets like Heritage and Legendary Cuts etc. I understand the point of "the chases" and stoking trading, but folks on Ebay and hobby shops are CLEARLY taking advantage of this....Did I see that Collective Troll indicated that his hobby shop is charging 5 bucks APIECE for Heritage SP's? Yikes. My hobby shop does not even display them. They keep wanting me to go to their Beckett Store to purchase them...do you think they will be any cheaper their? I highly doubt it. And eBayers are not playing nice either. How does anybody complete these sets?

• Red Sox. Heating up! Nice pitcher performances from Clay and Byrd over the weekend. Its no secret that the key to the playoffs is the arms race and the Red Sox appear to be stablizing, minus Dice-K light, and Beckett's Home Run tendencies Ala 2005. Things are looking up though and the Sox are starting to distance themselves from the Wild Card pack. That could all change though with a series beginning tonight with the Rays. Of course I would have to say that most of the pressure rests squarely on Tampa at this point (what were they thinking trading Kazmir)?

• Brett Favre and his mysterious self-diagnosed cracked rib....Is he going to have it checked out by a REAL doctor? No. I betcha a buffalo nickle though that everytime he has a bad game or throws a patented untimely interception, those ribs are gunna be acting up.

• Have I mentioned my frustrations with SP's yet? :)

• I had a dream that Topps called me last night about the Ginter Prize. Then I woke up. Topps had not really called me.

Have a great day!