I've always been a fan of the update set, due to my love of players in new uniforms. This being my fifth straight year gobbling up, I got a Target blaster of the stuff. I've been hearing good things, let's find out if they're true.
Guaranteed Patch-
Blockbusters of RICKEY HENDERSON TO THE YANKEES! WOW! That is a pretty nice one for Yankees fans. I will hold onto that one. Rickey is awesome.
Pack 1 (The first two packs I believe are all Target red cards)-
93- Chris Ianetta. Not bad.
156- Troy Patton
297- HUNTER PENCE! ALL RIGHT! Even if he's a Giant, I still love getting cards of him.
222- Jairo Asencio GOLD SHINY CARD!
Rickey Henderson on the Mets Golden Greats. Not bad at all. Another Rickey, and one for my collection of him on the Mets. A short term goal of mine has always been to get a card of him on every team he's played for. Still need one from the Angels.
237- Prince Fielder HRD.
72- Carlos Beltran. HRD.
5- Wade Miley Rookie Debut. NICE!
Pack 2-
309- Chris Heisey
287- Dan Wheeler
109- STARLING MARTE ROOKIE! IT'S ONE OF THE GOOD ONES! YAHOO!
107- Randy Choate GOLD #'D TO 2012. Wow, I thought Topps wasn't doing these this year
Blockbusters of Gary Carter. This is a nice one! I really like these inserts, because I love trades.
206- Cole Hamels AS
98- Hector Santiago
8- Luis Perez
Pack 3-
106- Pedro Strop
103- Jack Wilson. Wow, he's still playing?
297- Hunter Pence. So now I have him in Red and regular. If any (nonexistent) Giants blogger wants either, just ask.
160- Marco Scutaro SHINY CARD! ooooh, more Giants bait!
Golden Moments of Ozzie Smith. Very nice.
52- Clayton Kershaw AS
166- Chipper Jones AS. A fitting final card.
129- Giancarlo Stanton AS.
Pack 4-
181- Takashi Saito. I keep thinking he was in Inception
3- Adam Kennedy
109- Starling Marte. Well, one for the rookie binder.
Blockbusters of Jose Bautista. Wish I would have gotten somebody better than Joey Bats, but he'll do.
Golden Giveaway Card. Because why not-
Tony Gwynn Coin. GRRRRRRRRRRRRWHYCAN'TIEVERGETACARRRRRRD!??
269- Drew Hutchison
256- Joe Nathan AS
37- Billy Butler AS, looking like the lost Hantz relative. (Somebody please get that)
Pack 5-
205- Travis Ishikawa.
27- Cesar Izturis
229- Quintin Berry
428- Jordan Schafer GOLD #'D TO 2012. So thaaaat's what they're doing with gold cards.
Golden Moments of George Brett
228- Aaron Cunningham.
annnnnnnnnd two cards I already got in the Red packs. Great collation, Topps. Really great.
Pack 6-
300- Mark Kotsay. My God...he's still playing! Somebody tell him to throw in the towel!
204- Jesus Montero. That's a pretty nice one.
208- Tyler Moore
242- Joe Kelly GOLD #'D TO 2012. Wow, my gold-per-pack ratio is pretty high.
Yu Darvish 1987 mini Rookie Star. That is awesome.231- Tim Dillard
annnnnd two more doubles.
Pack 7-
230- Xavier Nady
94- Kevin Slowey. Because being stuck in fourth sure beats a lifetime of being stuck in fifth.
286- JA Happ. Nice.
128- Dan Straily SHINY GOLD! We are 6 for 7 on gold!
299- Bryce Harper...HOLY CRAP I PULLED A HARPER
wait
HOLY CRAP I PULLED A SHORT PRINT
wait
HOLD CRAP I PULLED A BRYCE HARPER SHORT PRINT! EEEEEEE!
there, I'm done
313- Wandy!
18- Tom Wilhelmsen
36- Juan Cruz. Amazing. Not a single double.
Pack 8-
43- Michael Bowden
310- Kelly Shoppach. This guy was traded while I was in Lake George.
199- Nate Schieholtz. Phils need him.
526- Casper Wells GOLD! YES, ANOTHER ONE! #'D TO 2012!
Blockbusters of Hanley Ramirez on the Dodgers. That's a nice one!
83- Carlos Lee. ALL RIGHT!
175- Tim Byrdak
306- Joe Wieland
Pack 9-
240- Ronny Paulino. Tried out for the Phillies in 2009 for a potential catching job. Lost out because Chooch was just getting good then.
193- Henry Blanco
57- Hanley Ramirez!!!
JOHNNY BENCH Golden Moments.
Golden Giveaway. Sigh...
Roy Halladay coin. But I already have this one.....TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPSSSS!
84- Eric Thames. Not bad
326- Gio Gonzalez. What an awesome season
308- Jay Bruce
Pack 10-
122- Logan Ondruzek
4- Matt Treanor. His wife is an Olympian. He is a backup catcher. Stay at home dad?
100- RYAN DEMPSTER!
525- Paul Maholm....GOLD! I KNOW! #'D TO 2012
Austin Jackson 87 mini
161- Brian Dozier
283- Elvis Andrus AS
209- Yasmani Grandal RD
These were fun. I'm liking this one. The moment I get more cash, I'll snap up some more.
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Saturday, October 6, 2012
And they're off!
The first win of the playoffs goes to Detroit, for overpowering the quickly rising A's.
And it'll only get crazier from here.
The Balance Shifts
Last week, the Rangers were fully expected to clinch the AL West.
Oh ho hoooo boy.
The Orioles' defeat of the strong-armed Rangers last night is only proof that the power is beginning to shift once again. No longer are the high payroll teams on top winning it all- instead, teams like the Orioles, Nationals and A's rise to the top.
I'll say this: I didn't see it coming, last night. I wanted the Orioles to win, no doubt, but I didn't really think it was going to occur. All year the Rangers were one of the best teams in the AL. They were playing really good baseball, and their pitching staff was moving on from CJ Wilson. And then...they lose last night and it's all over. I'll say that it's heartbreaking for most Rangers fans, but I fist pumped.
The Rangers have beaten down my Yankees before, numerous times. I'm so glad they're out of the playoffs. But now the Orioles are in our way. And now I begin nailbiting again.
The Orioles are now a good, strong team. And they have gotten hot. That's the problem. They're a good, strong, powerful, hot at the moment squad. We slowed down in August and September. The entire team isn't as hot right now as the O's, although Robinson Cano is pretty good right now.
My fear is that the Orioles will end the series crushing my Yankees, and giving an even bigger balance shift. If the Orioles, or even if the A's, beat the Billion Dollar Yankees, then it'll be the mother of all sports stories. It'll be so talked about that you'll have to escape to bars and retirement homes and places where they don't talk about it.
That's my one fear. The Orioles are fully capable of hitting my Yankees hard. The Yankees, however, are fully capable of hitting them back.
Friday, October 5, 2012
Farewell, Chippah
The Greatest Switch-Hitting Third Baseman of all time.
It's a shame that the last game of your career was marred by an error. I really hate that. But who's gonna remember you for that? They'll remember the other times, the better times, when you led the league, and won the World Series.
See you in 6 Years for your speech in Cooperstown.
Boy...that escalated quickly!
"I mean that really got out of hand"
"It jumped up a notch!
"It did, didn't it?"
"Yeah, I made Chipper Jones commit an error!"
"I saw that! Brick embarrassed Chipper! Did you sink a liner?"
"Yeah, there was trash everywhere, and an umpire on fire, and I made Chipper Jones commit an error!"
"Brick, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. You should probably
find yourself a safe house or a relative in the West. Lay low for a while,
because you're probably wanted for murder in Atlanta."
-----
Needless to say, I'm not very happy about the results of tonight's first wild card game. My Cardinal-loving friend will be rubbing this in my face on Friday. This should not happen. They should not be making the playoffs. If they make the champs, then I will owe him money.
I don't wanna owe him money. So please, Nationals, kick the Cardinals' ass for me.
I'll have an update on the Rangers-Orioles game later.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
It was fun, Omar
He did for shortstop what Carlton Fisk did for catching.
He started playing the season Mike Schmidt stopped.
He played with Ken Griffey Jr, and Ken Griffey Sr.
He classed up a Giants team that had just lost its biggest hitter
He was one of the defining players on countless Indians, Mariners and Giants teams.
He finished his career strong with Chicago, Texas and Toronto.
Omar Vizquel deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, even if he doesn't make it first year. He's one of the most consistent shortstops the game has had since Luis Aparicio.
Still, I'll miss him. He was a fun player to watch.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
An Astonishing Turn of Events
Last season was a relatively insane season. You had a team winning the wild card by a hair, and then going on to win the championship, a team that returns to the World Series with a better team and still loses, a Pirates team that peaked in June, and a year without a real noteworthy rookie class, save for two certain overachieving closers.
You can say that last season itself was pretty crazy. But you put the 2011 season beside the 2012 one, and the 2011 season looks flawless, and sane.
A season where a team expected to finish third in its division ended up winning the whole thing- SANE?
Yet, that's how this current season is looking. Of the ten postseason spots, seven of them have been filled by teams that I never would have expected to get there. The three exceptions are the Yankees, Rangers and Cardinals, because they win all the time.
Let me explain why the other seven spots shock me so much.
- Giants- Around June or July, when the whole LA boom was going on, I was convinced that this was the Dodgers's season. Kemp was hitting, the pitching staff was strong, and soon they'd be traded every star they could get. And they still didn't win. The Giants, while still a strong team, I never expected to get there. And yet they did.
- Tigers- I was kinda stuck on thinking the White Sox would take it, as was every AL central fan. The Sox were playing excellent baseball, thanks to people like AJ Pierzynski, Chris Sale and Kevin Youkilis. And it all sorta fell apart at the end, which is terrible. The Tigers, like the Giants, are a strong team, but it surprises me that another team got there.
- Braves- At the point when I realized that my Phillies weren't going to win the wild card, that was the point where I knew the Braves had the wild card. However, there was nothing before that this season that hinted that way. They began the season in third, like usual, only the placings were flipped. Then the Nationals started winning, and then I thought the Dodgers would get the Wild Card. They didn't. Then I thought the Phillies would get the Wild Card. They didn't. The Braves won simply by not falling apart.
- Reds- I will blame the Pirates for this one, for getting so good, and choking so quickly. I thought they had it, and for a while they were toggling back and forth with the Reds for first place. Then the Reds had their epic winning streak. Welp. So much for that.
- Nationals- At the beginning of the season, I was intent on the fact that the Phillies would take it, not knowing that the team was aging and the stars were injured. The team plummeted to last place. Meanwhile, the team usually sitting in that spot elevated to first. Silliest thing I've ever heard. And they held it, too. I thought it was going to wear out. The fact that this is #3 on the list is an example of how crazy the year was.
- Orioles- I've always been a shallow Orioles fan, so when they started winning, I was really happy. I applauded them, I saw them rise the second, and I made a simple plea: "Don't get too good". And they didn't listen to me. The last two months they've been going toe to toe with my Yankees because they wanted to get competative. And that's a great team, too, but it would have been really embarrassing if they floored the Yankees.
- A's. This came as an absolute shock to me, and to everyone. Beginning of the season we all thought the Rangers would repeat as AL West champs. (Buzzer Noise). The A's came out of absolutely nowhere and started winning games, which I thought was remarkable for a team with no star power. Now the Rangers might get knocked out by whoever loses the AL East race, which is an interesting prospect.
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