2008 Goudey Blaster Break

I know I am way behind with this one - It sort of got lost in the Phillies stretch run.

So yes, I opened this box a while ago and just wanted to go over the stats just in case anyone out there is still working on 08 UD Goudey. I don't remember the configuration 8 packs of 8 it looks like.

Here are the vitals:

53 Base - Five of which were duplicates of 4 hobby packs that I had bought previosly - that seems a little high. 1 Phil, Hamels, which I needed. 7 of the base were retired stars.

1 SP #229 Ozzie Smith
1 President #250 James Buchanan - The only president from Pennsylvania.
1 1936 Goudey #257 David Wright
1 1936 Goudey mini #258 Jeter
1 Sports Royalty # 276 Bruce Jenner
1 Sports Royalty mini #326 Sanya Richards (Red Back)
1 Hit Parade of Champions #HPC-10 Mr Hockey Gordie Howe
2 Yankee Stadium Legacy #3800 Roy White 09/03/1970 Orioles 8 @ Yankees 4
#3825 Thurman Munson 05/01/71 Brewers 1 @ Yankees 0
1 Game Used Memorabilia #M-JB Jason Bay

08 Goudey fell in the like but not love category for me, I had opened a couple of hobby packs over the summer and generally liked the product enough and that convinced me to get a blaster to gather some additional base cards.

The only disappointment was that 5 of the cards from the blaster I already had in a pretty small collection of maybe 25 cards from 4 hobby packs. Otherwise I was pretty happy, the inserts in this blaster were all decent, Jason Bay isn't the flashiest card in the Materials set, but he is a player I root for so thats definitely a nice addition to the personal collection.

I am also sending out a reminder that Sunday is Spot the Sig! day. This weeks STS is scheduled to go up around 9:30pm Eastern

Help! - I need Yankees and Mariners Fans - 2008 Topps U & H

I need to hear people's opinions on this Miguel Cairo card. Can anyone let me know if you think that this card has been photoshopped (from Cairo's days w/ the Yankees possibly) or if this is really Cairo playing for the Mariners. Big Thanks from Team Phungo.


2008 Topps U&H #UH163 Miguel Cairo

Also

This weeks Spot the Sig! was solved by Cardboard Junkie Dayf but there is still time to get in on the action and answer the bonus question. The bonus this week is total guesswork so anyone could possibly win - just go here and pick the section, row, and seat from the game ticket that is shown and you could be on the scoreboard in the Phungo Spot the Sig! contest. I will take guesses till 10:30p (Eastern) on Tuesday.

Complements of Fielder's Choice - Donruss Threads and SP Authentic including PUDGE!!

The bounty from the World Series wager with Fielder’s Choice has just come in. Dave sent me a couple of packs from two pretty nice products, Donruss Threads and SP Authentic. I had not seen any of these cards other than via web postings by various card bloggers.

Dave sent 3 hobby packs of each, which was enough to give me a good sample of both products. Both have a similar price point – Donruss Threads is a new product and did have a fresh quality to them. While the SP authentic felt like a lot of other 08 UD releases – All the UD card backs look similar regardless of what line their from.

Donruss Threads also came through with a pretty sweet Game Used card!

2008 Donruss Threads Century Collection Materials #CCM-37 Carlton Fisk (92/100)

And a healthy mix of of prospects and former players.

2008 Donruss Threads Rookie Gold #149 Yohermyn Chavez (21/50)2008 Donruss Threads #95 Josh Vitters2008 Donruss Threads #24 Mark Fidrych

The prospects were about evenly split between high and low level prospects. The three packs yielded top prospect Vitters from the Cubs, the Braves Jordan Schafer, the Brewers Mat Gamel, and Boston's Lars Anderson. I believe the Chavez card above is a gold variation.

Donruss has been away for a while though and has some issues, can you spot an error on this card?

2008 Donruss Threads #81 Jose Tabata
SP authentic presented a nice selection of current stars. Among them were a former Phillie that hit a lot of Homers and also a new Phillie who only has one homer but it was very memorable.

2008 SP Authentic #73 Jim Thome
2008 SP Authentic #29 Joe Blanton

The Player photo is set off by being slightly raised slightly and somewhat shiny. The cards also features the players uniform number in the lower right hand corner in white. It isn't very visible because it is on a white background, but it is an interesting affect. On the right the number overlaps Blanton's left leg.

Each SP pack came with an insert.

2008 SP Authentic Marquee Matchups #MM-10 Carlos Zambrano vs Albert Pujols

The last card in the 3^rd pack of SP Authentic I opened was the J-Roll card.

2008 SP Authentic Authentic Achievements #AA-29 Jimmy Rollins

Similarly the last card in the final pack of Donruss I opened was a Phillie.

2008 Donruss Threads #38 Mike Schmidt

Pretty cool – and I think it brings us full circle on Dave’s guest post from last week.

Here are the specifics

3 Packs Donruss Threads
13 Base (5 former players , 8 prospects)
1 Century Collection (Pudge)
1 Gold Rookie (Chaves)
1 College Greates (#CG-4 Dave Winfield)

3 Packs SP Authentic
12 Base
2 Authentic Achievements (Rollins, #AA-38 Albert Pujols )
1 Marquee Matchups (Zambrano v Pujols)

Team Phungo would like to Thank Fielder's Choice and look forward to the Phils facing the Rays in a future World Series.

Sources and Links
Phungo Carlton Fisk Hof Index

2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies

Move over 1980 Phillies, You've got company!

2008 World Champions

Boy that sounds great, And the Phillies earned it. They beat four worthy opponents. First they won the NL East by holding off the Mets and 08 Free Agent Signee Johan Santana. Then they took on the Milwaukee Brewers and their hired gun CC Sabathia dismissing him in the 4th inning of game 2 of the NLDS. Manny Ramirez was on fire but couldn't carry the entire Dodgers squad when faced with a team effort from the Phils who got contributions from everyone in the 5 game NLCS. And Finally the Tampa Bay Rays who won more games then anyone in 2008 (105 including the Post Season).

The 08 Series may look lopsided, but 3 of the five games were one run games and Tampa Bay's win was by 2 runs. The Rays proved to be adept at playing small ball and getting runs when no run seemed possible. At the outset the Tampa Bay also pitched well in clutch situations, but eventually the Phils offense got to the Rays bullpen. Ultimately this was the difference in the series. The Phils batters did a good job of extending at-bats and forcing the Tampa Bay Pitchers to go deeper into counts. In the end this meant the Phillies batters getting more opportunties to see the Rays relievers. Oddly the deciding game may have been game 2 which Tampa actually won, of course they had to come up with 3.1/3 innngs of relief to do so and 78 more pitches to finish the game. Think about that The winning team threw 78 more pitches in that game alone - thats like throwing an extra 5 innings.

Yes it may seem like there is ample rest because so much time exists between games - especially in this series - which had time to rest within a game, however the Rays relief staff never recovered from game 2. After that with the exception of David Price pitching the final defensive inning of the Rays season in game 5, every time a Rays reliever, who had made a prior series appearance, appeared on the mound they either gave up a run or allowed an inherited runner to score. Howell and Balfour in game 3, Wheeler and Miller in game 4, and Balfour and Bradford in game 5.

This does not dimish what the Rays have accomplished as a team this season - As mentioned above they won 105 games total, this outpaced everyone including the Phillies who won 103. They are a good young ballclub: they have a fine rotation, they can run and they can hit. The defense looked a little sloppy during the World Series but I believe that may have been an anomaly - There may have also been some poor decisions made by players and some questionable moves made by Joe Maddon - both of which may be due to the pressure and the bright lights of the post season.

That being said, I leave a cautionary note to the 2008 Devil Rays and that is 1986 Mets. They won and everybody thought that Gooden and Strawberry would return to the fall classic repeatedly because they made what they were so young (21 and 24) and talented and they made it look easy. It is NEVER easy. Gooden would never play in another World Series, Strawberry would have to wait 10 years until he was a member of the 96 Yankees.

Enough of the Rays. The Phillies won this World Series and, as I noted above, the victory was well deserved. They got contributions from up and down the line up, the bench, the starting 4 and the bullpen. At some point each of the studs came up with at least one important hit (Utley, Howard, Burrell, Rollins). The remainder of the lineup all contributed big hits as well (Ruiz, Victorino, Feliz, Werth). While not always perfect the Phillies got fine play out of their defense and the infield exectuted several key double plays. Eric Bruntlett and Geoff Jenkins were both key players off the bench - and who can forget Matt Stairs Homer in the NLCS that got the Phils into the Series. All four members of the rotation (Hamels, Myers, Moyer, Blanton) had quality starts and came up with clutch outs. And of course, The bullpen anchored by Brad Lidge simply said was outstading - Hat Tip J C Romero, Ryan Madson, Scott Eyre, Chad Durbin - Future Phils Trivia - J C Romero was the winning pitcher in 2 games of the 2008 World Series.

2008 World Champions

Can't say it enough.

It ain't over till it's over

1959 Topps #180 Yogi Berra

This popular Yogism very much applies to the 2008 Rays-Phillies World Series right now. Prior to the beginning of yesterdays fifth game the Rays were facing elimination and Cole Hamels was looming. Many Phillies fans and possibly some Rays fans seem to think the Series was over. Well on Monday night Mother Nature had a say in the matter and tossed a monsoon into the 2008 World Series mix.

The game had to be put on hold after 6 1/2 innings due to the rains. The Phils and Rays found themselves in a 2-2 tie - with the delay till at least Wednesday, Cole Hamels is out of the mix.

This all generously tips the scales. The Phils still have 3 opportunities to win one game but with their ace no longer a factor in game 5 the advantage is no longer so lopsided - in other words "It ain't over till it's over". This applies to the series and it also applies to game 5 itself - which already as the first suspended game in World Series history automatically makes it the longest game in World Series history, as it will conclude a minimum of 48 hours after it started.

I was fortunate enough to get tickets to Game 5. I am not rich, I got the tix from a friend of a friend for a little bit over face, and was very very happy to get them. I must have snapped about 100 photos last night, but not many of them came out very well.

Here are a couple of interest though - This is Citizen's Bank Ballpark during the Rays BP.


And in this shot you can see the ground crew with the hose out. Yes they did hose down the field prior to the game - rather ironic ay? Those tents to the left in the rear of the shot is where Fox was shooting pre-game festivities with Jeannie, Brett Butler, and Kevin Kennedy.


Despite the way things ended in a total MLB flustercluck and dealing with all the rain and cold and traffic, I had a really good time. Yes it cost me a bundle of money and I got pretty soaked, but I was at a World Series game and that is all that mattered.

Go Phils!

2008 World Series Rays V Phillies

I am too excited to put much thought into a posting right now so this will be short - Joe Blanton who I have had such little faith in comes up with a big outing and a big hit. That's why it's a team game, you need contributions from everyone. Phils certainly had some offense during game 4 although a lot of the runs came versus the Rays lower tier relievers.

Regardless hopefully they continue to hit - Scott Kazmir handled the Phillies pretty well in game one and I would expect a similar effort from the Rays lefthander tonight. Of course, the Phils will send out their own star southpaw tonight in the person of Cole Hamels. Hamels has pitched well in the playoffs to this point and I would love to see more of the same out of him tonight.

If Hamels pitches well and the rest of the Phils team stays focused, the game should take care of itself. The Phillies have put themselves into a good position and have been presented with a rare opportunity. Phillies fans everywhere are rooting for them to capitalize on this opportunity.

Go Phils!

2008 World Series Rays v Phillies

2008 Topps All-Star Rookie AR73 Carlos Ruiz

You don't have follow baseball long to know that Post Season heroics come from the little guys. The Playoffs are about pitchers largely because, it is a sport where the defense controls the ball. If the Rays decide they don't want Ryan Howard to beat them, they simply will not pitch to him. It is a good sound strategy - trouble is at some point you have to pitch to someone. Last night that someone was Carlos Ruiz - he had one big blow into the Left Field stands and his second big blow went all of 40 feet. They each plated a run and both hits gave the Phillies leads, the latter gave them the win.

Contributions came from across the team for the Phillies in game 3. Jamie Moyer shook off a couple of recent poor outings to give the 6+ innings of quality pitching. Ryan Howard checked in with his first post season homer right after Chase Ultey had homered. Jimmy Rollins added a couple of hits including a lead off single in the first. Rollins would go on from there to score the games first run. Despite giving up a run created largely by B J Upton stealing his way around the bases, the bullpen looked pretty solid again.

There are still reasons for concern. Ruiz's 9th inning dribbler was the Phillies first RBI with men in scoring position. Thats 26+ innings of baseball to come up with two hits with RISP. There has been some sloppiness - Jason Werth got picked off on the bases again - Ruiz made an ill-advised pick off attempt allowing Upton to score. Evan Longoria could be heating up - He hit a potential homer that may have been blown back into play for an out. The Rays have done an exceptional job of scoring runs without a lot of hits.

In Game 4 Joe Blanton squares off against Tampa Bay's Andy Sonnanstine. Blanton has been better than I expected in the playoffs, Sonnanstine has pitched well. I would be happy if the bullpens decide this game. Once again it looks like a night where the Phillies are going to need 5 or 6 runs. Hopefully Ryan Howard continues his surge and the middle of the order gets some hits.

Go Phils

2008 World Series Rays v Phillies

The Phillies poor clutch hitting continued to haunt them again in game 2. James Shields pitched well in those situations getting key strikeouts. Brett Myers also pitched well, but gave up ground outs that plated runners rather than getting those big Ks. That is a bit unexpected, as Myers is more of a strikeout pitcher then Shields who tends to put the ball in play.

The Phillies needed to get hits with men on and they didn't. Having 28 opportunities to hit with runners in scoring position in two games and getting ZERO runs out of that is almost unthinkable. Hopefully the Phils haven't squandered their series chances already. There is a realistic possibility that they will not get 10 ABs with men in scoring position in any one game the rest of the series.

The Phils normally steady fielding also uncharacteristically let them down. A strong argument could be made that Werth's misplay in the first inning cost the Phils 2 runs, all things being equal that was the difference in the game.

Tonight with Jamie Moyer on the mound the Phillies will need to play well in the field. Moyer pitches to contact and depends on his teammates to play well behind him. The Phils will also need to get some clutch hits - Moyer may give up 3 or 4 runs while hopefully giving the Phillies 6 or 7 innings. This means the Phillies will need at least 5 runs to get the job done. Big hits will be important. A couple of leadoff hits out of Jimmy Rollins will also help.

2006 Topps Bazooka #163 Jimmy Rollins

For a different angle on the game check out Fielder's Choice.

Go Phils!

2008 World Series Phillies @ Rays

2008 Topps Highlights Relics HR-CU Chase Utley

Obviously the player of the game is Cole Hamels, Since we featured him yesterday today's nod goes out to Chase Utley for both his homer and the fact that he kept the pressure on by getting on base and stealing bags. Ryan Madson and Brad Lidge came in and shut door. All good for a 3-2 win.

that's the good

The flip side is Phillies fans have seen game 1 before. Cole Hamels pitches a great game and the Phillies didn't hit. Hamels starts throughout the year have been a microcosm of the frustrating parts of the Phillies season. This is a team that one would think could hit it's way to wins, but instead it has been the pitching that has held them together - and no pitcher has been affected by their poor hitting more than Hamels. During the first four months of the regular season the Phils would have lost this game 2-1 - That is just the way Hamels good starts went.

The Phils had 14 batters reach via hit or walk and one addtional on the Kazmir/Pena error, yet only plated 3 runs -
Thats 11 stranded plus 1 HUGE out on the bases......

B J Upton throwing out Victorino at the plate.

The Phillies may have had Kazmir on the ropes then, with the heart of the order coming up and the bases juiced. I am all for being aggressive and realiize hindsight is 20/20, but I take my chances with Jayson Werth and make Kazmir throw more pitches.

Tonight the Phils face James Shields who has pitched well at home, conversely Phils starter Brett Myers has pitched poorly on the road. On the upside I must mention that 5 of Myers last 6 road outings (all regular season) are quality starts. Regardless, I am not thinking three runs will do it for the Phils tonight - The Rays are going to get more than 5 hits and I m not seeing Upton & Longoria going a combined 0-8 again. As for the Phils offensive, if they are fortunate enough to get 15 runners on tonight they need to get a few more of them around the bases. Ryan Howard looked pretty lost last night but he did work 9 pitch walk at some point, The Phils need something out of him or Burrell. Some offense out of lead-off man Jimmy Rollins would also be a big lift.

And for some offensive Mojo and to add a little symmetry to this post we will go with a Ryan Howard relic from the same set as the Utley card above.

2008 Topps Highlights Relics HR-RH Ryan Howard

For a different angle on the game check out Fielder's Choice.


Go Phils!

Bring on the Rays

2008 Topps Year In Review #YR110 B J Upton

B J Upton and the rest of the Rays have won the 2008 ALCS and will be facing the Philadelphia Phillies. I like this card because it mentions two of the Rays good young players Upton and Dioner Navarro and it is also commemorates a game where the Rays defeated the AL East Goliath New York Yankees. In the ALCS the Rays defeated the other AL East perennial champion Boston Red Sox.

The Rays are a well balanced team with good hitting, fielding, and pitching. They should present a formidable challenge for the Phils. Looking forward to the Series - just wishing it wasn't so far away.

For coverage of the Rays I will be checking in at Fielder's Choice. I am sure we will have much to talk about over the next two weeks.

WhooHoo!!!

The Phillies are going to the Show!

Goudey Vs Goudey

07 Goudey v 08 Goudey

Actually it is more like Retail vs Hobby. I picked up 3 packs of 07 Goudey out of the Target Bargain Bin and 3 packs of 08 Goudey Hobby at a card show. Previously I had only picked up 1 pack of each product. The 07 Goudey was a bad experience, I was unimpressed with the cards in that first pack, and it appeared to have already been opened - I have avoided that hobby shop since. I chronicled my first 08 Goudey Pack a few weeks ago, it was awesome - read more here.

The 08 will probably have an advantage because it is Hobby over Retail - Lets see what happens.

First three 07 Goudey Packs

Red

19 Brian Roberts

54 Jason Varitek

61 Jimmy Rollins

68 Justin Morneau

75 Mark Mulder

124 Mark Teahan

126 Carlos Guillen

149 Raul Ibanez

150 Joe Crede

173 Konerko

197 Delmon Young

Green

10 Pettitte

27 Chipper

34 Jeter

38 Eric Chavez

62 Joe Mauer

97 Trevor Hoffman

116 Edwin Encarnacion

132 Ramon Hernandez

143 Luis Gonzalez

156 Scott Podsednik

157 David Eckstein

180 Moises Alou

250 Reggie Jackson SP Heads Up

Now the three 08 Goudey Packs

12 Kelly Johnson

13 Tom Glavine

17 Brian Roberts

19 Jim Palmer

36 Fukudome

39 Luis Aparicio

50 Adam Dunn

64 Garrett Atkins

65 Tulowitzki

70 Miguel Cabrera

91 John Lackey

105 Ryan Braun

114 Justin Morneau

123 Chien-Ming Wang

140 Ryan Howard

142 Chase Utley

143 Shane Victorino

149 Jack Wilson

166 Felix Hernandez

169 Raul Ibanez

180 Akinori Iwamura

219 Dave Winfield (SP)

YSL 1540 August 11th 1942: Charlie Keller, Boston Red Sox 3 @ New York Yankees 2
HPC-22 Nolan Ryan Berk Ross Hit Parade of Champions

Card Design - 2008 - I like the 08s better in general. I prefer the traditional card size, and the sharper color scheme.

Phillies - 2008 - 3 Phils with both Utley and Howard. Easy Win.

Base Cards - 2008 - slight Win for 08, 07 Ramon Hernandez was my one duplicate, and I think I may have 3 of that card now. Liked all of the HOF players in the 08 set.

Inserts/Short Prints - 2007 - Reggie Heads Up beats out Winfield SP and Ryan Berk Ross card. I am not sure what the other Hit Parade of Champions look like, but this one just looks out of place amongst the rest of the Goudeys. The small size makes it feel like a crummy cracker jack prize.

Price - 2007 - $5.06 for 3@ 1.59 each + 6% sales Tax. v 12.00 for 3 08 Goudey @ 4.00 pack

Winner 2008 Despite the price difference, I just like the set better in general. The Three Phillies really put the three 08 packs ahead.

I will be adding some of these to my personal collection, if any of the others are needed by set builders, I am open to offers.

2008 09 11 Brewers 3 @ Phillies 6

Topps 2007 #UH99 Carlos Ruiz
Topps 2008 #281 Carlos Ruiz

Thursday was a great night all Around as the Phils beat the Wild Card Rival Milwaukee Brewers 6-3. There were many Phils deserving of the Top Card Billing but I wanted to take this opportunity to recognize Carlos Ruiz. Nice Cards just that it's the same picture. Same Set, different years, same photo - this all points to Lazy Topps.

But wait the Laziness doesn't end there - flip the cards over and....


Both cards use the same stinkin factoid in the second sentence. It is also another game where Ruiz contributed to a victory over the Brewers.

Okay, Enough of the Lazy Topps Rant and on to Carlos. After a disappointing offensive season, Ruiz has been hot lately and He did post an RBI double versus the Brew Crew. However, his most exciting contribution was getting down a suicide squeeze bunt for an insurance run in the bottom of the 8^th. I have been to roughly 150 Phils games and can’t remember having witnessed them successfully execute the squeeze play. It was just as exciting as Ryan Howard's moon shot homer in the first.

In addition to Ruiz the Phils received contributions from across the team. Jamie Moyer took the rock on three days rest and gave the Phillies 5 2/3 solid innings. The big man Ryan Howard posted 3 RBIs including the two run homer in the first, he narrowly missed another in the fourth. The bullpen, erratic lately, looked more like the surprising staff that was so stellar in the first half of the season. Ryan Madson pitched 2 innings of shutout relief, Chad Durbin came in to get a critical out and Brad Lidge pitched a 1-2-3 ninth.

On the other side of the Diamond, if you’re going to see Prince Fielder blast a 2-Run homer - it doesn’t feel as bad if it comes when your teams is up 3 runs - even if the ball is absolutely crushed to centerfield.

Plus – The Phils were able to beat Ben Sheets, a quality starting pitcher who has been hot lately. I love a good pitching match-up but it is also something to see a couple of the league's big young mashers like Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder absolutely crush balls over the centerfield fence.

I picked up the cheapest tix available for the game and for the first 6 innings sat 4 rows off the field just beyond first base. The game was over in 2:48 and I was home around 10:30. Saw a quite a few Brewers fans out there. It is good to see them get some support, after being one of the more invisible teams for about a decade.

The Phillies arranged pre-game festivities which honored members of the armed forces, police, fire, and emergency services and also saluted the victims of September 11th. The Brewers and Phillies as well as all the teams in major league baseball brought out their patriotic caps from the 4^th of July weekend this year and wore them during Thursday Night’s games.

Damages - $13 ticket, $10 Park, $14 for two beers, and $5.50 for two dogs. Total $42.50.

2008 Goudey - Phils need MoJo Pack - YAHTZEE!!!

The Phils have a big weekend series with the Division Leading New York Mets - I am thinking that opening up a pack of 2008 Goudey (Hobby) Might give them some much needed MoJo!

#62 Brad Hawpe
Paul Molitor
#81 Roy Oswalt
YSL 6035 Tino Martinez 8/18/2000 Yankees 8 Angels 9
#192 Alex Rios
#10 Phil Niekro

whoa actually I mean -

GG-PM PAUL MOLITOR AUTO!!!


Thats pretty much how it happened. I have read on a couple of other blogs how people have skipped right passed the this year's Goudey Auto's and sure enough it happened to me. I was just about to get stressed because the pack was a card light and then I realized hey this Molitor card has a signature.

A nice auto on a good looking card of a Hall of Famer! I have to admit I am actually giddy!

This is easily the best pack drawn auto I have ever gotten. Hopefully the Phils will also come up with some big hits of their own this weekend as well.

in other news:

Team Phungo is scheduled for our first ever (and most likely only) visit to Shea Stadium this Saturday. We are hoping the weather cooperates or well I am really hoping that it is miserable enough that game officials have the foresight to move the game to Sunday afternoon. Regardless check back next week and I hope to have a game report and some photos from one of the final games at Shea Stadium.

OK now I am going back to being giddy.

Go Phightins!!!

2008 Allen Ginter First Pack

Made a Hobby shop visit recently to pick up supplies and random singles. Also picked up a couple of packs of the newer releases - one Allen & Ginter, one Goudey, and one Jumbo pack of Topps 08 Football. First off we will take a look at this years Allen & Ginter:


Not a bad pack, I like Halladay Liriano and Young. Getting Berkman as the mini works and I am happy getting my first non-baseball card (Serena Williams) in this pack. but wait that's only 7 cards - the packs says 8?!?!

Sure enough there is an 8th card!


Alex Rios Autograph. Sweet!

And that will also keep me from whining about the absence of Phillies in the pack.

Rios' numbers are down a little this year but he is still a fine young player. Most likely he would be a lot more well known if he played in a different market.

This Pack would probably get a solid B grade but the Auto boosts it up to an A easily.
Plus Auto
Minus no Phils
Grade A
Cost $5.30 (incl tax)