2012 Timeless Talents Andy Pettitte Cliff Lee

Last week the New York Yankees announced that they are retiring the numbers of Bernie Williams Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte.

2012 Topps Timeless Talents #TT12 Andy Pettitte Cliff Lee

This generated some discussion among Baseball Nerds. First there is a the sheer gluttony - the Yankees have 17 Retired Numbers (for 18 players - 8 is retired for both Yogi and Bill Dickey). Secondly Andy Pettitte's name raised some eyebrows.

Pettitte admitted to HGH use after being named in the Mitchell Report. It should be noted that according to Pettitte the PED use occurred in 2002 prior to the banning of HGH.

Andy Pettitte's borderline HoF resume is largely based upon his incredible postseason numbers. The Mitchell Report may tip the scales against him.

I believe a large part of the Yankees motivation for retiring Pettitte's number now is to ease the return of Alex Rodriguez from his PED suspension. 

Timeless Talents
Andy Pettitte's partner on the 2012 Timeless Talents card is the Phillies Cliff Lee. The players are partnered as lefty aces that have big-game reputations.  

Lets take a closer look at the flip o the card that has some comparatives of the two players.

2012 Timeless Talents Andy Pettitte Cliff Lee (b-side)

Stats are interesting with one Lee at mid career while Pettitte was (at the time retired)

There is also a bit of a lazy Topps here - despite being released in 2012 the copy ignores the 2011 postseason. Cliff Lee took an L in his only 2011 playoff start - his record would have been 7-3 with a 2.52 ERA when this card was released.

Cliff Lee 2015
Today we find Lee 24 wins and 500 strikeouts down the road and 3 years older.  Last year was the worst season for Lee since 2007. He pitched only 13 games, 81+ innings with a mediocre 102 ERA+, all good for a replacement level +0.8 WAR.

Cliff Lee is now 36. From what I understand Lee is healthy after opting for rehab and recovery over surgery that would have cost him the 2015 season. Only 3 of Lee's top 10 comps made significant contributions at 36+, 2 never pitched again - including #1 comp Roy Oswalt. However miserable of a memory Oswalt may be for Phils fans, I am going to bring up one that distresses them more.

2011 Chris Carpenter

Yes Carpenter's age 36 season was the one where he dominated the 2011 postseason which included eliminating the Phillies in a 1-0 NLDS game 5.

In 2011 Carpenter was good for a 3.5 WAR, which is where I will target Cliff Lee. Not great, but not bad, and if he mimics 2011 Carpenter there is that World Series victory.

Sources and Links
Phillies WAR Projections 2015
Baseball-ref
Cardboard Connection
New York Yankees
ESPN

Snapshots 2012 10 08 - ALDS Game 2 - Yankees 2 @ Orioles 3

Team Phungo closed our 2012 MLB campaign where we started it, At Camden Yards. For the sixth consecutive year I was able to procure a playoff ticket.  Somewhat sadly that ticket was not for a Philles Postseason game.  Regardless time moves on and it has been exciting to watch the Baltimore Orioles usher in a new playoff era.

On Monday night the Orioles defeated their AL East Division Rivals 3-2 in a rather dramatic game.  There weren't many offensive fireworks as both teams had to scratch out all five of their combined runs.

There were a couple of notable performances Wei-Yin Chen and Andy Pettitte both pitched well, Chris Davis had a pair of RBIs for the O's.  Ichiro basically stole a run for the the Yankees with some creative baserunning in the first inning. 

Snapshots (click on any photo to enlarge) 

National Anthem  

Always cool to be at any Big Flag game.  Both Baltimore and For McHenry take great pride in their place in American History and their connection to the Star Spangled Banner. 

 Wei-Yin Chen

After getting into some jams early Chen was able to settle down and gave the O's 6 1/3 innings.  This photo of Wei-Yin was taken during warm ups.

Nate McClouth 

Hard to imagine after a few up and down years Nate McClouth is batting leadoff for a 90+ Win team in the ALDS.

Record Setter

Alex Rodriguez (looking a bit exasperated)

I heard last night that Alex Rodriguez set the  blob postseason record.  Blob is the term that Night Owl Cards has used for the last out of the Season, a Series, or Game.  A-Rod has now been the final out of 4 Playoff games  

Coda

Andy Pettitte

I really haven't heard what Pettitte is going to be up to after the 2012 season.  But he turned 40 this summer and has already retired once.  If the O's end up defeating the Yankees, Monday night may have been Pettittes final MLB appearance. 

2010 Topps First Pack

This is no longer news for the rest of you, but it is for me. I finally got my hands on My First Pack of 2010 Topps yesterday. I bought five packs, this is pack number 1. It is a retail pack that I picked up at the local bargain chain store Five Below (everything is $5 and under) The Pack went for $2.11 including PA sales tax.

The first 2010 Topps card of the year is:

2010 Topps #148 Cody Ross

Sort of anti-climatic. Outfielder for a Phils rival. One time journeymen who has found a home with the Marlins, especially now that they have finally given up on Jeremy Hermida.

Since everyone has seen these already I will to a quick blow by blow of the pack.
2010 Topps #273 Pat Neshek
Blogosphere favorite who I didn't realize pitched last year.


2010 Topps #15 Bobby Abreu (click to enlarge)
Former Phil - with the back of the card. 2100 Hits at the age of 36...


2010 Topps #40 Josh Johnson
2010 Topps #56 Andy Pettitte

Among Phils Rivals Johnson is a Phungo Favorite. He was the ace of the team Phungo Fantasy Squad pitching staff that took the 2009 title.

Good Photo of Pettitte, but he Beat Phils in final game of 2010 Series >:| Getting past that - one wonders - Does Pettitte have HOF credentials?


2010 Topps #5 Texas Rangers
2010 Topps #72 Franchise History Milwaukee Brewers

The above two cards came up back to back. Having both versions of team cards in the base set is confusing. I am not sure the regular team card is necessary - I would have preferred another middle reliever be thrown in there. I do like the Franchise History cards and may collect them as as a faux set. Although what is with Topps placing a Beer Ad smack dab in the middle of a Baseball card?? (click to enlarge and see alcohol ad)

2010 Topps mom 2004 Topps #600 Alfonso Soriano
2010 ToppsTown #TTT16 Kevin Youkilis

Pretty sure this is a Photoshop Special with Soriano in a Home Jersey AND the Yankees in the dugout also wearing the home duds. This card is of the SP back variety.

2010 Topps #HOTG17 History of the Game - 1957 Dodgers and Giants Move to California (click to enlarge)

This insert set is likely on the to do list.

2010 Topps #62 Kevin Millwood
2010 Topps #91 Erik Bedard

Ranger heavy pack. As a Brave Millwood is 29 games over .500, the Rest of his career he is +5.
He has not reached the Postseason since being traded to the Phils after the 2002 Season.

Notice both the Millwood and Bedard Cards were fed through the foil stamper incorrectly. The Players name (in black) is now in an ugly mess below the foil. Curiously the names are more readable when fed through a scanner - they are not when viewing the card for real. The Topps logo glances off the top border of the card and the players postition is also raised. nice job Topps.

Two Cents from Phungo

I picked up a total of 5 packs on Friday and will be back throughout the weekend with additional thoughts.

I have very little new thoughts to add to what has already been stated elsewhere. I am happy with the look of the cards. The borrowed design does not bother me. The team logo is a bit large but not to much so. I could do without the foil. Solid Photography and Interesting inserts.

For those of you that keep track of such things, the cards are listed in the order in which they came out of the pack. To keep the pix face center, I may have flipped some of the card pairs in the scans.

Pull of the Pack

I am going with Josh Johnson here, Had the Yankees not just beaten the Phils in the Playoffs, I would likely go with Pettitte. I have always like Bobby Abreu, but everyone knows fielding isn't Bobby's strength. Soriano Mom SP is likely a favorite for many collectors

Meh of the Pack

Erik Bedard easily. The Mis-foiling of the card plus Bedard's rep as a soft pitcher when he was in Baltimore all add up to a Meh card.

The Happy Trails Randy Johnson Phungo Challenge

(click to enlarge)

Ok in honor of the Big Unit retiring (300 Wins, nearly 5000 Ks, and 5 Cy Young Awards) Team Phungo invites all you internet Baseball-Reference research junkies to play Name the Game!

This is a quad sticker that was offered in a Topps Bazooka product. In the SouthEast corner you can see Randy Johnson tossing a pitch. Can you guess the date of the game Johnson is pitching in?

No Prizes - Just the Honor of Winning the First Phungo Challenge of the new Decade.

The House that Ruth Built - And Mariano Closed?

Tonight the first pitch in the final game in Yankee Stadium will be thrown by Andy Pettitte.

Babe Ruth once held the post season record for consecutive innings pitched without allowing a run. Mariano Rivera now holds that record at 34 1/3 innings. It would only be fitting if he could close the door of the House that Ruth Built by Throwing it’s final pitch.

Baltimore Orioles @ New York Yankees, Yankee Stadium. Bronx, New York September 21st 2008 8:05 PM.