Game Report 2012 05 08 Tigers 6 @ Mariners 4

The Team Phungo trip to SafeCo field in Seattle went pretty well.  Seattle is a little out of the way from our Philadelphia base, but we had the opportunity to include the game in a trip to the Pacific Northwest and were happy to make the extra stop.

The hometoown Mariners lost the game 6-4 to a Detroit Tigers squad which sent out their ace Justin Verlander.  Former Phil Kevin Millwood took the mound for Seattle. The Tigers got to Millwood early getting 5 runs in the first 2 innings.  Verlander wasn't overpowering - but pitched well despite having issues with the plate umpire - Jim Leyland's disagreements with the umpiring crew got him ejected from the contest early in the game.  Verlander only went 6 innings, he was over 100 pitches and still hit 97 on the gun.


Snapshots

Justin Verlander

Miguel Cabrera (fore), Ichiro

The Mariners don't make it to our area often, and this may be the last time I see Mr Suzuki play live.  Ichiro was able to get one of the 7 hits that Verlander allowed to the Mariners.   

 PCL/Seattle and Baseball Card History Display

The Mariners have struggled the last few years was evidenced by their modest draw on a chilly Tuesday night, but even if the team isn't doing well, they have a lot of nice things for fans to check out like this Display of Seattle related baseball cards. 

There is a Mariners Hall of Fame, and several other cool features at the stadium.  Insane food selections are featured at the park as well as a pre-game happy hour.  Another nicety at Safeco is that they have free re-entry as long as you scan your ticket when you leave. 
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Shawn Kelley

Another nice feature of SafeCo is how close you can get to the field, especially in the bullpen areas.  This is how Mr Kelley appears when warming up prior to giving up a mamoth Home Run to Prince Fielder.

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

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 Blaster

The crack research staff at Dinged Corners had theorized that the blasters for A+G may be frontloaded with hits and good pulls. I was interested in testing this Hypothesis and in the name of research, I picked up a blaster of 2008 Allen & Ginter at Walmart. This, as I said, is strictly research and definitely not due to a card collecting addiction. Yes strictly research - first some pretty pictures:

#212 Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Composer
#AGR-MYMichael Young Game Used Relic
#242 Ngwenya Takudzwa
TWGV17 - Worlds Greatest Victories Brown vs Board of Education

Obviously, the Michael Young Relic is notable and pushes the blaster into the Win Category - or at least it would if the card was not damaged - It is difficult to see in the scan but the protective plastic covering is bent forward in the bottom center of the card.

The first of the other notables is Tchaikovsky, My girlfriend is pursuing a degree related to Russian Language so whenever we run into anything in this realm it's a bonus - nice historical and cultural card. I found it a little disconcerting that Topps used an important historical moment like Brown v Board of education to hock their crack the code game, regardless I am glad to have drawn this card. Finally, the most Rugby player Ngwenya Takudzwa just to show you the toughness of this Allen & Ginter product.

Here are the details on the rest of the box:

Hit - Michael Young Damaged
Base 39/350
SP 4/50 (#324 Kotchman, #335 Phillip Hughes, #336 Allen Fischer - arm wrestling champ, #343 Bengie Molina)
mini base 3 (Jose Reyes, Lincecum, Teixeira)
mini A&G back 3 (1:5) (Miguel Tejada, Adam Laroche, Josh Willingham)
Checklists 2

Other Inserts
TWGV17 - Greatest Victories Brown vs Board of Education
US 18 - Louisiana - Papelbon
US 39 - Rhode Island - Konerko
US 46 - Virginia - David Wright
WDS5 - Mako Shark
WL12 - (1:12) Finland - Tarja Halojen (Conan O'Brien)

Base Highlights - A-Rod, Vlad, Former Phil Aaron Rowand, Maddux, Wild Bill Hickock, Grand Canyon, Chpper, Iditarod champ and former Pirates Shortstop Jeff King, Dickens, and Olympian Mark Spitz.

The Damage - $21.19

The inserts were pretty good. Looks like I may have gotten the GU Michael Young instead of a state card. The three state cards I received in this blaster were also present within a blaster break by Cardboard Junkie. There was a world leader rather than a base mini and I also came out slightly ahead on the mini A&G backs. Also one of the mini's was the Mako Shark for which I have not seen pack ratios. The A&G LaRoche mini overlapped a base card in the blaster. As far as raw numbers I came out with 52 cards (+2 checklists) which is 4 more than the 48 expected.

I had only picked up a single hobby pack of Allen Ginter prior to the blaster, this did result in a single duplicate of the Serena Williams base card. The mini from that pack was Lance Berkman - His base card was present in the blaster.

The big minus was that I didn't get one Phillies card. 39 base cards 6 minis 4 states and no Phils.

Despite this omission I am happy with the box - and based on the results I would have to agree with Dinged Corners. The relic puts the blaster above average - also the other inserts tended to run slightly better than expected.

20080830 - Exton Mall Card Show, Exton PA

Almost every week there is a card show at some mall in my area. Whenever I have a free weekend and the show is at a convenient location I try and stop in and check out what is a available. This week I was mostly perusing the cheap dime and nickel boxes. Here are some of the highlights.

In the 3 cards for a dime box:2004 Bowman Chrome #147 Rickie Weeks
2007 Allen & Ginter's #146 Carlos Quentin
1986 Topps #717 Dave Winfield All-Star/1985 AL Leaders Runs
1991 Donruss #28 Tino Martinez

I fear this guy may not be returning to the Exton show. He always has bunches of Bowman Chrome in a 3 for a dime box. This week he had a whole bunch of 07 Allen & Ginter, I came home with 28 of those including the Carlos Quentin above. The Winfield card falls under my Hall-of-Fame clause. Whenever I am picking up a stack of cards I try and make sure I get at least one HOF player in the bunch.

In a mix of some nickel and dime boxes I found bunches of Phillies and former Phils:

1996 Pinnacle Zenith #105 Bob Abreu
2007 UD Goudey #3 Aaron Rowand
1993 Leaf #507 Jim Eisenreich

The pre-Bobby Bob Abreu card is a nice find - not as a nice as a Pre-Roberto Bob Clemente card, but a nice addition to the collection. I picked up lots of retro-cards at the show; Some Heritage, some of the Topps T205 and T206 cards from a few years ago, UD Play Ball and some Goudey like the 07 of Phillies Fan favorite Aaron Rowand. I like this leaf set with another fan favorite Jim Eisenreich, The b-side of the card features the player in front of a local landmark. In the case of this Eisy card he is superimposed upon Philadelphia's city hall. Other Phillies cards in this set have the Liberty Bell for a backdrop.

Fun cards in other dime boxes:

1993 Topps # 529 Shortstop Prospects including Chipper Jones
2008 Allen Ginter #282 Jeanette Lee

It's not his true rookie, but it is an early Chipper Jones card - so early that he is a Shortstop prospect. And of course the beautiful and talented Jeanette Lee. I was a little surprised to see the 08 Allen Ginter commons in the dime box and probably should of devoured some more of these, but only had time to pick out a few.

I also picked up a couple of packs of 08 Goudey and will be opening those up through the upcoming weeks.

There was a whole stack of 08 A&G Game used at one booth for $3 a card, which I didn't bother sifting through.

The Damages:
3 for a dime box , 113 cards (A&G, BowChro, NFL Bow Chro, Phils, Orioles, Vikings) 3.00
miscellaneous singles, 7 cards (Chipper, Heritage) 1.00
nickel box, 62 cards (Phils, Orioles, Yount's, Retro/Heritage) 3.00
Dime Box, 30 cards (Phils, Retro, 08 A&G) 3.00
Grab Bag, 50 cards -25 decent (Griffey, David Wells, Hudson, Glavine, Helton) 1.00
08 Goudey - 3 packs 12.00
Total 23.00

well worth it for A fun day at the show.

2008 08 21 Nationals @ Phillies Series Summary

Phils take 2 of 3 versus the lowly Nationals. This is the second series the Phils have won, but these are 6 games against Washington and San Diego, both of which are poor teams at best.

Plus - Brett Myers is allowed to complete a game and puts up a shutout. Phils get contributions from the bottom of the order to help score some runs. Pedro Feliz returns.

Minus - Rollins hits the ball hard but fails to break out, 1-12 in the series no walks - thats fine lead-off work. Phils waste another good outing by Jamie Moyer.

Meh - It appears that Jayson Werth may have taken over full time duty in right as he is now getting multiple starts versus right-handed pitching.

BlogBlogBlog - West Virginia Cards has come up with an interesting idea for card-forwarding and trading - look it up if your interested in trading cards.

BlahBlahBlah - Taking a look at Rollins numbers....In my opinion J-Roll 08 is the real model and the 2007 MVP Rollins is the anomaly. This year is a lot closer statistically (.261/.326/.421) to his career averages (.276/.331/.440) than last year (.296/.344/.531). Presently his BA OBP and SLG combine to be 39 points off of his career numbers - 2007 is the anomaly when he was 100 points his career numbers. one oddity to note, with all the talk about the Phils striking out to often, Rollins may be striking out to rarely. His BB/K ratio is by far the best of his career (39/42). Maybe 2008 is a growing year for Rollins where he tries to cut down his Ks at the expense of some power - Perhaps this will yield some dividends in the future.

Around the League - The Mets have gone off and swept the injury depleted Braves, So despite winning a series the Phils fall a game further behind New York in the East and are now 2.5 games out of the lead.

On Deck - Los Dodgers come to town for a 4 game set. The phils will get a look at Manny Ramirez for the 2nd time this season. Team Phungo is trying to get down to the ballpark for a game this weekend but not so sure how the ticket sales will go.

Thorzul Trade!

I asked Thorzul if he could help me out with my want list and he was very accommodating.
I have made a pretty good dent into Spectrum and he sent me five cards from my want list along with a couple of UD Masterpieces.

I have been sporadically collecting both of these smaller UpperDeck sets from 07 and 08. Thanks to Thorzul I am down to my last 25 Spectrum cards. The Masterpieces I haven't gotten quite as far into - but i really like the set. The cards above feature two players traded at the deadline - and they are both players I like, hopefully they can get to the post-season and contribute to their new squads. If your interested I have a somewhat messy version of my Want and Trade Lists in my links and over here.

Here are some of the Phils involved in the trade:

In the midst of the Phils recent freefall, Rollins and Howard found time to go on "The Best Damn Sports Show" and rip Philllies fans. I wasn't fond of the Goudey's after getting a fairly pedestrian first pack last year - consequently I have very few Phillies, this Howard card and an Utley Card that Thorzul sent are both very nice additions to the Phungo collection.


The remaining cards Thorzul sent were a nice mix of Phils Past and Present such as the Jim Thome and Eric Milton cards above and other Phavorites including Ricky Jordan, Mickey Morandini, Wes Chamberlain and John Kruk.

You can check out the Brewers sent over to Thorzul here.

Thanks to Thorzul for these great cards and keep up with the quality posts and fun contests.

1980 Topps - TCH 69 Robinson Cano

It's a mystery card - Check out insert TCH 69, it's missing both the players name and also the facsimile autograph. Another great job by the topps crew - although this gives me the opportunity to post this excellent 1980 card of the Phillies fine right fielder Bake McBride.

Babe Ruth Mosaic: ESPN Zone, NYC

Since the Phils are in New York this week I will try and post some pictures taken while visiting the city for the Futures game last weekend.

The photo above is of the Babe Ruth Card-Mosaic at the ESPN Zone in New York. And here are some close ups:


These photos didn't come out as clear as I would have liked - It was the day of the Home Run Derby, consequently it was pretty busy. Those are all real cards there and they are all Yankees cards - It looks pretty cool. The top inset photo is of Babe's Left Eye (the right one in the mosaic). The last picture is a close-up of the left-hand side of the mosaic.

Treasure - Cardboard Junkie Contest Bounty

Getting up early and going to work @ painfully early hours finally paid off as Team Phungo was lucky enough to win a contest run by the good folks over at Cardboard Junkie headquarters. Dayf was also generous enough to send not just the shiny Chrome Prizes but throw in a couple of additional Phillies cards. I have posted the back of the Mantle card which notes that Jim Kaat was Mantle's victim for his 470th dinger. I also posted some of the highlights from the bonus cards sent.

Good contest, Great cards! The Chrome's included a Jeter and first time all-star Geovany Soto. Obviously the Richie Ashburn 01 Topps Archive would make any Phils Phan Giddy, and there were bunches of fun cards including Pat Burrell's Goudey Card, Heritage cards of both Burrell and Gavin Floyd, and some older cards of Jerry Koosman, Warren Brusstar, and George Vukovich. There were a couple of other base cards and prospects mixed in spanning several different card issues - A perfect cross-section of cards. Well Done.

Thanks to Dayf and keep up the Good Work!

2008 07 10 Cardinals @ Phillies - Back on Track

Phils take the series from the Cardinals 2-1 behind strong pitching and enough hitting. If my count is accurate the Phils have won series vs teams with winning records - Cubs early in the year, Marlins, and now the Cards.

Plus - Great pitching from the Ace, the Rookie, and the Veteran. Ryan Howard is starting to come around - most likely since I just traded him off my fantasy squad.

Minus - Rest of the offense continues to be extremely quiet. Jimmy Rollins has reaverted to the non-base machine that he was a few years ago. So much so one has to wonder if 2007 was the exception.

Shenanigans - Pat Burrell - Is there any other player with 240 home runs at the age of 31 to not make a single all star game?

BlogBlogBlog - Recently became a Steve Wynn fan - Insterested to find out more about this album.

Off the Diamond - Had Jury duty this past week, as part of your compensation they pay you mileage of 17 cents per mile - What the F year is that from. just to break even you need to get like 30 mi/gallon. And how comes the courthouse has fancy flatscreen TVs and I don't?

On Deck - Arizona D-Backs. Randy Johson comes to Philadelphia for possibly the last time - marquis Webb-Hamels matchup on Sunday. D-Backs have fared poorly on the road (-9). Hopefully that continues. Like the Phils, Arizona has struggled in the last month.

Yahtzee - Last week I was fortunate enough to win a contest sponsered by the Cardboard Junkie crew. The cards came in on Thursday and Dayf was also good enough to thow in some Phils cards as a bonus. Look for a posting on this in the near future.