2014 Playoff Cards: Orioles Adam Jones 2013 Topps Chase It Down #CD5 and Sloppy Topps?

Tonight the ALCS makes the move to Kansas City for Geme 3. To mark the occasion we will discuss a favorite card of Adam Jones from the 2013 Topps Chase it Down Insert set

2013 Topps Chase It Down #CD5 Adam Jones

Chase it Down is a 15 card insert set in 2013 Topps Series 2 that is dedicated to fielding excellence  or noteworthy fielding plays. The above card notes a play that Adam Jones Made versus the Rays on September 13 2012. The details are given on the b-side of the card. 

2013 Topps Chase It Down #CD5 Adam Jones (b-side)

The above text has a nice description of Jones' play, the trouble is the information doesn't correlate  with the related box score which is here.

Not sure what happened here. According to Baseball-ref Jeff Keppinger didn't bat in the first inning of the game referenced. Keppinger did record two F8 ABs. the first was in the 4th and appears to match the description on the card from B-R

"Lineout: CF/Sacrifice Fly (Short CF-RF); Zobrist Scores" 

I could see the card copy not bothering to mention the SF portion of the play, as it didn't fit the desired narrative. At the time the run gave the Rays a 1-0 lead, but the catch helped prevent a big inning.

Keppinger also had an F8 in the 9th but it is listed as Deep Center.

He did have an F8 in the first inning of the previous game, but once again it was listed a deep fly out. His only other first inning AB in the series resulted in a ground out.

Who is the Image on the B-Side?

I don't think that the photo on the flip side of the card is of Adam Jones.  The image is on all 15 of the Chase it Down cards. It is hard to tell, but it appears that the player is possibly wearing a Twins cap. That leads me to think it may be Denard Span from his Twins days. Any ideas out there?   

Narcissus

Part of the reason I went into so much detail about the card is pure narcissism. The game referenced is one that team Phungo attended.

Game Ticket 2013 09 13 Rays @ Orioles 

Yep Team Phungo was there for this one so the above Chasing it Down card is part of the very special Phungo in Attendance Binder. I am adding an Index for these cards and plan on trying to get to some of these during the off-season. 

Sources & Links
2014 Playoff Cards
Narcissus - Team Phungo Was There
Baseball-ref
Baseball Cardpedia

Snapshots: 2014 05 02 Nationals 5 @ Phillies 3

On Friday Night The Phillies lost to the Nationals 5-3 and took sole possession of last place in the NL East. Marlon Byrd got he Phillies off to a quick 3-0 start with a Home Run in the first, but that was it for the Phillies scoring.  The Phils were up 3-2 going into the 8th but Mike Adams and rest of the bullpen were unable to hold that lead. 

Snapshots

 
 Cliff Lee vs Tyler Moore

It was a beautiful night - this is a shot of Cliff Lee pitching to Tyler Moore to start the 3rd inning.Unfortunately later in this AB Moore would hit a line drive Home Run to left.  

Cliff Lee Warm Up

Notice anything odd here. This is Lee warming up by doing his fake pitch to towards 2nd base. He does this prior to the start of each inning. I am going to try out a few different angles to see if I can get a good shot of this interesting/odd quirk of Lee's routine.

Stephen Strasburg
Lee wasn't the only star pitcher featured on Friday Night. Stephen Strasburg took the hill for the Nationals.

Cliff Lee and Stephen Strasburg

The bullpens are side by side on different levels at CBP. I had ambitions of getting both Lee and Strasburg throwing pitches in a single picture, but I was too impatient to wait around for the right shot.

Marlon Byrd

All of the Phillies scoring took place on a single swing of the bat by Byrd, This is a photo of the right fielder At Bat later in the game. He is demonstrating his quck high step timing the incoming pitch.  

Ben Revere & Denard Span

Both Centerfielders in the game were members of the same Twins outfield in 2012.  This is the in happy time prior to the game....

Cliff Lee vs Denard Span: Benches Clear

Cliff Lee and Denard Span had a disagreement regarding Span taking an elongated break out of the batters box in the 5th inning. Stephen Strasburg had just batted, and Span may have been trying to extend his pitchers half-inning break.  Benches cleared, names were called, no one got ejected and life continued.

Couple of interesting notes on the melee - Here we see Denard Span is separted from the remaining players by the umpiring crew. Cliff Lee is relatively close to Span with Cody Asche and Ryan Howard doing what they can to keep their pitcher out of trouble. I like how the main participants are on the left of the shot while the onrushing crowd of the benches comes in from the right - creates just a little tension in the photo.

I think the benches were issued warnings and Home Plate Umpire Jim Reynolds who talked to each reliever that entered the game - I am assuming he spoke to them regarding the handling of timeouts. Later in the game when one of the Nats relievers was dawdling he did allow Chase Utley to call a somewhat late time out
 

 Jayson Werth & Garry Maddox

Garry Maddox was on hand for the game. He was greeting some sort of VIP fan group during BP - here he welcoms Jayson Werth to the group.

  Nats Celebrate

Anthony Rendon caught the last out, a pop out by Freddy (.032 Batting Average) Galvis. Here Rendon shown holding the ball out to give to closer Rafael Soriano. 

2012 04 06 Opening Day Snapshots: Twins at Orioles

Team Phungo was lucky enough to go to two Opening Days this year.  First up was the Orioles and Twins season opener.  The O's took the game 4-2 behind a strong pitching performance by starter Jake Arrieta who tossed 7 scoreless for the Birds.  Nick Markakis posted a Homer and a triple with 3 RBIs.  The Twins offensive hilight was a Josh Willingham dinger in the 9th.

Rick Sutcliffe and Chris Hoiles following Ceremonial First Pitch.  Buck Showalter lookis on from the dugout. 

Jake Arrieta demonstrates his fine form.  (click to enlarge)

Twins starting lineup sans Mauer who was in the bullpen  (Click to enlarge)

Beautiful day, Good Friends and a Win.  Team Phungo was very happy with the 2012 Orioles opener....Next Up Phillies Home Opener - spoiler alert - it didn't go as well...

Broken News - UD announces Metrodome Legacy

To commemorate the Minnesota Twins 28 years of playing in the much celebrated Hubert H Humphrey Metrodome trading card giant Upper Dreck has announced that it will produce a Metrodome Legacy Set. The set will consist of 2243 cards each representing a specific game in the Twins Storied Metrodome History.




2009 Upper Dreck #69 Denard Span

The card pictured above represents a Twins win on September 13th of their inaugural season in the Metrodome. This card also represents a memorable game where the Twins drew an incredible 2,795 Fans.

Similar to another recent insert set (Yankee Stadium Legacy) the Metrodome Legacy will feature players that didn't play in the game noted on the card. In fact for this set Upper Dreck has gone a step further and placed Denard Span on a card representing a game that was played before he was even born.

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I firmly believe that I put no more time into this custom card and post than UD put into the Real YSL Set.