2008 Stadium Club - Almost There

I picked up a few '08 Stadium Clubs from ebay. This means I'm down to (1) card. #27-Carlos Lee.

It's out there and I will acquire it. Be it trade or ebay. Anyway, here's the three I picked up from some fine ebayer's.

Robinson Cano. Photographer's Proof.

Cole Hamels. Photographer's Proof

Jacoby Ellsbury. First Day.

My goal when I started on this set was to finish it. By "finish it" I mean the base set. As far as I'm concerned the Photo Proofs, the 1st days, Beam Teams, etc. are just nice to haves. I'm still learning what is considered a complete set. I see it as a complete set. Since I'm doing this for me, I only have to please me. So, like I said, I need one more card to finish it. Come on Carlos Lee. Oh, before I forget. Thanks to Greg@nightowlcards, Jeff@cardjunkie and all you wonderful ebayers! I couldn't have done it without your help!

2009 Topps Series 2

One Pack. I bought one pack of 2009 Topps Series 2 at Target the other day. I almost never, no scratch that, I have never bought just one pack of cards that I can remember. Since I've only been collecting a short time I can say that with some certainity. Well, without any further ado.....

Jason Bartlett and Adrian Beltre

Fernando Rodney and Joel Pinero

Ollie Perez and Willy Aybar. (Included is Derek Jeter doing his Bigfoot impression)

Kevin Youkilis ToppsTowne and Trevor Hoffman, Legends of the Game

Cy Young, Legends of the Game

And the best two cards in the pack....

Edwin Moreno, Rookie card Beautiful background and

Jeff Suppan apparently sleeps on the field in a sleeping bag. Ha.

Two outta Three ain't bad

I really thought the Mets were going to get slaughtered in Boston this weekend. Much to my delight, they played well. The defense, which has struggled as of late, looked good Friday and incredible on Saturday.

The bullpen was killed on Sunday. But, I see the series as a success for the Mets. Murphy played very well at first. Wright has his bat working. The more Sheffiield swings the bat the more dangerous he becomes. Until Delgado gets back Sheffield should be the everyday left fielder. Of course, we need Beltran and Reyes back. Overall, the road trip wasn't that bad. 3 out of 4 from the Giants, an LA sweep and 2 of three at Fenway (with a team that is limping along with injuries). It's .500 on the road. Not bad. Bring on the woeful Nats.

Finally, why wasn't someone on the Red Sox drilled after Papelbon's actions? He races onto the field like a bull in the ninth on Saturday. What is this the WWE? Sit your a#S on the bench and hope nobody remembers you gave up a HR to Omir Santos. If I were Jerry Manual I would've had Redding throw at the first batter on Sunday. Maybe I'm too harsh.

Re-packs help me build sets

I picked up a repack of cards from Target today and got a few cards I need for Mets set building.

Leading off,

Jose Reyes, 2007 UD Series 1. He singles and steals second.

Batting 2nd,

(2) Keith Hernandez, '85 Record Breakers-1986 inserts. That's a double. Reyes scores. RBI for Hernandez.

Batting 3rd,

Howard Johnson, 1990 Topps mini Superstars sticker. HoJo had 39 HR's and 101 RBI's in 1989.

Oh and 41 Stolen Bases. Single up the middle. Hernandez to third.

Batting clean-up,

Daryl Strawberry, 1988 Topps mini UK. On the back of the card it mentions that "Straw" has two brothers that also play baseball. They look like twins but bear no resemblance to Daryl. I wonder if he discusses it in his new book?

3 run HR.

Batting fifth,

Juan Smauel. 1990's Topps. Already had it.

He hits into a triple play. (How is that possible with no else on base? How would I know? He's Juan Samuel)? The Mets traded away McDowell and Dykstra (two players I really liked) for this guy. Then shipped him off to the Dodgers for Mike Marshall and Alejandro Pena (another player I was never fond of).

Pitching for the Mets. Terry Leach. 1989 Topps. (needed it).

I also pulled a Keith Hernandez UK mini. First time I've pulled that many Hernandez cards.

Needless to say, I'm pleased with my haul of repacking goodness.

Now to finish the weekend with a 4-game sweep of the Giants.

LET'S GO METS!

Manny in Fantasyland

Two weeks ago I was in the cellar. Well, not me. My fantasy league team. I entered this year as a sophomore fantasy leaguer. I finished out last year somewhere near the bottom (8th of 12). I chalked it up to inexperience and a bad draft. In fact, last year I didn't even bother ranking players for the draft. I should have done that (by "That" I mean nothing) again this year.

I entered this year with a strategy. I ranked my players. I was going to put an emphasis on pitching. K's and Wins! Then some strong RBI hitters. That was my focus. Then the draft was over. I went through the line-up and I realized I don't have any pop. None. Not one big bat. I NEEDED SOME POP! I panicked.

I had some great starting pitching, Lincecum, Shields, Maine, Garza. Not bad.

I started shopping some starting pitching. Someone was willing to trade for Shields. No Dice.

I met "Big Game" James at the beginning of the 2008 season. Then I saw him pitch (albeit losing) against Boston in Game 6 of the 2008 ALCS. No, Shields is my man. I narrowed it down. I was shopping Lincecum.

Tim had a couple of bad starts but nobody was worried. Then he had some great starts, lots of K's. An offer arrived. Not much of one. Mike Jacobs and someone else. Naw. Then another offer. A blockbuster. Manny for Lincecum! Then the offer went away. Then it reappeared.

I took it.

I'm not a fan of Manny's. The palms down superman routine when he hits a HR bores me. He acts like no one else has ever done it before. I say act like you knew you could do it. You knew you would smash the ball off this guy. It should be no big deal. That's the kinda player I like. Unassuming. Manny is anything but. On the other hand.....look at those numbers!

I'm not making excuses but, maybe I'm just like Manny. I compromised myself because I wanted the glory. I wanted to win. Mike Jacobs is a good ballplayer. I could have had him and got some satisfaction knowing that the players I manage (and root for) are clean. But no. I had to have someone who would really make an impact. Manny wants to win. He wants to be known as a great hitter. So he may have compromised himself. He could have been known as a player who played clean. Like I said, I'm not making excuses but, we're only human.