Rockies Week in Review #3

Monday, 25 April 2011

Overall Record
14-7 1st Place NL West by 3 games

Record for the Week
2-4

It was a rough week to be a Rockies fan losing 2 of 3 to both the Giants and Marlins and nearly being no hit twice.  The first by Tim Lincecum and the second much closer by Anibal Sanchez, who appears to get close to a no hitter once a year much like Punxsutawney Phil.  It's okay though, every team has a down week and the Rox still have the second best record in the majors.  What is the old saying?  Every team wins a third of their games and loses a third of their games.  The difference between a good team and a bad team is that final third. 

Most Valuable Rockies Batter of the Week
Dexter Fowler

This was a tough category to fill because with the exception of the win vs. the Giants, the Rox offense took the week off.  Fowler tied for the team lead with six hits, including the only hit off Sanchez.  The Rockies have been no hit twice in their history, once by Hideo Nomo of some SoCal team and once by Al Leiter of the Marlins.  Dexter kept the Marlins from getting their second and in my book that makes him very valuable.

Least Valuable Rockies Batter of the Week
Carlos Gonzalez

CarGo had a bad week going 1-20 with 1 BB, including 0-17 in the last 5 games.  He did have a sacrifice fly in the final game at Florida, but hopefully he can get back on track this week.  He has suffered from the flu in the beginning of April and should get back to regular form shortly.

Most Valuable Rockies Pitcher of the Week
Clayton Mortensen

I could have chosen either of the two winning starting pitchers this week, Jorge de la Rosa and Jason Hammel, and still had a good choice.  Instead, I am choosing Mortensen who pitched in two games this week.  He pitched two perfect innings in relief of Ubaldo on Sunday, but it was his performance in relief of Esmil Rogers last Monday that made him stand out to me.  He pitched six relief innings of two hit shutout ball against the Giants.  Unfortunately, Rogers had given up 8 runs before he departed and the Rox lost 8-1.  Either way, it was nice to be able to see a good week by a Rockies reliever.

Least Valuable Rockies Pitcher of the Week
Esmil Rogers

Speaking of Rogers, he is the recipient of the LVP this week.  I didn't have high hopes for his getting a victory since he was matched up with Lincecum, but I expected more than 8 runs in 3 innings.  Also having a bad week was Ubaldo Jimenez who started twice after his DL stint, but I didn't pick him because he only gave up one hit in five innings to Florida, granted it was a 3 run triple after he walked the bases loaded, but it was still just one hit.

Next on the Horizon
3 games @ the Cubs and 3 games vs. the Pirates

This will finish off the season series with both clubs.  That seems odd to say in April, but it is a fact of life in modern baseball.  I am thrilled to get the opportunity to watch one game on WGN on Tuesday, but it will be the last Rockies game I will be able to watch until the end of May at the earliest.  I really wish I could get MLB Network on my cable, but that's life in a small town.  You get what they give you and don't have many other options.  Enough whining, I am predicting a 5-1 week with the loss probably coming in the game I will be watching hehe.

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Sunday's Afternoon Blaster - 2011 Topps Value Pack

Sunday, 24 April 2011

Welcome to this week's Sunday Afternoon Blaster.  This is one of those purchases that I just had to make.  The Topps set I haven't bought this year (other than one blaster), the Heritage is my favorite set in a long time.  The two Diamond Giveaway cards inserted in every box will put me over the first gift threshhold as well.  I think for the money this is one of the better values for cards.  I say this before opening it, I may complain at the end though.  I do have a few specific goals for each set.  With the Topps I need 2 specific non-parallel cards #141 Ubaldo Jimenez base and KC-1 Ubaldo Kimball Champions.  I would also be happy with a parallel Rockie as well. The Heritage, since I have completed the base set, I simply want a SP or insert I need.  I would also be happy with one of the 2 non-SP Rox I need for the team set. 

Card coloration is it's availability

white = I'm keeping it

green = available for trade

red = already claimed/traded



Today's "blaster" is a 2011 Topps Baseball Value Box.  5 Series 1 packs, 2 Heritage hobby packs, 1 bonus pack.

On with the show.

Topps

pack one

307 Alex Rios - White Sox

46 Hong-Chih Kuo - Dodgers

184 Brandon Morrow - Blue Jays

29 Josh Hamilton MVP - Rangers

314 Ryan Kalish - Red Sox

134 League Leaders Carlos Gonzalez - Rockies (and others)

217 Yunel Escobar - Blue Jays

154 Marlon Byrd - Cubs

267 Jose Contreras - Phillies

inserts

DD-PG Price/Garza Diamond Duos - Rays

60YOT-32 1983 #540 Ozzie Smith - Cardinals

TT-13 Chase Utley Toppstown - Phillies

pack two

188 Pablo Sandoval - Giants

33 Max Scherzer - Tigers

221 Scott Hairston - Padres

49 Angels team card - Angels

198 Buster Posey - Giants

53 Dbacks team card - Diamondbacks

283 Rockies team card - Rockies

113 Arthur Rhodes - Reds

191 Jay Bruce - Reds

inserts

T60-3 Babe Ruth Topps 60 - Yankees

HOT-10 2009 Topps receives MLB Exclusive - History of Topps

TT-32 Mike Stanton Toppstown - Marlins

pack three

121 Brandon Inge - Tigers

35 Shin-Soo Choo - Indians

317 Yonder Alonso - Reds

70 Kyle Drabek - Blue Jays

15 David Wright - Mets

234 Miguel Montero - Diamondbacks

273 Derrek Lee - Braves

90 Yadier Molina - Cardinals

171 Garrett Jones - Pirates

inserts

143 Jeremy Jeffress diamond parallel - Brewers

60YOT-39 1990 #701 Bernie Williams - Yankees

TT-33 Victor Martinez Toppstown - Red Sox

pack four

284 Reid Brignac - Rays

67 Vladimir Guerrero - Rangers

218 Victor Martinez - Red Sox

117 Brett Sinkbeil - Marlins

196 Jose Ceda - Marlins

7 Mickey Mantle - LET HIM REST IN PEACE

230 Aaron Cook - Rockies

325 Jayson Werth - Phillies

313 Chris Coghlan - Marlins

inserts

TDG-4 Albert Pujols Diamond Giveaway - Cardinals (see below for results)

KC-1 Ubaldo Jimenez Kimball Champions - Rockies WOOHOO!

TT-50 Albert Pujols Toppstown - Cardinals

pack five

311 James Shields - Rays

224 Milton Bradley - Mariners

69 Brett Gardner - Yankees

52 Rays team card - Rays

83 Greg Halman - Mariners

236 Nelson Cruz - Rangers

86 Carlos Silva - Cubs

229 Jonathan Sanchez - Giants

10 Stephen Strasburg - Nationals

inserts

T60-16 Carl Crawford Topps 60 - Rays

60YOT-05 1956 #113 Phil Rizzuto - Yankees

TT-47 Dustin Pedroia Toppstown - Red Sox

Heritage

pack one

255 Edwin Jackson - White Sox

47 Kosuke Fukudome - Cubs - Spiegel

296 Ian Desmond - Nationals

86 Alex Presley - Pirates

C56 Edwin Jackson chrome - White Sox 1831/1962

321 Matt Mangini - Mariners

415 Dexter Fowler - Rockies

398 Joey Votto All Star - Reds

55 AL ERA Leaders Felix Hernandez - Mariners (and others)

pack two

240 Xavier Nady - Diamondbacks

287 Neftali Feliz - Rangers

83 Chris Carpenter - Cardinals

345 Dustin Pedroia - Red Sox

350 Joey Votto - Reds

44 Justin Upton - Diamondbacks

121 Buck Showalter - Orioles

413 Chris Young - Diamondbacks

97 Grady Sizemore - Indians

Bonus

TDG-6 Roy Halladay Diamond Giveaway - Phillies

TDG-4 Albert Pujols Diamond Giveaway - Cardinals

MBC2 Jackie Robinson refractor - Dodgers - Spiegel

Code Redemptions

Pujols from pack = 1991 #174 Ken Caminiti and Colorado Rockies ring

Halladay = 1987 #200 Pete Rose and New York Mets ring

Pujols bonus = 2005 #327 Orioles Future Stars and St. Louis Cardinals ring

BONUS PRIZE for 5 Rings

2005 #194 Bobby Abreu and Oakland Athletics ring

IMPRESSIONS
Design: A
The Topps design is great, but after 4 years it's about time for a non-white bordered set.  Hopefully 2012 will change it up a bit and be like 1971 or 2003 instead of 2002 or 1990.  I have already stated multiple time how much I love the 1962 Topps design.  This set is the one I had been looking forward to since I got back into the hobby and learned of Heritage in 2006.

Inserts / Hits: C-
I have railed on all of the Topps inserts from the flagship set this year before, but I am thrilled with getting the last Rockie I need in Ubaldo's Kimball mini.  With the Heritage I got about as blah as a could get for the 2 hobby packs, especially since the Chrome card I got was a dupe and I only have 12 of them.  The less said about the Diamond Giveaway codes the better.

Value: A
It is called a "value" box.  For the price, this is one of the best retail values there are.  A Heritage hobby insert or Jackie Robinson SP would have made this a slam dunk A+.  But still not bad at all, I just wish they had these before I had virtually the whole Heritage set put together.

Rox in the Box: 5...6 (counting virtual junk)
Great box for a Rockies fan.  Getting one of the two cards I need for my flagship team set is fantastic.  The Fowler was not one of the 2 (Wigginton, Gonzalez AS) I need for the team set, but I am never going to complain about this year's Heritage.  The ring is what it is, eh I guess it's better than a Giants or Dodgers ring.

Will I Collect This Set: B/A+
The flagship set I will eventually get around to building, but it's not anything I am in a big hurry to do.  Heritage I hope to have fully complete (including the High Numbers) by the end of 2011.  I am pretty close already and only need 24 more short prints and 6 inserts. 

Overall: A
For the price this value box can't be beat for the average collector.  It was only $3 more than my usual discount blaster and a bunch of people are actually still collecting these sets.  So maybe I can work out a few trades and get what I need with this box.

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RTP #33 - Special Returning Guest Eric from Manupatches and Chrome Scratches

Saturday, 23 April 2011

Welcome back to another edition of The Rockie Trading Post.  Sorry for the lack of posts the last few days, but it's been a bear of a week.  But I digress.  Tonight's special returning guest is Eric from Manupatches and Chrome Scratches.  Eric was a guest here for TRTP #18.  If you don't know or remember Eric is a fellow Rockies collector and also collects the Royals and is our blog world's resident Luke Hochevar super collector (whether he believes it or not).  This trade was a little of quantity versus quality, to an extent.  I sent Eric a lot of Rockie dupes that I have gathered from many fine traders over the past few months (nothing overly special other than a Royals auto, but a lot).  In return, Eric sent me some quality hits and overall beautiful cards.  Let's check out what showed up at my door.

This card is just flat out AWESOME!  I may have to stop collecting now, because every other card I ever get will pale in comparison to this.  I am kidding a bit of course, but if you had told me when I was a kid that I would be happy to see an autograph of a scout I would have thought you were nuts.  I do love this card though because it is quirky, just like me.  Pat Daugherty was the scouting director of the Rockies from 1993-99 and is featured in this card because he signed Matt Holliday originally.  This is a neat idea as a one shot deal, but could be very bad if used often.  For a rebuttal opinion, check out this very memorable post from Night Owl.

This card is a 2007 Sweet Spot Classic Memorabilia Dave Parker.  This is the beginning of a new foray into collecting for me.  I am going to add Dave Parker to my player collections.  He was possibly my first ever favorite player and I wanted to get a nice collection going.  I have since put my Fred McGriff collection on indefinite hiatus, in order to pursue this Parker collection of 926 cards.  I have a nice dent in it already thanks to Sportlots and my own dupe box, 74 during his playing days and 17 retired specials about 10%, mostly the easy ones to get.
 

Back to Rockies auto here with 2010 3rd round pick Josh Rutledge.  This card is the exact argument to use against people that dislike the above Pat Daugherty card.  No offense to Josh Rutledge and his career .135 minor league average, but he is probably not going to be a major leaguer.  That being said, he is a Rockie and I want his card same as Daugherty.  I say a card of a scout and a card of a minor league middling (at best) prospect are basically equivalent.  Your thoughts?

From obscure minor leaguer to one of the best, Todd Helton.  The first card is from 2007 Upper Deck Elements and uses PETG technology, which I think is a fancy acronym for acetate.  The card is really great looking in person, although it does have a kind of dull sheen.  The second card is a 2009 SP Authentic which is a vast improvement over the 2008 set, which I did not care for at all.

Here we have the 2007 version of the Rockies team card.  I have to ask who had the great idea to position the team behind a three foot wall.  You can barely see the guys in front.  Although it could be considered a real life homage to the 60s floating heads team cards.

What trade with Eric would be complete without a Royal featured.  He sent me this 2000 Topps Carlos Beltran for my All Star Rookie Team collection.  Beltran was such a superstar in both Kansas City and his short stint in Houston.  The Mets really seemed to have extinguished yet another hot star.  Good luck Jason Bay.

This next group is a pair of relievers from the expansion Rockies era.  Lance Painter was an unspectacular middle/long reliever and spot starter for a few years in Denver.  Darren Holmes was the Rockies first ever closer, holding that position for the first year and for short stints in the next four years before he departed.

Here are three of the Rockies base cards from 2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition.  Rutledge I talked about above, Casteel was a 17th round pick that hit over .300 in his first year, and Bettis is a 2nd round starter with a potentially great future.  Bettis is my favorite as he was 6-1 combined in 2010 with a 1.07 ERA.  He is starting 2011 with the Modesto Nuts in High Class A.


Thanks again Eric for another great trade.  Check out his great blog here along with his secondary collection of golf course scorecards.  Well that just about wraps up another fine edition of The Rockie Trading Post.  Tune in next time for a first (and second) time visit from an old school Reds and Tigers fan.  Until then, we are officially signed off.

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