RBI (113) An Odd Giant...

If you haven't noticed I'm starting to get a bit more free time so I'm trying to stay current with baseball as the World Series begins. Pitching tonight in a historic Game 1 where Pablo Sandoval hit at least 3 Home Runs and is 4-4 so far in the night is a giant amongst Giants, but they still call him "Tiny" Tim "The Franchise" Lincecum.

Timmy was taken multiple times in the MLB draft but only signed after he was taken 10th overall by the San Francisco Giants in 2006. He made his debut for the Giants in 2007 as a 24 game starter. From 2008 to 2011 Tim was beyond dominant for the Giants being named a 4-time All Star, winning back to back Cy Young Awards and helping the Giants franchise win their first world series in San Francisco. 2012 hasn't been kind to Timmy as evident by him pitching in Game 1 of the the 2012 World Series out of the bullpen opposed to starting the game like in 2010. His ERA, inning pitched, and strikeout number are well below his career norms, likely due to a decline in velocity to his fastball.

While some are wondering if the franchise can ever be the same, I wonder if he even has to be. Veteran pitcher Tim Hudson had some advice that I believe to be quite true and reflects the idea Steve McCatty recently talked about while discussing his Washington Nationals pitching staff. Strikeouts are attractive, make highlight reels, and fill stat books. They also raise pitch counts and don't necessarily win games. Outs do.

Lincecum has outstanding off speed stuff that can crush opposing batters so long as he throws his slower fastball with control instead of trying to blow through guys and still missing the strike zone or giving up hits. Establishing the strike zone with more control so he can pull the string for weak groundouts with his deceptive off speed stuff will make Timmy's career rebound. Tiny Tim's coming up for a Giant rebound I think and just by the floor of this year and the massively high ceiling he has if he starts to control his fastball more can set him up for a steal of a Comeback Player of the Year award.

Lincecum signed this for me during interleague play during the 2012 season at Angel Stadium. I was really excited to get his autograph and when he saw the Gypsy Queen he was shocked at how nice it looked and he thought it was one of his best. I was surprised he didn't know what it looked like and asked if he didn't see his cards. I guess Topps doesn't show the players what they're going to look like because he responded "No man I never see my cards." I asked if he wanted to see his All Star card from 2011 and he said yeah after I sign for the rest of the crowd. Tim signed down the line and then signed back up to me and took the card to check it out. He thought it was a funny photo of him and signed it for me. It was a quick encounter but definitely awesome.

Congrats to Tim Lincecum for throwing his no hitter and it makes these Tim Lincecum autographed baseball cards even more awesome to have in my collection.

RBI (70) A controversial 365 TTM from Spring Training...

Well I'm not sure how much actual controversy there is about this, but I did find it interesting to get a pretty awesome reply from Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mat Latos.

Latos was taken in the 11th round of the 2006 draft by the Padres after falling significantly due to maturity concerns. He attended college for a year before signing with the Padres days before he would have re-entered the 2007 having been deemed matured. The time paid off as Latos breezed through the minors reaching the MLB in 2009 for the Padres.

His call up resulted in making the rotation in 2010 for a breakout year where he solidified himself as a front of the rotation pitcher with ace potential. 2011 was a slight regression year for him, but there was still excellent top of the league stuff. So much so that the Reds paid a minor fortune for him in Edison Volquez, and top prospect Yonder Alonso among others.

In 3 seasons in the MLB Latos has supplied himself a 27-29 record, 3.37 ERA, and 413 Strikeouts. In both full seasons he appeared in he made a strong 31 starts, marking himself as a reliable workhorse in the rotation.

As many of you know there was a recent blog post on Reds' pitcher Mat Latos' wife's blog regarding the autograph collecting hobby. It's been discussed at length by the autograph community so I won't really get into that. Interestingly enough don't you know I had actually mailed Mat a TTM request just prior to the now infamous post.

It was a success. Not only was it a success, it was a really cool success. Not only did Mat send his autograph, but also took the time to answer the letter I mailed him. Why's this awesome? Because it's the first time a current player responded to my letter, let alone while at Spring Training:

During your 15 game streak of 5 innings and 2 or less runs did you feel added pressure or feel comfortable?
Showing the ice cold blood in his veins that made the Reds pay a king's ransom for the ace he responded, "Comfortable!"

What was it like to get your first Win?
Even though he debuted the week before, the Virginia native was able to top the local Washington Nationals in 2009 for his first win, "Felt good. Was in my hometown."

What did you see to the key to your 1 hitter of the Giants?
Even though he was only in his first full season in the Majors, he was able to display his stuff against the eventual World Series winners with a 1 hitter supported by him "Hitting my spots."

What was it like to play in the 2009 All Star Futures Game?
I'm a big fan of the game as it highlights the prospects coming up and recognizes their hard work pushing themselves through the minors to get to the show. I'm sure many of the guys who make it agree with his sentiment that "It was Great."

I had sent the 2011 Gypsy Queen as the card I'd like signed and included the 2012 Topps mini with a sticky note that said he could keep it. The Gypsy Queen smeared, but Latos didn't keep the 2012 mini and instead autographed it clean and sent it back to me after only 29 days c/o the Reds at Spring Training.

RBI (30) Gracefully moving on...

Well maybe moving on down to the minors is more like it. That's how Angel rookie catcher Hank Conger took his recent demotion from the big show due to recent struggles at the plate.

When the season began the Angels had Jeff Mathis, Bobby Wilson, and the 25th overall pick from the 2006 draft on the roster. Most were surprised the Angels carried three catchers, but Conger played his way onto the team and complicated the catching situation. With Mathis and Wilson out of options and likely to be stolen by another team before they cleared waivers back to AAA Salt Lake, Conger forced the Angels to carry all three with his strong spring.

When the season began Conger batted a strong .273 in April, but the following months were tough and dragged the promising young catcher's average to .214 on the season. The Angels "Hammering" Hank had been able to crank out 5 Home Runs and 7 doubles in 50 games, but with the Rangers on the hunt the Angels were unable to let the rookie catcher work through his struggles with the big league club anymore. While hitting better than Jeff Mathis, Conger's problem were compounded by nabbing only 8 of 56 base stealers and Mathis being paired with the aces of the staff.

When asked about his demotion, Conger showed poise and the big league polish he picked up when discussing the news. He definitely is a key cog to the new core of the Angels led by Peter Bourjos, Jordan Walden, Mike Trout, and Mark Trumbo. Having seen Hank earn his 2010 Futures Game MVP in person, I'm confident he will be sure to have a promising career under a halo in the future when the catching situation in the organization opens more big league at-bats for him.

Hank Conger signed a few autographs at Angel Stadium before a game he wasn't appearing in. It was pretty nice of him to come out of the dugout for the fans, and he put a great signature on his 2011 Gypsy Queen rookie card.

Balk 2 - TTTM

But not the TTM you're thinking of. These would be some Trades Through The Mail that I've been pretty delayed talking about.

First off Tom from The Angels, In Order per usual set me up with some great cards to have signed by some Angel alumni. I'll put up photos from these as they get signed.

A while back ago The Lost Collector of The Lost Collector needed a lone Russell Martin card from the 2011 Topps Heritage collection. I sent it out and he was nice enough to quickly stock me up with my first Gypsy Queen card, a nifty Kendrys Morales and some additional team card goodness that I needed.

I took part in the Cardboard Heaven group break and was pleased to get some nice Gypsy Queen, Upper Deck, and Topps cards of the Angels and Padres (California bias) sent out to me very quickly. I was really happy taking part in the group break and will definitely be on the lookout to take part again.

Today was an especially joyous day as Colbey of Cardboard Collections sent me out a nice selection of base cards and inserts I needed for my Topps 2011 Series 1. To say I was happy was a serious understatement as I love this anniversary set and these inserts are taking me forever to get through packs. I was more than happy to send some Topps 2011 Heritage and 2011 Opening Day over for the cards that made a serious dent in my want list.

Sorry for the lack of photos in today's post but I spilled a soda earlier today and am letting the USB cable dry but really wanted to make up for my lacking trade posts.

Thanks for the great trades guys,  you're all top notch in my book.

RBI (5) At a trading post like a gypsy...

So today is a bit off track from the format the blog is going to normally follow. Mainly because I was out picking up shaving cream after running out this morning and seeing a "Gems Of the Game" box off to the side of the checkout stand as if some kid couldn't convince his parents to buy it, but didn't want to take it back to the rack. While waiting in line I picked it up to see what it contained and was intrigued by the prospect of a graded card being inside along with a plethora of random packs. Needless to say I added it to my purchase. So instead of the normal summary I give I'll just be posting some of the cooler cards, and no offense to the cards but they're all up for trade.

First up is the card that first intrigued me to buy the box. The graded card.

It's a 2006 Topps Mantle Home Run History Card, Home Run #170. And it's graded to be a 9 by Global. I think it's a fairly cool looking card of Mantle, and it being graded is just kinda nifty. Not exactly what I was hoping to pull, but I could have done far worse.

One of the packs inside was a weird one I hadn't heard of yet, a Goodwin Champions 2009 pack. Inside was a cool looking Justin Morneau, an Upper deck insert featuring Alex Rodriguez, and these two minis. I'm a big fan of minis so personally the money spent for the minis and Mantle was worth it just so I could get it out of my system.

The Manning is a black border with Gypsy Queen on the back. With the current Gypsy Queen set dominating the blogosphere I was wondering what all the hype was about. Reading about the price practices some hobby shops and internet retailers were using didn't really have me running around trying to track them down. Landing one randomly while out on some errands was pretty nice and I've got to admit now I understand the hype. I wish the Manning mini had been maybe baseball related, but if I had to get a non-related card his isn't one I mind.

Sometimes when I read about the other local team, the Dodgers, I forget how young Clayton Kershaw actually is. It was easy to see though considering this 2007 Tristar isn't very old and he doesn't look all that much different now than then. It may be a bit Loon-y but I think it's a nice addition (bad joke I know). 

And while I'm talking about random I finally was going through my Topps 2011 Heritage and was trying to figure out what was a short print. Now if I'm right and know how to read the annoyingly confusing 2011 Heritage SP guidelines these are the #473 and #478 short prints. I know there are a few readers who collect the set and I thought I'd post these two as long as I was in a Gypsy trading mood while writing. And needless to say the cards look cut on the side, they aren't it's just how they lined up on the scanner. I'll send perfect scans if anyone is interested.

 It wouldn't take much to get pretty much any of the cards posted today. To be honest I'm starting to get a lot of Upper Deck and I'm not overly in love with them and prefer Topps. Perhaps I'll post the lot of them sometime soon so someone can take them off my hands. Leave a comment and/or shoot me an email at RJWritings At Gmail Dot Com