RBI (15) No longer green with envy...

And now I'm sparkling with diamonds. The past few weeks I've seen people posting up some of the cooler cards they've gotten from Topps Diamond Giveaway and I have to admit I was always a little jealous of the Diamond Die Cuts fellow bloggers have gotten. Well I've finally been able to score my own when I was out picking up another few top loaders I couldn't resist the blaster sitting by itself on the top of the shelf.

It may not be a Red Sox or Angels card, but hey I'll take it. Especially since Jair is currently sitting with a 7-1 record and 1.51 ERA. Batters are only hitting .234 against him and he has 38 punch outs versus only 11 walks. If he keeps it up he could be this years All-Star selection taking up Tim Hudson's selection from last year. 

Weekly Rundown 4- Angels Summary 5/16-5/29

Well due to an afternoon game I wasn't able to post a Weekly Rundown last week. I'll try to make up for it now.

Since the 16th of May the Angels have gone an unfortunate 6-8 between a 7 game home stand and 7 games spent on the road. Of those losses the Angels played the A's 6 times and only won twice. The Angels are currently a game behind the Texas Rangers for the division lead and sit at 28-27, constantly flirting with a .500 record.

 The offense has not been able to really get going for the past two weeks and as a result Angel aces Haren and Weaver continued to look for their first win in the month of May.

On the 28th Jered Weaver went 9 strong innings giving up no runs but received no run support at all for a game that eventually was settled in extra innings. In six May starts Weaver took 4 losses and 2 no decisions. Dan Haren finally received his first win since April 17th to finally hit the 5 win mark.

In injury news Angel starter Scott Kazmir made his first rehab start in AAA Salt Lake and was only able to last 1 2/3 innings. He continues to search for his best stuff and return to top of the rotation form. Outfielder Vernon Wells has increased his workout regimen to return to the Angels batting order and could be back in action in a week and a half. Second baseman Howie Kendrick hit the DL retroactive to May 20th due to tightness in his hamstring and has not played since May 19th.

I'll go more in depth with some of this news later this week when I post the Angels Monthly Summary.

Sac Fly (1) The first contest...

Well seeing as I've been able to have a little bit of luck pulling cards this week and in person at the stadium I think it's time to spread some of the luck and host my first contest.  I'll get more complicated and random fun with my contests as you can tell by this one.

The first contest I'll admit is a little self serving. For only having the blog up for about a month I've gotten a fair number of hits and am glad people have found interest in the stuff I'm putting up. So to continue working my way into this great community I need the word spread about what I'm doing on this blog. So here's the prize and the rules:

Prize:
-2 unopened packs of Topps Heritage 2011 OR Gypsy Queen OR 1 of each. Winner's choice.
-Additional cards from my collection of your selected team.

How it works:
The Oakland A's were in town this last home stand and I was able to get a few in person autographs of members of the team. So here's the contest 3 different A's players signed autographs for me. Guess who I was able to get and you win the prize. Also in your guess leave which packs you would prefer if you win.

The winner will be the person who gets the most players guessed correctly. If there is a tie I will use a random number generator for all valid correct entries. If no one guesses any of the players correctly I will use a random number generator for all entries to determine the winner.

How to enter:
Like I said, I'm self serving in this contest. Mainly because as it stands now there will most likely only be 2 entries in the contest if I didn't add this part. All you have to do to enter is comment your guess. You can leave a second guess as a valid entry if with your second entry you post a link to your own site announcing/linking this contest (2 entry max).


Contest will close Friday June 3rd at 11:59 PM PST, and the winner will be announced Saturday June 4th.

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 (14) Bringing the wood...

And I don't mean figuratively. The other day I converted some credit card bonus points into gift card credit for a store that won't receive free publicity unless I become sponsored by them (Target) and turned the gift card into a Topps 2011 blaster. The cards were all pretty generic but I was able to get a few needed cards from the base set and I think two inserts I needed.

Buried within the box though was a pack that felt a little funny. Of course within that pack there was a wonderful little goodie. An Aramis Ramirez  2011 Topps wooden bat relic! This was my first relic from the 2011 Topps Series 1 so I was pretty excited. I'm not a fan of the Cubs, but I'm a fan hits and the Topps 60 insert set. Looking at the relic and grain on the wood I feel like it's from the base of the bat, but could be wrong.

Ramirez started his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1998 but since 2003 has been a fixture in the Cubs clubhouse. A two time All-Star he has been a fairly consistent 3rd baseman capable of putting up pretty impressive numbers. He has a .282 career average and in 6 out of 8 seasons has hit at least 25 home runs with plenty of RBI to go around. 

With 1,046 career RBI 1,029 have been knocked in as a member of the NL Central Division ranking him 5th all time in division history. I'm not sure if the product of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic will ever catch the men ranked 3rd and 4th seeing as that is Albert Pujols and Lance Berkman, both of whom are still in the division and having a strong season. 

This season Ramirez has continued to be passably consistent with a .290 average in 44 games but with only a lone homer to go with his 17 RBI, if he wants to catch Pujols and Berkman to be top man over Sammy Sosa's 1,296 he will need to pick up the pace. With the Cubs sitting 6 1/2 games back in the division with a 22-26 record I'm sure they would appreciate him bringing some more wood, maybe I'll have to send him back part of his bat.

RBI (13) A halo original...

Or maybe I guess I should say the halo original. As I've made you all aware of the Angel 50th Anniversary and said autograph promotion I thought I'd put up a much delayed post. It was actually my first in person baseball autograph from the first Angel ever Mr. Eli Grba.

Eli Grba was the first selection in the 1960 MLB expansion draft, making him the first charter player of the Angels organization after being left unprotected by the Yankees. During his second season with the Yanks he posted a 3.68 ERA in 24 appearances with 9 starts. The Angels predicted good things out of him and he began the Angels inaugural season as a member of the starting rotation, and has the distinction of throwing the first pitch in the franchise's history.

Grba posted respectable but not outstanding numbers in his 3 seasons with the Angels (only 2 full seasons) and by 1963 his major league career was over. With the Angels he posted a 4.40 ERA with a 20-24 record in 92 appearances, 60 of which were starts.

Though never an All-Star, Cy Young Winner, Gold Glover, Silver Slugger, MVP, or the countless other awards given out throughout baseball Grba will forever have his name in the annals of baseball history. He may not have been a franchise cornerstone, but he was still the first piece of foundation for the Angels franchise to be built up from into it's current and future incarnations. For that I'm sure Angel fans everywhere will always be grateful.

Mr. Grba signed this Angels commemorative 2011 Opening Series baseball for me at the home opener of the Angels 2011 season celebrating the franchise's 50th anniversary. 

Balk 1 - Halo Heroes

If anyone has a card of any of these Angels (preferably from their Angel playing days) I'm very interested in making a trade. The years the player was a member of the Angels is listed so you have an idea of where to look if you think you may have a card. Let me know if anyone can help me out tracking down these guys and I'll see what kind of deal we can make. If you can help leave a comment or send an email to RJWritings At Gmail Dot Com

			Jay Johnstone - (1966-1970)
			Dean Chance - (1961-1966)
			Rick Reichardt - (1964-1970)
			Bob McClure - (1989-1991)
			Mark Gubicza - (1997)
			Dan Ardell - (1961)
			Mike Fitzgerald - (1992)
			Fernando Valenzuela - to Scioscia - (1991)
			Clyde Wright - (1966-1973)
			Scott Spiezio - (2000-2003)
			Frank Tanana - (1973-1980)
			Fred Lynn - (1981-1984)
			Buck Rodgers - (1961-1969, 1991-1994)
			Bobby Knoop - (1964-1969, 1979-1996)
			Rudy Meoli - (1971, 1973-1975)
			Brendan Donnelly - (2002-2006)
			Ken Forsch - (1981-1986)
			Jeff DaVanon - (2001-2005) & Jerry DaVanon - (1973)
			Mick Keller - (1982)
			Joe Rudi - (1977-1980)
			Bill Stoneman - (1974, 1999-2008)
			Jim Eppard - (1987-1989)
			Tom Satriano - (1961-1969)