Good Luck Ducks: Holiday Bowl Edition

It seems like it's been about three months since the last Oregon football game. Finally, the interesting part of the bowl season starts today with the Holiday Bowl in San Diego. Oregon will be facing the Oklahoma State Cowboys, which have always amused me considering that they wear primarily orange (and some black and white) and the go by OSU. Oregon State is trying to be "OS" now, though, so maybe they're working towards ending the confusion.

I picked up a trio of 2006 Fleer rookies for $1 at a card show last month featuring Ducks players in Ducks uniforms after being drafted by their respective NFL teams. Interestingly enough, these players were the three key players on the last Oregon team to play in the Holiday Bowl, a low-scoring, nailbiting loss to Oklahoma.

Many are predicting a high-scoring affair as both Oregon and Oklahoma State tend to put a lot of points on the board. The Holiday Bowl also has a reputation for being very high scoring and competitive year in and year out. Of course, this is what everyone was saying three years ago when the Ducks and the Sooners combined for 31 points. All three of the players are still with the teams that drafted them. Clemens should have and likely would have been the starter for the Jets after they parted ways with Chad Pennington, but then that Favre guy stepped in and ruined everything, including the Jets season. All he did was lead the league in interceptions and lose to Pennington's Dolphins to get knocked out of the playoffs. Ngata and Williams have made some impact for Baltimore, although Demetrius only played in 6 games this year so I'm guessing he got injured at some point.

Whoa, there! Look who crashed the party. It's the Original Whizzinator himself. This oddly-shaped card was the partridge in a (cardboard) pear tree in my 12 Days of Christmas gift from Tribecards. He was an amazing player in his time at UO, but not the brightest guy as is well-documented.

I'm not sure what the point of all of this is, but... Go Ducks! I'm hoping for an entertaining game, zero airport arrests, and best of all: a Ducks victory to cap off a 10-win season.

Token Weekly Blazers Post: 2-2

Portland finished a 2-2 week last week with a 102-89 victory over the Raptors that Brandon Roy just plain took over and made everyone else look silly. It's hard to know what to make of this past week, however. It was disappointing - mostly the loss on Christmas night to Dallas. That was the big stunner, to me. I think they are better than that team. It wasn't too surprising that the Blazers lost one of the back-to-back Denver games. It's always tough to win two in a situation like that. I still think Portland has a good chance at winning the division title when all is said and done, and it's nice to see them in there and competing with Denver and Utah, but some of the problems that have plagued the Blazers this season still seem to exist.

Some things that need immediate attention with this team:

• Perimeter defense. Ouch. It can be really bad at times. Sure, their opponents will live by the three as much as they die by it, just like the Blazers when they shoot too many threes, but it seems like everyone they play has no trouble getting open looks.
• Switching on defense. Sensing a theme here? There's a lot that is lacking on the defensive side. Players keep getting caught up in terrible mismatches. I am tired of seeing Lamarcus Aldridge guarding point guards. I am also tired of seeing Steve Blake getting posted up by another team's big man. Unfortunately, I don't know enough about basketball to be able to say exactly what is causing this, but whatever it is it needs to stop.
• Three-point shot reliance. I've ranted about this already. It makes the Blazers look like a college team at times, and they don't have the luxury of the shorter distance to cope with. I cringe every time I see someone passing up an open 15-foot jumper for a three-point look.

About the cards:

• The Clyde Drexler card is from, I believe, the first year that Topps brought Stadium Club over to basketball. I'm not positive about this, though, but I just am not picturing the original 1991 design on a basketball card. This is a nice shot of Drexler going to the hoop against two defenders from the hated Jazz at Memorial Coliseum. There's been talk of demolishing the Coliseum and putting a new AAA baseball stadium in its place if Portland is able to land an MLS expansion team. I'm not against MLS or anything, but I hate the idea of baseball leaving the 18th St area.
• Jermaine O'Neal went at it with Greg Oden in the win over the Raptors and Oden seemed to come out victorious for the most part. It was probably Oden's most productive offensive game so far and is hopefully a sign that he will go off on opposing centers that are smaller than him. The card comes from a set called UD Choice, which I'm guessing is similar to a 90's baseball set Upper Deck would put out called Collector's Choice, a budget set aimed at kids, I guess?
  

Bonus: Well, here's Channing Frye's awful looking Chrome card from last season. Frye is on the cover of a local weekly paper which usually reserves its cover stories for the latest local Scandal of the Week. This week, the scandal is that Frye is a great guy but might not be a Blazer much longer. It's tough, because he is an entertaining guy that has his own blog (which is actually good!) and seems to have embraced Portland, the city, perhaps more than any player the team has ever imported. Unfortunately, he's not playing a ton and he doesn't offer a lot in the department that is lacking the most - defense.

5 on the 5: Meineke Car Care 2008 Topps Heritage High Series Presented by Five-Dollar Footlongs at Subway (Eat Fresh)

As much as I have a fondness for year-end/update/traded sets that goes back to my youth, I feel like everything about this set is a scam. The player selection is bad. Topps didn't even throw in a bunch of all-star type filler cards in this edition as they included those things in the first edition (and short-printed them all, of course.) I admit, I was pretty excited when I first heard that this was coming out, and I am a willing participant in the scam as I have bought packs and will continue to buy them. But I feel like I am forced to. I made a decision awhile ago to collect the 2008 Topps Heritage set and this is a continuation of that set. They didn't go the Updates & Highlights route of starting over at card #1 and including a UH prefix or any of that. It picks up where the last one left off. How satisfied would I be with a "complete" set that stopped at card #500 when I know that cards #501 through #720 are lurking out there somewhere? Not very. And don't get me started on the inclusion of U&H cards in these packs. I want my 2 Heritage cards back. Does Topps think that they are somehow promoting U&H by putting them in these packs? Would any Heritage buyer honestly consider buying a Topps base product solely because of this? Conversely, would a Topps base collector suddenly decide to collect Heritage High Series because they are able to get a pack of 2 cards for 2.99 with 6 Heritage cards as a bonus? The only explanation that makes any sense to me is if this was a way to get around the MLB product limit, where each brand can only have a certain number of sets per year.

Anyway, I have a tendency to buy things in fives for some reason, if I'm not just going to pick up one or two packs. Here are five packs of this stuff that I complained about a lot but will still collect.

Pack 1:
644 - Andy Sonnanstine

503 - Johnny Cueto (RC)
554 - Vicente Padilla
579 - Jose Guillen Black Back
546 - Milwaukee Brewers
696 - Mark Sweeney (SP) (He started his career for the Cardinals, but I have no recollection of him. He also played for the Padres four separate times. This card has dayf's favorite cartoon two-fingered salute on the back.)
UH127 - Michael Young / Derek Jeter Classic Combos
UH204 - Franquelis Osoria

Pack 2:
576 - Mike Lamb
527 - Rob Quinlan
516 - Salomon Torres
614 - Russell Branyan (Are there any Cardinals cards of Russell Branyan? I guess I need to find this out. He made a couple of starts and a bunch of pinch-hit appearances for the doomed 2007 team.)
665 - Texas Rangers

C239 - Chase Headley Chrome 0420/1959
UH70 - George Sherrill (Among the many blunders Bill Bavasi made with Seattle was letting this guy get away.)
UH57 - Ramon Castro

Pack 3:
663 - Mark Ellis
577 - Ben Zobrist
509 - Marcus Thames

595 - Clayton Kershaw Black Back
531 - Ryan Doumit Black Back

RP1 - Clayton Kershaw Rookie Performers (Does this look familiar? Kershaw looks a bit like Orel Hershiser here.)
UH307 - Greg Norton
UH264 - David Ortiz All-Star

Pack 4:

558 - Adam Kennedy (We're stuck with Kennedy this year and Kennedy is stuck with us. He was neither traded nor is a rookie, but is just cruddy enough to be in this set instead of the first edition.)
646 - Marco Scutaro
533 - Jonny Gomes (The "cartoon" on the back says that Gomes is a heart attack survivor. Yikes!)
666 - Jason Michaels
622 - John Baker

FB3 - Jon Lester Flashbacks
UH115 - Mike Lamb
UH228 - Joe Blanton

Pack 5:
684 - Jo-Jo Reyes
568 - Damion Easley
521 - Angel Pagan
617 - Gregorio Petit (RC)
563 - Doug Mientkiewicz Black Back
641 - Omar Infante
UH235 - Eddie Guardado

UH240 - Clayton Kershaw (RC) (Yup. Still looks like Hershiser.)

I didn't even bother with the gum. I've been warned.

One Last Stadium Club Hurrah

Here is the fourth of four blasters that I bought at Target for $2.99. Looking back, I'm really glad I didn't pay much more than $2.99 a piece for these things. It's not that I would have entertained the idea of buying even one of these at the regular price, but if I had I think I would have been fairly disappointed. I decided to play "pack wars" with Erin for this box while she opened one of her own. As it turned out, she won a very close battle because she actually pulled a Cardinal card, while sadly I did not.

Pack 1:
109 - Garrett Mock (RC)
23 - Tom Glavine
142 - Greg Smith (RC) (There have been so many roller imprints on these cards that they remind me of something Upper Deck put out in a hurry this year.)
74 - Rich Harden
105 - Chris Carter (RC) 1st Day Issue (alternate photo)

Pack 2:
38 - Hunter Pence

41 - Adrian Gonzalez (He who stole the Gold Glove from Albert Pujols this year...)
143 - Nick Blackburn (RC)
62 - Joba Chamberlain (The C.C. Sabathia and A.J. Burnett signings could be huge for Chamberlain, who might benefit from hardly being the most talked about Yankees pitcher this season.)
90 - Carlos Zambrano 1st Day Issue

Pack 3:
92 - Mickey Mantle (Does anyone out there actually collect modern made Mantle cards that aren't autographed or relic-laden?)
43 - Felix Hernandez
34 - Brian Roberts
136 - Jay Bruce (RC)

33 - Brandon Webb 1st Day Issue

Pack 4:
5 - Russ Martin (again)
67 - Joe Mauer
28 - Ryan Church
35 - Ken Griffey Jr.
60 - Scott Kazmir 1st Day Issue
- Checklist

Pack 5:
64 - Victor Martinez
16 - Jake Peavy
145 - Clay Buchholz (RC)

44 - Magglio Ordonez (I like the way he sort of blends into the ad on the wall behind him.)
81 - Lance Berkman 1st Day Issue (Bleh!)

Pack 6:

100 - Tom Seaver (It would have been fun to see a few more retired players in this set.)
113 - Jeff Clement (RC)
146 - German Duran (RC)
139 - Jayson Nix (RC)
102 - Daric Barton 1st Day Issue

Pack 7:
70 - Brian McCann
49 - John Smoltz
134 - Wladimir Balentien (RC)

85 - Matt Holliday Photographer's Proof 12/99

In four blasters, this is the only serial numbered card that I got. I'm not sure how that compares to how most of these boxes have been going for others, but the odds printed on the boxes seem to support my luck (or lack thereof.)

18 - Michael Young 1st Day Issue

Pack 8:
140 - Max Scherzer (RC)
137 - Brandon Jones (RC)
122 - Jonathan Herrera (RC)
128 - Carlos Gonzalez (RC)

21 - Jacoby Ellsbury 1st Day Issue
- Checklist

And there you have it. I doubt I will buy any more of this stuff unless it ends up in one of those horrible-but-tempting repack boxes next year. I'd try a hobby pack or two, maybe, if they weren't $25 each or something. Topps did step up their photography a notch for this set, but they still have some work to do. I wouldn't mind seeing Stadium Club again next year, but it would be nice if they got rid of the weird short printing issues.

Christmas is Cancelled

Portland has been a total disaster this week. A historically crazy snowstorm seems to have limited most holiday activities and has wreaked havoc on my work schedule as well. Consequently, I have counted at least 8 packages I still need to send out to people. Making it to work unfortunately became more of a priority to me than making it to the post office, so people that I owe packages to will unfortunately have to wait a bit more.

If you're one of the people that is expecting minor league cards from me but has yet to receive them, you're on the list (there are 5 of you.) If you are a particularly generous blogger who didn't ask me for anything, you're also on the list (there are 2 of you.) If your last name is Slette and you really like Andy Pettitte, you're also on the list, although your package isn't completely put together yet. If you aren't any of those people, or even if you are, I hope you have a happy holiday and hope that your sidewalks are shoveled.

There's Only Two Blasters in Me

And this is number three.

Pack 1:
43 - Felix Hernandez
34 - Brian Roberts
136 - Jay Bruce (RC) (All of a sudden I have so many Bruce cards.)
5 - Russ[ell] Martin
140 - Max Scherzer 1st Day Issue (alternate photo)

Pack 2:
67 - Joe Mauer
28 - Ryan Church

35 - Ken Griffey Jr. (For some reason I think this card is going to be like seeing Pete Rose in an Expos uniform when all is said and done.)
64 - Victor Martinez
122 - Jonathan Herrera 1st Day Issue (alternate photo)

Pack 3:
16 - Jake Peavy
145 - Clay Buchholz (RC)
44 - Magglio Ordonez
100 - Tom Seaver

132 - Kosuke Fukudome 1st Day Issue (Alternate photo. I'm sensing a theme here. The last card in each pack is an alternate photo 1st Day Issue card. Also, this makes three Fukudomes in three boxes, all 1st Day cards.)

Pack 4:
113 - Jeff Clement (RC)
146 - German Duran (RC)
139 - Jayson Nix (RC)
70 - Brian McCann
147 - Radhames Liz 1st Day Issue (alternate photo)
- Checklist

Pack 5:
49 - John Smoltz
134 - Wladimir Balentien (RC)
140 - Max Scherzer (RC)
137 - Brandon Jones (RC)

112 - Joey Votto 1st Day Issue (alternate photo)

Pack 6:
122 - Jonathan Herrera (RC)
128 - Carlos Gonzalez
47 - Chris Young

86 - Justin Morneau

107 - Clayton Kershaw 1st Day Issue (alternate photo)

Pack 7:
40 - Eric Chavez (Same alternate photo that I got in a previous box. Maybe it's not a variation.)

95 - Honus Wagner
91 - Jackie Robinson (The nearly inseparable pair. For some reason Jackie has 4 season's worth of stats on the back while Honus has nothing but career totals and a blank space.)
121 - Matt Tolbert (RC)
125 - Josh Banks 1st Day Issue (alternate photo)

Pack 8:
71 - Grady Sizemore
127 - Blake DeWitt (RC)
46 - Fausto Carmona

148 - Chris Perez (RC) (Finally, a Cardinal!)
131 - Sean Rodriguez 1st Day Issue (alternate photo once again)
- Checklist

I've got one more of these to go and then I'll be finished torturing you all.

Token Weekly Blazers Post: Back on Track

The Blazers got a much needed break from the schedule makers as they only played two games last week, which was nice after the previous week's multiple debacles. On Tuesday they completed a season sweep of the Sacramento Kings by pulling away in the second half and winning by a huge margin.

Thursday's game was the one that everyone has been talking about, however. Portland finally snapped an 11-game losing streak to the Phoenix Suns and Brandon Roy went off for 52 points, the second-highest total scored by any player this season to date. The Suns recently traded for Jason Richardson, in a move widely regarded as being helpful to the Suns, but it also cost them Raja Bell, someone who has killed the Blazers on both sides of the court and has been Brandon Roy's personal gadfly. In the long run, maybe the trade will help the Suns, but I really think it makes the Blazers match up a lot better against them. The game was a classic shootout broadcast nationally by TNT and was very fun to watch, even though the Blazers indifference on defense at times is really starting to get to me. Only Damon Stoudamire had ever scored more points in a game in a Blazers uniform than Brandon Roy, and Stoudamire's big game came for a terrible Portland team in a loss to an even worse New Orleans Hornets team.

Of course, it's back to the grind next week when they play four games again, beginning tomorrow with a battle for first place in the Northwest Division with the Denver Nuggets. The Blazers also play on Christmas night in the fifth game of a quintupleheader of nationally televised NBA games.

About the cards:

• I'm not sure if this Clyde Drexler card from 1994-95 is part of a subset in the regular Upper Deck set or part of as set all its own. I'm much more clueless about basketball cards issued after I stopped collecting than I am about baseball cards, thanks to all of the trades I've done with people and all of the interesting blogs out there. There aren't enough basketball card blogs out there, though. At least, I haven't been looking hard enough. The fact that Brandon Roy is now getting mentioned in the same sentences as Drexler strikes me as both a little premature and a little awesome.
• Drazen Petrovic is a Hall of Famer. He spent his first couple of seasons with the Blazers playing behind Drexler and then wound up having breakout success as a New Jersey Net. And then his life was cut tragically short.

Bonus: Here's another from the mini-lot of 1978-79 Blazers cards that I bought years ago and recently rediscovered. Gross just had his jersey retired during halftime of the Phoenix game, just two days after Terry Porter had his retired. The thing that bugged me the most is that the framed jersey that they gave Gross to hold up during the ceremonies was the same design as Porter's - a design the Blazers didn't start using until 1991, 11 years after Gross left the team. Things like that really bug me for some strange reason.

2008 Stadium Club Blaster #2

Here is the second of the four Stadium Club blasters I bought last weekend. Sadly, the price of these things at Target seems to be back to normal now. Since I have several of these to get through, I'm going to keep commentary to a minimum.

Pack 1:
130 - Brian Barton (RC) (Nice to get a Cardinal right off the bat.)
25 - Edinson Volquez
83 - Chipper Jones
112 - Joey Votto (RC)
114 - Michael Aubrey 1st Day Issue (I was reading that the 1st Day Issue cards have thicker stock than the regular cards, but these don't. Maybe the retail ones are different.)

Pack 2:
31 - Carl Crawford

37 - Hanley Ramirez
76 - Johan Santana
115 - Brandon Boggs (RC)
123 - J.R. Towles 1st Day Issue

Pack 3:
68 - Gary Sheffield
11 - David Ortiz
104 - Gregor Blanco (RC) (For some reason I didn't realize Blanco was a rookie. I probably will forever get him mixed up with Henry Blanco for whatever reason.)
101 - Luke Hochevar (RC)
150 - Gregorio Petit 1st Day Issue

Pack 4:
29 - Delmon Young
4 - Todd Helton
116 - Johnny Cueto (RC)
58 - Jose Reyes

69 - Cole Hamels 1st Day Issue
- Checklist

Pack 5:
73 - Greg Maddux

52 - Vernon Wells (Like in the last box, here's another one where I feel like it might be a variation since the pictures on the front and the back don't match, but it's not one of the rookies. Hmm.)

88 - Hideki Matsui
14 - Prince Fielder
66 - Carlos Beltran 1st Day Issue (Another pack with no rookies. Stupid, lying pack wrappers.)

Pack 6:
131 - Sean Rodriguez (RC)
80 - Ryan Braun
82 - Manny Ramirez

56 - Garrett Atkins (Judging by his swing and where the ball is coming in from, I'm guessing Atkins is not about to hit this ball very far.)
129 - Elliot Johnson 1st Day Issue (Alternate photo)

Pack 7:
119 - Jed Lowrie (RC)
1 - Chase Utley

85 - Matt Holliday
50 - David Wright
117 - Hernan Iribarren 1st Day Issue

Pack 8:

53 - Josh Hamilton
133 - Chin-Lung Hu (RC)
125 - Josh Banks (RC)

13 - Alex Rodriguez
132 - Kosuke Fukudome 1st Day Issue

Not a great box overall. I did get one Cardinal, but no retired players and none of the short printed (?) cards. Can you even get those cards in retail packs? This is a weird set.

Trading with Hand Collated

Hand Collated has been doing a Year End Clearance - posts with want lists of some 2008 sets. I bit on the one about Topps base and we ended up doing a quickie trade. I got Mr. Ludwick here, plus some more Cardinal goodies and was able to knock off a few more Allen & Ginter cards from my list.

Victor Martinez was among the A&G cards, most of which consisted of players I dislike and/or players who play for teams I strongly dislike. Oh, the perils of set collecting. Victor isn't one of those guys, though, so he gets his picture used for the blog.

2007 Topps Red Backs (Here are some cards of the silly parallel variety. Really, this was pretty unnecessary, Topps. However, I can't say I mind unnecessary parallels if they're Cardinals. Plus, the red looks good on Cardinal cards. I don't think it would work so well if I was an Oakland fan. I only had a couple of these, so this was a nice addition to my collection nevertheless. Speaking of unnecessary parallels, I also grabbed a gold foil Braden Looper card.)

2008 Upper Deck Infield Power - Albert Pujols (This is from the 2-per-pack insert set for the Series 1 and 2 combo jumbo packs that Upper Deck put out in retail stores, if I recall. I was hoping there was also a Troy Glaus card made, but apparently there is not.)

2008 Topps Year in Review - Jason Isringhausen (I wouldn't exactly use the word "exciting" to describe the Cardinals 2007 season. The intentionally off-centered photos in this insert set always bug me.)

Make sure you check out Hand Collated and post your want lists/have lists in the comments over there.

Buy One, Get Seven Free

Where, oh where, do I even begin? Stadium Club premiered in 1991 as one of the first, if not THE first, premium quality baseball card set. The cards were coated with gloss and contained a full bleed photo design, boasting of Kodak quality photos on the pack wrappers. As far as I can tell, Stadium Club enjoyed a run that lasted until 2003. I'm not sure what motivated the resurrection of Stadium Club this year, but it's back now.

So here's the weird part: packs of this stuff apparently were set for $25.00 a pop at your local hobby store. If you head down to your local big box retailer, however, you can find packs of 5 cards for $2.99 each. I can't recall what the supposed incentive is to buy hobby packs, but I assume it's a big deal, like guaranteed relics/autos or something. When I look at the cards, the overall design isn't bad, but the backs of the cards look pretty cheap. Setting all of this aside, however, I was pretty intrigued when I found out that you can pick up blasters of this stuff at a certain big box retailer for the price of a single pack. This set promises one rookie per pack, but as you can see below, it's not the most reliable indicator.

I ended up buying four boxes, and here are the contents of the first one:

Pack 1:
142 - Greg Smith (RC)
74 - Rich Harden
38 - Hunter Pence
41 - Adrian Gonzalez

132 - Kosuke Fukudome 1st Day Issue

Pack 2:
143 - Nick Blackburn (RC)
62 - Joba Chamberlain

92 - Mickey Mantle
43 - Felix Hernandez
105 - Chris Carter 1st Day Issue

Pack 3:
34 - Brian Roberts

136 - Jay Bruce (RC)
5 - "Russ" Martin
67 - Joe Mauer
90 - Carlos Zambrano 1st Day Issue

Pack 4:
28 - Ryan Church
35 - Ken Griffey Jr.

64 - Victor Martinez
16 - Jake Peavy
33 - Brandon Webb 1st Day Issue
- Checklist

Pack 5:
145 - Clay Buchholz (RC)
44 - Magglio Ordonez
100 - Tom Seaver
113 - Jeff Clement (RC)

60 - Scott Kazmir 1st Day Issue

Pack 6:
146 - German Duran (RC)
139 - Jayson Nix (RC)
70 - Brian McCann
49 - John Smoltz
81 - Lance Berkman 1st Day Issue

Pack 7:

134 - Wladimir Balentien (RC)
140 - Max Scherzer (RC)
137 - Brandon Jones (RC)
122 - Jonathan Herrera (RC)
102 - Daric Barton 1st Day Issue

Pack 8:
128 - Carlos Gonzalez

47 - Chris Young (Annoying.)
86 - Justin Morneau

40 - Eric Chavez (The photo on the front is not the same as the back. Usually this means it's a short print/variation card, but I don't think any such thing happened with this one. All of the listed variations are numbered 101 through 150.)

18 - Michael Young

Kudos to A Cardboard Problem for cluing me in last week on a chance at a super-cheap box. I will post more Stadium Club blasters in the coming days.