Smoke and Mirrors

I'm not sure what it says about a team when their lesser talent is carrying them through the first month-plus of the season while other, more talented players struggle with consistency. Edward Mujica did not seem likely to be one of the Major Marlin Mistakes when the Cardinals traded a prospect for him, but he is now 7 for 7 in save opportunities since taking over as closer a couple of weeks ago.

Meanwhile, Jake Westbrook improved his league leading ERA to 1.07 tonight and got the win, though the Cards had to hang on through some shaking relief pitching before getting to Mujica, who himself gave up one run.

These cards came to me courtesy of The Angels, In Order, by the way. The Angels know a bit about struggling this season. The Cardinals are at least fortunate enough to be in first place, though their hold on the top of the division is tenuous at best.

The Angels fan saw a chance to unload a bunch of unwanted Chone Figgins cards, which Erin still holds a place for in her binder. I have to say that I really like this photo, which is probably why I scanned this card. Imagine that!

This jersey card looks like something out of 2002 or so, but it's actually from Upper Deck's last (unlicensed) MLB release. I wonder if Figgy is truly done with baseball. It's strange to see a healthy player decline so quickly and sharply.

Smarter Than Your Average Trade

Joe Average Card Collector (you guessed it) sent some cards over this way last month, including many players that Erin collects. I was generous enough to help get her player collection lists online way ahead of my own, except the Edmonds list that I've had going for a couple of years now. I plan on finally getting my Ozzie Smith collection online soon and am assigning myself a goal of "by the end of the month". We'll see. \

In the meantime, fellow traders have been hitting up those lists, which is alright with me. I have a feeling that when all is said and done, I'm going to end up with a lot of Tulo and Lincecum doubles, but oh well. There's always Listia, right? In any case, JACC sent some big winners.

I've been on a Finest kick lately. Finest is like Chrome if Chrome was at least daring enough to try its own design on for size. Sometimes the designs work and sometimes they don't. I'm not sure how I feel about this '08 design. It's not my favorite, I guess, but I am sure my feelings would be different if I was staring a shiny refractor in the face.

You can tell this is a very early Tim Lincecum card because he looks like he's 11 instead of 12. The logo tells me that it's a Pro Debut card, which I think is the minor league equivalent of rookie card. Maybe.

Finally, it's a Figgy relic! Speaking of Chone Figgins, one of my contest entrants recently commented about the mystery surrounding how someone from the NW could root for Figgins, who is probably one of the least popular Seattle Mariners of all-time. Well, there was a time when Figgins was actually a very useful player, an All-Star even (though the merits of All-Star selection can be questionable at times.) We're also not Mariners fans in this household, just baseball fans and appreciative of certain qualities in a player. It sucks that Figgins sucked in Seattle. Maybe he'll catch on somewhere else and be successful again. Then again, maybe not. It's tough to say.

Oh, and this is a Cardinals household, anyway. But you knew that already.

Two Trade Combo Platter

I usually try to give each package I receive in the mail its own fair share of space, but I've decided to do a timeshare with a couple of trades tonight, due in part to the volume of each trade. First off, some Turkey Reds showed up out of the blue from up north about a month ago courtesy of Emerald City Diamond Gems. As far as set collecting goes, these feel like they are my number one priority. Yet, I should probably focus on more attainable goals such as the last few Allen & Ginter sets.

Danny Haren is back in the American League these days, so he can no longer provide as frequent of a reminder to the Cardinals as to what they lost when they acquired Mark Mulder. After being pretty dominant for Arizona recently, it'll be interesting to see if he can put up strong numbers in the less pitcher friendly league again.

Many of the players in the 2006 Turkey Red set had team variations. You can also find Delgado as a Blue Jay on this same card, I believe, but they are both considered SPs.

This Jermaine Dye from the 2009 insert set provides a contrast between the years that used the same design. The 2009s are a bit brighter (and shinier, especially if it's from Series 2) but they use a standard Topps logo on the front instead of the somewhat vampiric Turkey Red logo.

Finally, The Lost Collector sent over just one shiny card: a Chone Figgins refractor from 2010 Topps Chrome. Even though he's really my girlfriend's guy (waaaaiiiit a minute...) I'm hoping Figgy has a better year this season. He's a fun player to watch when he's on his game.

Playoffs for Night Owls

The Angels and Yankees are locked into an epic playoff battle right now as I write this, in the bottom of the 12th of game 2 of the ALCS. This game is reminding me of some of the battles between the Yanks and the Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series. And it's makes nice timing for this post. I recently received some pretty nice Chone Figgins cards in the mail from Night Owl Cards as payback for a certain Clayton Kershaw autographed Heritage card that I sent over. I have to say that I really like Figgy as a player, though these cards are actually for my girlfriend. It wasn't her Kershaw card that I traded, though, so wait... how does this work again? Figgy broke out of his slump in extra innings to give the Angels a 3-2 lead, which happened to be erased by an Alex Rodriguez solo HR. (Does quitting PEDs suddenly make you a good postseason player?)

Full disclosure: I'm rooting for the Yankees in the playoffs now that my Cardinals are out.

Night Owl sent over a nice looking autograph, as well as this Upper Deck Icons which contains a "piece of baseball memorabilia." Nice.

Also thrown in was a Figgy card with one of the rainbow of parallels from 2008 Baseball Heroes. Actually, I'm not sure that grey is officially part of the rainbow.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Cards on Cards trade without some choice Cardinals cards. I've just chosen a few of the high caliber selection that Night Owl went with. Larry Walker wasn't around for long, so I don't have many St. Louis cards of his. Shiny Chrome cards in trades are always a good thing.

And we head to the 13th inning...

Izzy! I appreciate Jason Isringhausen much more as a pitcher now that's he moved on. Ryan Franklin may well have been one of the best relievers in the league this season, statistically speaking, but he doesn't have a power arm and absolutely can not be trusted in high pressure situations. When right, Izzy was one of the best at shutting teams down with men on base. Of course, those men were often put there by his own doing.

I'll probably miss Upper Deck's boring, pointless sets next season because at least they were licensed sets. Hopefully they don't plan on putting out a No Logos version of something like this next year. (I always feel bad when I rip on cards that other people send me. I still want these boring, pointless cards if I don't own them. So, thank you.)

Smilin' Gibby is not something people got to see all that often.

Carp and Mulder were quite a duo for one season, at least. They'll always have 2005. Mulder's train fell off the tracks in 2006, sadly.

I have a feeling this golden Yadi will not be staying in my collection long.

Here's another Larry Walker card. There was definitely a golden theme to this trade, which is really nice. I love these cards. They're not too difficult to pull from packs and have a sparkly tinge to the borders, which is something that most gold-colored cards lack. Also, I'm a sucker for serial numbered cards, even if it means that there's thousands of cards out there just like this one.

Finally, it's good ol' Stan the Man. Is emerald part of the rainbow?

Thanks again to Night Owl, who is also the winning recipient of another Clayton Kershaw auto thanks to his Dodgers knocking the Cards out last week. I guess I need to start digging.