From the Wicked Vault...

Here is another one-card post from your friend the Troll. Another Rays pitcher, but this time a starter turned reliever. Sonnanstine has been responding well to his new role. Sparing a rough outing in New York where he was shelled for 4 runs on May 19th, he has been stellar in relief. His last two outings have spanned 4 shutout innings. Obviously I would prefer to see him back to his form in 2008 when he won 13 games as a starter, but I am happy that he remains on the team and he is doing well in his new role. Middle and long relief has long been a weak point for Tampa Bay and Sonnanstine has the ability to burn up a lot of innings. He is 1-0 so far this season with a 3.43 ERA and 13 Ks in 15 appearances spanning 21 innings. Opponents are batting .232 off of him this year. This card comes from the Wicked Vault and came to me recently from My Past Time…I Love It!. It is from 2007 Upper Deck Sweet Spot Beginnings Signature Series and shows Sonnanstine in spring training 2006 on the front with an ON-CARD blue sharpie signature on the bottom. There is also a plastic miniature batting helmet embedded on the card. I think that is a bit goofy, but I am not complaining. I really like this card! This is the third Sonny autograph to come my way from South Florida and the 9th total in my collection. If this card wasn’t ¼ inch thick, I could fill a binder page full of Sonnanstine autographs. This card, however, is far too thick to fit into a binder page. Thanks so much for this and all of the great stuff you have sent to me Wicked! Hope everyone is enjoying their Memorial Day Weekend. This was a "scheduled post" but I just read on My Past Time, I Love It! that our friend and fellow blogger suffered a flood in his home this weekend. It took out more than half of his collection, plus baby pictures and many belongings. Stop by to show him some love and support. We are here for you homie!!! Go Rays! Troll out.

The Collective Troll Card of the Day

Not too much time today, but I wanted to get a card up. This is another one from the famous Wicked Vault… I have a lot of posting to do as My Past Time… I Love It! sent me a HUGE package last week and I am still not done posting the last one he sent… This card is from 2008 Topps Finest featuring a bold, blue, on-card autograph of Rays pitcher Andy Sonnanstine. Sonny is a personal favorite of mine. He struck out 10 batters for his major league victory on 6-10-2007. He won 13 games the following year when the Rays won the AL Pennant. Last year was a mess for him however and he spent the bulk of the year in AAA. This year he was in the race for the Rays starting rotation, but when Joe Maddon announced the rotation on Wednesday, Sonnanstine was the odd man out. That would have sealed Sonnanstine’s fate, placing him on the trading block before the start of the season, but an injury will put JP Howell on the DL to begin the season-that will make Sonnanstine a more valuable part of the pen and should keep him in Tampa Bay. That makes me happy and so does this card. Thanks again to my buddy Wicked Ortega for sharing and prepare to have your minds blown when I post everything he sent in the last package. By the by, there are a number of mindblowing awesome packages I need to post... Still not done with Stale Gum, Reds and More, My Past Time and oh my gosh, the package I recieved from Jacob Marley, THANKS!!! Go Rays! troll out.

A Christmas in February Gallery of Stars!!!

I had nearly given up on my Secret Santa gift this year, but 2 weeks ago a surprise showed up in my mailbox. It was Christmas in January then, of course it took me a few weeks to post it, so it is Christmas in February! Normally I might be irked that the cards took a while to get here, but this is a special situation. My Secret Santa had his son’s 2nd birthday to plan for and he also had his job working for the United States Army to worry about. That is correct; my Secret Santa is stationed at Rose Barracks in Vilseck, Germany. So he has some more important things to worry about it… Included in the package were his payment for the group box break along with a birthday gift (for me!) and a Christmas Gift. All of it came all the way from Germany and spent well over a month in the possession of the USPS. Was it worth it? Hell yeah! Here are a few of the highlights: First up is a framed Masterpiece of Carl Crawford. I think it is a dark blue linen card. I am not too familiar with this product. It is numbered 055/125 on the back. It is the first variation I have received from this 2008 Upper Deck Masterpiece collection. I now have a pair of dupes of the CC base card, so get in touch if you need it. Next up is another great CC card. This one is from 2005 Diamond Kings by Donruss, card #GS-5, Carl Crawford Gallery of Stars. Nice. The last card I am going to highlight is a certified autograph of Andy Sonnanstine from 2009 Topps. It is part of the Career Best subset, card #CBA-AMS. This is now my second Career Best autograph and I really like the idea behind these. The refractor sticker auto looks sharp on these cards. Some of Sonnanstine’s career bests include: 10 Ks in a game, 2 hits (in 8ip) and 78 strikes thrown in one game. Sonnanstine had an off year in 2009, but he has the stuff to be a legit big league starter. Thanks so much for all the great cards and Merry Christmas to you! By the way, I figured out that my Secret Santa is Anthony K from the Balk Four blog and the United States Army. I look forward to getting more great trade packages from Germany! Thanks again brother. I loved ALL the cards you sent, not just the ones that I scanned. If you have any extra Houston Astros, Javier Vasquez or Bob Gibson cards-those are AK’s favorites! Thanks again for the great gift! Stay warm and stay safe over there. Before I end this, check out this post from the Easy Life. This is proof that some people actually read my posts and reap the rewards. Congrats to you Mr. Easy Life, enjoy your prize! The moral of this story is, READ MY DAMN POSTS! I will end this with a flyer for our season opening bout on February 21st. Are there any local bloggers out there? We will have some special guests in attendance and plenty of awesome raffle prizes, PLUS 5 kegs worth of FREE beer and lots of lovely ladies on wheels, PLUS some amazing competition. After the bout we will have our awesome after party at the Distillery Tavern and we will be auctioning off booty ad space. For a minimum bid of 25 bucks you can have your company (or blog) name right here. All proceeds will go to charity. Go Bombers! Go Rays! Troll out.

A First Time Trade With First Day Issue or Rays of Sunshine Ahead!

Here it is my very first trade with the legendary trader and Mariners fan, Mr. Bud of the First Day Issue blog. I have wanted to pull off a trade with Bud for a long time, not because I had Mariners cards to unload (I had very few actually) but because I have seen a lot of other bloggers post cards that they received from Bud and they are always great cards and everyone is always happy. I was quite happy when I went to the Post Office on Friday and there was a large manila envelope from Washington State with “Rays of Sunshine” written on the bottom of the envelope. There it was! Bud does in fact exist, he isn’t just a mythical legend made up by the blog-o-sphere, he is real and he sent me some really cool Rays cards! There was a note that said something like “I hope you find some cards you like, I've got plenty more if you do”… Did I find some cards that I like? Hell yeah, every last one of them! There was about 40 cards, nearly no cards that I already owned and there was a great variety in years and brands. Let’s jump right in with a new card of one of my favorites, blog reader and Rays minor league coach Jared Sandberg on a 1999 Bowman Chrome card, #118. I love this card, but I can’t figure out why the space needle (is that what that is?) is behind him on the card… I wanted to start with Sandberg, but I also like to include original Devil Rays whenever possible and I have really liked what I have seen from this 1999 Fleer Traditions set. Nice bright photos, good action, great lighting, good stuff. This one is card #413 of utility infielder Aaron Ledesma. I had never seen or heard of this set before; it’s from an Upper Deck series from 2004, Power Up! I am guessing… It’s a goofy bright green card of Rocco Baldelli with some kind of code on the side. I don’t think Rocco’s head is really that big… It is an odd looking card and I am gonna go out on a limb and say I don’t think this was a very popular set. The fun fact info on the back was interesting though. I knew that Rocco turned down a number of college scholarships to sign with the Rays, but I didn’t know his was offered Division 1 scholarships for baseball, basketball and volleyball! I have said this quite a few times on here, but I really, really like the 2009 Topps set. It is a great design, the best photography that Topps has ever had, it is just a cool and classy set and after what they had shown the rest of this decade, I had pretty much given up on them. Aside from the cool blue bordered set of 2003, everything has been totally blah this entire decade. That said I am collecting the heck out of every crazy card and parallel that the ’09 set has to offer. I only realized that the Topps Chrome version had blue refractors in it recently and I am obsessed with them already! Bud anticipated this and sent me another shiny blue one that I didn’t have yet. This guy had a horrible year in 2009, but I think that Andy Sonnanstine is a legitimate big league starter and I really think he will bounce back next year and claim the #5 starting pitcher slot with the Rays-or get traded to a team where he will be a starter. Either way, I think he will start 25+ games in 2010 and I am psyched to have one of the 199 shiny chrome refractors of this card in blue. If anyone else has "Blue Rays" they are willing to share, hit me up! Carl Crawford, Carlos Pena, Scott Kazmir, Aki and Longo are all at the top of my list! From Topps over to Bowman, here is a 2008 Bowman Draft Pick card of Rays future (?) first baseman Mike Sheridan. They scooped Sheridan up in the 5th round of the 2008 draft out of William and Mary. He is another guy that I watched a lot in Instructional League this year, he is a solid defensive first baseman who has a lot of hitting potential. Time will tell if the potential will evolve him into a big league hitter, but he is one to watch. A good comparison, if he reaches his full potential would be Tino Martinez. Tino was one the keys to the Yankees resurgence in the late nineties and he won 4 WS rings with them. He also made a stop in Tampa Bay in 2004 where he hit his 300th career home run on his way to 23 total for the D-Rays that year. This card from the 2005 Upper Deck set shows him after hitting one of those 23 bombs. He finished his career with the Yankees and retired in 2005 with 339 career homers. Back to Bowman, 2007 Bowman of the Chrome variety, this one is card #BDPP83 of Rookie of the Year Candidate Jeff Niemann shown in Team USA gear. He didn’t finish this season too well, but his 13-6 record with a 3.94 ERA and 125 Ks is still pretty nice… Andrew Bailey has to be the man to beat this year. I think that Niemann has a bright future in the Rays starting rotation though and here is another card of him that Bud included-a 2008 Upper Deck Timeline, card #70 of the 6'9" righty. Last years Rookie of the Year was a no-brainer decision and a Tampa Bay Rays player, too. Evan Longoria ran away with the award and he is a darling of the hobby and collectors all over. This is an insert from the 2009 Upper Deck Series 2 Starquest. I have a number of the BJ Upton and Carlos Pena cards from this subset, but this is my first Longo and I think this one is special cuz the back says it is “Blue Uncommon”. It is card # SQ-39 in the subset. One of the things that I haven’t liked about Topps over the past few years is every pack has like 5 inserts in it. This makes set-building kind of difficult. It is cool when you like the inserts though, but I never pull ones that I like. Fortunately others do and they send them to me. This is from 2007 Topps Chrome, from the Generation Now subset featuring ex-Ray Delmon Young. I am still pretty confident that D-Young is going to grow into an All Star and I still get pretty excited when I get cards of him, especially chromey and shiny ones. This next card (?) came from the 2008 Topps set I think, but I have never pulled one of these. It’s a tattoo. I think it’s a pretty cool idea, I prefer stickers, but tattoos are cool, too. It’s not very big and I probably have this much blank skin available so I may try it out. With all of the great cards he sent it was pretty hard choosing which ones to display and what not to. There was definitely a lot of great stuff in there! I really wish I had some more Mariners cards to offer up because I would definitely like to see what else Bud has. Maybe this is a good excuse to buy a box of something… There are 5 more cards that I will show; they are all of the best leftfielder in baseball, MVP candidate and igniter of the Tampa Bay Rays lineup, Mr. Carl Crawford… First up is a 2003 Upper Deck MVP card #199 of a young Carl Crawford. Considering that he hit .259 with 9 steals in 2002, he was hardly an MVP back then, but perhaps they were looking in the Upper Deck crystal ball… From the 2005 Donruss Studio set, here is card #269 of a black and white CC with a purpley cityscape behind him. Next is a 2002 Topps Stadium Club Future Stars card, #108 of CC. The back of the card says that he has “surprising instincts”, whatever that means… This one is from the 2007 Upper Deck set, its an insert series called "Cooperstown Calling" and has a picture of Cal Ripken Jr. on the front. There is a long and complimentary quote on the back that you would assume came from Cal. Cool idea. This is the first card from this series that I have seen, it is card # CC-CC. The last card in the awesome package from First Day Issue is a 2006 Upper Deck, card #438. This is a parallel of some sort and is very shiny and has a serial number on the front, 93/99 and has a nice shot of CC getting ready to take a ball for a ride! I never get tired of getting Rays cards in the mail, especially a variety like this. Awesome cards Bud, thanks so much! I sent you every last Mariners card I had, you should get them soon. I love to trade and truly appreciate you sending these my way. If you haven't checked out Bud's blog already, or if you have Mariners cards to spare, you can find it right here-http://firstdayissue.blogspot.com/ Go Rays! Troll out.

Tradin' With Saints of the Cheap Seats, Part Two!

As promised, here is part two of the Saints of the Cheap Seats trade. Dan outdid himself sending over all of those awesome and amazing 1978 Topps cards-like I said there were 120 cards and ten of them featured Hall of Famers, it was an amazing pile of 30+ year old card board and it brought me to 90% completion of the set. Dan also sent over some very nice Tampa Bay Rays cards that are new to my collection. First off, my favorite. Topps Finest, like Bowman Sterling, is an amazing looking; high class set that is just a bit out of my price range. I do love getting these cards in trade, though. This card is a Finest Moments insert from 2008 Finest set; it is card #FM-AS and is serial numbered 93/99. The card is of Andy Sonnanstine, who had a really terrible season in 2009. I still think he has the “stuff” to be a big league pitcher and I really hope that the Rays don’t give up on him like they did with Jason Hammel, Scott Kazmir and Edwin Jackson. I think Sonny can be a solid 5th or spot starter and I really like this card. He also sent 5 cards from the 2007 Bowman Heritage set. I had been chasing this set, but then I gave up and decided to just go after the Rays cards. With these 5, I think my team set is done. Unfortunately the ex-Rays (Elijah Dukes, Kazmir, Rocco and Brian Stokes) outnumber the current Rays player pretty badly with Sonny being the lone Ray remaining from this bunch. He went back a few years prior with the Bowman Heritage, too. This one of former Rays catcher, Toby Hall. From ex-catcher to current catcher, there is 2009 Topps Gold of Dioner Navarro. I love the 2009 Topps set, it is easily my favorite design of this decade for Topps and it is one of the nicest sets of the year for any brand. The design, photography and composition is all top notch. Gold and serial numbers make nice cards nicer, he hooked it up with this Gold Navi… I’ve mentioned before that my collection is very, very weak when it comes to cards from the start of this decade. I wasn’t collecting then and many of the cards that I get in trade are more recent ones. These two Devil Rays sketch cards from the 2001 Topps Gallery set were a real treat for me! I wonder who else is in this set? I think both of these cards would look great signed, so they will hopefully reappear in a TTM success post sometime down the road. Another big thank you to Dan from the Saints of the Cheap Seats blog for hooking it up with this awesome trade! I can't resist re-posting at least one card from before that he sent for my 1978 Topps set... A former starter from Dan's favorite team and a Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley...I keep on mentioning this, but if you haven't signed up yet for the SotCS group break, I believe there are only a couple of slots available, so get on over there quick before your kicking yourself for missing out!-http://cheapseatsaints.blogspot.com While you are there, check out his (very well organized) want lists or you can always send him cards of Jim Thome and Omar Vizquel or any Indians for that matter...Thanks again!!! I love being a blogger and I LOVE trading cards! I also have the evening off from work tonight and baseball starts soon!!! Thanks! Go Angels! Go Twins! Troll out

The Kaz Trade's Silver Lining?

Scott Kazmir has a new number (22) and a new team name on his jersey. The deal is done, he will make his scheduled start today and go for his 9th win, but he’ll be doing it in red for the Angels. The silver lining is that the move frees up a spot in the rotation for Troll favorite, Andy Sonnanstine. Sonny was sent to AAA for a tune up and he had seemingly been forgotten, but he has rejoined the Rays and will get the start tonight against the Red Sox, a team that he has owned! There is other good news, too. Aki is back and hit a home run in his second game, Pena is hot and slugging like crazy and Fernando Perez and Shawn Riggans are back to give the club more pinch hitting and defensive options. This series against the Sox will probably determine whether or not the Rays can get the Wild Card. Go Rays! Troll out.

Tampa Bay Rays and Bradentucky Bombers Rock Out on Sunday!!!

Yesterday was a great day.
David Price earned his second win of the year, BJ Upton homered and the Rays finished their interleague home stand with a 5-1 record, suffering just one loss, the first game against Jamie Moyer and the Phillies. They successfully swept the Marlins and Scott Kazmir and Chad Bradford are back with the team and in mid-season form. The Rays have a 13-5 record in interleague play this year. They are 42-35 overall and they moved past the Blue Jays into 3rd place in the American League East, just 5 games behind the Boston Red Sox. They are riding a 5 game winning streak and are 7-3 in their last 10 games. BJ’s third inning home run was the 100th homer for Tampa Bay this season, making them the quickest team in Major League history to reach 100 homers and 100 steals. Led by Carl Crawford with 39 steals and BJ Upton with 28, the Rays have 118 steals as a team on the year. During the sweep of the Marlins, reliever JP Howell had two wins and a save in 3 games. Overall on the season his numbers are All Star caliber, with a 4-2 record with a 1.67 era, 5 saves and 46 strikeouts in 37-2/3 innings this season.
The Rays are all over the league leader boards, even with Jason Bartlett not having enough at-bats for his .364 batting average to qualify. Carl Crawford is 7th in the AL in batting with a .314 mark. He is 3rd in hits with 97 and leads the League in steals. Carlos Pena is leading the American League in both home runs with 23 and runs scored with 58. Current second baseman, Ben Zobrist is pacing the AL in slugging percentage (.622) and tied for 3rd in triples. Third baseman Evan Longoria is 4th in slugging percentage (.575), tied for 2nd in doubles (24) and in second place in RBIs with 63. His .306 batting average is 15th in the league. He and Ben Zobrist are tied for 13th in the AL with 16 round trippers each. On the other side JP Howell, whose 1.67 ERA doesn’t qualify for the league leader board is pacing the AL in games with 38. James Shields does qualify and his 3.41 ERA is 13th and he is in a tie for most games started this year. He is also 6th in innings pitched this year, overall he has a 6-5 mark with 76 Ks. Matt Garza (5-5 3.61) has 85 Ks which is good for 8th in the league. Jeff Nieman is one of 14 pitchers this year to throw a shutout. Zack Greinke remains the only pitcher who has 2 so far this season.
The Rays are gearing up to head north and take on the Blue Jays at home. Jeff Nieman (6-4) will get the call for the Rays who will be facing (in my opinion) the best starter in the American League in Roy Halliday (10-1 2.53). It will be Halliday’s first start since June 12th. He has been sidelined with a right groin strain. Prior to that, he had been 7-0 in his last 10 starts. A few of the Rays have had serious success against Halliday. Carl Crawford is hitting .327 against him with a home run in 49 at bats. BJ Upton has a .304 average with a home run in 23 at bats. Russ Adams in the only Jay who has faced Nieman more than 5 times and he is 0-10 career against the righty. Wells, Scutaro, Rolen, Lind and Alex Rios have never faced Nieman in the big leagues. Matt Garza and James Shields will get the call to start the 2nd and third games of the series. In game 3 the Rays will face Jays rookie Ricky Romero (5-3 3.20) for the first time. No players in the Tampa Bay line-up have a single at bat against Romero. Really the only negative thing that could be said about the Rays is they sent one of my favorite starters to AAA Durham this weekend. It is a great problem for a team to have, having too many quality starters, but I hate seeing Sonny sent down. Last year he tied for the team lead in victories, but this year he suffered a few bad innings, even though he has pitched better than his 6-7 record shows. Hopefully he will be able to tune things up and rejoin the Rays soon.
In other GREAT news this weekend, the Bradentucky Bombers travelled south to Fort Myers to take on the Palm City Punishers for the first time this season. These two teams have serious history from prior seasons and I had been waiting for this matchup. Their home rink skated much faster than ours and the game was all action. The defense had little time to get set, but big hits and great one on one matchups kept the scoring low. The Bombers were staked to a 30+ point lead at the end of half-time. It was a game of firsts and lasts for the Bombers. Rookies Blaque Jaque,Madcap and Esther Gin & Juice all made their first appearances with the Bombers travelling All Star A-squad. It was the final bout for last seasons Rookie of the Year and defensive mainstay Splatsy Kline. Kline was named co-captain for her last bout and I gave her a memorial introduction thanking her for all she has done for the league, the team and for being a friend. The Bombers made sure it was a bout to remember for her. Both teams traded the lead and kept it close. At the halfway mark in the first half, the score was 22-20 in favor of the Bombers. After that, the Bradentucky offense took over with Yakuza Girl, Signal 20, Mofo On Wheels, Gigi Ramoan and Esther Gin & Juice taking turns with high scoring jams. The defense, led by Busty Bruiser, Julia Sieze Her, Heartbreaker Hylton, Mission Mary Position and Splatsy Kline kept the speedy Fort Myers team in check. All tolled, the Bombers left Fort Myers with a decisive 95-74 victory. Signal 20 (who was my announcing partner last week) was named best jammer for the Bombers while Jamsterella took that honor for Fort Myers. Busty Bruiser won the hardware as Bradentucky’s top blocker with Flying Da Brie taking the award for the Palm City Punishers. There will be a rematch of these two teams on July 19th at Florida Wheels in Bradenton. It will be the final bout of the season for the Bradentucky Bombers.
Thanks to Bombshell Sinda Roller for all of the photos from this weekends bout!