It seriously felt like October at Tropicana Field and not just because the AC is set at the same temperature… I am one of a small minority who loves the Rays home field, but having been to a dozen or so Opening Days there, I don’t think it has felt this intense and exciting on the first day of the season.
I arrived just in time for Evan Longoria’s third inning solo homerun, but for the most part the bats from both teams had cooled off and the score had settled down to 6-5 in favor of the Yankees once I got there.
That stated, we will fast forward past the boring parts and get to the good stuff.
Here is the scene, it’s the bottom of the ninth inning, the Rays are down 6 – 5 and the Yankees bring in the greatest closer of all time, Mariano Rivera in search of his career 604th save…There are 35,000 fans in blue on their feet and holding their breath hoping the miracle Rays can make magic again. Tall order though, Rivera is 60 out of 61 in his career against the Rays… It should have been a foregone conclusion that Rivera would shut them down like he had done so many times before…
Desmond Jennings led off the inning against #42 with a base hit – he was 2-4 with a walk and 2 runs scored as the Rays’ leadoff man… Ben Zobrist followed him. Zorilla had a horrible day at the plate with an O-for with 3 strikeouts at that point. He drilled a triple into left field which plated Jennings to tie the game. This was the Rays first scoring since Longoria’s homerun in the third inning. Longo was up next and Rivera walked the slugger intentionally. Not a bad idea as Longoria was 3-3 with a solo homerun and 2 runs scored in the game.
I am going to go ahead and say on record that Longoria WILL be the 2012 AL MVP. Back to the game… Luke Scott followed and was also intentionally walked to load the bases with no outs.
Sean Rodriguez was up next…
My FAVORITE Ray had been perfect on the day with a hit, 2 walks and a sacrifice till that point. The Yankees gift wrapped the ideal hero opportunity for the young infielder with the bases packed; score tied in the bottom of the ninth. Rivera’s cutter was too much and S-Rod went down swinging against the closer.
This brought up the Rays first baseman Carlos Pena. In his first game since re-signing with the Rays this offseason Pena was 1-3 with a first inning grand slam, the 8th of his career. That was the Rays LONE hit with runners in scoring position tonight.
Pena was an offensive leader for the Rays from 2007 till 2010. He spent last season in Chicago with the Cubs before returning to Tampa Bay where he became an offensive star. A former first round pick, Pena had 27 homers for the Tigers in 2004, but in 2006 he spent most of the year in the minors and had just one homerun all season. The following year, his first in Tampa Bay, Pena blasted 46 homeruns and won the AL Comeback Player of the Year. Over the last 5 seasons he has slugged 172 homers, an average of 34 per year. Along the way he has won a Silver Slugger, a Gold Glove, an All Star selection, a World Series appearance and a homerun title.
Now he is back in Tampa Bay in search of the final piece – that World Series ring!
Now he is back in Tampa Bay in search of the final piece – that World Series ring!The Rays are on top of the AL East and there is no reason to look back… Welcome back ‘Los!!!
If you are wondering, the Trop was ELECTRIC in the 9th; it truly felt like playoff baseball in April!
If you are also wondering about the pitching – what the Rays are known for, well… Shields pitched like he looks on this card. Sloppy and uncomfortable.
He did not his big game stuff and was lucky to get through 5 innings. He allowed 6 earned runs on 9 hits, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. He was sloppy and the Yanks were hitting the ball hard. Shields did work out of jams. It seemed like the Yankees ended every inning with the bases loaded… I think the final number was 12 runners left on base for New York. I didn’t think that Shields was going to get out of the second inning, but he stuck it out. It was nice to see that Shields could battle for 5 innings when he clearly had nothing…
The pen was very nice though… Six pitchers combined to throw 4 innings of no hit, no run baseball.
My favorite pitcher, Wade Davis made his FIRST EVER professional relief appearance. He worked one inning, following JP Howell.
Another fav of mine, Jake McGee pitched a perfect full inning as well.
It wasn’t pretty, but it was VERY EXCITING!!!!
I need to be at work at 4 AM and I am still shaking with excitement… Its gonna be a LOOONNNGGG day.
Thanks for reading! Go Rays! Troll out.
I was going to wait until I had the set finished, but I want to get these posted before they win the 2010 Pennant! I still need a couple players to finish this. The list is getting smaller, but I do still need Gabe Gross, JP Howell, Cliff Floyd and Erik Hinske. 
I thought I would start with Carlos Pena. I own several autographs of his, but this is the first one in a Rays uniform. I suppose this will be post 1 of 25. The card is a 2008 Topps Moments and Milestones, card #MA-CP celebrating Pena's winning of the AL Comeback Player of the Year Award. Go Rays! troll out.
Anyway, out of 14 seasons that the Rays have appeared in Topps sets I have completed the entire base set of 9 years. The Traded or Updates and Highlights series are what is killing me. 2004 and 2009 are the only years that I have finished those off. All in all I need 41 cards to complete all of the Topps sets to date. That means I am about 90% of the way there. If anyone needs 6 team sets from 2002 (not including traded) I am your man. Anyway, you can find my fancy new list with scans from every year from '97 till 2006 right 
The package came with an awesome drawing of a snowman made of baseballs which I didn't scan yet. Use your imagination-it is rad! Anyway, that was the best part, but she included some great cards too. This one doesn't factor into the wantlist theme, but I love this Carlos Pena insert from 2008 Upper Deck X. 
I have been going crazy exponentiating logarithms in school, so this X Ponential card made me smile. Now onto the wantlist crushing cards. 
This 2006 UandH card of Big Game James Shields has eluded me forever but now I can cross UH147 off of my list. This 2007 Updates card of JP Howell made it onto my Most Wanted list, but now its all mine! 
Card #UH297 of the Rays reliever. The last card I will show from her package comes from 2009 Topps Updates. I finished this series off a while back, but I don't think I ever posted this card and I really like it. It's Carlos Pena from the All Star Home Run Derby. 
CP didn't fare too well in the derby, but ya gotta love his swing and the fact that he paced the American League in homers even though he missed the last month (nearly) of the season. The next couple of cards came from Grand Cards. He sent a note saying he hoped that I could use some of the cards and that hopefully they weren't all dupes. Little did he know the HORRIBLE luck I have had with 2007 Updates. I ripped 2 hobby boxes of this back in 2007 and also bought a few blasters, plus folks have been sending me Rays cards by the pound for the last year. All that and I still had hardly any cards from this series. Now I am down to needing just one more to finish it off. Card #UH4 of Josh Wilson is the last card I need. Funny thing is that I have 3 copies of that card in Gold plus several with the red back but I don't have a single copy of his regular base. Some of the goodies from 
#UH171 of Andy Sonnanstine and #UH324 of Dan Wheeler. 
I have autographed copies of both of these cards, plus like Josh Wilson I have the GOLD and red backed versions, but now I finally have regular old unsigned base cards for the team set binder. The last card he sent (thats a lie-he sent about 30 cards) from '07 UH is this card of my favorite left-handed hitting first baseman Carlos Pena. Card #UH91 has been on my Most Wanted List for a while. 
I had just got a copy before my infamous robbery and the Pena card was in the box. This baby is safe in my binder now! Another card he sent that I have been coveting for a long time now is this Wal Mart trading card history insert of Akinori Iwamura. 
If Aki is still a Pirate next spring this one will be on top of the pile of cards that I try and get signed. I love it!!! One last set of cards to show comes from legendary reader Largo Frank. Frank has been hooking me up with great packages of Rays cards on a monthly basis. 
He sent me a stack for my Jared Sandberg and Joe Kennedy collections and fortunately he sent multiple copies because this 1997 rookie card of JS was the final one I needed for the 1997 team set and this card from 1998 brings me to within one card of finishing off 1998 Topps. 
He also sent the Chrome version of the '98 which is one of the final cards I needed for that set. Next on my list of things to do is making wantlists Topps Chrome, Bowman and Upper Deck. Someday. 
Unrelated to this post, but super rad anyway... He also included 3 certified Rays autographs. 
One of the Devil Rays first ever draft pick, the super flop Paul Wilder and 2 that were pretty awesome! 
My second Jared Sandberg certified autograph from 1999 Bowman and my first ever Joe Kennedy autograph!!! Thanks so much Frank!!! 
Thanks to McCann Can Triple and Grand Cards, too! All you guys and gal rock!!! Once again my new and improved 
Now, just like that I am done to needing just 38 cards. The 2007 set is DONE and the 2008 set is DONE. F-ing SWEET! Thanks so much to Jacob Mrley!!! I can't wait to post everything else from this amazing package! $1300.00 for a roll of tape isn't cool, but trust me-this package is the stuff. Thanks again for reading and following my quest for team set domination. 
I have posted several editions of Blogger Kindness and I have MANY more to show off, but getting a package from a complete stranger sent IMMEDIATELY after reading of my experience really blew me away. Damn work for taking up all my time and keeping me from posting this! That said, I do need to get ready to go back, so let’s get back to the business of showing off some of the highlights of this package that included Negro Leaguers, HOFers, autographs, relics, Clementes and a whole ton of Pirates and Rays. He included quite a few David Price cards that I needed, but I am going to show this one because this is the only one I have ever seen like this. It comes from 2009 Topps, but isn’t the standard pose from the set. 
The card is number JCP2. 
If Google is correct, the JCP stands for either the Journal of Computational Physics or JC Penney. Anyone know anything about these? Moving on to a serial numbered rookie card of my favorite shortstop Jason Bartlett. 
This is card #62 from 2004 Fleer Draft Edition, serial numbered 0514/1000. He sent me a few Topps Chrome refractors which are always welcome here, including a 2008 BJ Upton and a 2009 Matt Garza. 
He also sent the most amazing refractor I have ever seen… From 2008 Bowman, card #171 of 2009 Home Run King Carlos Pena. 
As much as I love refractors I am not too knowledgeable about the different varieties. I thought this was an X Fractor, but since then I have gathered quite a few of those and none compare to this one. Is this a SUPER FRACTOR? It is serial numbered 216/250 and shiny as all hell! The pile of Rays he sent was never ending and it seemed that I needed all of them, but I won’t every card. I have trimmed it down to just 3 more beginning with an old school Wade Boggs from 1999 Topps Stadium Club. 
I picked this one because as many cards as I have of Boggs as a D-Ray (100+) this might be the only card that shows him running. Next up is a SWEET new RED Turkey Red that I have been coveting for a while. 
This is from 2005 (I think, my eyes are failing me), card #152 of All Star Carl Crawford. AWESOME! The last card to show off comes 2008 Topps Series 2, card #TR-SK, a jersey relic of the Rays former Ace Scott Kazmir. 
I am pretty sure with this one I have every Rays card from this subset. I love being an obsessive team collector!
It celebrates Clemente’s second WS win in 1971 where he batted .414 and took home WS MVP honors.
It comes from the 2002 SPx Winning Materials Combo Jersey set and features Kendall and Brian Giles, each with a different color jersey swatch. It is AWESOME! I dug out some old Kendall cards I had and filled 2 pages in my PC binder. Ah, memories! From the past to the present, here is a pair of Ticket to Topps Town cards of future star Andrew McCutchen. 
I REALLY like the photo on the GOLD version, great angle, bad crop, but still great. I am starting to think about chasing TTT Gold now, too. I have 6 cards so far… We went from the past to the present, now here is a great relic of the future. From the 2008 Topps Heritage Clubhouse Collection, here is a black jersey swatch of outfielder slash first baseman Steve Pearce. 
The Pirates have a lot of weak spots on their roster, but they have a ton of depth at first base and right field and Garrett Jones IS the real deal. That leaves Pearce behind for now, but I think this guy has a shot… Shifting back to the past, these 2 were my favorites from the package. These cards wowed me so much that I thought about chasing both of these guys and YES I got these before the poll where you guys voted for Bill Madlock (in a tie) as the next play I collect… This is my first relic of Mad Dog and my only one so far… It comes from 2006 Fleer, the Decade Greats set, card # DEC-BI. 
I really like the design of this card, the batting pose from the former batting champion and little piece of his bat in the corner. I still haven’t decided how to break the 3-way tie between Madlock, Larry Doby and Bill Mazeroski. I don’t see a problem in collecting all of them a little bit-they are 3 of my All Time favs… I thought it was awesome that Cameron was so clairvoyant with this one. I have been typing for over 2 hours and I really need to go to work, so I am going to close up this super post of a super package from a super kind blogger… This is a great Pirates card to close it on, it comes from a set that I didn’t even know about until recently, but have recently become obsessed. I love Hall of Fame autographs, but I get tired of seeing the same players in every set. That makes these sets super awesome because of the variety. This is a chrome version of a 2004 style Topps card of one of the best relievers the National League has ever seen. 
I am rushing and not too great with words right now, so just enjoy this super great, uncirculated awesome certified, on card auto of Elroy Face!!! 
I LOVE this card. I like vintage players on modern designs; it’s like a reverse Heritage type thing. Anyway, this card is easily one of my favorites. This was my first Face card (a KING!) and later that week Chris from Project '62 sent me a few vintage Topps cards of him. Those are two great reasons to start collecting a guy that I was already a huge fan of. More cards that he included from a set that I didn’t know existed are these amazing 2001 Fleer Greats of the Game cards. 
He sent a stack of former stars from the Negro Leagues. Among the group were this card of one of my favorite people in the world, former Kansas City Monarchs player and manager Buck O’Neil. 
This last card inspired me too, stay tuned for some Buck O’Neil obsessiveness!!! In the awesome letter that Cameron sent with these awesome cards he suggested that we could talk some smack during the season, Reds vs. the Pirates. It’s hard for me to talk bad about the Reds since my favorite player Jonny Gomes plays for them, but… 
