What you see before you, the bloated reality of Ned Colletti's dream of a more powerful Dodger lineup, is the last Dodger I needed to complete the team set for this year's Topps Series I.The card came to me along with a number of other Series I needs from Steve of a Baseball State of Mind. Steve has proven to be a great trading partner several times now. But for Andruw Jones, this is a first. He finally made himself useful wearing a Dodger uniform.
Jones is now hitting .340 as a role player for the Rangers. I guess someone finally woke him up. Star power hitters who didn't come up in the Dodgers' system just don't seem to fair well in L.A. Manny was on his way to breaking that trend before dabbling in fertility drugs. And before that there was Darryl Strawberry and Eric Davis. I guess you could make a case for Gary Sheffield adapting well to L.A. Eddie Murray was a force, briefly. And Shawn Green, although he wasn't known as a power hitter until coming to the Dodgers. Mostly it's been home-grown power hitters who have been able to remain successful over a long period of time with the Dodgers.
Anyway, Steve sent me 26 cards I needed for the set. That leaves me with just 10 more to complete Series I and those should be coming next week in another trade. The timing is perfect as Series II is due out May 27. But I don't expect it to arrive at my outpost until at least mid-June as that's when I usually see it.
I'm going to list all of Steve's cards in random order. For the randomization process, I used random.owl. That means I shuffled the cards. No fancy computer program for me. Got to keep the fingers limber. I type for a living, you know.
Onward:
# 6 - Raul Ibanez, Mariners. Now with the Phillies. I kept hearing all offseason what a lousy acquisition this was for the Phillies. But he hit another home run today. He has nine. He's hitting .339. Fans are singing "Raaaauuuuul" when he comes up. Offseason prognosticators drive me a little batty. It's so much psychobabble most of the time.#47 - Jose Valverde, Astros
#62 - Brian Barton, Cardinals
#120 - Mark Teixeira, Angels. Ugh. The face on him. It should be a "worst card of 2009" candidate. But we can't hold his face against him can we? We can hold his decision to play for the Yankees against him though.
#247 - Yuniesky Betancourt, Mariners
# 297 - Bud Black, Padres. I remember when Black was named manager. The choice instantly seemed odd, and that's because of how few former pitchers end up as managers. Off the top of my head I can think of: Tommy Lasorda, Bob Lemon, Christy Matthewson, Joe Kerrigan and George Bamberger. I know there are a bunch more, but it doesn't happen often.#227 - Freddy Sandoval, Angels
#136 - Tim Hudson, Braves
#56 - Edwin Encarnacion, Reds
#92 - Luis Castillo, Mets#255 - Joe Crede, White Sox
I'm not great at offseason predictions either. Both Castillo and Crede were up for grabs in the offseason. I didn't want Castillo but wanted Crede (before the Dodgers signed Casey Blake, that is). But Castillo is hitting over .300 with an OBP over .400, and Crede's batting .230 with the Twins.
#199 - Ramon Castro, Mets
#166 - Jeff Baker, Rockies
#97 - Willie Harris, Nationals
#86 - Kila Ka'aihue, Royals. I have been told at least a dozen times how to pronounce this player's name. One of these days it will stick in my thick head.#216 - Joe Maddon, Rays
#226 - Neal Cotts, Cubs
#18 - George Sherrill, Orioles
#46 - Brad Ziegler, A's
#98 - Akinori Iwamura. Just a great card.#113 - Chris Young, Padres
#264 - Dave Bush, Brewers
#34 - Brandon Inge, Tigers
#291 - Chris Coste, Phillies
#278 - Phillies Win! I have seen this card so many times on the blogs that I thought I had it already. Nope.This card also reminds me that I have a Phungo 5 to answer. I love being interviewed! I'm always the one asking the questions. Time to provide some answers instead.
Thanks, Steve. I'll be sending some cards South Carolina way sometime soon.
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