Braves' Post Season Dreams Crushed

The Braves' post season dreams ended in dramatic fashion today. A few days ago many Braves fans, including myself, were feeling great about our chances in the NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals. Well all of that fell apart tonight in a way I don't believe many people ever saw coming.

Game 5, winner takes all. The Braves rolled out Mike Foltynewciz, winner of game 2. I was nervous with Folty pitching on short rest...especially after the way Kuechel pitched in game 4. I was finishing up work and rushing home to catch the first pitch. While I sat at the stop light on the off exit ramp I saw a notification on my phone that the score was now 0-1. Then 0-2 before I got home. Ouch. As much as I love Folty, I knew this wasn't good. By the time I walked in my front door, only minutes after the game, the score was 0-4. I sat down hoping they could put out the fire, but it was just too much for Folty. Manager Brian Snitker pulled Folty after 2/3rd inning and brought in 17 game winner Max Fried. Max walked the pitcher with the bases loaded. By the time the Braves finally made 3 outs the score was 0-10. This set a MLB Playoffs record...unfortunately the Braves were on the other side of that.

Now fans are asking what happened? The expectations were high. Yeah there were some naysayers in the media that were picking the Cardinals, but most had picked the Braves to reach the NLCS. So what did happen? Or shall I ask what didn't happen? The Braves were 5 for 39 with runners in scoring position. That's what happened.

Braves should have won this series. They should have won game 4. They had so many chances to score and couldn't. The Cardinals consistently was able to get a runner on base and then advance them. They played A-B-C baseball. The Braves couldn't. It's as simple as that.

The Braves were heavily scrutinized in the national media all throughout this series. From questioning Brian Snitker's managerial decisions, to Acuna's lack of hustle, plenty of people had their opinions about why this team fell apart in the post season. While I am pissed over what has transpired today, I have to give the Cardinals credit. They played hard. They never gave up. A lot like the Braves all season, they kept fighting until the very end.

The Braves locked up the NL East early and after winning they took care of the SF Giants in the following two games. Then more injuries claimed even more players on the already banged up roster. Snitker was put in a tough position. He needed to rest players like Acuna and Freeman, all while trying to figure out who would be on the Post Season roster. He played around with the line up, moving people around on the field trying to figure out what to do. As a result, the Braves basically limped into the Playoffs. This immediately had me concerned.

The Cardinals on the other hand had to play their best baseball to stave off the Cubs and the Brewers, only to win the division on the last day of the regular season. They were hungry. They were already running on adrenaline. The Braves were running on Icy Hot.

I don't care what Freddie says, his elbow was hurting him and effected his swing. I love Freddie. I love how he plays the game. I love how he puts this team on his shoulders night in and night out. In the post game interview tonight he squarely put the blame on him for not showing up. He was adamant that his elbow wasn't bothering him. Freddie isn't the type of guy to make excuses and I respect him for that. His lack of offense surely didn't help, but he wasn't the only one to "disappear".

As I type this post I'm watching the post game show on Fox Sports South and Brian McCann just announced his retirement. Dang. We all knew it was coming. He signed a one year deal. This was his 15th MLB season. McCann may not have provided a lot of offense during this series, however he was invaluable behind the plate.

With McCann's departure it opens the question of who else will be parting ways during the off season? There were several players on one year deals this year. Names like Josh Donaldson, Nick Markakis and Dallas Kuechel. I expect the team to look different next year. I don't know if Liberty Media, owners of the Braves will open their wallet to re-sign some of these guys. Both Donaldson and Kuechel have gone on record saying they want to come back, but this remains to be seen.

As much as this stings and will take some time to get over, I think this team is going to be hanging around for awhile. There is still an awful lot of young talent in the pipeline that we'll be seeing. The young players on the team will only get better. They'll learn from this experience...everyone will. The Braves will be back in 2020. After all, literally no one in the media picked the Braves to even win the division.

This sucks. To go out like this, a 13-1 clubbing is not the ideal way to exit the season. It's going to take a lot of time for me to get over this...but I'm a Braves fan through and through. I'm proud of what this team was able to accomplish this year. With every team there will be peaks and valleys and today the Braves just happened to fall off the peak and into a deep valley.

All season long different players stepped up and provided some memorable moments for the team. This was the first season in quite a while where I didn't want to miss a regular season game. The team was just too exciting not to watch. All the young talent, both on the mound and in the dugout. The gnarly veterans that were brought in to help with the young kids. The late season roster moves to bring in bullpen help and speed on the base paths. It was a great season. Thanks to the Topps Now program, at least I have a lot of great cards to remember these moments. Names like Adam Duvall, Matt Joyce, Billy Hamilton...players that don't often receive baseball cards. Fun times...well until tonight that is.

So, where to now? At least for me I get to turn more of my attention to my Carolina Panthers in the NFL. The new NBA season is just around the corner too. While my Charlotte Hornets aren't expected to do much, I'm excited about some of the changes made and will follow them through out their season. On the hobby front, I've got lots and lots of junk wax boxes that are waiting to be ripped. I'll be building most if not all of these sets so stay tuned for some box break posts and other stuff.

In closing, thank you Braves for a great year of baseball. I know it didn't work out the way that any of us wanted, but we have to deal with the cards we were dealt (no pun intended) and now we turn our focus to the off season and making preparations on coming back even stronger a few months from now when spring training gets underway.

#ChopOn

SunTrust Park Visit, 06/01/18

Well, as you can see from the date I'm about 6 months late getting around to posting this...but better late than never, right? Living in the upstate of SC I don't get to take in as many Atlanta Braves games in person as I'd like, but last June for my wife's birthday we made the trip down to the ATL for the weekend to catch a Braves vs. Nationals game.

My wife isn't the biggest sports fan. I can hardly get her to watch anything with me on TV, however she's more interested in watching the games in person. The drive is about 5-6 hours, which isn't too bad, but it's a boring drive down I-85. None the less we sat our early that morning to make our way to SunTrust Park.

We should've stopped and grabbed dinner before hand, but I was anxious to get back to the ballpark so we decided we'd just eat at the game. There are plenty of good food options to choose from. We chose Fox Brother's BBQ at the Terrapin Taproom. The line to get a table was pretty long, even though we were there early. Beforehand I didn't know they offered a "buffet" on the 2nd floor, but when we learned there was little to no wait to went on up. The buffet wasn't a traditional buffet, only allowing one trip through the line. The servers were pretty generous in the servings. I went w/ mac & choose and BBQ baked beans and everything was delicious.

 

After we finished our dinner we walked around a little bit before we headed to find our seats. First row in left center field, right over the Braves bullpen! We got a great deal on the tickets and personally, I loved the view. Since my last visit to SunTrust Park there was a new plaque hanging in the Braves Hall of Fame of my guy "Huddy" so of course I had to snap a pic.

When we first took our seats there wasn't much going on in the bullpen as you can see, but it wasn't long before Mike Foltynewicz took to warming up for that nights game. Folty would go on to pitch a complete game shut out against the Nats that night. It was so awesome watching him work his magic that evening, especially striking out Bryce Harper a few times. All those boos turned to cheers with each strikeout...it was great!

The fireworks continued to go off as we exited the stadium. I tried to get a picture or two of the fireworks, but alas the large crowd funneling out of SunTrust didn't allow me much time to grab a picture.

It was a quick was visit to Atlanta as we headed back home in the morning, but I savor every opportunity that I get to catch a MLB game. I'm so jealous of the people that get to go to more games more often, however I'm thankful that I get to (usually) take a game or two in each season.

But what would a post be on a baseball card blog if I didn't tie it back into cards in someway? Well shortly after the game I started to check Topps Now as I just knew that Folty's mound performance should warrant a Topps Now card and for once Topps didn't let me down! I placed the order and proceeded to tell my wife that she had Birthday card from Topps. It was one of the few times where she legitimately seemed interested in baseball cards.

Nachos Grande 2018 Topps Heritage Group Break Results

Chris from Nachos Grande has thrown his hat recently into the ring of hosting group breaks. I grabbed the Braves in his recent 2018 Heritage break. I don't usually buy much if any of Heritage, so I figured this would be a good way to get the Braves cards I wanted without having a lot of cards I didn't want.

I feel as if I did pretty good, getting multiples of every non-SP Brave in the set. I did manage to get one SP, Nick Markakis.

The Detroit Tigers ended up being my second team that was randomized to me. I only got 3 cards, but it appears all 3 are SPs. I'm keeping the McCann for my Faith Brothers collection, but the other two will be available for trade.

While Chris was waiting to break the actual boxes of Heritage, he opened a few bonus packs. Nothing too exciting, but I love the junk wax era and even though I may already have these older Braves cards in my collection I'll still gladly take them.

Thanks Chris for hosting the break and getting the cards out to me so quickly!

2017 Atlanta Braves - The Year in Review (and what's next)

To say the 2017 season for the Atlanta Braves was a disappointment would be an understatement. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe most fans were expecting to win the World Series or anything, but I think most of us thought the season would go a little better than it did.

You can sum up many of the Braves problems this year with one word...pitching. I still don't believe the team has a solid ace on it's staff. It was supposed to Julio Teheran, but he struggled all year...especially at home in SunTrust Park.

Mike Foltynewicz showed some growth and promise at times during the season, but ultimately still was plagued with location trouble. I still think he will play an important role in the upcoming seasons and I'm personally not quite ready to write him off.

The other issue with pitching came in the form of the bullpen. Just like it's hard to name a #1 pitcher, the team didn't have a dominant closer. It was supposed to be Jim Johnson, but he blew so many saves and cost the Braves so many wins this year it's not even funny. I'm glad he doesn't get many cards because he's a guy I don't want to look at for awhile. I'm so upset with him...he's on Charlie Liebrandt level right now!

The Bartolo Colon experiement blew up in the Braves face...badly. Prior to the season I was excited about the signing, but it didn't take long for his performance on the mound to suck away that enthusiasm. R.A. Dickey had a pretty good season for the Braves. I really hope they re-sign him and he doesn't head off into retirement yet. He's been pretty vocal that he would like to remain w/ the team for another year. I wouldn't be against him taking a coaching role when he's done either. Class act guy and someone I need more cardboard of in a Braves uniform.

The offense this year had it's peaks and valleys. Not unusual, but it wasn't as consistent as it needed to be. It didn't help of course when the team lost Freddie Freeman early in the season. He was putting up Mike Trout like numbers (actually better than Trout) and would have easily made another All-Star team had it not been for his injury. In July, Freddie joined the 1,000 career hit club

Ender Inciarte was a bright spot in the outfield pretty much all year. I was able to take in two games this year at SunTrust Park and one of those games I sat in the first row in center field, just behind Inciarte. He dazzled fans with both his offensive at the plate, his speed on the base paths and with his glove in the outfield. In the last series of the year Ender also got his 200th career hit.

I wish I could say that the outfielders in the corners were that way, but Matt Kemp struggled to stay healthy and Nick Markakis just weren't able to provide as much offense as fans would have liked to see. Markakis did register his 2,000th career hit however, not an easy feat.

The infield however had plenty of bright spots. Dansy Swanson struggled for part of the season, was sent down to AAA Gwinnett, and came back swinging for the fences. Juan Carmargo, Ozzie Albies and Rio Ruiz also provided some flash in the infield and showed that the Braves future is still bright.

When A.J. Pierzinkski retired I wasn't sure what would happen w/ the catcher department. Tyler Flowers stepped up big and put up some All-Star like numbers. In fact, I think he was snubbed not being named to the NL team this year. Kurt Suzuki also came up huge for the team in his first season w/ the Braves. I was thrilled to hear he re-signed already. I'm still pissed at Topps for screwing up my Topps Now order of his card. I don't have many of his cards in a Braves uniform, but like with a few other players I will need to try and change that during the off season.

Besides the play on the field, much of the talk during the season was whether or not interim manager Brian Snitker would return in 2018 as the skipper of the team. There were many games that I scratched my head over some of his decisions, especially with Jim Johnson. There were other times the team made him look like a genius. It's hard to say what will happen with him. Even more so as of this morning, 10/02/17, General Manager John Coppolella has resigned effective immediately. Apparently there is now an ongoing investigation with John violating some sort of breach of  the international player market. Hmm...

The Braves finished the 2017 season 3rd in the NL East with an overall record of 72-90. Their last game was yesterday against the Miami Marlins and thankfully they broke their 6 game losing streak with a 8-5 win.

Where the team goes in 2018...well your guess is as good as mine. We have a lot of young talent that should get their opportunity next year, but who will be our GM? Will Snitker be allowed to be the skipper for another year? Seveal scouts and coaches have already been let go so the rebuilding continues on.

While I enjoyed most of the games I watched and really enjoyed the new SunTrust Park, I'm kinda glad the season is over...at least for me. I'm not sure how much Playoffs I'll be watching. I'm not sure how many baseball card related posts you'll see between now and the end of the year. I'm not done collecting by any means, but I think it's time I focus at least a little more on the pigskin. Expect to see more Carolina Panthers related posts during football season. Beyond that, who knows that will happen w/ this blog.

Thank you to the Braves for an...interesting 2017 baseball season. Now go and get your front office in order as we have a lot of work to do before spring training next season.

2017 Panini Donruss Diamond Kings Mike Foltynewicz

So far I've resisted buying any 2017 Diamond Kings packs or blasters, even though the Cardboard Conundrum didn't make it easy for me posting all of this sweet cards from his box. Instead I've just stuck to buying select singles, since as my latest purchase...a 99 cent purchase too!

Serially numbered 32/99, this is a beautiful card...even if it is a sticker auto. There is just something about the water color look of the card that I find captivating. Guess I should get off my duff and buy a Braves team set...perhaps that will continue to help me stay away from trying to put together yet another set! The timing of finding this card is pretty good too as Folty has really turned it around in his last few starts. His teammates are finally giving him some much needed run support which seems to calm him down on the mound. This season hasn't gone the way I expected, but at least the 3-5 starters have figured things out. Hopefully Folty can keep up the success and make us keep saying Gattis who?

The Last Baseball Post

The baseball season is over...well at least for my Braves. Even though I'll be tuning in this evening for the one game playoff between the Cubs and Pirates, and possibly watching the Cardinals some...I'm done with baseball for 2015.

What a sad season it was for Braves fans too. I guess I should have known it was going to be a tough year with a lot of players being shipped off during the off season and even the day before the season started (the bullpen misses you Kimbrel!).

From a baseball card perspective by buying dropped off tremendously. Not sure if it's a combination of being burnt out a little, busy work schedule or a combination of both. I only bought 2 hobby boxes all year long. While I did buy a handful of packs here and there of various Topps products, I was only actively going after building two sets, Gypsy Queen and Allen & Ginter. Even that mission has kinda fallen to the wayside.

All is not lost though. I still have a few random packs to share and Football season is upon us my as of this post my Carolina Panthers are 4-0! Going forward I anticipate most of my posts to be football oriented. While I know that means I'll alienate some readers, it's what I'm passionate about right now...well that and toys of course (see my other blog, Random Toy Reviews).

Before I make that transition to the pigskin, here are a few cards that I picked up that I don't think I ever got around to sharing.

I miss hosting group breaks, yet I know I have way too little time now to try to do that again. Also because of my lack of time to blog like I used to, I find myself reading other blogs and getting in on group breaks like in the past. However a month or so ago I jumped on one of those group breaks by bidding on the Braves on eBay. I grabbed my team in a 2015 Topps Chrome half case break. Didn't wind up with anything too exciting, but I'm glad to add these cards of Folty to the collection.

The Donruss Elite cards really do nothing for me, but I ran across this RC of Folty for $.50 shipped so I figured, why not?

This Chrome Refractor came from the aforementioned group break. The GQ Mini Relic was a early cheap score off eBay. Usually I buy a lot of Freddie's cards, but with my dwindling buying and his stint on the DL this season I guess I just lost some of my Freddie mojo.

Ah, Evan Gattis. I usually don't buy a lot of cards of former Braves players, but how could I not pick up this card? I really miss "El Olso Blanco", though AJ Pierzynski made the loss of Evan a little easier to swallow. One of the best things about this card was it's cost, just under $5 shipped!

Long time readers know that Tim Hudson is my guy and I've got a pretty decent collection of his cards. This makes finding non-super premium cards of his hard to find, yet someone I had missed picking up this 2004 Leather & Lumber game used spikes card. 

I think this card of Minor is an Xfractor, but Topps quite putting the parallel name on the back of Chrome cards so I really have no idea. I think I got the auto in a trade with a reader here, but then again I'm so unorganized right now I can't recall if it was a trade or an outright purchase. I do know that the Braves could have used Minor's arm in the lineup this season.

The lone new Simba card is another Refractor from the group break I participated in. Maybe I should have rotated this image horizontal?

Freedie Freeman spent a good bit of time on the DL this season, unusual for him, however that created opportunities for others to step up. Long time AAA Gwinnett player, Joey Terdoslavich, got a chance to show the fans in Atlanta what he is capable of doing. I picked up this nice wooden RC of his from Panini's surprisingly nice set, America's Pastime. 

And finally we're to Alex Wood. My hometown guy who was traded away to the Dodgers earlier this season in a trade that would bring Hector Olivera to Atlanta. I gotta admit, this one hurt. I can see wy the team made the trade, but it doesn't soften the blow any. This is about the time I think I hung it all up. I haven't looked for any new Alex Wood cards. I've only seen him in a Dodgers uniform once. He's a guy I'll probably continue to collect, but man does it suck that he sports the LA blue now.

Well that's about it. I think I have a pack or two of baseball cards I may spotlight on a Pack Break post, or I may see if A Pack To Be Named Later is in need. It wasn't a horrible baseball season for me, but it wasn't the most ideal for me either. However I'm a true Braves fan and I'm not giving up...on the team, on collecting or on the blog. It's just time for me to move the spotlight over to the Carolina Panthers and root them on to their 2nd Super Bowl appearance!

So I may have gone a little crazy w/ 2015 Donruss

In my last post I shared the contents of a retail value pack of 2015 Donruss I picked up from my local Target store. I was enamored by the cards and inserts so much that I sought out what eBay had to offer in the area of Braves singles. Well as you'll see below I may have gone a little crazy with some purchases, but I scored them all for a song if you ask me.

Opening Day always gets me excited, however this year I'd be at the beach camping. I missed the first two Braves games against the fish in Miami, however I stayed glue to my phone trying to get updates on each game...that is when I had a connection!

Of course the wind was taken out of my sail Sunday night when I saw the news that Craig Kimbrel was traded to the San Diego Padres. My expectations for this season were already a little uneasy at best with the shake up new GM, John Hart has made. However I've tried to stay as optimistic as possible and none the less was please to see them Braves take down the Marlins in games 1 and 2.

I got home last night in time to watch the 3rd and final game in the series and wow, what fun it is to be watching baseball again. This just makes new card acquisitions that much more fun. I'll leave you with some images of my new 2015 Donruss pick ups, in the mean time I'm off to learn more about some of these new faces on the Braves that have impressed me early in the season.

Freddie is now the veteran on the team and has a lot of pressure on him as such. For many reasons I've gravitated to collecting more and more of his cards and these two sub-theme cards are great additions.

I always liked the old Production Line serially numbered inserts. Card looks way better in hand than the scan appears. Card has that rainbow "refractor" like look and is serially numbered to his .461 Slugging Percentage, 434/461.

Alex Wood is the other Brave that I've picked up the pace in collecting. I hate I missed his start in game 2 on Tuesday evening, but I'm looking forward to watching this young pitcher continue to grow and mature. I've already picked up the blue version of this beautiful auto so now to keep my eyes open for the red version numbered to /49.

Speaking of the red Signature Series autos, check out this Ron Gant! I'm glad older players were inserted into the checklist of this great looking insert set. Numbered 42/49, this card only set me back $3 believe it or not.

While labeled a member of the Astros, I could pass up this $2 auto of the young ace we picked in the Evan Gattis deal. This is one time where not having the logos on the cards doesn't hurt!

Lastly we have the former Brave, El Oso Blanco aka Evan Gattis. I hated to see this guy exit the club, but I can understand the move. I'm not sure his value would have gotten any higher and Christian Bethancourt was just waiting in the wings to show his stuff. Nice card design and for a change it's nice to get a small swatch of bat over jersey. B.J. Melvin Upton is in the same set, but unless someone sends it to me in a trade I'm not bothering with it.

Maybe I didn't go too crazy, but the initial offerings on eBay were pretty good and not many bidders either. I may have paid $15 total for these? And thanks to eBay Bucks none of that money spent actually came out of my PayPal account!