Night Owl Cards

Last night after dinner I was organizing some cards for packages that will go out next week. In the process of stacking and crossing things off the spreadsheet, I realized I hadn't enjoyed a post-dinner treat. So I grabbed a small bit of chocolate and a napkin and went back to the cards. Soon afterward, I noticed with disgust that I had gotten a small smudge of chocolate on the above Bowman Stephen Strasburg card. This has happened more times than you would think or that I would care to admit, but it was the inspiration for a poll I posted on Twitter. I wondered: How often do you get food on your cards? It doesn't happen a heck of a lot for me. Probably under a dozen times since I've started this blog. But it does happen, and I figured it had to happen for others. The Twitter polls are posted for a day and this particular one got some decent play because Beckett Media retweeted it. The final results are in and here they are: Yeah, I'm a slob. The...

Tonight, 19-year-old Julio Urias is making another start for the Dodgers. I really have no expectations on how he will do. He could pitch two innings and give up 6 runs, he could pitch six innings of no-hit ball. It's all possible for someone that age and with that kind of potential (well, not ALL possible, because they'll never let him pitch a full nine). But you get the feeling that not everyone thinks like that. There are always expectations with players like this. If Urias lasts three innings, as he did against the Mets, no one will come right out and say, "well he's a bust," but it is implied in so many ways. You see it from the usual dopey fan message boards and Twitter and sports-talk radio, the usual knee-jerk reaction outlets. But it's also implied in accounts of the game from writers who are supposed to know better. Managers and coaches respect the process. And they'll tell you that. But we don't believe them. We want to WIN and we wa...