mr. (night) owl, how many packages do you have to send to gcrl before he writes a post?

let's find out.

one:

1980 kellogg's davey lopes
if only that mustache really were in 3-d.

1986 topps glossy send in fernando valenzuela this set reminds me of a tcma issue. but in color.

2009 upper deck spectrum matt kemp (the heretofore unbeknownst to me blue variation) the question is, why?

2006 bowman heritage wilson betemit

interesting that we had, at one time, both furcal and betemit at the same time. just like the braves did.

2006 upper deck sp authentic julio lugo thankfully, lugo was a short-timer. unfortunately, ned traded for him in the first place.

2006 fleer greats of the game dusty bakeras seen on night owl's blog recently!

2009 upper deck spx clayton kershaw here's hoping the 2009 postseason is really his month long coming out party.

2008 upper deck timeline james loney sp perhaps my favorite first baseman since popeye himself.

ta-whooooo:

1985 fleer frank dipinoa very nice card with the right field pavilion and it's color palette complementing the astros uniform.

2002 upper deck kaz ishiinow we have the left field pavilion with diamond vision, a carl's jr ad, and half of tommy lasorda's outfield fence mural. plus the overhyped ishii in street clothes. ishii, because of the hype, was the dodger that got all the short prints which sucks when trying to complete my 2003 upper deck vintage set, among others.

2009 upper deck a piece of history james mcdonaldmcdonald hasn't made or seen much history yet.

2009 upper deck clayton kershaw 20th anniversary

another kershaw. this one from a subset within an insert set. i don't understand upper deck sometimes.

2009 topps target throwback chan ho park

did topps do this for series 2? did anyone care?

2009 topps attax vladimir guerrero

shiny must mean parallel. again, why?

three:

2009 topps finest russell martin

a disappointing season hopefully means fantastic postseason. or at least a bargain in next year's fantasy draft.

2009 topps jackie robinson turkey red insert

now that's a nice card!

2009 bowman manny ramirez

sans umpire. very very bad.

2008 upper deck goudey pee wee reese

i wonder what ken griffey jr does say about pee wee? any guesses?

2008 topps chin-lung hu trading card history

a glossy version of the 1959 set. as opposed to the more traditional versions in the 2008 heritage set. speaking of which,

2008 topps heritage vladimir guerrero chrome looks like it's snowing in anaheim

1997 pinnacle zenith wilton guerrero

i wish wilton had been more like vlad.

1993 score select rick trlicek

a pitcher with a hockey name. he actually debuted with the blue jays in 1992. recorded his only career save and hit (off of tom glavine) in his one season as a dodger.

so, the answer is three. each package filled with dodger and set building goodness, which is even better than the tootsie roll center of a tootsie pop.

thanks greg. i'll get another package out to you soon.

i am joe (mauer) collector

while it is true, i do collect post-2000 twins and especially the new m&m boys, i still prefer dodgers, so it is too bad for me that motherscratcher has laid claim to the boys in blue in i am joe collector's monthly box breaks. that leaves me with the twins, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

here are some of the cards i received from the july break - 2009 ud spx and 2009 topps series 2.

spx joe mauer. much like finest, spx hasn't been seen in the stores and speakeasys i frequent. so, it's nice to get a mauer (and a morneau) this way.

toppstown joe mauer (bronze)

it is bronze, right?

toppstown joe mauer blue.

these cards remind me of mystery science theater 3000 with the silhouetted crowd. that would make mauer the star of a b-movie, 'revenge of the tall catchers that are too good of a hitter to spend their entire career behind the plate.'

here's the other 'm' - justin morneau on his spx.

believe it or not, i think morneau has passed russell martin on my list of favorite current canadian players.

turkey red justin morneau.

when i try to swing like morneau, with that one-handed loop he makes with the bat up over his head, it feels like my shoulder is doing things that it shouldn't.

carlos gomez black border parallel.

go go has two base cards this year - one in series one and one in series two. i don't know why.

career best auto carlos gomez. this is actually nicer than his ip auto, even if i don't know what the first character is. the second one is most likely a 'g' but even then i am not completely sure.

thanks for hosting the breaks, jeff, and motherscratcher, if you're reading, it wouldn't bother me if you missed a month (or several).