six of nine from 2 x 3 by pwe

i was the lucky recipient of another plain white envelope from jeff at 2x3 heroes a week and a half ago.  it was a happy coincidence, as it landed in my mailbox the same day that i sent a couple of pwe's and 12 packages out into bloggerland.  one of the packages was sent jeff's way, but i think i need to get another together soon.  here are six of the nine cards that jeff managed to send my way in a standard number 10.

2014 topps chrome zack greinke gold parallel

greinke's got to be the nl starter for the all-star game, right?  and, he's got to exercise his opt-out clause with the poor run support that the dodgers are giving him, right?  i hope i'm wrong about that last one.

2015 topps adrian gonzalez career high relic

at first glance, i thought this card was all about gonzalez's career best postseason ops, so i took a quick look, and gonzalez did, in fact, have a 1.091 ops in the 2013 nlcs, but his 0.833 ops in the nlds that year would bring his total postseason ops down into the .900s. however, topps does a good job on the back letting me know that they are only referring to the 2013 nlcs with this card - hence the "postseason series" text that i overlooked when i first saw this card.  as a matter of record, in his other postseason appearances, gonzalez posted an ops of .828 with the padres in 2006 and a paltry .610 with the dodgers last year.

2015 topps sandy koufax stepping up insert

and johnny podres stepping up insert

now, i would imagine that 'stepping up' usually refers to a batter.  in fact, the phrase 'step up to the plate' has infiltrated everyday lingo, and the cards feature home plate in the background.  so, why feature two pitchers on these stepping up inserts?  i guess "toeing the rubber" doesn't quite have the same sound.  topps does let us know on the backs that they consider koufax to have 'stepped up' in his second big league start back in 1955 when he threw a two-hitter, and podres, of course, 'stepped up' to shutout the yankees in game 7 of the world series that year.  it's nice to see podres continue to get some topps love, but maybe they could throw some attention to don newcombe or carl erskine or even carl furillo once in awhile.

2015 topps yasiel puig heart of the order insert

topps acknowledges on the back of the card that puig has typically hit in the number 2 spot.

there was one non-dodger card in the bunch, and it was this 2015 bowman michael taylor card

featuring a tatooine shot.

thanks as always, jeff.  hope you enjoyed the stuff i sent your way!

play at the pwe

like some others, i have recently been the recipient of a plain white envelope containing several baseball cards for my collection from brian at play at the plate.  included in that envelope were some 2015 bowman cards which are a first for me

zack greinke

pitching like an ace in what is essentially a contract year, since he has an opt-out clause after this season

yimi garcia

currently striking out batters at a 15 per 9-inning pace

alex verdugo

the dodgers' 2nd round pick in 2014 is currently playing for the great lakes loons of the midwest league, hoping to add to the outfield glut in a few years.

the other cards in the envelope were from 2015 topps heritage, including a jimmy rollins card

j-roll is in a contract year, and at his current pace, i am not sure he stays with the dodgers past this season.  other shortstop options might include kike hernandez, justin turner, darwin barney (both turner and barney are arbitration eligible after this season), but the real deal is corey seager, currently hitting .324 since his promotion to triple-a oklahoma city.

there were also a now ex-dodger juan uribe card

and a carlos frias rookie card

the dodgers obviously have a need for frias to step up and fill one of the rotation spots, but he was shellacked by the padres the other night.

thanks for the cards brian!

the hunt for tom clancy's oriole memorial

best-selling novelist tom clancy, who once made some moves towards purchasing the minnesota vikings, realized his goal of professional sports ownership as an investor in the baltimore orioles.  after clancy passed away on october 1, 2013, the orioles decided to add a memorial to their jerseys for the 2014 season. rather than a black armband (as they had done for jim mckay, another investor), the team went with a patch on the right sleeve bearing the name 'tom clancy'.

the patch shows up on some 2015 topps cards that i have seen, such as this alejandro de aza card

but right now i have this 2014 topps update adam jones power players card

and this 2014 topps stadium club chris davis card

in my memorials binder.  these cards represent the away and home versions of the patch, which would be black text on gray and black text on white.  there are two other versions of the patch that have also found their way onto cardboard at some point.  there is the orange text on black worn on their black alternate jerseys, as seen on kevin gausman's 2015 topps stadium club card

and black on orange worn on their orange alternate jerseys, represented by chris davis' 2015 bowman card.

i'm glad to have cardboard examples of all four.

clancy was best known for his series of novels involving cia operative jack ryan, including 'the hunt for red october', 'patriot games', clear and present danger', and 'the sum of all fears', each of which were made into major motion pictures.  clancy was 66 years old at the time of his death.