Locked up

         2 years, 13.3 million                                                                         8 years, 135 million

Hugs for Votes

Congrats Freddie Freeman, 2013 NL All-Star. Hugs for everyone!

Yes, even Dodger fans. Big ol' hug for y'all.

Last night's heroes

Quality Start:

 STFD:

Tying Robbie:

CLINCH:

My face when:

All cards courtesy Lonestarr

Trade Posts - The Last Refuge of a Desperate Man

Not gonna lie, I have writer's block. I have about 30 posts in the draft folder with images already uploaded, but when I open one up my fingers clench up and I end up typing like thi,.x;.lvzcx/..s fdju. I also have artist's block. I have enough ideas floating around in my brain to keep me busy for months but when I look at a canvas or a sketch card or a sketch book I get The Fear. All of a sudden when I pick up a paintbrush I turn into Dr. Gonzo in Bazooko Circus. Reading? Ha! I've been stuck on chapter two of "The Catcher Was A Spy" for two weeks. I can't write OR read. That's not all, I have cooking block. I let half a package of chicken rot in the fridge while the only food I was able to prepare was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Now we're out of peanut butter. And jelly. I need to lose weight anyway. But that's not happening because I haven't been exercising either. Walker's block? I have a pile of piles of cards that need to be packaged and mailed too so I'm also having trader's block. I don't know who is getting most of the cards because I'm not organized. I wouldn't say I have organizer's block because I've never been organized ever even for five minutes. That's not a block, that's a pathology. Tomorrow's Valentine's Day. I don't wanna even know what kinda block I'll end up getting for that. I am a total blockhead. What to do?

TRADE POSTS!!!

You can always fall back on a good trade post. And I have a bunch of packages I haven't posted yet. Mainly because I haven't posted many trade packages in the past year. This one is from reader Edgar, who sent this package a few months ago and who recently won my Supa Bowel contest and whose football cards are still sitting on my desk. I received a whole slopton of shiny cards from Edgar including these three:

Diamond Shiny Michael Bourn. The package was mostly Diamond Shinies, and luckily Bourn was one of them. I have high hopes that Michael will not be the second coming of Kenny Lofton this season. It would be nice if he was still around in 2013 too, but with Boras as his agent I don't have high hopes.

OrangeRedFractor Brian McCann. Retail Chromy Rack Packagery. These suckers remind me so much of the old Kelloggs 3D cards when they're scanned what with the hyper-focused front image and the fuzzy blurry background. Just without the spiffy lenticular technology. Blogger seems to think 'lenticular' is not a word and suggests 'testicular' instead. That's right, Kellogg's 3D cards have balls.*

Finally, here's a shiny rookie card of Captain Marvel Jr. Or is it Fab Five Freddie? Is it even a rookie card since it's a parallel? Is that even a rookie card rule anymore? Would you really want the non-refactor version over the shiny one? Yeah, I know, you want the autographed version. THAT'S NOT AN OPTION. Will Freddie avoid the sophomore slump this season or will I be drinking really heavily** this summer? Can't it be both? SO MANY QUESTIONS.

Good stuff from Edgar, time to get that package mailed...

*You know truly understand the depraved depths of my writer's block. Hoo boy.
**No drinker's block yet, thank goodness.

Obligatory Rookie of the Year Post

Freddie Freeman got robbed! Just like Heyward last year! Freddie had an awesome year! How could you not vote for Fab Five Freddie?!? It's a gyp! It's a sham! It's a... wait, who won the award?

Yeaaaaaaaah! Kimbrel! Craig's rookie of the year! Best relief pitcher in the NL! Even with Fredi trying to rip his arm off all season! WOOOOO CRAIG KIMBREL ROOKIE OF THE YEAAAAR!

*Freddie Lineage Rookie card courtesy Chris at Project '62 who is owed many, many Cubs.

Two Freddies, One Day

PULLED FROM PACKS. I am the luckiest man alive.

Reprints are out, but Topps 60 remains. I guess I can deal with pulling a Freddie. This one was from a hobby pack.

Diamond Duos are back too. No Reprints. Meh. The thing about pairing Freddie up with Hosmer is that as a member of the Atlanta Braves, Freddie has about a 63.7% chance of playing for the Royals during his career. This was pulled from a Rack Pack at Target that I really shouldn't have bought in the first place.

The best thing about this card is that Topps is really scraping the bottom of the barrel for their Topps 60 set that they are forced to count Top 60 in the Braves Minor League Organization as an achievement. There's an interesting list of names on the back though, and I think three of them are already Royals.

Smear the Beard

It's starting to feel like playoffs.

Thanks to Fab Five Freddy.


(now why the hell can't we beat the Nationals or the Cubs???)

Cursed

Well, there goes the franchise.

Don't believe me?

h/t Talking Chop

Freddie Freeman's debut

I've got 50 things to do today and 47 of them probably ain't gonna get done, but I wanted to give you all a quick taste of the photos I took from my camera last night. Here's Freddie Freeman on deck during his major league debut.

More tonight...

Fab Five Freddy

At 1st base for the Braves, #5 in your program, #6 in the batting order...

Freddie Freeman is making his debut for the Atlanta Braves tonight against the Mets.

Looking forward to many years of Jason and Freddy in the Braves' lineup.