It’s a lonely, lonely place at AHairOffSquare with no baseball. I thought football could get me through the winter but I’m just not feeling it. Spring Training is coming soon! Here is a football card I made last year. I love the card design, so simple but classy looking. The colors on the picture really make the card pop too. I like this 1978 Topps football card a lot.
Buck O’Neil would have been 100 years old today…
The Melky Cabrera trade was a good deal for the Royals. They had Lorenzo Cain ready and no place to put him and a desperate need for starting pitching. They got their pitcher but I am going to focus on how it will effect the Royals lineup. It is interesting how well this worked out for the Royals. I think Melky Cabrera had a career year last year. I’m not going to say it won’t happen again but I feel it is unlikely. Lorenzo Cain will replace Melky Cabrera but it will effect the lineup.
Melky Cabrera batted second basically all of 2011. Cain will not bat second in 2012. He will likely end up near the bottom of the lineup at number 7. This will be a good low pressure spot for him to get established in the major leagues. The move of Cain down will shift Johnny Giavotella up the second hole. This is where the Royals second baseman had batted in the minor leagues and he could be an excellent number two hitter. Cain could shift to the top of the lineup but it is unlikely will all of his strikeouts. If he cuts down on them he could be a candidate to be a leadoff hitter. This would allow Alex Gordon to move to the number two hole where I feel he would be most valuable for the Royals but it is unlikely.
So its game 7 and as much as I want the Texas Rangers to win it just doesn’t look likely. The Cardinals have all the momentum they could want. The Cardinals will send Chris Carpenter to the mound against the Rangers Matt Harrison, advantage Cardinals. The Cardinals won a big extra inning affair last night on a historic walk off home run and oh yeah, they are at home. Things don’t look good for the Texas Rangers right now. The Rangers could win with their lineup on any given day but the odds are really stacked against them.
I found this card when I was digging through my stuff today. I forgot I made a lot of these 1984 Donruss cards that were really nice. I wish this picture was cropped out just a little bit more so Crow’s hand didn’t hit the swoosh in the design though. This design would make almost any picture look nice though. One of the greatest sets of all time.
I believe that the wheels have got to fall off for the St. Louis Cardinals. An amazing amount of momentum has carried them to the World Series but they will face a better team that is now experienced. The Cardinals pitching has been fantastic, I don’t believe it will hold up against the bats of the Texas Rangers.
The Texas Rangers lost the World Series in 2010 to the San Francisco Giants because their goal was to make it to the World Series, not to win it. They already achieved their goal in 2010. 2011 is different, the goal is to win the World Series and I believe they will.This is why I’m taking the Rangers in 6.
I am taking Ian Kinsler as my World Series MVP pick as well. Kinsler is a gritty player with power and the ability to drive in runs and score runs. He will bat in the leadoff spot but I think this will only lead to Kinsler and number 2 hitter Elvis Andrus to get great pitches to hit. With Josh Hamilton, Michael Young, Adrian Beltre, Nelson Cruz and Mike Napoli up after them; they will get pitches to hit. Andrus will get pitches as well but has far less power and has a good chance of being asked to bunt and move runners over. This will make Kinsler vital to the Rangers World Series win.
Royals rookie Tim Collins was very good for the Kansas City bullpen in his rookie season. He posted a sub 4.00 ERA easily was left handed, two very valuable attributes. He was key part of the Royals sending two very disposable pieces of their team to the Braves in 2010 and showed his worth already. Rick Ankiel and Kyle Farnsworth were sent to the Braves and Collins was the most valuable player the Royals got in return.
I will say he hasn’t shown the ability to be a lefty specialist thought. It seemed like he failed in that role and was timid to challenge hitters. He is likely a lock for the bullpen next year and if he can cut down on his walks he could be huge for the Royals in 2012.
A walk-off grand slam in the ALCS is worth of a custom card.
I don’t really like the Cardinals being a Royals fan. I would have to hate baseball to have not enjoyed the game Chris Carpenter pitched to knock the Phillies out of the playoffs though. It was an ALL-TIME great baseball performance. I actually wanted the Phillies to move on but when one performance is so good, like this one, it is hard not to be happy about it.
I found this tasty picture of Carpenter and had to use it here. I really like pictures from this perspective a lot. It is just not an angle you see a ton for some reason. The 1976 Topps design is a very nice one and it makes this card look super sharp. The lime green was actually the color Topps used for the St. Louis Cardinals that year. I kept it the same to retain the “vintage” look. Really Topps? Lime Green?
A Hair Off Square 