Baseball Cards: Two Mariners Pickups

I got two new cards in the mail yesterday, two Mariners in fact, so thought I'd share them here:

Up first is a 2014 Topps Chrome Rookie Autograph #12 of Abraham Almonte, formerly of the Seattle Mariners and now the lightning bolt of a center fielder for the Indians. Ever since the almighty Almonte debuted for Cleveland, he has played above expectations and has been one of the sparks pushing the Tribe into playoff contention. Despite being considered short for a center fielder (he's a stocky 5'9 and 210 lbs), he does a more than admirable job out there and his bat has been instrumental to the Indians offense. In 29 games with us he's batting .267 with a .324 OBP and a .505 SLG, and a very respectable .829 OPS. He currently has 3 HR and 19 RBI with 9 walks.

I'm a big fan of the 26 year-old Dominican and I hope he can use the rest of this season to stamp his mark on the team and cement a spot on the 2016 roster. This card set me back just $1.50, which is a steal for a beautiful on-card auto.

We come to the main event now, a card I've wanted for some time. It's a 1989 Topps Traded #41T Ken Griffey Jr. card, PSA graded to a Mint 9. This is the first sealed PSA card I've bought, and I am hoping to add a few more in the future, as they look great.

Ken Griffey Jr. was the first baseball player I ever knew. When I was very young, my brother came back from a trip to the States with a Rawlings Ken Griffey Jr. glove and I saw his printed signature in the pocket of the mitt and always wondered who he was. When I started to take a serious interest in baseball I thought back to my glove and remembered the name, and ever since I wanted to get one of his cards.

Now most fans go immediately for his his iconic 1989 Upper Deck rookie card but I actually prefer this Topps card as far as overall appearance goes. His Upper Deck rookie has him sporting a bit of a goofy grin, whereas I think his Topps card has a better, more serious pose. I don't care that these were mass produced and have little to no value; that's not why I collect these cards. 

It cost me $7.55, which makes it my most expensive card in my collection to date, but I was happy to pay that for a PSA card. It's one of, if not the best, looking cards in my fledgling collection.

I don't know if I'll be buying any more cards this season, but if I do I'll make sure to share them. 

Tribe Too Much For Toronto

Are we beginning to turn things around against the AL East? Possibly, or maybe we're just pretty good against the Blue Jays, the cellar-dwellers of that monstrous division (hey, they're still pretty good). Either way, the Indians faithful can celebrate another series victory today, closing the gap on the Tigers a little bit more. Detroit fell to the White Sox this afternoon so the distance has been narrowed down to just 2.5 games.

The Tribe kicked the series off on Tuesday with a 3-0 win, thanks to a solid effort from Ubaldo Jimenez, who managed to keep the Jays scoreless through his 6 innings of work. He wasn't flawless and ran into trouble more than a few times, but he remained calm and escaped danger to earn his 7th win of the season. I managed to watch the entire game and kept fearing the worst, that Toronto would finally make us pay for Ubaldo's awful location, but the big hit never came for the Jays and the Indians emerged victorious. Ubaldo only walked 2 Jays during his outing, but he really struggled to get ahead in the count and constantly went deep into at-bats. He has to be more efficient and effective with his pitches in the future because when he pitches like this, he'll never make it past 6 innings. We're often lucky to get 5 from him. But I'm not going to be too negative, he worked hard and earned the Tribe the win and that's all you can ask for at the end of the day.

Cleveland dropped game two of the series 5-4 to even things up. Justin Masterson was decent through 6 2/3 innings but had location trouble again, walking 5 batters. He did enough to keep the Tribe in the game though but it all came crashing down in the top of the 9th inning, the Jays striking for 3 runs off Rich Hill and Joe Smith to put the game beyond the Indians. The home side did try to rally back into the game, scoring 2 runs in the bottom of the 9th, but it wasn't to be.

The Indians quickly put Wednesday's loss behind them and wrapped up the series in style today, winning 4-2 to take the series win. On a beautiful summer's day in Cleveland, rookie right-hander Danny Salazar made his first major league start for the Indians and pitched an absolute beauty, carrying a no-hitter into the 6th inning. He out-duelled Jays ace and reigning NL Cy Young winner R.A Dickey for the first big league win of his young career. It was quite a debut for the 23 year-old and he'll be the happiest man in town tonight. Salazar lasted 6 innings (he was on a pitch count) and gave up just 2 hits for 1 run, with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts. It's unlikely Salazar will stay with the big club though, today was just supposed to be a spot-start, but his superb performance might earn him an extended stay past the All Star break.

Player Of The Series

Is there any question? I have to go with the rookie from the Dominican Republic. To step up the way he did was amazing, to pitch with such confidence on your big league debut. Danny Salazar fully deserves the award for this series. He may have elevated himself above Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco in the Tribe rotation pecking order as well. He showed no nerves on the mound and left the game to an enthusiastic ovation from the home fans. Well done Mr Salazar. I'm looking forward to his next start already.

The Tribe welcome the Royals to Progressive Field tomorrow for the final series before the All Star break. Friday's game will see Corey Kluber (6-5, 4.23 ERA) take the mound against KC's Bruce Chen (3-0, 2.41 ERA). The Indians can hopefully take this winning momentum into the series against the Royals tomorrow and close the gap on the Tigers even more before we send Kipnis and Masterson off to NYC for the Midsummer Classic.

Thanks for reading.