TuBalGo Tuesdays #4

Last week on TuBalGo Tuesdays, I discussed Carlos Gonzalez since he was the Rockies lone representative in tonight's All Star Game.  This week, I am going to talk about the other player on the All Star Team that has donned the Colorado purple over the years, Padres pitcher Huston Street.  Over the winter as I was discussing the multiple Rockies trades during the Hot Stove League, the trade that puzzled me most was the Huston Street trade.  It was a complete salary dump and has so far proven to be one of GM Dan O'Dowd's worst moves of the offseason and that is saying something considering Jeremy Guthrie and Guillermo Moscoso are also on that list.  I am trying my best to not make this a diatribe on the ineptitude of Rockies management, so let's go ahead and take a look at one of the best closers in Rockies history.

TuBalGo PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Huston Street

Total Cards Owned = 29

 2009 Topps 206 #247

Huston Street was acquired along with Carlos Gonzalez and Greg Smith in the Holliday theft of 2008 from Oakland.  Immediately he took over the closer job from Brian Fuentes who had departed via free agency to the Angels.  This card makes fantastic use of the alternate purple jersey.  The yellow background against the jersey makes for a great looking painted card even if it is a tad boring.

Card grade - B+

 2009 Topps Heritage Chrome #CHR155 Serial Numbered 1644/1960

All was not perfect in 2009 for Street.  He lost the closer job to Manny Corpas after two weeks in a move that seemed at the time to be too quick.  Following three weeks of poor Corpas performances, Street regained his position and held on tight.  This card is another example of me owning a parallel without owning the base card.  It is one of the better Rockies card from 2009 Heritage, not one of my favorite sets, mainly due to the letter coloring.  The yellow/white combo on blue background works though.

Card grade - A-

 2010 Topps Gold #147 Serial Numbered 0156/2010

Street proved to a key component of the Rockies fantastic run to the playoffs in 2009 blowing only two saves all season with an ERA just over 3.00.  However, in the playoffs Street did not fare so well.  He was the losing pitcher in 2 of 3 Rockies losses and he had a 13.50 ERA (albeit in a very small sample).  This landscape-oriented card from 2010 Topps is one of the better Rockies cards from that forgettable set.  This card also reminds me of the gold parallels returning in 2012 Update.  I really like them, even if some people are sick of them.

Card grade - B

 2010 Upper Deck #186

After the debacle of the 2010 playoffs, Street resumed his closing duties in the 2010 season.  It was not a bad season, but it was disappointing.  Street blew five saves over the season and his ERA went up to 3.60.  Most of the 2010 Upper Deck set was rather disappointing, but not this card.  The photo is phenomenal and has nice 70's feel to it with the random people in the background to go along with the intensity on his face.

Card grade - A+

 2011 Topps Hope Diamond #507 Serial Numbered 54/60

One scary moment during the 2010 season was when Street was hit in the stomach by a line drive during batting practice.  According to reports, he passed out several times from the pain he was experiencing and was taken off the field in an ambulance.  It turned out to be nothing serious and he only missed a few days, but it was still a chilling moment.  This card was featured in my first (and so far only) Taste the Rainbow posting.  A nice emotion showing card.

Card grade - B

 2011 Topps Allen & Ginter Code Card #104

The 2011 season would be very up and down for Street (and the Rockies).  In the first half of the season, Street had 26 saves and a 3.29 ERA which was in line with his career with the Rockies.  However, the second half was full of injury, ineffectiveness, and finally losing the closer job to Rafael Betancourt.  This card is one of the code parallels that was finally solved after 9 months of me not caring.  It's a decent card, but as with most A&G cards, I could take it or leave it.

Card grade - C

2011 Topps Heritage #435

After losing his closer job and being paid too much to be a set up guy, Street was mentioned in many trade rumors of the 2011 offseason.  Of all the rumors, th least appealing was the one that actually happened.  Street was sent to the Padres for former #1 pick in 2007 Nick Schmidt.  Schmidt had a pretty good year in AA earning a promotion to Colorado Springs, but after getting promoted to AAA he has been getting lit up quite a bit.  There's still hope, but so far San Diego got an All Star and Colorado got a AAA pitcher that may eventually be something.  This card is one of my favorites from my favorite Heritage set.  I like the red-orange background, it really sets off the uniform well.

With the trade deadline looming and the Rockies appearing to be sellers, which players (if any) will become All Stars for their new teams?  Only time will tell.

Thanx for reading.

TuBalGo Tuesdays #3

The All Star Game is just a week away and it seems like this season has flown by.  Well, actually as a Rockies fan it is lingering a bit.  I can't wait for the trade deadline and hopefully some of the offseason mistakes changing uniforms, but I digress.  This week on TuBalGo Tuesday, I am going to focus on the lone Rockies All Star this year, Carlos Gonzalez.  CarGo will be making his debut in the All Star Game (which itself is a crock considering he was nearly the NL MVP two years ago) and will hopefully not be forgotten on the bench. 

Let's take a look at the best player of the year for the Rockies (by a long shot).

TuBalGo PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Carlos Gonzalez

Total Cards Owned = 102

2009 Upper Deck Goudey #145

Carlos Gonzalez was acquired from the Athletics in the Matt Holliday which basically bit Oakland in the ass coming and going.  The Rockies got the far greater end of the first deal and Holliday turned it back on after he went to the Cardinals for scraps.  I guess Moneyball "genius" Billy Beane isn't so perfect after all.  This card is very strange to say the least.  I expect some photos to not match teams after a trade, but a painting?  Shoddy work to say the least from Upper Deck.

Card grade - D-

2010 Bowman Chrome #29

Gonzalez is one of several Rockies to be born in Venezuela.  Pitcher Alex Carrasquel was the first ever Venezuelan-born player to compete in the major leagues.  He made his debut in 1939 with the Washington Senators, eight years before Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier.  His story is an interesting one and I recommend reading his Wikipedia page.  This card is nice because it uses a different photo from CarGo's regular Bowman card.  The shades are wonderful and I love a good bunting photo.

Card grade - A

2010 Allen and Ginter This Day in History #TDH-16

Carlos Gonzalez really cemented himself in minds of Rockies fans during the 2009 NLDS against the Phillies.  In that series, CarGo hit a whopping .588 with a homer and two steals.  Even though the Rockies lost the series in 4 games to the Phils, Gonzalez proved he was going to be something special.  This card is one of my favorite aspects of the Allen and Ginter set, which I am not a fan of as a whole.  I do, however, usually like the larger baseball-related insert set, such as the States from 2008 or the Hometown Heroes from 2011.

Card grade - B-

2010 Topps Opening Day #139

After an up and down 2009 season in which he literally went up and down between the majors and AAA, Gonzalez was the Rockies Opening Day center fielder in 2010.  He led off the game with a single and he was not done there.  He had an outstanding game going 4 for 5 with 2 runs scored in a 5-3 Colorado victory over the Brewers.  Much like the previous card, this Opening Day card uses a different image from the flagship Topps set.  Part of me likes the difference, but part of me doesn't.  In a page, two different photos with the same design looks a little strange.  I guess that is just a case of me finding a fault no matter what they do though.

Card grade - B

2011 Topps Ruby Red  #THP12

2010 would turn out to be a breakout year for Gonzalez in Denver.  He won the batting title with a .336 average and finished 3rd in the NL MVP voting.  Of course, there were the naysayers that said his season was a pure product of Coors Field.  To them I say, SHUT UP!!!  There have been countless players in Coors Field that did NOT have the type of year Gonzalez had in 2010.  If Coors Field was that big of a factor in a player, Derrick Gibson or Choo Freeman would have become All Stars too.  Anyway, this card is one of the "hanger pack exclusives" from Target.  I like this card a lot more than the Red Diamond cards that were also retail exclusive.  It has character.

Card grade - A-

 2011 Topps Lineage Stand Ups #15

During the 2011 offseason, CarGo was given an $80 million dollar contract extension through 2017 to remain with the Rockies.  It was the largest contract ever given to a 3rd year player.  I was a bit nervous when the contract was announced because of the chance of him becoming a flash-in-the-pan type player, but luckily for the Rockies it has been so far so good.  This card is an insert from the one-and-done Topps Lineage set from 2011.  The Stand Ups were originally done in the 1964 Topps set (and in Bazooka sets in the early 2000s), so we might be seeing these again next year with Heritage.  Personally, I could take it or leave it.

Card grade - C

2011 Topps Tier One Purple #93 Serial Numbered 25/25

2011 proved to be a disappointment for both Gonzalez individually and the team as a whole.  He started out very slow hitting only .228 in April and I was a bit worried about his future.  But once May hit, so did CarGo.  He ended up finishing 2011 hitting .295 with 26 homers and 95 RBIs.  These were not the MVP-type numbers that he had the year before, but he was held down due to a second half wrist injury which caused him to miss over 30 games.  This card is great and I wish I had every single Rockie ever in this design.  Unfortunately only Gonzalez and Tulo were included in the high-end set.  I do love those "Mike Singletary eyes" though.

Card grade - A+

2012 Topps Gold Rush Wrapper Redemption #11

The Rockies have been flat out horrible for the most part this year, but the person with least amount of blame has to be Carlos Gonzalez.  He is in the top 6 in all three Triple Crown categories: 6th in BA, 4th in Homers, and 2nd in RBIs.  On top of the that, he is currently leading the league in runs scored and total bases.  A strong second half could get him close to Triple Crown-type numbers.  The last NL player to win a Triple Crown was Joe "Ducky" Medwick of the 1937 St.Louis Cardinals.  I'm not a big fan of this card and the Golden theme in general.  It is just the very definition of bland in my book.

Card grade - D

I threw in a couple of pieces of non-Rockies trivia for you to impress your friends with as well.  If it doesn't impress them, then it sounds like you need to find some new friends.

Thanx for reading.

TuBalGo Tuesdays #2

In music terminology, there is a famous term known as the "one-hit wonder."  That is obviously when a singer or band has one major hit and then disappears forever.  Some of the one-hit wonders are more memorable than others, but if they made the charts once there is a record of them for music fans/historians in the future. 

My Rockies collection has something a bit similar that I am going to call the "one-card wonder."  Currently, there are 15 Rockies that debuted from 2006-Present that appear on a single card in my team collection.  Possibly there are others out there in most (but not all) cases, but for the time being these guys are one-card wonders in my collection.  Let's take a look.

TuBalGo PLAYER(S) OF THE WEEK

The One Card Wonders

Total Cards Owned = 1 each

The 2006 Upper Deck "never-ending" set provided me with 3 one card wonders.  Eli Marrero played 30 games with the Rockies in 2006 before being traded to the Mets for Kaz Matsui.  Miguel Ojeda played in 25 games at the beginning of the 2006 season before being sold to the Rangers in July of that year.  Well-traveled journeyman Jason Smith appeared in 49 games in 2006 before moving on as well.  The Miguel Ojeda card would probably qualify as the #1 card on a countdown of one card wonders.  What a great play-at-the-plate card.

 

The 2007 version of Topps '52 Rookies also gave me 3 one card wonders.  Sean Barker appeared in only 3 games in 2007, but he is still forever immortalized thanks to this set.  Edwin Bellorin appeared in 8 games over 3 seasons (2007-2009) as the emergency catcher for the Rockies.  Darren Clarke pitched in relief in 2 games during the 2007 season for Colorado.  A lot of people, including myself, did not like the '52 Rookies set, but without it these three guys would have never appeared on cardboard.  I'd like to see a Heritage Rookies set made each year in place of the minor league set, but that will probably never happen.

The 2007 Upper Deck set brought me 2 new veteran one card wonders.  LaTroy Hawkins pitched in 62 games for the Rockies in 2007 as one of his 9 stops (as of now) around the majors.  He is still pitching for the Angels at age 39 and could conceivably add to that total later on.  John Mabry appeared in 28 games for the 2007 Rockies.  Unlike Hawkins, this was Mabry's final stop in a 14 year major league career.

2008 sets added 2 veteran pitchers to my one card wonders.  2008 Topps Heritage High Numbers gave Glendon Rusch who pitched in 34 games over the 2008 and 2009 seasons to finish out his career.  2008 Topps Update showed Kip Wells who pitched in 15 games in the 2008 season for the Rox before being released and moving onto several more clubs.

The final "real" Upper Deck set in 2009 added two more pitchers to the one card wonders stack.  Jason Grilli fell into the category of successful middle reliever that Topps seems to be allergic to.  He pitched (somewhat successfully) in 73 games for Colorado over the 2008 and 2009 seasons before moving on.  He is currently in the Pirates bullpen.  Livan Hernandez pitched in 8 (very forgettable) games at the end of the 2008 season after getting picked up on waivers. Odd, but true, fact is that Hernandez and Grilli were traded for each other in 1999 in a Giants-Marlins deal.

2010 did not add a single one card wonder to my collection and 2011 only provided 1.  2011 Topps Heritage was the only set that featured 2011 offseason pickup Jose Lopez.  Lopez played (poorly) in 38 games for the Rockies in 2011 before being released.  He is currently on the Indians roster.

2012 has thus far given me two new one card wonders, although one will not be a single card for long.  The 2012 Rafael Betancourt is from the packaged team set, because I haven't picked up the Series 2 card yet, but for now he is a one card wonder.  As of today, Betancourt has pitched in 200 games over four seasons and has been a very productive reliever from day one with Colorado.  Tyler Chatwood, shown on 2012 Topps Heritage, made the Opening Day roster and pitched in 4 games before being sent to the minors for more seasoning. 



Betancourt has been the Rockies player I most wanted to get a card for the past two seasons, but he was a middle reliever and thus subject to Topps' allergy.  Now that he has a card, Matt Belisle becomes the Rockies I most want to see get a card.  He should have already had one considering he won 10 games in 2011, but once again the middle relief allergy strikes.

Thanx for reading.

Tubalgo Tuesdays #1

I have often referred to the modern incarnation of the Rockies as the "TuBalGo era," noting the three star players Tulo, Ubaldo, and CarGo.  Even though Ubaldo is now gone and has become somewhat disgruntled (to put it mildly) towards the Rockies, I still consider all three of these guys to be cornerstone pieces of the Rockies from 2006-Present.

On Tuesdays for the foreseeable future, I will be shining the spotlight on players that made their Rockies debut from 2006-Present including, but not limited to, those three players.  Each week I focus on one or more players and try to both inform and entertain you.  Since this is the first edition of the TuBalGo era, it would only make sense to focus one one of the main three so that's what I will do.

TuBalGo PLAYER OF THE WEEK

Troy Tulowitzki

Total cards owned = 221

 2005 Bowman Draft #BDP105

Troy Tulowitzki was drafted with the 7th overall pick of the 1st round in the loaded 2005 draft.  Of the top 7 picks that year, only the Mariners #3 pick Jeff Clement could be considered a bust so far.  The other players picked ahead of Tulo were Justin Upton, Alex Gordon, Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan Braun, and Ricky Romero.  Not a bad grouping there.  This true rookie card is just a general head shot and not very interesting at all

Card Grade - C

 2007 Topps Update Gold #UH209 Serial Numbered 0753/2007

During the first month of his rookie season, Tulo turned the 13th unassisted triple play (15 total as of today) in MLB history against the Atlanta Braves.  I really like cards like this because they serve as a history of events unlike most cards which mostly serve as yearbook photos.  What I don't like about the card is that the photo is not from the game in question because the Rockies were wearing the pinstriped "CR" jerseys and not the purples.

Card Grade - C-

 2008 Stadium Club First Day Issue Unnumbered #36

Following his fantastic rookie season which included the Rockies only World Series appearance, Tulo had a classic sophomore slump in 2008.  To be fair, injuries played a significant role in the slump, but he wasn't that effective in the lineup either.  This particular card is from arguably the most frustrating set of all time, 2008 Stadium Club, especially since 36 is divisible by 3.  It is a nice looking card though and is one of the rare cards which show Tulowitzki at the plate.

Card grade - B+

 2009 Topps Turkey Red #TR109

In the summer of 2009, Troy Tulowitzki hit for the cycle against the Cubs.  With that feat, he became only the 2nd player in MLB history to have both a cycle and an unassisted triple play on their resume.  The first was George Burns of the Boston Red Sox in the early 1920s.  The Turkey Red cards were almost done to death (although they did last another year) by the time this card came out.  I personally never saw the major appeal of them.

Card grade - C

 2010 Finest #66

The 2010 season was a season of extremes for Tulo.  He was injured for most of the summer, but came back with a vengeance and garnered the NL Player of the Month Award for September as he led the Rockies back into the division race.  Finest is one of those sets that never really appealed to me with a few exceptions (2003 for example).  This set is not one of those exceptions.  The lack of background imagery really causes this card to look worse than it is.

Card grade - D+

 2011 Topps Home Team Advantage Diamond Anniversary #12

2011 was a rough season for the Rockies (and for me as a fan), but Tulo did manage to play in his first All Star Game that year after being selected as a reserve.  He was selected in 2010 but was forced to bow out due to injury.  Injury was actually beneficial in 2011, since Tulo became the starter following Jose Reyes' injury.  It took me forever to actually identify this card because they were hobby shop-exclusive and I don't have an LCS.  The card itself is rather ghastly with the 1970s carpet background and the spike which Tulo is straddling.

Card grade - F

2012 Topps Heritage Wal Mart Blue Border #453

2012 has just been bad for everyone involved and Tulo was no exception.  Surprisingly, defense has been the Achilles heel for Tulo so far this season.  He has 8 errors in just 47 games after just 6 errors in 140 games in 2011.  Tulo is currently on the disabled list with a groin injury (possibly a sports hernia).  I am not the biggest fan of 2012 Heritage.  It's not a bad set and Heritage is usually my favorite offering of the year.  It just doesn't work for me this time around.  The card is a retail-exclusive (something I hate) partial-set parallel (something I hate more) with the extended blue border.  I do like the photo though, even if it does include the ever-present Rockies dead tree.

Card grade - B-

I will not always treat Tuesdays as a biographical exercise by any means, but I figured with someone with as much going on as Tulo it would work here.  Thanx for reading.