grande (and mini) impact

chris over at nachos grande recently hosted a group break that included 2000 fleer (skybox?) impact and 2012 topps mini.  i picked up the dodgers in the break, and received a complete team set from the impact set.

the dodgers won 86 games in 2000, but were 11 games behind the division winning giants, and 8 behind the wild card (and pennant) winning mets.  all 6 of these guys had pretty good seasons in 2000 - sheffield absolutely went off - but they couldn't pull it all together and get to the postseason, although they would have won the second wild card if there were such a thing back then.

here's a nice logo tattoo that was inserted into packs.

i don't have any tattoos, and if i did, it wouldn't be this one even though i really like the logo.

as is the case with most breaks these days, i was randomly assigned a second team.  i wound up with the marlins, which meant i got some more dodgers.  like josh beckett.

he's made five starts for the dodgers, and the team is 2-3 in those games.  run support has been a problem, as the dodgers scored 0, 2, 2, and 1 runs in his first four starts.  welcome to la, josh.

i also got a hanley ramirez card from the mini break

ramirez is hitting around .260 since joining the dodgers, which is better than he was doing in miami.  his power numbers seem to be there, so hopefully he can get the average up next year.  what has disappointed me the most, i think, is that he's not running like he used to.  he was only 3 for 6 in stolen base attempts as a dodger when i wrote this post.  i'm hoping that davey lopes can help him get his success rate up, because it looks like this team can't sit back and wait for the 3-run bomb.

here's a clayton kershaw insert from the mini break

i'm not going to show any of the base cards because they look just like the regular set cards.  i know that's how it was done in 1975, but i was hoping for some variation.

i also asked chris to throw in this card from 2012 topps archives.  it's a tulo double play card with matt kemp lurking.

it's also the same photo topps used for its 2011 topps marquee tulo card.  whatever, it's still a dp card and it's still the kem-v-p.

thanks chris.