a foray into 2014 topps series 2

i bought a blaster of 2014 topps series 2 over the weekend.  i was lucky enough to pull the two big rookies - masahiro tanaka

and jose abreu

although i didn't find any photo variation or sabermetric back variation short prints.

i got a few dodgers of consequence, including this double play on tatooine card of dodger cuban defector alex guerrero

and this checklist/season highlight card of fellow defector yasiel puig

i like the red accent with the blue on the puig card - better than the blue/gray combo on the regular dodger cards.

here's an andre ethier target red border parallel

featuring a photo from the 2013 postseason at dodger stadium.  in series 1, the cards of puig and kershaw with the postseason wall in the background were short prints.  that's not the case with ethier's card.

i was happy to find this next card in one of the packs.  it belongs to former dodger cody ross

but i like it because it is probably the only card that will ever feature ramon hernandez as a dodger.  it reminds me a bit of the cards in 2012 that featured dioner navarro (even though he didn't have his own card in the set) and also of aj pollock's card from 2013 update.  ross was obviously safe, by the way, as hernandez dropped the ball.  the photo comes from june 12, 2013 which is interesting because that was the last game of hernandez's big league career.  ross scored twice, including in the top of the 12th inning.  in the bottom of that inning, hernandez homered in what would be his last major league at bat.

guerrero's wasn't the only card i found featuring a double play card.  i like this donovan solano card a fair amount

it's got a good variety of color.

here's another double play card - it's marco scutaro's card.

i know that it's a double play because i mistakenly thought it was the same photo topps used in 2013, just differently cropped. when i went to confirm my suspicion and was disproved, i wound up searching getty images for the photo and found it - jon jay of the cardinals is sliding underneath there somewhere.

one more double play card - did gregorius

the little bit of cleat showing just in front of gregorius' left shin tells me it's a turn.

here's a nice photoshop job of former twin (and pirate) justin morneau

justin wasn't included in the update set last year, so i don't think there are any cards of justin in pirates' gear.  that's ok - his time there wasn't too memorable.  i'm glad he's doing better in colorado.

my commemorative manupatch was this rod carew rookie trophy patch

not bad, but it wasn't my favorite twins card of the blaster.  that honor went to this beauty

that is a great shot of a sundrenched target field with a josh willingham/ron gardenhire fist bump to boot!  looks like the willinghammer dropped a home run on the bad guys.  this card will probably be heading to alabama later this week, but it's one i thought about keeping.  i'm looking forward to seeing a lot more of target field in this year's update set.  which is probably the next time i'll buy a blaster.