#326 Khris Davis

Yesterday I had Chris Davis. Not to be confused with today’s Khris Davis.

#326 Khris Davis

First impression of what’s going on: We've got a nice action shot here, leaping at the wall to stop a home run, or at least an extra base hit. The slightly too tight crop will keep it from a no doubter A+, but let's see if we can't find enough to make sure he gets an A. If he ended up making the catch, there's not much to stop it. Normally I root against the NL Central rival Brewers, but I’m kind of hoping this one does well. A great card is a great card.

MILWAUKEE, WI - AUGUST 3: Khris Davis #18 of the Milwaukee Brewers makes a catch at the wall on a ball hit by Ryan Zimmerman #11 of the Washington Nationals, as teammate Carlos Gomez #27 looks on in the third inning at Miller Park on August 3, 2013 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Tom Lynn/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Well, according to the caption, he made the catch. So I can stop now, right? Nah. It was only the third inning, but we might as well look at the BOXSCORE to see if it was a close game and potentially one of those “game changer” moments early in the game.

Nope, but I’m sure Brewers starting pitcher Donovan Hand is happy to keep his ERA a little lower, despite taking the loss.

The inning ending catch saved two runs.

The Brewers were at home and not wearing white, so it appears Davis is wearing an alternate jersey.

With this record though, they may want to try something different this year.

Davis also makes into some collections with Eye Black and Sunglasses (on his hat). No niches for the expression, sorry.

Also not making the final cut were Cameos and Free Advertising. Teammate Carlos Gomez and a pair of bullpen guys were cropped out of the original picture. The same goes for the Gatorade jug and cups.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Milwaukee went 18-14 in Khris’ starts, but 56-74 otherwise.

I’m not real impressed with this back. No real individual statistic, although it’s always good to help your team. And actually, the Brewers were 30-26 with him in the lineup, so it wasn’t just his ability to start. According to Baseball-Reference, Davis had 6 “go-ahead” hits when the game was either tied or the Brewers were behind. That seems pretty good for a rookie. To have the confidence of your manager to hit in that situation and then actually come through.

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #326

Player Name: Khris Davis

Team: Milwaukee Brewers

Position: Outfield

Game Date: August 3, 2013

Opponent: Washington Nationals

Stadium: Miller Park

Division: National League Central

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 3-0, Nationals over the Brewers, Loss for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: Yes, alternate

Bats/Throws: Right/Right

Birthdate: 12/21/1987

Birthplace: California

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Tom Lynn

Niche collections this card could fit into: Alternate Jersey, Eye Black, Sunglasses

My Grade: I can comfortably give this card an A. Those extra niches may have even helped it overcome the cropping for an A+, but unfortunately not the lackluster backside. The front has to carry a lot of weight and luckily, it does.

#266 Zack Wheeler

#266 Zack Wheeler

First impression of what’s going on: Like earlier with the Ernesto Frieri of the Angels, I think Wheeler is sporting an alternate jersey. And like most of the cards this year so far, cropped too close. Eventually I might stop mentioning it, but in fairness to the cards I've already dinged on it, it’ll still get counted. Although the Future Stars logo isn't very legible, Wheeler is one of 15 players in Series 1 to get it on his card.

 

NEW YORK, NY - JUNE 30: Zack Wheeler #45 of the New York Mets in action against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field on June 30, 2013 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. The Nationals defeated the Mets 13-2. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Yep, plenty of uncropped elbow in the original photo and the ball/hand doesn't have to be obscured by the Topps logo. Getty hasn't been real specific with the pitchers on their captions as to the batter or situation.  But it does let me know that this was a 13-2 drubbing. This won’t be good for Wheeler. Let’s go to the BOXSCORE to see just how bad it was.

Well, it looks like most of the runs came late in the game, probably off the bullpen. I’d be surprised if Wheeler made it much past those first five runs. And if he did, certainly not all the way to the 8^th when the Nationals unleashed a half dozen more runs.

So Wheeler did make it a little further but started to get into trouble in the 5^th and got the hook. Wheeler was involved in all five of the Top 5 Plays, although as a pitcher, that’s rarely a good thing. Case in point:

Another thing that caught my attention about this game, and it has nothing to do with Wheeler or this card. Former Cub, Anthony Recker pitched the 9^th inning. And that’s only notable because, with the Cubs, Recker was a catcher. He must have gotten some whiplash from his inning though as you’ll see from the inning summary:

Walk. Home Run. And then three fly balls hit to the outfield. Luckily, they stayed in the field of play. I don’t know how hard they were hit, but with the wind on any given day at Wrigley Field, those could have been gone!

Back to Zack Wheeler. The Mets uniforms were one of seven they used in 2013. See the chart below courtesy of sportslogos.net for the results while wearing this one.

And Rawlings is getting a little Free Advertising with two prominent logos on Wheeler’s glove. And I guess he’s advertising himself too as his name is written on the glove.

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Zack is the only Mets rookie to have won his first five road decisions.

Aha! The bludgeoning at the hands of the Nationals was a home game. Sorry season ticket holders, in 2014, Wheeler is only pitching on the road!

The blurb mentions that the Mets won 10 of Wheeler’s first 14 starts. By the end of the season, they had still only won 10 of his eventual 17 starts. It doesn't mention in the five games that Wheeler is credited with “losing” that the Mets scored two runs twice, one run twice and were shutout the last one.

Yes, there was the lopsided game against the Nats depicted on the card, but how about some run support, Mets?!

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #266

Player Name: Zack Wheeler

Team: New York Mets

Position: Pitcher

Game Date: June 30, 2013

Opponent: Washington Nationals

Stadium: Citi Field

Division: National League East

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 13-2, Nationals over the Mets, Loss for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: Yes

Bats/Throws: Left/Right

Birthdate: 5/30/1990

Birthplace: Georgia

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: Jim McIsaac

Niche collections this card could fit into: Free Advertising, Future Stars, Alternate Jersey, Partial Southpaw, Former First Round Pick

My Grade: I started out thinking this card would be a dud. Bad crop, boring photo, dud of a game. I think I've seen cards of his in the Pro Debut set but I’ll admit, I've only heard of Zack Wheeler in passing. No appearances against the Cubs last year. After going further into his season, I’d definitely take him on the Cubs.

But that doesn't really have anything to do with the card itself. It does fit into a few of the niche collections to save it from mediocrity of a C. But only barely. Final grade is a B-.

#189 Adam LaRoche

Man, I really goofed up these last couple of days. Last night's Manny Machado card was supposed to post in the morning at 9 AM, not PM. And the cards from last evening and this morning don't even looked they posted. Whoops! Anyway, here's is the card that should have gone up last night.

#189 Adam LaRoche

First impression of what’s going on: Another kind of standard shot for a first baseman, mitt out, ready to receive the ball. I never really understood the upside down glasses thing. And I don’t know what the patch is for so I’ll have to look into it.

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 01: Adam LaRoche #25 of the Washington Nationals catches the ball at first base against the Miami Marlins during Opening Day at Nationals Park on April 1, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by G Fiume/Getty Images)

The Reality of the Photo: Again, the crop is a shame. Not that you see much of his arm anyway, but it still could have been framed better.Opening Day went to the Nationals acording to the BOXSCORE.

 According to his game log, LaRoche had 10 putouts in the game so I'm not going to even try to figure out the exact play with the lack of clues.

I will note that LaRoche is standing with a foot firmly on first base. When I played the position, I was always taught to put my foot up against the edge, giving me more of a reach towards the ball and also to prevent collisions with the base runner. There’s no runner in sight so maybe that wasn't an issue, but thought I’d point it out since I noticed.

From Opening Day of the 2013 season, this photo is now the earliest one used. Long time readers (and I use that term loosely as I've been active all of about two weeks) may recall the Michael Young photo from mid-September as the most recent.

As for the patch, it commemorates the victims of the Sandy Hook tragedy and was worn by all players, managers, coaches and on-field personnel from March 31-April 2, 2013. Here’s a preseason press release giving more details. And a better view of the patch if you don’t click the link:

On to the back:

Rookie Fact: Adam was the first NL rookie to get his 1^st 2 hits in the same inning.

That’s pretty cool. The hits came in his MLB debut on April 7, 2004 ( BOXSCORE). He grounded out to second in his first at bat but his first two hits and two RBIs came in the 11-run 4^th inning.

Way to not be a rally killer! 

Information I’ll be tracking:

Card Number: #189

Player Name: Adam LaRoche

Team: Washington Nationals

Position: First Base

Game Date: April 1, 2013

Opponent: Miami Marlins

Stadium: Nationals Park

Division: National League East

Home/Away: Home

Outcome of the game: 2-0, Nationals over the Marlins, Win for the player depicted

Alternate/Throwback Jersey: No

Bats/Throws: Left/Left

Birthdate: 11/6/1979

Birthplace: California

Cameos by: N/A

Photographer: G Fiume

Niche collections this card could fit into: Southpaw, Commemorative Patch, Sunglasses

My Grade: I am a Cubs fan through and through but the Washington Nationals are my local team so I get blasted with Nats news more often than I 'd like. With all the hype of Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper, you might gloss over the fact that Adam LaRoche got MVP consideration in 2012 (6th place), as well as winning the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove for his position. His numbers came back to normal in 2013 as the Nationals did as a whole.

My kids had the opportunity to get his autograph after a Nats game in 2012, so my grade will probably come off a little biased. Its not much better than average, but with a couple of niches covered and the fact that LaRoche seemed liked a pretty god guy, I'll give it a B.

And just for fun, here the cards he signed for us: