Just Win Baby

I can not believe the kind of baseball the Pirates have been playing since the All-Star break.  The team looked to be a serious contender for the division during the first few weeks of the year when the starting rotation was throwing up a bunch of zeroes through the first three weeks of the year.

Then injuries started to happen and they slid back to reality and in a very clustered and talented NL Central standings.

At the All-Star Break they were just a few games back from a Wild Card berth and looked to potentially be a buyer at the trade deadline.

Then the All-Star Break happened and it has been nothing but losing since.

4-24
That is the Pirates record since the All-Star break.

4 WINS!!!

Their winning percentage is .142 since the break.

I legit haven't seen baseball this bad in a very long time and that's with a team that had 2 DECADES OF SUB .500 BASEBALL!


When the Pirates win a game, announcer Greg Brown says "Raise The Jolly Roger".  This is a reference to Pirate ships hoisting their colors after approaching a ship requesting their surrender or risk the fate of death.

It has been over a week since the Pirates have raised the Jolly Roger so I am posting all my Andrew McCutchen relic cards featuring the Jolly Roger Pirates logo sleeve patch.

Here's hoping they do better than continue at a .142 pace the rest of the year.

Raise The Jolly Roger With a Cup of Coffee

Holy smokes!!!!

What a first day of Pirates baseball in 2018.  While I'm still very bitter about the Bucs trading away Cutch, how about the performances by Starling Marte and Gregory Polanco.
Together they went 5 for 10 with 4 Runs scored, 4 RBI, HR, triple, double, and a stolen base.

Of course the big hit was the Polanco 3 run bomb in the 13th, but how about the new guy, Corey Dickerson, nailing Nick Castellanos at home?

Man that was an awesome game.

I'm not sold the Pirates are going to compete for the division, but they showed a lot of guts and teamwork today.  Hopefully the pitching can improve as they won't win too many games surrendering 10 runs a contest in the future.

To celebrate the Pirates victory, here is my lone Cutch relic with a Gregory Polanco Jolly Roger sleeve patch.

Of course I have MANY MANY MORE sleeve patches of Cutch and even a few more of Polanco (by himself).

Double Fistin'

I picked up a dual relic of Cutch recently that coste $12 shipped.  While not a super steal considering the card is /99 it does feature two bats.

Well sort of.

This 2016 Immaculate card has the obvious bat relic, but also features a Jolly Roger sleeve patch that has a bat showing.

It's a whole new way of double fistin'

Contest Entry: My Favorite 2016 Card

2016 saw me change my collecting strategy as I went from collecting all things Pittsburgh sports to focusing more on my favorite player, Andrew McCutchen.

It also saw me blog far less than I had in the past 5 years as I took several months away from the blogging world.

I hope to start 2017 out strongly and post on average 5 times a week going forward. Some posts will simply be "Check Out What I bought" while others will provide a lot more depth and thought into the writing process. Most importantly though, I really want this blog to showcase some really awesome Andrew McCutchen cards and rebuild the online friendships I have made over the years.

Sitting at nearly 1,400 unique cards of Cutch gives me many options to cite a favorite card in my collection. I can probably make a top 10 and maybe even a top 5, but truthfully I don't know if I can pinpoint one card in my Cutch collection that is my favorite.

The year 2016 saw me add 246 unique cards to my collection that were released in 2016.  That's a lot of cardboard. There was many that were even 1/1s. Again, that's a lot of cardboard.

But of all the cardboard produced in 2016 of the 5 x All-Star, which is my favorite that I own?

The Blog Eamus Catuli is running a contest for your favorite card produced in 2016.

Well, after debating a wide variety of cards including 3 Superfractors, Roberto Clemente Award photo variants, and countless numbers of parallels and patches I had no other option that was more demanding of

My FAVORITE CARD OF 2016

This triple booklet Jumbo Patch from 2016 Topps Triple Threads is the clear cut winner. When I saw it, I knew it had to be mine. I made arrangements with the seller on a deal we both thought to be very fair and within a week it was home.

It features two Jolly Roger sleeve patches of Jung Ho Kang and Gerrit Cole respectively. It also features the P from Pirates throwback home jersey of my main PC, Andrew McCutchen.

I am awaiting a custom booklet case to be delivered to proudly display this behemoth.

I hope everyone had a very Happy and Safe New Year!
Be sure to leave comments below.