Monday 05/12/2014 "Case of the Mondays"

Monday started off bright and shiny. The birds were chirping. The temperature was about to reach 80 degrees by 10 AM. I had a stellar match up of Mark Buehrle and CJ Wilson. I was expecting a low scoring game with both studs going deep into the game at least seven innings a piece. Instead, I got six innings from each and the one of the highest amounts of Walks from Buehrle. CJ had the tougher of the two jobs. Any night you're asked to corral Jose Bautista and Encarnacion is considered a tough night. Law of averages was working against him from the start since the Angel's young pitching core has kept them handcuffed. In the first inning, Bautista took him yard. He ended up giving up two bombs in his six inning stint. Still, he struck out eight while only walking three. Both RC's got me about 90 a piece. I had all CJ's and Buehrles except for my lone Hiroki Kuroda who had a rather anemic start. It's a bad case of the “Mondays” so, so very early. 

It didn't end up being all that bad. It seems the Bunt World was going through it's own trials and tribulations. Most of the night I was deep in the Top 50 and above the Team Average. There's just not a lot of games going on. I don't know if it's scheduling or if Monday is just not a good baseball day but this makes the next six days a bit tougher to squish 9K worth of points in. 

Yasiel "Wild Horse" Puig

What can I say, the guy is a machine. Triple digits for his SC. I'm glad he's become a fixture in my lineups recently.. A Homer, two walks and four RBI's all culminated to a great game for the Wild Horse of Baseball. 

Jose Bautista, Blue Jays

After the first inning of the Blue Jays vs Angels I regretted not putting him in. I  balked at the chance of putting his RC in and pulling in the triple digit points it scored. I can't really complain too much. CJ has been on fire and this was probably the toughest lineup he's faced in the past four outings. 

Sunday Post: Mother's Day Edition 05/11/2014

Happy Mother's Day!

The weekend is officially over and it's going to be spent giving thanks to the Mother's out there who put up with us even in our advanced age. If you were watching any baseball today, you probably noticed the awesome amount of pink scattered around the league. There were also a number of really cool Mother's day shenanigans going on as well. I was happy to see the mascot's mothers come out and play.

If you were wondering where I learned to dance, now you know. My #MarinersMom stole the show today. pic.twitter.com/u7P2lpSCfj

— Mariner Moose (@MarinerMoose) May 11, 2014

Let's get down to business! I started the day off with great news! After three weeks of offering lopsided trades, I finally picked up the 2014 Jared Weaver card just in time for his start this morning. I unloaded one of my F-Rod League Leaders for Weave. I also got an Anthony Rizzo and a Billy Hamilton. All three were from the 2014 Fan's Choice Rare Card. Why can't I find the checklist? While on the subject of trading. I've received numerous requests for my Jeremy Guthrie CC. I don't know why exactly, I have another pitcher or two from the Royals that are doing just as good, there's at least 26k available in circulation, and, not to sound like a jerk, he's not exactly lighting up the Bunt score bored. Take the trade offer I have pending in my trade folder, it's for Trout, A. Gonzalez, and Encarnacion Common cards. All of which, I have already have in abundance. What gives? If someone has an answer, please let me know in the comments or on Twitter @buntacularvoyage. I'd love to hear the theories.

"Enough Said"

So Sunday was set to be a lazy day of baseball around the league and MLB@BAT while simultaneouly lounging in my pajamas. Weaver was magnificent on the mound and corralled +135 points. I also dropped an SR, SC, and CC of Jon Niese and he delivered again. The guy is turning out to be a real workhorse. I've been a bit off when it comes to choosing hitters and sticking with them. Yasiel Puig was at -10 points when I decided to yank his SC, I would later regret that when he ended the day with a +60 points for that same card. I also missed out on a bevy of offense today. 

My offensive miscues may have cost me my goal of cracking the Angel's Top 50 and left me +80 points under the 10K mark. I continue to break my own personal records for points in a week. The +4k in points can be contributed to strong pitching choices. I started the week hot and continued the whole way down the stretch. This morning I was in 51st place for the Angels but that eroded as I continued to make blunder after blunder. Hopefully, next week the rain of points comes down even harder! 

Howie Kendrick!

Howie was crushing it today. I recently acquired an HK47 SR and it netted me +156 points. He went 3/4 with two stolen bases, a walk and three runs. Total BOD material. 

"Sleeper of the Day"

Cole Hamels

Cole is on the comeback trail with four games under his belt and is still win less. Seven innings pitched and ten K's  brought the UC card +155 points that I completely slept on. I could have not only cracked the Top 50 but surely broke the 10k barrier I've been fighting against. C'est La Vie!

It's been a hard days' night....

Well folks, I've been a bad blogger this week. I started the blog about a week ago and had an ample amount of time to work on it but this week I got swamped. Work and other social constraints, I was unable to get focused on anything outside of Twitter. BUT! This is the new dawn. I apologize and I'm ready to get back to blogging about my obsession.

"I'm sorry, trust me."

It was a tough week. The MLB Schedule gods were not working well with my work schedule. Thankfully, I took advantage of a dope sale and picked up some GOLD SR's. The biggest pull was my Iwakuma SR. I used it in conjunction with the RC of his and made a +700 point killing. On friday, I put in a couple of Yu Darvish cards and pulled about +600 points as well. It was a great way to start the weekend.

Which lead me to today, I stayed up a bit late at a show and slept in which caused me to miss the beginning of three games. The hectic schedule, rain delays, and large number of pitchers all pitching today, I was able to pull myself within fourteen points of the 9k mark for the week. Hopefully, tomorrow is good for me and I get to at least 10k. 

My placing going into Sunday is #58 for the team and #1,564 overall. It's been a tough climb and I'm about 285 points away from the #50 slot. Cross your fingers folks! As far as the weekly average, I'm far from it. I can say, I've been making some positive steps and am ready to get started with the new week and crack some skulls!

"Beast of the Day"

Jeff Samadzija, Cubs

AKA The Best Winless pitcher in Major League Baseball. The run support was not there but that golden arm was in full Beast Mode. If you don't have him in your line up, You're missing out on possibly the Sleeper of the Season.

"Sleeper of the Day"

Charlie Blackmon, Rockies

One of my first big pulls was a Charlie Blackmon Scarce. Since then, I've habitually missed the boat. The Rockies in general are major sleepers for me. Tulo, Arenado and Blackmon have been killing it. Please, learn from my mistakes!

Happy Cinco De Mayo!!!!!

Hola! from the Pacific Northwest. I began my day in the great state of Washington. I woke up with my Indigo Foam finger waiting for me. A few hours later I picked up my Level Five points award. I started the week 4,400 pts away from Level Six. My goals for the week are to land in the Top 50 for the team and Top 1000 overall. They can seem a bit lofty but you gotta aim high!

I got a little bonus for the finger and coupled with a quick sale of packs I had enough to buy a couple of Niner packs for $750. I got my pull of the day with a Charlie Morton UC. It was another onslaught of duplicates. If I were ever so inclined, I could triple down on Clay Buchholz (Not a bad a idea now that I think of it). The sale was nice and hopefully the dupes can become some good trade bait. With my new stock of dupes I should start pounding the trade pavement more often. I have yet to see someone turn down three UC's for a CC (Common Card). I have seen someone turn down three RC's (Rare Cards) for a UC. That trade rejection blew my mind.

"How was I supposed to know a Mike Trout Sig would be valuable?"

I brought out the hounds on the mounds today!!!! My SR (Super Rare) Jon Niese made a big appearance. The cards last three outings raked in over +200 pts. I barely received him a week or two ago and the last appearance nearly scored me +300 (+288 if you want to get technical). It was against the Phillies so they weren't a total bum squad. Today though, he brought the fire. Ending the day with +342 Pts. The guy was so beast, I brought in his common three innings in to pull a double down. Total Beast of the Day Material. 

Unless.....“Mad” Max Scherzer is taking the hill against Houston. I currently hold a CC (Common Card), UC and a SC (Scarce). In jest, I thought of putting all three on the board. That stayed a joke until I settled in at SeaTac and click the game on my MLB At Bat app. Before it started I did something I've never done, Tripled down! The guy was a beast on the mound. I wished the Halo's could find a way to pick this guy up. In order of scarcity I pulled +398/+351/+234. I was practically cheering at the restaurant as the game clicked on. 

On the offensive side, I made some unfortunate choices. During the early games I was able to listen or update until the eighth inning due to my flight leaving at the most inopportune time. By the time I touched down, my phone was dead and most of the games had ended except for the Angels-Yankees game. Adding to my offensive woes was the injury to Yasiel "Wild Horse" Puig and Joe Mauer being absent from the lineup. 

I ended the day raking in +1,573 pts which broke a record but given the ability to make in game decisions, I think I could have squeezed atleast another +500 pts. Hind sight is 20/20. Tomorrow, I hope to bring the heat. I have a whole day off from work and will be back on MLB.com keeping a watchful eye on the games as they play out. By the way, Clayton Kershaw is returning to the mound. Expect to see his Bunt: On Deck in the mix tonight. 

Cinco De Mayo Special Pull

"Let's cuddle"

So Topps felt it was necessary to dangle some cards at a crazy price in front of me. Me being the vigilant BUNT follower, completely missed it and found out about it hours later. Thankfully, the Cinco De Mayo Sale of five cards for 555 coins was still going strong and I dropped some digital coin on some packs. I must say, this was a dope pack deal. I pulled Dozier and Peacock SR's, 2 F-Rod League Leader, Wild Horse SC, and, my personal favorite of the pack, Garret Richards RC. I also got a Jeff Samardzija RC.t.

Beast of the Day

Max Scherzer

"For the handling of the Astros like a boss"

Honorable Mention Beast of the Day

Jon Niese

"For pitching like he owned the place"

Sleeper of the Day

Troy Tulowitzki

"I slept on putting him in the lineup for no good reason and he made me pay"

Check me out on Twitter!

@Buntacvoyag

Seattle: Home of the Largest Bandwagon

     Greetings from the Emerald City! Tough way to start the day. I was in flight during the first series of day games today. So who ever I picedk in those games weren't getting jettisoned before they destroy the monster week that I've been having. I decided to start with Nick Swisher, Giancarlo Stanton, Alexi Ramirez, Corey Kluber, Wil Myers, Adrian Gonzalez, Wild Horse, Ed Encarnacion and Adeny Hechevarria. I had about +4584 for the week #71 for the Angels and Overall #2035. I hoped that I could break top 50 this week for the Angels but that seems to be a pipe dream since started the day 1,500 behind the pack. I only need 500 pts to reach pts level 5, which at this point seems attainable. I finally hit the 10% collected mark with my purchase this morning. With only my daily $1000 coins I picked up a 5 pack and pulled a four duplicates and a UC that will remain nameless. By default, that makes him my morning pull of the day.

     Another issue that had me worrying about today's tally was the lack of pitchers I had set today compared to the last few. Today, I had Darvish Illustrated, Kluber Rare and Lohse Scarce already in the front of my mind. Darvish put me in a tough spot being that he's pitching against my Halo's and if he has a monster game, that means my real life team suffers. I was also not feeling too well as I turned off my phone seeing Kluber putting up a -23 pts after the first inning. When I landed, I was officially in a new dimension. Kluber K'd thirteen in eight innings but unfortunately didn't get the win. Lohse and Darvish had solid games getting me about 160 pts between the both. Thankfully, I kept scrolling down and noticed Wade Miley was pitching which prompted me to drop his scarce card in and it pulled +209 pts. This was one of the main reasons I broke the 5k mark and also solidified my level five points award.

     Before I forget! Special shout out to a couple of recent pulls. Wil Myers UC kicked in +102 pts with an in the park homer. The big bat was Giancarlo Stanton Scarce with +187 pts. Hitting triple digits seems to be a tough benchmark for the offensive players. I looked up the common card for Stanton and that hit triple digits on it's own which is really hard. All in all, this was a great day for hitters as well as pitchers.

     I ended the week making some great strides. I'm The Angels #65 and I'm #1949 overall for the week which is a big jump from #162 & #4,045. I smell yet another Indigo foam finger. I'd like to blame my slow Monday and Tuesday but I averaged about 800 pts a day, and truth be told, I did not have 800 pts days on Monday and Tuesday.

     Twittering will commence now! Yea, I got a Twitter account to help the blogging therapy. @buntacvoyag is my handle. I will see how micro blogging treats me. I had a personal Twitter account that is less voice reaching out to the rest of the world and more of a platform for stalking comedians.

Get Well Soon Hyun-Jin Ryu! Can't wait to drop you in the line up again soon.

Tomorrow, I will be back in the air headed south during prime game times.

Beast of the Day

Corey Kluber!!!!

(This is you, not playing this guy)

Sleeper of the Day

Giancarlo Stanton!!!!!

The Lessons of Jon & Howie

     Every good team has that one cornerstone member that they can always count on. The Yankee's had Gherig, the A-Team had BA, and BRAWLIN310 has Jon Lester. He's always been one of the cornerstones of my BUNT lineup since the opening of my first pack. Needless to say, it's a priority to know if and when he is pitching. Yesterday morning was no exception but looking back on it, I should have tripled down and dropped my Common series and both of my Green Parallel Uncommons given the monster game he ended up having. Damn you Miss Cleo!

"Call me now for your incorrect information"

     My lone UC (that means uncommon because I'm tired of writing the whole thing already) grabbed me +335 points!!!!!! The guy K'd fifteen guys in eight innings. It was pretty damn dominant. Unfortunately, I didn't give the Bo Sox enough credit against the abnormally good pitching of the Oakland A's. Side Note: How are the A's so good with a Burger King Kids Club lineup of no name players? Anyways, Big Papi's OnDeck Limited card I have was not in play and he had a great game. I survived. I had a lot of key players playing all at once so I know I missed out on some gems outside of the Sox-A's match up.

The rest of the day was tough for me outside of the scheduling obstacles. I'm one of the founders of a Social Club and today was our much anticipated club outing to the Rangers Vs Angels at the Big A. The game started 6:06 PM PST and I had to pick an area to tailgate. Prior to that, I had a whole laundry list of things to accomplish before my flight out to Seattle for business. That means my new tradition of vegging out and watching MLB.com was put on hold for the weekend.

     My game plan was a real mash of jumping between Facebook, Bunt, Text, and phone calls trying to heard kittens to a spot to drink and get acquainted with guests. Thankfully, I picked up the Doyers game in progress on the AM and immediately could tell Yasiel Puig was gearing up for a big game. I also dropped in Adrian Gonzalez for good measure. Right before game time, I had 5% of my battery left and only a short time to drop in the the Angels I wanted. I forwarded all of the texts, calls and FB messages to another founder and began to swap out parts. I was pleased as punch to pull a Garrett Richards Common this week and earlier in the day I pulled the Pujols UC. I had a good amount of Mariners beating up on the Astros in the lineup with the Wild Horse of Baseball still giving a batting clinic in Miami so I opted to settle for the Trout rare, Richards Common and Pujols rare This lead me to a mistake I've made multiple times this season.......Never bet against Howie......

"Pitchers have seen this face a lot recently"

     The long time Angel's second basemen has been a beast for my squad in my young Bunt career. The past two games Mike Sioscia has found it reasonable to put him at lead off, and it has worked well. I left Howie out and missed his UC's +88 pts. Pujols and Trouty brought in twelve points all together. By the time I realized the error of my way, my phone was dead and my chances of getting a charge at the Big A are on the same level as a reboot of Different Strokes with Donald Sterling as the father.

"Casting search continues"

    Garret Richards Scored me +99 pts which is great for a number four starter against a team like the Rangers. Had he lasted another inning, he'd be on a three start streak of scoring in triple digits. He has been good for at least six to seven innings this season and is good for five K's during that time. It was a great performance for a player I'm hoping is the future number three man in the rotation. It's always good to see a guy battle his way on to a rotation and exceed expectations.

     I was even more unhappy with my phone battery management when they brought in Ernesto Frieri to set up Joe “The Hammer” Smith or “Smokin'” Joe Smith or “Cup of” Joe Smith. Frieri was in top form and pulled a couple of strikeouts. I'm sad to see Ernesto get moved to Set Up from Closer. But honestly, I really think the one two punch of Smith and Frieri in any order is great. I would much rather have two guys who can close so if one goes down you aren't scrambling to have closer tryouts during a grinder of the season. Much like my phone battery, a back up would have been nice.

Beast of the Day! Jon Lester!

Sleeper of the day! Howie Kendrick

Got Me Steady Buntin'

     Thanks to the highly addictive Topps: BUNT app and no one willing to simultaneously talk baseball and its fantasy baseball app equivalent, I decided to blog my mobile device exploits. Like most life altering addictions, it started as an innocent inquiry on line as to what this new app is. I'm no stranger to Topps Baseball cards thanks to my years of baseball card collecting. I also knew that Topps had the eTopps brand rolling around in my early adulthood which mimicked the stock market in a round about way. So, I was pleasantly surprised that an old friend like the Topps card company was trying something new. What I didn't expect was that Topps, the wrinkled old Chemistry teacher, was fed up with its lot in life and began to produce this highly addictive e-drug.

"I only deal in high quality insert cards"

WTF is Topps BUNT?

Good question! For the first week of the season I didn't know. I'd get that question a lot from people I hoodwink into a conversation about baseball. My usual answer was, and possibly still is, in layman's terms, “baseball card collecting meets fantasy baseball.” At that point people would  usually remind me that card collecting and fantasy baseball are some of the most boring hobbies they've ever heard and couldn't envision why anyone would want to meld them together. After the conversation, I cut them from my life.

Little did I know, Bunt is one of three apps Topps has unleashed on the sports nerd world. The other two are Huddle and Kick. Huddle for the NFL game and Kick for that sport the rest of the world calls football. Thankfully, I'm only interested in the Bunt app mainly because baseball lasts nearly 340 days.

So you downloaded it and.....

So I downloaded it and immediately received my first digital cards. You're initially asked to choose a favorite team. I chose the Angels since they've been my favorite team as long as I can remember. Within a week I still did not know what the hell I was doing or how the hell to do it but I found myself falling in love with baseball again. It was like The Notebook, if in the Notebook the guy went on to have a ton of other cool adventures. What can I say, I'm sentimental. I  love GI Joe still, I think Pro Wrestling is a misunderstood art, and the Nineties were the greatest ten years of the modern world. So I welcomed my renewed interest in baseball back. Eventually, I've gotten the hang of it. I've also learned that the more attention I pay to baseball the better I am. As I write this, I'm having my best week yet and my collection is really sub par at best. So I must know enough about this to warrant someone needing my expertise in blog form.

So why write about it?

I like to write. Plain and simple. I just want to write about baseball and hope other people find the blog and say “Hey, I feel the same way”. Maybe, I might entertain someone. Who knows what lies before me. I just want to stick it out and let my imagination run wild.