My 3rd Favorite Part of Baseball Season

It is officially my third-favorite part of baseball season. Actually, I'd hate to rank things like that, so maybe this is chronologically the third event of baseball season which I classify as a favorite. It is Father's Day weekend, which means that MLB.com has reduced the price for MLB.tv by 50% to $49.99. My military discount (they offer a student discount, too) decreases the price further, bringing my total cost to $32.49. This big drop in price is why mid-June is officially the start of baseball-watching season for me, and that makes this one of my favorite parts of baseball season. In case you were wondering, my first and second favorite parts of baseball season are when fantasy baseball starts drafting and when the first baseball cards for the new year are released.

Today's card features a player who is not currently appearing on MLB.tv, because I didn't spring for the extra MiLB.tv package that allows you to watch minor league games. This is a Jon Singleton Gypsy Queen Relic Gold parallel from the 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen product. I got it for a song from eBay. Well, maybe for a couple of songs if you go by the prevailing iTunes music prices. It is numbered # 20 / 25 and features a nice red relic swatch. You have to go one parallel more rare to get patchwork in this set. I've read some different opinions on Singleton lately. Some think he's likely to get another chance to prove himself at the major league level, while others think he's on the brink of being released altogether. I don't know. I'll probably still keep chasing his cards as long as they keep making them, though. It's a habit for me now.

Anyway, if you were on the fence about signing up for MLB.tv because of the price tag, it's a bit cheaper now. There is also a program where you can sign up with a group of friends for a discount, but I haven't looked into that very much because I don't have friends socialize with people who like baseball. But the discount gets progressively larger as more people sign up together.

Combined Shipping Leads to Buying Stuff 9: Jon Singleton Gypsy Queen Relic

Here is the final card in the 9-card lot I've been posting about over the last week. It's a Jon Singleton relic from 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen. The swatch is a pretty basic plain white swatch and the card isn't numbered. I think my favorite part of this card is the photo, with Singleton at the plate in a nice rainbow throwback uniform. It's too bad the relic piece doesn't have some nice rainbow striping on it. That would be awesome.

Unfortunately as I type this on Wednesday night, Scott Kazmir has just given up back-to-back home runs to Kyle Seager and Nelson Cruz in the 5th inning to give the Mariners a 6 - 3 lead. If the Astros manage to lose this game they will be all but eliminated from the Division race and also fail to capitalize on the Angels' loss today that opened the door back up for that last Wild Card spot. Yuck. I guess there are 29 teams each year that disappoint their fans, but I hate it when it's my team doing the disappointing.

A While Later...

Well, the Astros managed to squeak that one out and grab a 7 - 6 win from the Mariners, giving them a half-game lead over the Angels for that second Wild Card spot. The Astros get a day of rest and then finish out the season with a 3-game series at Arizona. The Angels go to Texas to play a 4-game series against the Rangers. If the Astros can win their series 2 - 1 or 3 - 0 they have an excellent shot at getting through to at least the Wild Card game and a very long shot at the AL West title if they sweep the Diamondbacks and the Angels sweep the Rangers.

It would take a pretty extreme set of circumstances for them to get the Division lead back, but as long as they can handle business against Arizona they should be able to get into the tournament play-in game and at least have a chance. That is what I'm hoping for. I just want them to get their feet in the door. There are some awfully tough teams in the bracket, though, so I don't know how deep of a run they could make once they got in. But given that Houston wasn't even supposed to contend this year, just getting to the playoffs would be a big cause for excitement.

Christmas Card in August: 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen Jon Singleton Relic

I've been out of town for a few days, visiting with my wife's family in Utah. I didn't do much related to baseball cards or blogging down there, although I did manage to get that UFC post written up while I was away. I managed to pick up a LEGO kit I really wanted at the LEGO Store. The LEGO Store is a big thing for us to visit when we find ourselves in Utah, as Idaho doesn't have one. It helps that there is a Godiva shop Boutique just down the hall from the LEGO Store, so there is chocolate for my wife also. She actually likes LEGO kits quite a bit, too. I got a Star Wars set, the Imperial Shuttle Tydirium. My boys got some new Ninjago Airjitzu guys who plug into plastic capsules that can be launched into the air and over the fence into the neighbor's yard.

The last couple of days were pretty miserable as the in-laws have a cat and I am extremely allergic to cats. They left the cat outside for a couple of weeks before I came down, but if there is a trace of cat anywhere I will find it and basically be out of commission until I get away from it. I spent most of the last two days holed up in our room with the lights off, popping allergy medicine and blowing my nose. I am still pretty sick, and I probably won't be back to normal for another couple of days. It didn't help that when we came home my wife looked up and saw that our ceiling fan was hanging out of the ceiling. The guy who installed it had used some questionable techniques and the screws holding it up had ripped through the housing. So instead of taking the day to recuperate I found myself among the dust and insulation in the attic reinstalling the fan. On the plus side the fan now hangs straight and doesn't wobble.

In card-related news, I got a pretty cool item from 2015 Topps Gypsy Queen in the mail. I am not usually a huge Gypsy Queen fan, but the framed relics and autographs are usually done pretty well. This is the Gold parallel of the mini framed relic card, so it is numbered out of # / 25. This card features a nice red piece of fabric and is numbered # 12 / 25, making it a Christmas card.

As predicted, the Astros' moves around the trade deadline pushed Singleton back down to AAA. He wasn't playing great during his stint with the Astros, but he had some useful at-bats and it seemed like he was improving a little during his last few games. His struggles have been good for people like me who want to buy his cards, but it can be hard wanting to chase cards of a guy who may never pull it all together. I honestly would like to start an Evan Gattis or Carlos Correa player collection, but that would probably mean dropping one of my current player collections. It's hard to let go of a collection that you've put a lot into. Unless Singleton has a sudden change in his stats that forces a move back up out of AAA, he probably won't have as many cards in 2016 as he has in 2014 and 2015, and maybe then I will make a change in focus. We'll see, Ideally he can get things turned around and play his way into some more at-bats for the Astros.

Now that I'm home I have a couple of prizes from my contest that I need to get mailed out. I haven't forgotten, I promise. I just held my contest at a really inconvenient time.