The Catch Up

Well, it's been a surreal, whirlwind of a week for me. In order to collect my thoughts, I think a bulleted post is necessary.

-Granderson was killer in the All Star game. 1-1 with a Triple?! If not for Crawford's Granderson-esque catch, I think we would have seen the first Detroit All Star MVP in the history of baseball. Boy, that would have been nice. Not to say that Crawford didn't deserve it, and I'm certainly one to appreciate excellent defense, but he was only 1-3 with a single. Granderson hit what was essentially a double and used quick thinking and hustle to push it to a triple, single-handedly setting up the winning run. Say Crawford doesn't make the catch, and he single-handedly sets up the tying run. Regardless, great job by Curtis, shining his brightest on the national stage.

-I have a billion packages to go through, with all sorts of cards in them. In fact, here's one that you can feast your eyes on:

2009 Topps Attax Curtis Granderson Silver Foil

This hereby closes my 2009 Topps Attax set.

-Speaking of sets, I've been compiling checklists for the public good. Only 2009 so far, but I will keep it updated and start working backwards.

-Speaking of the public good, I am now a full-fledged Zistler. That's right, I am on board with Zistle after realizing that I could supplement my checklists with a collector's tool. I have slowly been uploading checklist information to Zistle and will add pictures as new cards come in.

-The Series 2 retail group break is on and active. I will speak more about this in a separate post, but Hand Collated has discovered that the cards will be released in about 4 weeks. Slots are still open, by the way.

That should wrap it up for now, there are many many posts to come, although I'll try to spread them out to some degree. In the meantime, I leave you with another new addition, this one of the game used variety:

2009 SPx WM4-VGSZ Verlander/Granderson/Sheffield/Zumaya

Brandon Inge To Participate in Home Run Derby

In a nice Detroit News article about Brandon Inge making the All-Star team, I uncovered this juicy little nugget:

Inge also said Thursday he will compete in Monday's Home Run Derby.

"I figured it would be something to have fun with," he said. "I watched the Derby more as a kid than the game. (The game) was too long."

Prepare to be amazed, world.

Given the prevalence with which the "big stars" have generally declined to participate in the Derby in recent years, it is nice to see somebody genuinely excited about the taking part in the event. On behalf of baseball fans everywhere, thank you.

UPDATE: Apparently MLB.com was on top of this late last night. Here's a whole story on Inge "likely" in the Derby.

And There Was Much Rejoicing

Yaaaay!

Final Vote Clock is Ticking

Time's almost up. Take 5 minutes and Vote Brandon Inge and Shane Victorino to the All Star Game!

Free Autographed Brandon Inge Bat Giveaway!

The Tigers are giving away an autographed Inge bat if you vote for him on the team site.

What are you waiting for? Vote Inge!

If you're not interested in the bat (or even if you are, I'm not sure how it works) you can vote from this here blog by clicking the "vote" button above.