Speaking of shortstops

It's amusing to me that the last two Dodgers I needed to complete the Topps Series 2 base team set were two shortstops for the Dodgers who are no longer shortstops for the Dodgers.

Of course, there's Rafael Furcal, seen earlier today making nice-nice to Albert Pujols during St. Louis infield practice. Be careful Albert, he breaks easily.

And there's Ivan DeJesus Jr., who's been squeezed out of his shortstop position by the Dodgers' new shortstop, Dee Gordon. DeJesus is now playing second base for Triple A Albuquerque, which is good because L.A. really needs a second baseman who comes with a future.

Both of these cards arrived last week from madding at Cards on Cards (that's right, a Cardinals fan sent me a card of a player who is now a member of his team). All that's left for me now from Series 2 are some of those blasted Dodger inserts, and of course some diamond parallels.

But it won't be enough for me to buy anymore Series 2, unless Topps has another clever packaging scheme like with Series 1 (Here's an idea, Topps: package Series 2 with Allen & Ginter or Lineage in one of those $15 value boxes. You will drain my savings this way. You're welcome).

Meanwhile, I'm still working on parallels from last year.

This is the refractor version of 2010 Chrome Manny. I pulled at least six regular Chrome Mannys from those rack packs last year, and even 2 or 3 xrefractor Mannys. But no refractors. Madding knew this all the way on the other side of the country and sent it to me.

This card need was a little more obvious. I believe I said right on the Cards on Cards blog that this was a Hideo Nomo card that had escaped me.

And I believe I received this card just so I could wallow in the idiocy of it all. These gold foil stamped "preview" and "first-edition" cards are a crime against collecting. Have I said that before? Have I said it 10,000 times? Because that's my goal.

Oooooooooooooooh. It's an on-card Johnny Podres autograph! Pay no attention to the smudge underneath his name. That's a scanner glass-cleaning issue.

This is very cool. I've been doing quite well with obtaining Podres cards this year, between the vintage and the autographs. Considering he is an immortal Dodger hero and that he grew up just a few hours from me, I think it's only appropriate.

By the way, Dee Gordon was 1-for-4 and grounded into a double play in his return to the Dodgers this afternoon. Meanwhile, the Dodgers traded outfield prospect Trayvon Robinson to the Red Sox (who dealt him to the Mariners). L.A. did pick up some farm system help in the Robinson deal, but I get nervous anytime Ned deals with Boston. Organizations like the Red Sox and Braves seem too smart, and I feel like they're fleecing every team that deals with them.

We'll see what becomes of catcher Tim Federowicz, pitcher Stephen Fife, and reliever Juan Rodriguez, as well as outfielder Alex Castellanos. Ned doesn't exactly inspire optimism.