the k is for kershaw kountdown continues - giant slayer edition!

clayton kershaw made his sixth appearance of the 2025 season saturday night against the giants at dodger stadium, so i am pleased to be able to post another edition of the k is for kershaw kountdown as we track his progress to the 3,000 strikeout milestone.

coming off his best start of the season, kershaw registered another solid outing, going seven innings without allowing a run (matching the best outing by a dodger starter this season) and striking out five giants in the process. those 5 nocal's he k'd bring his season strikeout total to 20, and his career total to 2,988.

in honor of his performance, here are five cards (not seen on this blog before) from my collection to represent strikeouts number 2,984 through 2,988.

2,984 - 2024 topps finest

2,985 - 2014 topps wins leaders walmart blue parallel

2,986 - 2018 topps big league nl whip leaders gold parallel

2,987 - 2019 topps heritage 1970 scratchoff

2,988 - 2019 topps high tek

kershaw's night included allowing only three hits and just one walk to go with his five strikeouts. he faced the minimum number of batters through the first two innings (thanks to a walk-canceling double play) and then registered a strikeout in each of his last five frames. it was a low stress outing, as the dodgers piled on the runs early, and the giants did not mount any sort of rally against kershaw whatsoever.

kershaw's performance saturday night also reclaimed solo possession of first place in the national league west for the dodgers after they lost the series opener to the giants on friday and fell into a tie with their division rivals. it's worth noting that kershaw has struck out more players pitching against the giants than any other team, although that's not really a surprise given the old unbalanced schedules that teams would play.

here are some non-kershaw cards - starting with a 2007 topps moments & milestones russell (russ) martin card

martin was the catcher for kershaw's debut back in 2008. i would like to see kershaw asked to name the starters who were behind him that day because i sure as heck didn't recall a dodger named luis maza who started that game at second base.

seeing the 2019 topps heritage insert above referring to kershaw as "team captain" got me thinking about austin barnes. i recently read a quote from mookie betts - it may have been on a card back - that barnes (who served as kershaw's unofficial personal catcher for a few seasons) was the team captain of late. of course, he was recently released by the club. here's a 2021 topps big league rainbow foil parallel that features barnes and company as they celebrate the 2020 world series win

that is barnes, of course, in the catcher's gear. he is part of a very short list of dodger catchers (john roseboro, rick dempsey, and will smith are the others) to catch the final out of a dodger world series victory.

of course, you can't mention dodger catchers and kershaw without thinking of a.j. ellis. here is his 2013 topps gold parallel card

that features kershaw prominently.

kershaw is still in 20th place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there unless he passes john smoltz (or is himself passed). smoltz has a career strikeout total of 3,084 and so kershaw is now 96 k's behind smoltz, but just 12 away from the 3,000 milestone. for what it's worth, he has moved past smoltz on the all-time wins leaderboard and is now tied with mark buehrle and rick reuschel with 214.

kershaw should be back on the mound later this week against the padres. know that when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned! 

my topps series 2 hobby box was good to me

my hobby box of 2025  topps series 2 that i ordered directly from topps showed up on thursday, the day after the official release date. that was quicker than i expected, but i waited until friday afternoon to open it up. being a dodger fan, the box was good. nothing really exciting, but good.

shohei ohtani is the cover guy for series 2 - here's a wrapper

i don't know how people attack boxes, but i open packs by the stack. this time, i started with the lower right hand stack. 

pack 1

josh smith, esteury ruiz, st. louis cardinals

the most prominent person on the cardinals' card is an umpire.

jd martinez, andy pages, jarren duran

first dodger just five cards into the box!

austin martin, jon singleton, victor robles

i will give you a closer look at singleton's card in a bit. robles with a bubble during a swing is not something you see a lot of.

billy cook, clayton kershaw and sandy koufax dynamic duos, milwaukee brewers

first pack comes through with a decent dodger insert! here's a closer look:

nowhere on the card, front or back, does it say "dynamic duos". the card number has a "dd" prefix though.

pack 2:

james outman, ezequiel duran, darren baker

another pack, another dodger. plus the son of dusty!

jose soriano, nathan lukes, cubs 3 and no-no checklist

soriano looks like he's straight out of 1979 with the classic california angels' uni.

sean murphy, reynaldo lopez, frankie montas

juan yepez, jon singleton blue rainbow foil #44/150, grayson rodriguez

two packs, two jon singleton cards. here's that closer look i promised

new for series 2 are a number of colored rainbow foil parallels. this is the blue one, and i much prefer it to the holofoil parallels that have all that noise. as for singleton's card in particular, his bat is almost hidden as it breaks the border in a pretty spectacular way.

from here on out, i will list the cards, but only show a select few.

pack 3:

michael massey

paul goldschmidt

and so the photoshopping begins. i expected to see goldy (and many other players in series 2) with their new teams in update, but that is not the case.

thomas saggese

shota imanaga

ryan weathers

stone garrett

minnesota twins

a different viewpoint here, with the photographer on the line in front of the player headed for home. i really like these twins uniforms!

pittsburgh pirates

jonathan cannon

nestor cortes

the last pitch he threw as a yankee was hit by freddie freeman into the right field pavilion at dodger stadium.

alec bohm 1990 35th anniversary

simeon woods-richardson

pack 4:

jake meyers

another cropping fail by topps, in my opinion. show the entirety of his glove!

cal raleigh

2025 home run machine! 

michael mercado

eduardo rodriguez

joey estes

edward cabrera

yariel rodriguez

chicago white sox

kevin alcantara 

this won't be last you see of kevin (not sandy) alcantara

david fry

landon knack

making good dodger team set progress!

shane mclanahan

pack 5:

jack flaherty

no photoshopping the world champion here; this is a pre-trade deadline shot of flaherty from last season.

josh lowe

roki sasaki

what in the wide world of sports is going on here?! i am thankful to have pulled sasaki's rookie from a pack, but i really wish topps would have waited until update or worked harder to get a real photo of him for the base set. his golden mirror card uses a photo from his initial workout at dodger stadium, so they could have made it happen instead of giving us this photoshopped monstrosity. seriously, it reminds me of the worst of topps' airbrushing in the past. like 1984 topps traded ron reed bad.

that card is so bad, i don't even have it in my "name/number on the back" collection. instead, it's in my sportlots inventory. 

darell hernaiz

bobby miller

that's a nice way to cleanse the palette. noticing miller's cleats and glove reminds me to wish everyone a happy father's day, by the way.

max scherzer

another one that should have waited for update.

zach brzykcy

instead of commenting on the name, i will note that this photo is a breath of fresh air among the majority of the pitcher cards. there are a lot of cards like scherzer's and a lot of screaming pitchers, but not many with a photo like this one.

heider montero

nolan jones 

michael conforto gold parallel #1341/2025

this box likes me.

gerrit cole summer superstars

a summer themed card using a photo of cole from game 5 of the world series. maybe even the fifth inning?

teoscar hernandez and bobby witt jr mutual admiration club checklist

i believe there are three dodger checklist cards in series 2.

now moving to the upper right corner of the box.

pack 6:

taijuan walker

brady basso

elias diaz

eguy rosario

yosver zulueta

zach mckinstry

jordan hicks

nick castellanos

gustavo campero

pavin smith

kevin alcantara 1990 35th anniversary

there's alcantara again!

gordon graceffo

pack 7:

daniel schneemann

javier baez

casey schmitt

ben casparius

hand over heart

luis peralta

christian javier

fist over heart.  now, there are only so many poses that are displayed on the field, but it seemed to me that there were a few packs where similarly posed (i know it's not really a pose) players were featured closely in the same pack. 

blake snell

10th dodger of the box!

isaac collins

joey bart

jack neely

matthew boyd 

ryan mcmahon

pack 8:

kutter crawford

that's the most chest hair we've seen on a card since 1984 fleer.

jose iglesias

zack gelof

matt mclain

gleyber torres

kumar rocker

jorge mateo

there's another example. two guys doing a josh harrison impersonation in the same pack.

trea turner

grant holman

brayan bello

rafael devers summer superstars

isiah kiner-falefa

pack 9:

tyler o'neill

this is a fantastic card. i love it. the green monster has been assaulted since the last time (or is it never?) the panels were replaced. and we can see (almost) all of o'neill's glove!

byron buxton

another fantastic card for buck. he's still my favorite non-dodger, and i really like this card!

heston kjerstad

detroit tigers c'mere you! checklist

willie adames

aaron nola

toronto blue jays

the city connect uniforms are showing up on cards way too often. the true photo version of this card would have me scratching my head for a bit.

max fried

another card that would have been better served by a real photo.

kevin alcantara 1990 relic card

so here's my guaranteed hit. it's a kevin alcantara hot box!

player worn relic, witnessed by topps. all the hallmarks of a dressing room session featuring who knows how many jerseys.

julian aguilar

only 10 cards (instead of 12) in that pack thanks to the hit.

pack 10:

spencer strider

brandon woodruff

jose tena

new york mets

nick fortes 

bo bichette

harrison bader

jared jones

mookie betts and freddie freeman two in blue checklist

that's the second dodger checklist of the box.

jonathan cannon purple rainbow foil #150/250

and the second colored rainbow foil parallel.

jackie robinson 1990 all-star 35th anniversary

the box keeps on giving!

wenceel perez

on to the lower left of the box.

pack 11:

miguel andujar

gavin lux

i am thankful for lux's last at bat as a dodger.

taylor walls

steward berroa

tyler anderson

michael wacha

victor scott ii

spencer evens

bryan reynolds

jairo iriarte

ben joyce

kenley jansen

this photoshop job is not as bad as the others i've seen in this box so far.

12

adam duvall

gary sanchez

jacob young

san francisco giants

wyatt langford

alex bregman 

this photoshop job isn't bad, either.

jorge polanco

kyle isbel

brendan donovan

troy taylor

mark mcgwire 1990 all-star 35th anniversary

i was surprised to find a card of big mac. i wonder if pete rose cards are in our future now that he is off the ineligible list.

ronny mauricio

pack 13:

felix bautista

pablo lopez

i do not care for the twins' official city connect uniforms.

endy rodriguez

elly de la cruz and cj abrams think fast! checklist

seth johnson

javier assad

the cubs' city connect uniforms strike me as a local town ball team's with the "wrigleyville" text

oswaldo cabrera

noelvi marte

alek thomas

austin barnes

former dodger, but two-time world champion!

luis peralta rainbow foil

parker meadows

pack 14:

nick madrigal

sean manaea

here's one of those screaming pitchers. good view of the bud harrelson and jerry grote memorial patches.

sal frelick

alexis diaz

edmundo sosa

hayden birdsong

steven kwan

jonathan aranda

tomoyuki sugano

lenyn sosa

jackson merrill ops leaders insert

jake fraley

i am going to show the next pack in its entirety because it reminded me of opening flagship packs back in 1978. no inserts. no big names. just a bunch of guys.

pack 15:

jeimer candelario

austin gomber

will wagner

bo naylor, jt realmuto, bryce teodosio

brendan rodgers, randy vasquez, luke weaver

jackson jobe, austin hedges, hunter brown

two guardian catchers in the same pack. i don't think i pulled johnny oates and steve yeager from the same pack back in 1978 or 1979. 

on to the final stack!

pack 16:

blaze alexander

mookie betts

more dodger goodness!

yandy diaz

not sure how the rays' city connect jerseys connect to the city of tampa.

hyeseong kim

another guy i expected to wait until update.

kansas city royals

kyle mccann

eury perez

marcus semien

garrett crochet

juan soto

luisangel acuna

tyler fitzgerald

so pack 16 is the antithesis to pack 15. a bunch of good looking cards, including two of the biggest names in the game and a couple of rookies that i am at least aware of.

here's the back of soto's card

my only complaint continues to be the lack of set recognition on inserts. it's ok to admit that upper deck did it right!

pack 17:

randal grichuk

salvador perez

jordan walker

sean burke

zac gallen

mj melendez

nolan gorman

when i first saw this card, i assumed it was a variation, because the photo comes from the rickwood field game. however, it's just gorman's base card.

kirby yates

i figured that yates wouldn't get a card as a dodger until update, if then. i was wrong.

brandon eisert

christian walker

francisco lindor and juan soto dynamic duos

javier sanoja

pack 18:

mike burrows

anthony santander

santander was an oriole when this photo was taken at dodger stadium.

garrett mitchell

max muncy

last dodger of the box.

michael helman

dominic fletcher

carlos rodon

walter pennington

mason miller

jon singleton

jackson jobe 1990 35th anniversary

it shouldn't be a surprise given his last name, but jobe will be undergoing tommy john surgery.

robert suarez

there were some doubles there in that pack, unfortunately.

pack 19:

stuart fairchild

minnesota twins hi mom! checklist

it's father's day weekend, but this is a decent card.

miguel amaya

kodai senga

wilyer abreu

tobias myers 

shane bieber

lucas erceg

valente bellozo

more screaming pitchers.

victor robles

billy cook

reynaldo lopez

jaden hill

and a few more doubles, too.

pack 20:

caden dana

alex cobb

johan rojas

jt ginn

jason foley

frankie montas

juan yepez

pittsburgh pirates

yordan alvarez summer superstars

adley rutschman

that last pack confused me. there were only 10 cards, including a few doubles, but no relic or anything else. topps owes me two cards, i guess.

i am not sure how much more of series 2 i will buy. i've already ordered the few dodgers i am missing from the team set plus a couple of additional 1990 design inserts. i don't miss finding the stars of mlb in every pack so i will probably avoid retail packages. never say never though.

the box was topped with the anticipated silver pack. here's what was inside:

david ortiz

ezequiel tovar

jose ramirez

william contreras

my dodger luck had run out!

there was also a promo for toppsripped

that featured 2025 card images

i spy the dancing dodgers mookie betts variation there. you know, he's not dancing he is doing an oblique crunch. the dancing is both arms over your head like freddie freeman at the usher concert. anyway, the series 1 promo for toppsripped featured 2024 card images, so i am glad topps made an update.

speaking of update, i guess we should prepare ourselves for a host of rookie debut cards and other nonsense.