the k is for kershaw kountdown - seeing reds

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continues as he pitched against the reds on thursday. he struck out 9 batters to give him 93 strikeouts on the season. those 9 reds that he k'd increased his career total to 2,900.

in honor of his performance, here are 9 cards to represent strikouts 2,892 through 2,900.

2,892 - 2014 bowman platinum gold 

2,893 - 2015 panni prizm red baseball prizm

2,894 - 2016 bowman's best refractor

2,895 - 2017 topps galler artist proof

2,896 - 2018 topps legends in the making blue 

2,897 - 2019 topps inception

2,898 - 2020 topps holiday

2,899 - 2021 topps gold label class 1 black

2,900 - 2022 topps update all-star game black

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and will remain there until he passes zack greinke, who struck out 3 earlier in the week to increase his strikeout total to 2,932. kershaw is now 32 k's behind greinke and an even 100 behind the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw's start against the reds was his second straight start with 9 strikeouts, and included seven scoreless innings to boot! he got phenom elly de la cruz twice, showing that the reds' prospect is human after all.

it would seem that kershaw's next start would come this week against the white sox. regardless of when he makes his next start, i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

how sweet it is, to taste the fruits of victory!

i recently won a contest run by mat at bob walk the plank.  matt and i are frequent traders, and i was really excited to see what a contest winning package would look like given how great his trade packages are. i was not disappointed.

matt sent over a great selection of cards from 2016 panini immaculate, including a gil hodges/ted kluszewski dual relic

and a clayton kershaw/max scherzer dual relic

plus a trayce thompson relic/auto combo!

but the big card in the lot was a 2015 panini prizm corey seager on-card auto

giddyup!

another pittsburgh pirate collector, brian from collecting cutch, also held a contest, and although i was not the randomized winner of that one, i still received some cards.

there were some 2017 topps bunt cards of kenta maeda

and kenley jansen

plus a relic of, as brian put it, 'a former dodger prospect'

that beats the paul konerko relic i was expecting when i first read the note!

awesome cards guys! thanks!

a penny sleeve is a card earned

ben franklin was a wise man, but even he could not foretell the simple joy of trading baseball cards with a fellow collector.  jon at a penny sleeve for your thoughts and i have traded a few times now, and the latest package he sent was something special. however, before i get too deep into this post, head over to jon's blog and enter his (premature) 200th post contest!

on to the cards!  jon was kind enough to find three 1957 topps cards for my slow-going set build

the color on these is fantastic - especially the stone card.  and, is it just me or do others feel like the kansas city a's cards in this set are the most readily available? kind of like rays cards today, i suppose.

jon also sent over some yasiel puig inserts, like this 2014 topps gypsy queen n174 card

this 2015 panini prizm fireworks card

and this 2015 topps heritage chrome card

jon also found and sent this 2016 topps stadium club zach lee gold parallel auto card

which is awesome (au-some?).  unfortunately, topps has had a penchant in recent years for choosing the prospect(s) that the dodgers trade away for inclusion in their sets. lee is now with the padres after the dodgers traded him to the mariners last season, and based on that correlation between cards and trades, i don't expect ross stripling to be a dodger for much longer.

thanks jon, and congrats on approaching 200 posts!