the k is for kershaw kountdown continues!

for the first time in 2024, we have an update on clayton kershaw's career strikeout total.

yes, the kountdown to 3,000 strikeouts for clayton kershaw continued as he took the mound against the giants on thursday in los angeles. he struck out 6 batters to give him 6 strikeouts for the 2024 season. those 6 giants that he k'd increased his career total to 2,950.

in honor of his performance, here are 6 not seen on this blog before cards from my collection to represent strikeouts 2,945 through 2,950.

2,945 - 2011 topps gypsy queen framed green parallel

2,946 - 2013 topps triple threads emerald parallel

2,947 - 2014 topps turkey red

2,948 - 2019 topps chrome xfractor parallel

2,949 - 2020 topps stadium club chrome beam team

2,950 - 2022 topps finest refractor parallel

kershaw remains in 21st place on the all-time leader board, and he will remain there until he passes zack greinke. greinke, who hasn't formally retired but hasn't joined a team so far in 2024, has a career strikeout total of 2,979. kershaw is now 29 k's behind greinke and 50 away from the 3,000 milestone. 

kershaw pitched just four innings in his season debut and recorded his first strikeout in the top of the first inning. he ran into trouble in the top of the third, allowing two runs on four consecutive hits to begin the frame, but then struck out the next three batters to end the giants' threat. for good measure, kershaw k'd the leadoff batter in the fourth for four consecutive strikeouts.

so now we wait and see how he recovers from the first start. if all is well, he should be back on the bump to either close the series in san diego or begin the series in oakland. regardless, when kershaw makes his next regular season appearance, know that i will be back to update the kountdown soon thereafter. stay tuned!

not as advertised

we may well see the 2023 baseball season come to a close tonight if the rangers can win another road game. seeing corey seager continue his strong play in the postseason makes me a bit wistful for what might have been if he had decided to remain with the dodgers, especially given the diametrically opposed results for the two teams this season.

first up here is a 2011 topps heritage advertising panel that i picked up recently

with the back 

that has nothing to do with the front as you would expect from an ad panel. i show it only because it sort of fits with the title - the dodgers weren't as advertised once the postseason began.

the dodgers won the west (again), just like they did back in 2013 - a title which warranted a mural on the outfield wall that showed up on yasiel puig's 2014 topps photo variation card

before the dodgers went full advertising on the outfield wall.

i picked up a couple more variations from 2014 topps featuring hyun-jin ryu and hanley ramirez

celebrating in ways that i was hoping to see more of this year.

i was hoping to see another pennant which would have made this 2023 panini donruss duke snider card

much more relevant.

same for these 2017 topps update sandy koufax cards - heroes of autumn

and storied world series

that could have been used to draw a parallel to the performance of some other postseason participant wearing the dodger uniform.

finally, i was hoping that this 2022 topps stadium club clayton kershaw trophy hunters card

would have stood in for a different trophy that the dodgers would have hoisted.

back to "wait 'til next year" i guess. in the meantime, i can live vicariously through old friends nathan eovaldi

and corey seager.

what the heck, i may as well give the guy his due and recognize him as a ranger

he may well win his second world series mvp trophy tonight!

last gasps

here we are in the middle of june, heading officially in to summer as of today, and the baseball season is in full swing. this year feels a bit different to me thanks to the vast reduction in the number of card releases that have occurred so far - even when you count the 2022 products that were pushed in to this calendar year.

with panini losing their mlbpa license and fanatics streamlining the topps umbrella of products, i figured now would be a good time to share some of the "last gasps" we've seen from panini and 2022 products in general.

i purchased a big lot of panini stuff sometime last year due to the fact that there were some dodgers shown in the listing images, and i wasn't disappointed. these cards are from 2022 panini absolute hobby:

mookie betts icons insert

sandy koufax icons red spectrum parallel insert

andre jackson rookie force relic

dennis santan tools of the trade relic/patch auto

kudos, i guess, to panini for showing santana as a dodger even though he was a texas ranger for the last part of the 2021 season and all of 2022. he's currently a met.

of those players, only sandy koufax stands a chance to be in panini product at this point, but he hasn't shown up yet (2023 panini donruss is, i think, the only 2023 product to be released so far).

here are some from the retail version of 2022 absolute:

roy campanella

cody bellinger

and betts

betts shows up again in my collection with this 2022 panini chronicles xr card

this 2022 panini diamond kings aficionado card

and this 2022 panini donruss unleashed pink fireworks insert parallel card

i think panini is running out of animals to use on the unleashed cards.

moving on to 2022 panini donruss optic, here's a walker buehler lights out insert

and now back to 2022 panini chronicles for this freddie freeman spectra holo parallel

more holo parallel craziness with a 2022 panini donruss holo pink kenley jansen card

and a 2022 panini select holo parallel of julio urias

here's a trea turner 'extreme team' insert from 2022 panini absolute

and a regular old base card of sandy koufax from 2022 panini diamond kings

one of my favorite things about 2022 cards was seeing albert pujols in more releases as a dodger, including 2022 panini absolute - in base

and insert form

along with 2022 panini prizm

koufax and pujols may continue to show up in panini product, as their only options are retired players and prospects beginning in 2023. 

these new releases will look a lot like 2022 panini prizm draft picks, from which this peter heubeck card comes

this is a burgundy cracked ice prizm card, numbered to 23

can't wait to see more peter heubeck cards in future panini releases!

2023 has also seen the release of some 2022 products, so here is a look at some other sorts of "last gasps". i picked up a few dodgers from 2022 bowman platinum

just in case this was my only opportunity to see joey gallo as a dodger. bowman platinum may have come out in december of 2022 now that i think about it, but i didn't pick up these cards until 2023

i also picked up some 2022 topps finest dodgers

and i know these were released in 2023.

in fact, it wasn't until april of this year that we saw 2022 topps stadium club chrome hit the market, and so far i've added a few of the dodgers to my collection:

mookie betts

walker buehler

roy campanella

will smith

and a joey gallo xfractor

i am usually more interested in the new photos used in the chrome set, but i did pick up vladimir guerrero's card

which uses the same photo as the regular old stadium club set.

so by now we've seen the last gasps from panini in terms of current player sets, but we are still waiting on at least one 2022 release - that would be topps chrome platinum anniversary. and i think that 2019 upper deck chasing amy is still "tbd" as far as its release date. someday, maybe.