Turk-Off Packs 7 & 8

Here we are, already 1/3 of the way through the Turk-Off and we are no closer to uncovering the favorite. This has been as even as even could be. Even Steven, if you will. We are tied 3-3 despite Beardy's shameful effort to circumvent the Commissioner's fair, wise, and just decision on the monstrosity that is the A-Rod Roid to 500 card. Frankly, I was a little embarrassed for him.

I've seen that Beardy has already posted 7&8 but I haven't looked to see his point total. I have it on semi-reliable authority (Beardy himself) that his packs were less than stellar and now's my chance to make my move. I have no doubt that I have an A-Roid card just waiting to rear it's ugly pointless head at the exact wrong moment. we shall see. On to the cards:

Pack 7:

#175 Lance Berkman 0pts
#105 Phil Hughes -1pts (Can I please open a pack without getting a Yankee or JD Drew?)


#144 Jermaine Dye 0pts (The first thing I saw on this card was pinstripes and I almost puked)
#5 Cole Hamels 0pts
#TRR JW Jered Weaver Relic 10pts (My first big hit. Jered Weaver. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have the points, but I'm underwhelmed. I hope I didn't wast this on a pack where Beardy got like 2 pts)


#164 Jorge Posada -1pts (WTF man? Are there 2 Yankees in every pack or something? I already have a freakin' Posada. This isn't even about the Turk-Off anymore. Enough with the Yankees already.)


#131 Jose Jose Jose Jose! 0pts (Another double)
#50 Jason Giambi -1pts (I'm seriously getting pissed. If I lose this pack even though I got a relic I'm finding whoever collated it and they're getting the old potato sack.)


Pack 7 Total: 7 Points

Pack 8:

#30 Barry Bonds 0pts (Why didn't we make him a Major Star? Oh yeah, everybody hates that guy.)
#41 Barry Zito 0pts
#59 Carlos Beltran 0pts
#11 Kenji Johjima -1pts (Figures)


#12 Orlando Hernandez 0pts
#87 David Eckstein Chrome Refractor +5pts (Look at that guy, even the shininess of being Chrome AND a refractor can't remove all of the grit. He is one gritty SOB. He plays the game right. All of the other wonderful things announcers say about small white players with limited talent. Don't get me wrong...sweet card.)


#138 Shawn Green 0pts
#78 Curt Schilling 0pts

Pack 8 Total: 4 points

Judging by what Beardy said in his email that should be enough to take both packs. Unless, of course, he was just strategizing and trying to lull me into a false sense of security. I must admit, that would be a good strategy. If I knew that I needed a lot of points I would concentrate much harder and pull better cards probably.

Turk Off Packs 5 + 6

I see that Beardy really screwed the pooch with his last 2 packs. Here is my chance to climb back into this thing.

C'mon....Momma wants a....NEW PAIR'A SHOES!!!

Pack 5:

#81 Juan Pierre 0pts
#127 Ryan Zimmerman 0pts
#180 Miguel Cabrera 2pts


#90 Justin Morneau 0pts
#59 Carlos Beltran Chrome 3pts


#164 Jorge Posada -1pts


#131 Jose Jose Jose Jose! 0pts
#50 Jason Giambi -1pts


Pack 5 Total: 3 points (Damn Yankees)

My God, I've been getting a lot of Yankees. I hate these deductions. I just keep telling myself I'm getting them out of the way early. Either that or I have a Yankees dream box and I'm screwed.

Pack 6:

#125 Michael Young 0pts
#60 Mariano Rivera -1pts (What the hell is it with me pulling all of these freakin Yankees?)


#107 Mickey Mantle 1pts


#96 Derrek Lee 0pts
#126 JD Drew Chrome + 3pts (chrome)-3pts (Drew) = 0pts(THIS IS BULLSHIT! Who decided that JD Drew should be a penalty?...Oh yeah, that was me.)


#16 Stand Up Double 0pts
#27 Roy Halladay 2pts


#37 Edgar Renteria 0pts

Pack 6 Total: 2 Points

Even with only 2 points I still beat Beardy on that pack. Thank God because if I lost both of these I don't think I'd have a chance to recover.

The first pack is still up in the air. We are going to need a ruling by Commissioner Dayf on what that A-Rod card is worth. It sure would be rough to lose on that dumb-ass card but I will abide by any decision made by the Commish.

The Dude abides...you know?

It got late here trying to get this up tonight. I probably won't be able to get another 2 packs done until tomorrow after work. It's my early day tomorrow so I hope to get it up by 5 PM.

Beardy, make sure I scored that JD Drew Chrome correctly. I just figured that we subtract 3 from the total for those players from what the hit would have been worth otherwise.

Turk Off Packs 3 & 4

After Packs 1 & 2 the Turk Off is tied. There has already been a dispute about the Checklist card I pulled. It features Pujols but is not really a base card. We'll figure it out shortly or turn it over to The Commish for a ruling. I would still win the pack but it will affect the overall running points total. **

Pack 3:

#77 Mickey Mantle 1pts (A pretty good start to pack 3)


#185 Vlad Guerrero 2pts (I'm on a roll)


#140 Alfonso Soriano 0pts
#155 Alex Rios 0pts
#93 Carlos Gomez 0pts
#103 Eric Byrnes SP 8pts (I'm a SP pulling Master!)


#138 Shawn Green 0pts
#78 Curt Schilling 0pts

Pack 3 Total: 11 Points

Pack 4:

#177 Kyle Kendrick 0pts
#108 Felix Pie 0pts
#166 Jose Reyes 0pts
#17 Stephen Drew 0pts (Whew. I thought it was JD for a second)
#75 Tyler Clippard 0pts
#16 Stand Up Double Checklist 0pts
#27 Roy Halladay 2pts


#37 Edgar Renteria 0pts

Pack 4 Total: 2 points

So, we'll see what Beardy gets. Once again I got a pretty good pack and a pretty lousy one. I still think I can win both packs because of Beardy's overall lack of Turking skills. You should see that guy try to Turk...it's pathetic. He'll get lucky a few times here but overall be stands very little chance.

Oh, by the way, I'd like to address the lowlife SOBs who voted for Beardy on the poll. How dare you? On my own blog no less. A pox on all of your houses.

**I've decided to deduct the points from the Prince Albert checklist card. It isn't a true base card. It shouldn't count.

Turk Off Packs 1 & 2

Oh My God The Beardy Is Toast

Pack 1:

#97 Don Kelly -1pts (You've got to be kidding me. Way to start it off)


#46 Billy Wagner 0pts
#104 Eric Chavez -1pts (What the hell is going on here?)


#1 Ryan Howard (Same as Chipper. How is this guy not on the Stars list?)
#155 Alex Rios Chrome 3pts (Too little too late for this pack. I'm glad we don't get penalized for having a card that is really off center.)


#181 Mark Teahen 0pts
#65 Mike Cameron 0pts
#67 Chase Wright 0pts

Pack 1 Total: 1 pts

Pack 2:

#51 Brandon Webb 0pts
#40 Chipper Jones 0pts
#149 Joe Smith 0pts
#151 Grady Sizemore +3pts (There it is!)


#35 Andy Pettite -1pts (Dammit!)


#73 Mark Buehrle SP 8pts


#38 Tim Hudson 0pts
#48 Prince Albert Checklist 0pts



Pack 2 Total: 10 pts

Pack 1 sucked, Pack 2 was strong. See Beardy, I know how to pull a good card without it being a Yankee. How come you can't do the same

Turk Off Rules Finalized

Beardy has set down the final rules for the Turk Off. I'm 96.7% sure that we got everything covered. In the unlikely scenario that there is some sort of dispute that we cannot hash out for ourselves I have appointed Dayf to the the 2007 Turk Off Commishioner.

Dayf has not been approached about this and he has certainly not agreed to it. It's mostly a ceremonial position, like the King of Canada or whatever they have up there. It carries with it no real responsibilities. I just thought we needed a Commish, mostly to try to intimidate Beardy with Dayf's formidable beard.

Dayf cannot reject or turn down this offer. He's the Commish. He gets no say in that decision.

OK, On with the rules:

BASE
0 base card
+1 Indian or Oriole base
-1 Yankee base
+2 major stars base (Mantle, Pujols, Halladay, Wright, Mauer, Griffey, Santana, Hanley Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera, Vladdy Guerrero)
-1 points if we pull base of Kenji Johjima, JD Drew, Kelvin Jiminez, Eric Chavez, or Don Kelly
+3 Markakis or Sizemore base
YANKEE MAJOR STAR BASE WORTH 1pt

HITS
+3 Chrome
+5 Chrome Refractor
+10 Chrome Black Refractor
+15 Chromograph
+10 Relic
+5 President
+20 Silk
+8 for a SP or Ad Back
+7 Cabinet
+20 Cabinet Dick Perez Auto

MULTIPLIER FOR "HITS"
x2 If any of those pulls are Indians or Orioles
x3 If any hits are of major stars (Mantle, Pujols, Halladay, Wright, Mauer, Griffey, Santana, Hanley Ramirez, Miguel Cabrera, Vladdy Guerrero)
DIVIDE BY 2 FOR ALL YANKEE HITS, INCLUDING MAJOR STARS (Jeter refractor 5pts for refractor x3 star player multiplier, divided by 2 for being a Yank = 7.5pts.)
x7 If it's Markakis or Sizemore
-3 points if we pull a hit of Kenji Johjima, JD Drew, Kelvin Jiminez, Eric Chavez, or Don Kelly
x100 for Group A Chromographs (A -Rod, David Wright, Sheffield, Jason Bay, Damon, Peavy, and Ryan Howard)
x20 for Daisuke Matsuzaka Relic
x2 for James K. Polk or Benjamin Harrison President cards

The front and back of all Ad Backs must be scanned, for posterity's sake.


SP List

Bad Wax Break: 2004 Upper Deck Vintage

Here are the 2 packs I got for the group break at Bad Wax. 2004 Uper Deck Vintage.

Pack 1

Matt Roney7 #114 I have no smart ass comments I can think of for Matt Roney


















Benito Santiago #42 I don't think that Benito gets enough credit for how good he was.


















Bernie Williams #107




















Randy Johnson #72 Now we're talking. Randy Johnson. What a handsome man.


















David Wells #97 David Wells, the man who once threw a no-hitter with a half eaten cheese steak sanwhich in his back pocket and didn't lose a single onion. Or, something like that.

















Here is the card they give you if you did NOT pull a relic or auto (forshadowing?)



















A.J. Pierzynski #205 I hate this asshole. I don't thik that puts me in very exclusive company.


















Alex Escobar #31 My first Indian. What a happy day



















Jamie Moyer #251 This is form 2004. Loook at how old Jamie is. He can't have much left in the tank. He certainly won't be pitching 3-4 years from this card.....right?


















Pack Grade: ehhhhh 2/5 Nothing spectacular.








Pack 2:
Esteban Loaiza #130 Man, Loaiza sure had a good year right before this card. What happened to this guy. It seemed like he only pitched well against the Tribe for some reason.
















Freddy Garcia #87





















Robb Quinlan #208 Why the two "r"s Robb? A little pretentius don't you think?




















Alex Rodriguez #7 I don't care what you think about this guy. Getting A-Rod is a good oull. And look at him back in the loosey goosey era when he wqas using steroids. Look how much bigger he is. He definately stopped when he got to NY, right\?......right? Anyone back me up here?

















Mark Mulder #149 I consider this a decent pull. Mulderused to be great. What ever happened to this guy?


















Jim Thome Steller Stat Men #SSSM-15 There it is!!!!!My awesome pull of the day!!!!! Who would have thought that I would pull this card? And, it's Thome to boot... a former Trabesman. I love Thome. Can't believe I pulled the relic here. This is exciting.








Adam Kennedy #118 I Got Nothin'





















Wes Helms #279 Nothin' again.





















Placido Polanco #29

Pack Prognosis 4.5/5

Hard to think of a better pack. I got plenty of stiffs but how can you complain about that when you also have A-Rod and The Jim Thome Relic.

Thanks Chemgod. I'll keep in these breaks. That was fun.

Bad Wax Break: 2000 Bowman Chrome

I got 2 packs in the Bad Wax Group Break of 2000 Bowman Chrome. Here is what I got:

B.J Surhoff #67 Not a terrible first pull. Even after all of these years my brain STILL wants to call him Shuroff. Never quite got over that.


















Justin Thompson #54 Who?




















T.J. Tucker #275 Look at T.J. He sure doesn't look like he's screwing around, does he? Maybe he should have loosened up a bit. Then maybe I'd have heard of him before.

















B.J. Ryan #295 Man, I sure got a lot of players with initials instead of first names.



















Pack Prognosis: 2.5/5 due to pulling Shuroff and the novelty of all of the initials.

Pack 2:

Jason Kendall #128 Could be worse




















Corey Myers #183 Here's Corey Myers looking every bit the player that I've never heard of 9 years after this card.


















Gary Matthews Jr. #262 Great. A player that I've at least heard of and had a few good years in the majors.


















Rafael Furcal Rookie Class #RC9 Sweet. Some Kind of parallel. And, a player I've heard of too.


Pack Prognosis 3/5 - A little better than the first one due ot the Furcal, but still not nearly as good as some of the others. At least I hope not. It this is the best that we have to offer, than why did we even bother?