Getting Lucky, aka A Valentine's Day Blaster

So I stopped off at Wal-Mart on my way home from work on Thursday, as I had an itch for some more 2013 Topps.  And check out which patch card I lucked into!  I tell ya, I'm really starting to warm up to these manupatches.

What's that?  You thought I was going to talk about what?  Hey...hey, easy.  This is a family blog.  When I use this forum to talk about getting lucky -- on Valentine's Day or otherwise -- it's solely about cards.  Not all of us are programmed by the FX channel.

Back to the cards, this Wright patch card was a good start.  And also indicative of a couple more pleasant surprises within.

My two ecto-cards were of the New York, New York variety.  I guess the baseball card gods were paying attention when I bemoaned my emerald fortune (or lack thereof) earlier this week.  Finally, a Mets card -- and it's Ike Davis, to boot!  I'm not as excited for the McGehee, but it's a step in the right direction.

This is one of the few cards from the Chasing the Dream group that I really care about obtaining (along with Messrs. Trout, Harper and Niese).  Even for an awesome player like Mike Stanton, this is still a pretty drab card. But, it's a nice add for my small-but-growing Stanton collection.

Verrry happy about this!  This was contained in the first post-patch pack that I opened.  Again, the cardboard overlords were attuned to my recent chirping, as I got one of the two blue parallels that I figured would be the hardest to come by.  Trout, the other, is a whole 'nother ballgame.  But, for now, I'll celebrate this one.

The rest of my blues were also very nice.  Not a dupe among them.  Here's a small sampling:

I haven't seen this A-Gone card previously, and it's definitely one of my favorite from the set.  The photo is a real winner, from Gonzalez's power pose to the wash of Dodger blue and white in the background.  The blue frame really makes the action pop even more.

The Wal-Mart blue count is up to 113 of 330, or 34% complete.  I'm officially past the one-third mark and still feelin' fine.

And, finally, my three mini cards:

Thankfully, I didn't get a repeat the atrocity presented by my last purchase; none of these are exact duplicates of a prior blaster.  At least not one that I've purchased.

Anyhow, I think that's probably the most exciting blaster I've gotten thus far.  It would have been a grand slam had it contained a Cut to the Chase card, but there's no need to get greedy, right?  Well, actually, for $20 bucks I guess it's not asking too much to expect the whole enchilada.  But, I'm rambling.

Happy Friday to all!

MK