Collection: 2005 UD SPx Houlton & Izturis

I thought I would take a moment to share a couple more 2005 Upper Deck SPx autograph cards of some former Dodgers.  Check out the DJ Houlton and Cesar Izturis cards above and below.

There was a time when I was sure Izturis would be our long term solution at shortstop.  In 2004 he had a big season where he continued to shine on the field, but also added a little spark with the bat.  He hit .288 and had a respectable OPS of .770 as a lead-off hitter.  Izturis had nearly 200 hits while stealing 25 bases and scoring 90 times.  For his efforts the Dodgers signed him to a mutli-year/ multimillion dollar contract.  However, it was obvious by the next season that 2004 was a career year.  He came back to earth offensively, and was subsequently traded in 2006 for Greg Maddux.

DJ Houlton could never quite stick.  Not that the Dodgers didn't give him a bunch of opportunities.  He started 19 games in 2005, but looked no better then an end of the rotation pitcher.  Ultimately, he was a stopgap until someone better came along.  Today, Houlton has found his grove in Japan.  He has played there since 2008.  In five season in Japan he has a 47-33 record with a 3.32 ERA.

Box Break Winnings: Some Sp's, Bowman's and UD Pennants

Ahhhh..... Another blog driven group break, another hoard of Dodger cards to add to my collection.

Last month I participated in Thorzul Will Rule's June break and snagged the Dodgers (Woo Hoo!). Boxes broken were 2005 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects, 2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants, and 2005 Upper Deck Reflections. Here is the booty.

I don't really know a lot about this modern wax stuff, so I won't go into details. What I do know is that the below two cards are from 2005 Upper Deck Reflections and the cards below are of some former Dodgers who had, let's say, mixed success with the Blue Crew. I still love Eric Gagne, but JD Drew can .... OK, I'm trying to gain my composure here.
Here is the reverse of the above two cards.
These are 2005 Upper Deck Past Time Pennants cards and feature a whole bunch of vintage Dodgers. Unfortunately, I didn't snag any autograph cards in the box break, but I happen to have a whole bunch of them already in my personal collection. Stay tuned over the next coming weeks and months as I put them up in this blog.
Here are the reverse of the above cars.
Here are bunch of 2005 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Dodger cards of players who probably won't amount to much. Oh well, at least a couple of them are shiny.

"Bang, zoom, straight to the moon!"

Kent hit a ball Jackie Gleason would be proud of. "Bang, zoom, straight to the moon!"

Jeff Kent hit a game tying homer in the 7th inning to left center field that tied the score at 1 to 1. It was quite a dinger. Carlos Lee in left field didn't even turn to look. The ball went high in the air and slammed into a steel beam near the glass back wall. It then bounced back towards the outfielder Lee. It was only then that he turned to pick up the ball. The entire Houston crowd was in a collective gasp. "Whoe!?!" Like I said, it was quite a dinger.

Unfortunately, Kent's home run was not the only on hit this evening. Eric Munson lead off the scoring for the Astros with a home run in the third inning. Then, in Houston's part of the 7th inning, Carlos Lee hit his own rocket shot to left field to reclaim the lead for the Astros.

That was all the scoring done this evening. The Astros squeaked through with a 2 to 1 win.

Of note, Lowe left the game in the middle of the 5th inning.

It was unclear why he was removed, but he was visibly upset as he stalked off the field and he threw his glove the length of the dugout after he got there.

DJ Houlton pitched well in his 2 innings, but ultimately took the loss as he gave up the tee shot to Carlos Lee. Beimel and Roberto pitched well in their inning of work.

Oh well. You can't win them all. At least I can look fondly back at Jeff Kent's home run. "Whoe!?!"

Photo Link: Honeymooners.net: