Dee Gordon Update Plus Two New Autos

Before the baseball season began, I had high hopes for Dodgers lead-off hitter Dee Gordon. There was a lot of hype around the kid, and I was one of the people hyping him up. As long as he got on base, he could steal 60, 70 maybe 80 bases and score a hundred runs with Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier hitting behind him. Things haven't gone that way though. Through May 18, Dee was batting .200 with a .239 OBP, so manager Don Mattingly benched him. I honestly thought Dee was headed back to the minors to work on his game, but he was back in the starting line-up four days later, this time batting eighth.


Since being moved to the bottom of the order, Dee has hit in five straight, going 8 for 18 and raising his batting average to .229 and his OBP to .270. He also added two stolen bases today, his first in more than three weeks. Not exactly great numbers, but he's improving.


I think moving Dee to the bottom of the order was the right thing for Mattingly to do,  a move that probably should have been made sooner. It's like having another lead-off hitter at the bottom of the order. Batting in front of the pitcher will help Dee get on base more and help build his confidence.


I still see flaws with Dee's approach at the plate though. He's still hacking away too much. I would like to see more attempts at bunting for hits, more slapping at the ball and more patience at the plate. Things are getting better though. I guess getting benched was a wake up call.


Onto the cards. I'm still collecting Dee, so when I get trade offers on cards I don't have, I get pretty excited. This trade came from Kevin through the Facebook page 'Sports Cards & Entertainment'. Here's what I got:


2010 Donruss Elite Extra Edition /100. I've got another one of these with a red border numbered to 310, but I love this one much more because it's got the beautiful Dodger blue border.

2011 Bowman Sterling /25. I have the base version of this auto as well, which I'll post another time. I think the black border on this is gorgeous.

These two bring my Dee Gordon auto count up to 17.


Speaking of Dee Gordon, don't forget you can still pre-order your Dee Gordon bobblehead in the sidebar to the right.