Gint-A-Cuffs VI: Packs 16, 17, and 18

Part of me feels like I'm sprinting through this A&G box.  I'm definitely ahead of everyone else in terms of the number of packs I've opened.  I think it's driven by my desire to get the box opened and put away into my collections and the team boxes I have and to send out the stuff I'm sending out to folks as soon as possible.

It's also because I'm impatient when I open boxes and packs of cards and I want to see what I have.  Perhaps I could use a little Patience.

I finished yesterday up with 118.6 points, so let's see what is on tap today.

Pack 16

Well, this website comes to mind.

I get two Yankees who used to be stalwarts on my fantasy teams when they were in the National League -- a normal, base Hiroki Kuroda (-1) and a Pastime's Pastimes Carlos Beltran (+1 after Yankee penalty).  At least the pack isn't completely destructive since it has an A&G back mini of Dan Wheeler -- a Met, thank God, and not a Yankee -- for 2 points.  

So it's a pack total of 3 points.  Could it get worse?  Wait.  Don't answer that.

TOTAL POINTS: 121.6

Pack 17:

It's not worse than the previous pack, but it isn't much better either.  The Holi Festival -- which is a Hindu festival of colors and has now morphed into those weird "Color Runs" that some folks like doing -- is worth 2 points, and so is the short-printed Josh Donaldson.

Pack total of 4 points.  Meh.

TOTAL POINTS: 125.6

Pack 18:

Yet another -1 Yankee.  Then again, I'm glad we're not playing this game with the Archives set. Getting above 10 points would be a feat.

Otherwise, I have the Hisashi Iwakuma Pastime's Pastimes (which is Linguist despite the fact that the card mentions that he "talks to teammates through an interpreter"...methinks Topps was reaching here) for 2 points and 3 points for Rembrandt van Rijn.  One of Rembrandt's "most famous works" listed on the back of the card is Belshazzar's Feast, a painting I saw in London's National Gallery back in 2006.  Four points total.

Yay me.

TOTAL POINTS: 129.6

And so, after three of the most uninspiring packs of Allen & Ginter a guy could open short of a Yankee hot pack, I'm not much further along than I was after yesterday's packs.  The 11 points for 3 packs deal definitely hurt my chances here.

On the bright side, though, I still have one hit and six packs left.  I hope the packs ahead are better than these three.