I will be leaving on a trip to Virginia Beach, VA to visit my son.  Unfortunately I will not be able to attend some of the Dodger games.  This will be the second time this season that I will miss some games.  I feel a little sad.  Actually I feel a little beside myself.  MY GUYS WILL MISS ME!!!!  Well, actually my Dodger usher Ernie will miss me.  My security person Juan will miss me.  Linda will miss me.  Maybe James, Matty, Andre and Russell will notice that I am not in my usual spot in the front row with camera in hand.

My dilemma.  I really have nothing to wear.  Most of my clothes are Dodger blue and have Dodgers written across the front.  My jacket is Dodger Blue and has Matt Kemp signed on it over my heart and James Loney on the other side.  I suppose my son is used to the way his mom is.  Actually he also is a Dodger fan and sometimes humors me by wearing some of his Dodger wear when in my presence.  He does know how to please his mom.  He  got the Dodger skins for my two phones which I constantly get comments on from my Dodger fan friends.  I know I’ll have a nice time in Virginia.  I always do.  And silly me, I cry when I have to leave and usually sit in the plane with tears in my eyes all the way back to LA.  I have two loves:  my son and my Dodgers.  Both bring me great joy!   

I’m not going so far as to write that “L” word.  Simply put, it was a losing day for me.  Number one my Dodgers did not win.  They had many hits but not many runs.  Clayton had a high pitch count.  He had problems finding the strike zone.  Weaver’s little brother also had the same problem.  However the contest ended in the 8th inning.  The Angels came out on top for last nights game.  Tonights will be different.

The Dodgers do have to lose once in a while.  I almost forgot what it was like to not win.  I suppose I should not have become comfortable with win after win but like I have said before, it feels so good to win.  The streak had to end sometime.  It really affected me.  Okay, now I’m over it and am ready to go back to Dodger Stadium and cheer our guys on again.  Randy Wolf will start today.  He has been wonderful so I am confident of a win. Our bullpen has been great too.  Who would have thought that we could do this well without “the star”??

Back to losses.  I did not win the mini camcorder that was the prize on Confessions of a She Fan.  I was disappointed.  I would have loved to tell my son that i had won a prize with our picture when I visit him next week.  Oh well, I think I like that little camcorder so much I am going to buy one in Virginia.  The tax is quite a bit less over there.  Our state tax is almost 10 percent.  In Virginia I think it is almost half.  I liked the pictures but I liked the one of the mom sitting in front of the television with her two little ones.  That was priceless.  It tells a story too.  A mom teaching her children of her love for baseball.  It is a tradition.  I think she could have put that camcorder to good use with her little ones.  I voted for that one.

And I am not one of the top 100 MLBLogs.  I do know that Jane, Julia, Harold,  my wonderful Padres fan Kaybee, Canuck, King of Cali, my wonderful friend Linda read it.  I suppose 7 people reading my blog isn’t enough.  Go figure,   :) 

So I think I will go to the Dugout Club today and drown out my sorrows with the buffet and a lot of Diet Coke.  I knitted something for my fave Matty and hope to run into hiim.  The Dodger staff have always been very kind to me and know how much I love my Dodgers.so they will help me through this.  As usual, as soon as I go through the magic gates of Dodger Stadium, I will forget anything ugly or unpleasant.  It’s my special liife outside my own sometimes chaotic one.  I love the Dodgers.  GO DODGERS!!   

Sunday evening while I was at work, we felt a little earthquake.  At first I thought that the tube system at the hospital was falling apart and grumbled about the fact that maybe we would have to take our specimens up to the lab by hand.  Then I realized that it was more than that.  It was a minor eathquake centered around Inglewood.  Long Beach is just a few miles from there.  I am so used to earthquakes I didn’t think much about it but it did rattle a few nerves. It brought to mind the many earthquakes I have felt in my lifetime.  Many.  But of course, I’ve never been in a fire like Jane Heller (Confessions of a She Fan) or a tornado, flood, tsunami, so I think I am lucky.

The other event that shook my world was the game last night with the Mets.  It was one of the most interesting games I have seen lately made more interesting because I was surrounded by Mets fans.  I sat in the Dugout Club again, lucky me.  I saw Tommmy Lasorda sitting alone at a table and gathered up enough courage to go up and talk tto him.  He smiled at me and waited to see what I would say.  I muttered something about just wanting to say hi and ran away.  For once in my life I couldn’t think of anything to say except nice team we have this year.  Nice Team??? Egad!  Now I wish I had gotten a picture of him, an autograph, had some sort of intelligent conversation with him. Shoulda coulda woulda.

Matty and Juan

But back to the Mets game.  There was one crazy skinny girl, a Mets fan who must have been on something because she kept standing up and dancing for no reason.  Her friend kept taking photos of her in ridiculous poses with the Mets players in the background.  It was a little distracting. I would not have been that happy if I were her.  I always end up sitting behind someone with a super large head and last night was also the case.  His wife would sit forward and lean her head into his making the view very limited. I was so relieved  when they became so unhappy with the game, they left in the tenth inning.  All my pictures from last night have part of their heads in it.     Five errors.  As the errors compounded, the Mets fans became more vocal and disgruntled.  One of the fans mentioned something about Keystone Cops at one point.  When poor Ryan Church missed third base which was an immediate out, I actually felt sorry for them.  I think that the game may become a wealthy source for bloopers.  For a number one team of the Eastern Division, iit was a sad state of affairs.  And all I hear is that the Mets gave the Dodgers a gift.  I don’t look at it that way.  Randy Wolf pitched another fine game.  Juan Pierre again had an outstanding game.  Those who love to down Juan need to watch him play.  He is a hard worker, he practices, he is serious about his job.  Some fans who admit that Pierre is doing a marvelous job only can comment that his outstanding playing will serve well in trading for a pitcher later on.   Let’s give Juan some credit here.  Mark Loretta is a good addition to the Dodgers as well.  I still bring up the fact that when I met him before the season began, I told him he became a Dodger just in time to play in the World Series with them. 

I am a finalist in Jane Heller’s contest to win a mini video recorder.  Everyone take a look and if you like my picture, please vote for it.  Vote for #3.  Gee, I feel like I’m on Idol or Dancing with the Stars.  http://janeheller.mlblogs.com.  Her blog is Confessions of a She Fan which is the number one mlblog for good reason..  Her blog is funny and informative.  She also wrote a book based on her blog.  It is being made into a movie.  Is that so cool?  And congratulations to her Yankees for their winning streak.

Back to the game last night…by the 11th inning, the Mets fans were so disgusted they left in droves.  The very nice Mets fans who sat next to me were planning on going to the Lakers game tonight.  I hope they have more fun tonight than last night

David Wright of the Mets.

Today may have been the turning point for the Boys in Blue who in an exciting game beat the Phillies 5-3 in 10 innings.  The Dodgers have a record of 24-12 which is the best record in the National League.  So those of you who say that the Dodgers have not played any challenging teams, how about beating the Phillies 2 out of 3 games to win the series.  Todays game was heartstopping.  Obviously the team is back.

James Loney has broken out with homeruns in consecutive games.  Russell has come back with timely hits.  Matty Kemp almost hit for the cycle hitting a single, double and triple, not counting his huge defensive plays.  Billingsley had another outstanding game.  And how about Broxton’s second blown save but still coming out as the winning pitcher.  Troncoso has come out of nowhere and has become a super reliever.

The Dodgers have come back with a vengeance.  Those of you have who have written them off should come back and watch some games.  We Dodger fans have maintained that Manny was only one cog in the wheel, admittedly an important one, but the team is made up of very talented guys.  Many of the vital players are homegrown:  Loney, Kemp, Martin, Billingsley, Kershaw among them.  They are coming of age.  Getting those important runs in the 10th show their determiniation.  They have not always played well on the road but somehow beat the Phillies in the stadium that have always given them a hard time.  If that doesn’t give the Dodgers a shot in the arm!!!

Tomorrow the Dodgers will be in Florida to play the Marlins.  It should be a hard fought game but it seems that the Marlins are not the the team they were at the beginning of the season, losing again today.  Tomorrow Stults will show his stuff again.  Monday the Dodgers will return home again.  We will give them a warm homecoming. 

So it seems that the  Dodgers have found their groove again with their resounding win against the Phillies tonight. 

James Loney hit his first homerun of the season, a three run homerun at that. 

Matty Kemp continues with his excellent defense and offense.  I hope everyone has a chance to watch the film clip with his run to home from second base during a sacrifice bunt executed by Randy Wolf.  His acrobatic catches in centerfield are making sports commentators admit that he could be the best centerfield this season.

I know that everyone is on the “Let’s Hate Pierre” bandwagon but can anyone down him after today’s game?  He is probably benefiting overall from the situation and making the most of it.

The pitching other than Wolf and Bills has been scary.  Baby Clay continues to be inconsistent.  The bullpen sometimes needs to stay bolted closed.  There is no question that the Dodgers will be hurt by their pitching.  Hopefully Kuroda will return sometime soon. 

Casey Blake continues to hit the homeruns.  He is probably the least heralded player on the team but delivers those homeruns.  Maybe with that weak controversy over the supposed mocking gesture that Casey made during that Giants game, more people will notice Casey and his outstanding contribution to the team.  Casey has since explained that he did not know what the gesture meant.  Of course he didn’t.  Casey is a very nice guy.  He is good to his fans.  He is a professional.  So how about if we get over it now. 

Poor Andre Ethier.  The slump that he is in makes many people believe that he needs Manny to hit well.  We Dodger fans know that Andre will come back with on the mark hitting soon.  It’s too bad that those who are watching the Dodgers from the outside don’t know our guys well enough to know that.  And once he gets back in the groove, he will be a powerhouse again.

And finally Wolfy has a win.  He was robbed last week and now he is credited with the win.  Go Wolfy,

My arm still is sore from that sports injury from the other week.  I certainly have learned my lesson the hard way. 

So today was the beginning of a streak.  Go DODGERS!!  .

I’m back finally.  In a way it worked out well that I was out of town and missed the games from Thursday through Sunday.

I missed the home game winning streak coming to an end.

I missed the media circus surrounding the Manny issue at Dodger Stadium.  Funny thing the last media frenzy occurred when Manny arrived.  So anything Manny brings publicity.  There was probably more than when the Dodgers achieved the record beginning of the season home games won in all of baseball.  I guess the press likes the negative.  Am I surprised?

I heard from King of Cali that Casey Blake made fun of Brian Wilson (the Giants closer).after tying the game with a homerun.   Looking more into the issue, I saw a picture of Casey with his  arms crossed in front of him which Brian does as respect to his religion and also his Dad.  Having met Casey Blake at ST and also his parents, I doubt sincerely that he did it to mock him.  All of the players have their little good luck gestures that  they do.  I have seen Pierre and Matt point to the heavens when they make a good play.   Our new relief pitcher Leach draws a cross behind him in the dirt before he pitches.  We all know the ritual that Nomar went to before he would hit including tapping his shoes so his toes reached the end of his shoes.  Russell spits into his batting gloves before batting.  Casey’s gesture might have been to say that his good luck gesture (probably not knowing the meaning behind it) did not work.  I am only guessing since I was not at the game. 

Hopefully the Dodgers can get their ducks in a row again and begin another winning streak.  It seems that the bullpen might have been responsible for the loss yesterday.  Too bad since Jeff Weaver pitched a pretty good game.  He deserved the win.

I can’t wait until the Dodgers return to Dodger Stadium.  I miss them.