The news of the day started with Manny being on the 15 day DL.  He has a strained right calf.  The second item:  Charlie Haeger didn’t do too badly, not great, but he survived.  The bullpen has gone from being the best last year to being dismal this year.  Sherrill seems to have lost his mechanics.  Kuo and Belisario returned to the team being less than efficient.  Billingsley has gone back to the two person Good Bills and Bad Bills, which dictates which Chad will be pitching.  Consistency is not in his repertoire.

The offense has been the strong suit of the Dodgers.  Matt Kemp had an eleven game hitting streak going into last nights game.  He has the most homeruns and RBIs.  They have six players with averages of .300 or better.  Somehow they hit a roadblock in Friday nights game called Luis Atilano who was making his major league debut for the Nationals.  He was impressive.

Russell Martin has been hitting much better than last year.  Manny has had an outstanding start.  Casey Blake who usually has a slow April started out strong.  Raffy Furcal is looking sharp again in offense and defense. 

The weak link is the pitching.  I think this will be the part of the team that will be most affected by Frank and Ned’s decision not to put any money out.  We let Jon Garland go.  We did not want to pay Randy Wolf what he wanted.  We also did not keep Derek Lowe the year before.  Any of these pitchers would have added a little oomph to the team.  Everyone kept saying that both of the Ortiz’s did well in ST.  I know that whenever Joe Torre chose either of the Ortiz’s in relief, I knew the game was over.  Am I wrong?  He kept Ramon Ortiz in way too long.  How many walks should a pitcher have before he is replaced??  I think he will join the other Ortiz as DFA.  It is not a good thing that Jeff Weaver is on DL since he was the strong middle reliever.  Broxton has not pitched since Sunday, so he may be rusty.

The Dodgers seem to do better at home with their fans than on the road.  They definitely do not get any love from other fans.  What is not lovable about Matt, Andre, James and Russell?  I know Virginia and Jane love their Yankees but I love my Dodgers.  I have been able to see many aspects of their personalities that make them very endearing.  James Loney is funny.  He makes the craziest faces and seems so intense.  He also has the messiest locker.  Andre is the team dreamboat.  He has to be the best looking baseball player in baseball. However, he is very hard on himself.  He shows his displeasure toward himself on the field.  He seems to be less hard on himself this year.  Matt is fun loving, probably most talented of the Dodgers.  He is down to earth, friendly.  I told him that I was sad that I have to share him with Rihanna and he gave me an embarrassed but hearty laugh. Russell Martin is all business once he starts practicing on the field.  He is very focused.  Hopefully he gets his all star quality back this year.

Prayers and good wishes to one of my favorite Dodger coaches, bench coach, Kenny Howell who had part of a big toe amputated from complications of diabetes. 

I can’t wait until the Dodgers return home.  There will be UCLA night, USC night, fleece blanket night, more buffet,   

Thanks everyone for checking in.  I hope your team is doing well. 

Perfect title for the past week.  I used it last season so I present #2.

There were both the best highs in baseball including walk offs, huge homeruns, great pitching, and then there were the lows:  less than perfect defense with numerous errors and starting pitchers who just can’t pitch through many innings.  Our once magnificent bullpen is struggling. I usually try not to speak negatively about my team but the pitching is scary.  Most times, when you put either of the Ortiz’s out there, the game is over.

That is pretty much what happened on Wednesday.  I left early when they put Russ Ortiz in as relief..  Good thing since the Dodgers lost in 11 innings.

The guys were not playing good defense.  It was definitely an off day.

I did get to talk to Jamey Carroll who spent quite a bit of time before the game talking to fans and signing autographs.  That may be one of the only good things about that day.

It was an eating day.  I wanted to introduce my son to the finer parts of Dodger Stadium.  On the menu that day were buttermilk fried chicken, very yummy pork tenderloin, corn on the cob, and the best peach cobbler ever.

My son enjoyed the attention he got at the Baseline Club.  

A highlight of that night was another homerun by Matt Kemp.

Oh, and here is the Jamey Carroll autographed ball.

Poor James Loney looks so downcast.

On Thursday, I went to the game alone since my son wanted to spend time with his cousins.  So I decided to get another baseline ticket

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The macaroni salad with olives was really delicious.  The salads always are amazing.  How the chefs can make lettuce so wonderful is truly awe inspiring

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I decided to enjoy my food in case I had to be miserable during the game.  I saw Kenny Landreaux at the baseline club and took a picture of him.  He looked so nice.  We spoke for a while and then he had to rush off.

 

 

 

I went to my seat to watch the players warming up.  There was cutie Clayton Kershaw who is improving each game.  There couldn’t be a nicer guy.

Jeff Weaver, our most reliable relief pitcher was out there snagging balls

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Our huge teddy bear closer Jonathan Broxton was also out in the field with George Sherrill.

 

Andre Ethier was also out in the field stretching

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Right by me was Jim Hill, one of the local sportscasters.

I love this picture of Andre Ethier.

When I saw James Loney, I shook his hand.  I always think that it is such a nice tradition that guys have shaking hands.   Women don’t do that when they see their friends

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Here is a picture of Andre without his hat.

 

It was Jackie Robinson Day so the Dodgers all wore number 42.  I have to say that it definitely mixes me up when I am going through my 100+ pictures trying to figure out who is who.  Okay, now who are those guys in the picture above??  Hint…James Loney on the right.

Even the announcer had issues with the number 42 thing.

One player with number 42 on his uniform was easy to identify.  Yes, Jonathan Broxton.

So this game also went into extra innings.

 

The hero of the game was Andre Ethier with a walk off hit in the 10th.  This is beginning to be a habit for Everyday Dre.  The score was 6-5.

On Friday the Giants came to town.  It was also a night that the Dodgers couldn’t stop hitting homeruns.  Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier hit back to back homeruns.  Then in the second inning, Andre hit his first major league grand slam homerun.

 Before the game, I saw James Loney.  He looked at me and without a moment’s hesitation, he put his hand out to me so I could shake his hand.  Nice male bonding.  I like it.

I wanted to make sure that the Giants saw this sign.

That first night, it seemed as though the Dodger fans and Giant fans  could not get along especially in left field pavilion.  There were several fights and name calling.  Too bad. 

The best part of the night was that the Dodgers scored 10 runs which meant that Claim Jumpers Restaurant was giving Dodger fans with a ticket free buffalo wings.

Of course Saturday night my family and I had a nice dinner there complete with BUFFALO WINGS.  The kitty did like the bag that we brought the leftovers home in.

 

 My son left for home on Saturday morning so it was good that he didn’t see the major trouncing that the Dodgers received from Tim Lincecum.  I misplaced the pictures I took that day.  How did I do that?  I don’t know since it all was on this same SD card.  It was a miiserable game and I had a terrible time.  The score was 9-0.  It was almost as though Joe Torre assumed the Dodgers would lose.  Several key players sat it out including Russell Martin, Raffy Furcal, Casey Blake, Manny Ramirez.  Of course, Manny had a sore calf.  Russell had caught those extra inning games, Raffy and Casey usually have the day game off after a night game.  But the Dodgers looked terrible.

 

I was very up for the game Sunday since Clayton Kershaw would be pitching.  He gets better and better.

 

Here is a closeup picture of our Clayton.  This was probably one of the best games that Clayton has pitched.

Here he is going to the dugout with Russell Martin.

 

Everyone seemed to be having a problem with their shoelaces.

 

Today was baseball cap day.  I loved looking at the sea of blue in the stands.

The two pitchers Clayton Kershaw and Barry Zito pitched flawless innings.  Clayton gave up one homerun in the seventh inning which finally put a score up on the board.

 

there always was discussion going on.

Russell caught a great game.

It seems like the heat was getting to Andre.

Garrett Anderson walked at the bottom of the eighth inning.

Then it was announced that Blake DeWitt would pinch hit.  The crowd started to chant “Manny Manny Manny”  over and over  So Manny came to the plate..

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It was two strikes against Manny, the crowd held their breaths, when he hit a huge homerun.  the crowd stood up and cheered.

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It was truly a wonderful moment.  The crowd was on its feet, some waving caps, some jumping up and down.  Manny came through again.  His last huge pinch hit was last season on Manny Bobblehead night when he hit a Grand Slam.

Our closer Jonathan Broxton finished the Giants up to help win the series.  He has been on the mark this season.

Todays game made up for the less than stellar showing yesterday.  Kershaw’s pitching was the best, the defense was flawless, Manny’s homerun sensational.

I can’t ask for more, the Dodgers have won the last two series.  They are on the road now.  And I will be back to work. 

 

I’m a little tired.  I went to six games in six days.  There were the low points but the huge wins outweighed the losses.  It’s nice having baseball back.

Hopefully Belisario and Kuo will be back in the fold soon.  Russ Ortiz has commented that he knows his days are numbered.  It would be nice if Frank and Ned could somehow find another starter somewhere.  That would really help.

 Thanks everyone for stopping by.  Hope your team had a great week.

 

 

It was a beautiful Spring day.  It was Opening Day 2010 at Dodger Stadium.  The weather was perfect, couldn’t ask for better.  I had been looking forward to this day for the last six months.  And here it finally is here: April 13, 2010.

As I waited for the gate to open, I realized there were fans who had driven for distances to see this game.  One couple came from Las Vegas, others came from Agoura. (where is Agoura?)  Finally the gate opened, and I was able to go in to see batting practice.

I happened to see Josh Rawitch, exaulted leader of ITD.  He stopped and chatted with me.  I always am glad to see him.  We talked a little about catching Manny balls. 

It certainly had the flavor of opening day.

The guys were out there chewing on their nails.  That is big Jon Broxton, our closer with George Sherrill.

Brad Ausmus, one of  our wonderful catchers, who is on DL with a back issue

George, Brad and Jonathan

Kuo, on the right, about ready to come back

My favorite Kuroda-San

Reed Johnson, who has done a great job covering for Andre

One of the heroes of the game, Casey Blake,sans beard, on the left.

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Jeff Weaver, on the left.

Some of the D Backs during batting practice.

Frank McCourt, the owner of the Dodgers, walked around and spoke to the fans.  I shook his hand.

My favorite photographer John Soohoo

Andre stretching

More stretching

Our young second baseman, Blake DeWitt

Russell is smiling right at me…this picture is for Rosie

Another Russell picture

Andre

good natured Matt got quite a bit of ribbing about Rihanna.

Russell putting on his catchers gear

Another smiling Russell picture.  He was in great spirits.

One of my favorite pictures of Russell

Before the game, the players were introduced.  I think you can read the names.  They went down the row giving each other high fives.

The Navy unfurled the gigantic flag across the field.  It was breathtaking.  LeAnn Rimes sang the National Anthem.

I almost missed the flyover.  It was awesome.

They presented Matt Kemp with the Silver Slugger, Gold Glove awards

They presented Andre with the Silver Slugger Award.

Then will I am threw out the first pitch.  He is part of the Black Eye Peas.

Russell and Clayton walked from the bullpen to the dugout.

Our relief pitchers walked to the bullpen.  I can’t wait until Bellisario and Kuo are back

And then the game began.

Matt had commented that he was glad to be coming home. Their road trip was disappointing.  The record was 2-4.  However, the games were close, mostly one run games.  Nothing to get concerned about.  The home crowd was excited and ready to cheer the Dodgers on.

Andre hit one of the four homeruns that day.

Manny hit another one.  He got a standing ovation and curtain call

Of course, one of the homeruns was hit by my Matty.  Here he is getting congratulations from Andre as he comes home.

The other homerun was hit by Casey Blake.  It was a two run homerun. 

James hit two doubles.  He has looked very sharp.

There’s Andre looking right at me  He seems to know where I am..

The D Backs were perplexed the whole gaame.  They were able to score when Ortiz pitched in relief.

Manny in deep thought

Matt at bat

Russell at bat

What a long game….more than three hours!!

It was a game that just seemed to go on and on

Then they sent Big Jon to finish it off.

The end is near

One more out???

You still there, Matt?

 

I was tired.  It was a long satisfying game.  The score was 9-5.  Winning pitcher was Clayton Kershaw. 

Tomorrow will be another game…Opening Night!!  I am sitting in Baseline Club.  Here I come, Buffet.  The pitcher will be Chad Billingsley.  It will be a good night for him.  Our offense is on fire. 

 

Well, ready to crawl into my Trader Joe’s bag and go to sleep.  Good night everyone.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great baseball day.

It was a disappointment that my Dodgers lost their first two games but I thought that they were getting a few kinks ironed out

Okay, so maybe we were playing as though we were sleepwalking.  Could we have left more Dodgers on base?

So maybe the Dodgers played as though they were a new team just trying things out.

Today the Dodgers finally won.

It’s as though they woke up from a deep sleep.

Ronnie Belliard smashed a homerun in the fifth inning.  He also doubled and tripled.   James and Matt also were hitting machines.  The great thing is that Raffy is running and stealing bases again.

I never doubted that the guys would start winning.  Todays score against the hard playing Pirates was 10-2.  It definitiely is a sign that Chad Billingsley is back.  Interestingly enough our silver slugger Andre Ethier was not playing because of his ankle which he rolled in the game yesterday.  Hopefully he recovers quickly.

Opening Day for our Dodgers at Dodger Stadium will be Tuesday next week.  It should be fun.  It will be good to have baseball back again.  It will be even better because my son will be visiting me.  Hopefully he will be able to go to a few games with me, like maybe Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  The funny thing is that on Wednesday I will have my season seat, a baseline seat, plus I purchased a seat for Dr J in the right field section so she will have a nice view of Andre, her favorite player.  The seats are spread out over the stadium. It just happened that way. 

Update on my cat:  He is recuperating well although he is still thin.  He also is very loving and wants to be held and cuddled.  So much for that independent cat.  A month on his own changed his whole attitude.

Thanks for stopping by.  Hope everyone has a great baseball day.

I’ll start this post with a photo of my delicious dugout food.  What you see are a tender beef brisket, wonderful pineapple ham with pineapple chutney, bratwurst, grilled veggies including my favorite grilled pineapple.  I really missed the Dodger food.

Here is the salad:  home style cole slaw, red skinned potato salad, Caesar salad, fresh fruit in season, and Chinese chicken salad.

I had stuffed, breaded ravioli with marinara sauce at my seat

I also tried the chicken strips with barbeque sauce.

All the food was mouth wateringly good.  For dessert, I had soft serve ice cream, Haagan Daz chocolate ice cream and cookies.

I sat next to the Angel dugout.

Manager Mike was within view.

It was Chipmunk night so they were there.  There’s something strange about hearing the National Anthem sung by chipmunks.

The highlight of the game was X Paul’s huge homerun.

I didn’t take too many pictures, possibly because I was busy eating.  Actually it was probably because my favorite subject Andre was sitting the game out.  Manny also had the day off.  Russell Martin was DL. 

 I wanted to get some Angel autographs for Mimi.  I would have been  happy with one but there were so many nice Angels.

I was able to get quite a few.

Here is the other side.

And yet another side.  I was  very pleased.  The autographs included all the catchers:  Napoli, Wilson, and Mathis.  They were especially nice.  I also was able to get Brandon Wood, Gary Patchett(a non roster invitee who was very cute), and my personal favorite: the openning day pitcher: Jered Weaver.  I told him how much I love his brother Jeff.I also got autographs from two coaches: Mickey Hatcher and Dino Evel.

So Mimi, I will email you and you can give me your address so I can send this amazing ball to you.

I was not able to get a single Dodger autograph after the game because they were rushing to catch a plane to Pittsburg.  They were all dressed in suits.  I’m so used to seeing Broxton wearing his tee shirt and shorts with flip flops.  They all looked very different all cleaned up.

The season starts on Monday and that will be when it starts counting.  I heard that Ellis, Paul and Hu were optioned to Albuquerque.  Justin Miller and JD Closser also weree reassigned to minor league camp.  Sadly, Doug Mienkiewicz was released.  Sorry Jane.

I will have to wait a week to see the Dodgers again but it has been fun the last 3 days.  The pitchers have been showing their stuff.  Sorry to see X Paul going down to minors, but good for him that he hit that huge homerun.

Some discussion on the field

My favorite pitcher, Kuroda-San.

I saw Hideki Matsui and called out “Matsui-San”.  He turned around and waved to me.  What a legend he has become.

I always have to include a picture of my Matty.  I can’t believe I have to share him with Rihanna now! 

I realized today how much I missed baseball.  I looked around Dodger Stadium, my second home.  I missed my friends there.  It was good to see Linda again.  I was touched that so many of the staff welcomed me back to Dugout Club. 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you are as happy being with your team as I am being with my  Dodgers.

I have to include a picture of Andre for my Andre fans, especially Virginia.

It’s been an experience getting back in the groove again…my baseball groove, that is.

I just returned from the Angels Dodgers game, a little tired, but happy that it’s baseball season again.

I decided to use my GPS to get to and from Angel Stadium since my Dodger car only knows how to get to Dodger Stadium.

The traffic was horrendous getting there.  Thank goodness I allowed enough time.  My GPS informed me that I was at my destination.  Looking around, I noticed that I was still on the freeway.  I didn’t see Angel Stadium.  But that monotone lady on the GPS just kept repeating to me that I was there.  OK, so I got off the freeway and kept driving.  Eventually I saw signs to direct me to the Stadium.  So much for that Tom Tom GPS.

The security at the gate checked bags very carefully.  Very carefully.  He checked in jackets and used a small flashlight to inspect every corner.  Someone behind me said that he was doing that specifically to Dodger fans.  Interesting.

I did make it into the stadium and found my seat.  It was a very nice seat pretty much surrounded by Angels fans.

But I didn’t care.  I saw what I wanted to see.

My Dodgers!!!!!  Life is good.

They were working out and looking fantastic. There’s Manny in the front

Here’s Mattingly having a conversation with Larry King and one of his young sons.

They all looked great, fresh, ready to play.

OMG, it’s that woman with the camera!

Andre looking at me again!  

Matty alone in the dugout

Below are James and Ande having a conversation.

 Matty and James

Andre looking pensive

I love this picture of Manny.  He was talking to my buddy who was standing next to me.

One of my favorite pictures of Andre ever

Joe Torre watching BP

Casey Blake minus beard

Russell Martin sporting a faux hawk.

Garrett Anderson and Manny sprinting together

Baby Kershaw in action

He is only 22 years old and better and better each year

Jeff Weaver pitched in relief and did well

Broxton also pitched

I had a great time.  However, I forgot where I parked at first.  Panic time.  I eventually found my car and used my GPS to get home.  It did get me home but not before taking me off the freeway and going in a circle near Main Street.  Can’t figure that one out.

I will try to include pictures of the first exhibition game in my next post.

I’m exhausted and will be going to my third game in three days tomorrow.  Ahhhhh, baseball heaven.

Thanks for stopping by.

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I thought the day would never come!  Tonight is the first game of the season at Dodger Stadium.  I know it is just an exhibition game but to me it counts.  The ground is still wet from the night rain but it is supposed to be dry by game time.

OK, so I found a DUGOUT CLUB SEAT!!!  Saturday I will be sitting in my usual spot in the Dugout Club by the visitors dugout.  I am so excited.  I will be doing my best to get Angels autographs for my little buddy Mimi.  Wish me luck.

I can’t wait to talk to Matty, James, Andre, and the rest of my darling Dodgers.  It has been a long 6 months.

Tonight I will have new pictures!!!

Thanks for stopping by.