Random rantings and ravings about the Los Angeles Dodgers, written by a small consortium of rabid Dodger fans. With occasional comments on baseball, entertainment, pop culture, and life in general.
Welp, yesterday yesterday and the day before happened. For many of us, the immediate thought was that Game 1 of 2018 was a mere extension of Game 7 of the 2017 World Series. Hitters swinging at bad pitches and watching good pitches, everyone swinging wildly for the fences, stranded RISP out the ass...not he way we wanted or needed to start the new season by any measure.
We'll have another chance to get back to winning ways, though. Tonight is Opening Night a bullshit NL Championship Ring Ceremony, and we don't have to face a no-name pitcher who turns into Cy Young -- a setup that always seems to vex Dodger hitters.
In many ways, we can just consider this a do-over for Opening Day Games 1 & 2. Hell, maybe Chris Taylor will get another chance to cream a hanging slider pitched right down the middle.
At least I've been able to watch all of the Dodger's many runs on local TV. The over/under for our first score is the third inning. Until then, we are nothing but 0s in search of 1s (or imagine... possibly even the mythical number 2!) Justin Turner, please come back soon!
On a happier, plaguier front, good to digitally see all of you SOSG-maniacs again. Chag Sameach / Happy Easter to most of you!
Welp, yesterday happened. For many of us, the immediate thought was that Game 1 of 2018 was a mere extension of Game 7 of the 2017 World Series. Hitters swinging at bad pitches and watching good pitches, everyone swinging wildly for the fences, stranded RISP out the ass...not he way we wanted or needed to start the new season by any measure.
We'll have another chance to get back to winning ways, though. Tonight is Opening Night, and we don't have to face a no-name pitcher who turns into Cy Young -- a setup that always seems to vex Dodger hitters.
In many ways, we can just consider this a do-over for Opening Day. Hell, maybe Chris Taylor will get another chance to cream a hanging slider pitched right down the middle.
2018 Opening Day? It was not fun. The Dodgers lost, 1-0 to the Giants, despite a great Clayton Kershaw outing that was blemished by a cheapie Joe Panik shot that just slipped inside the right field foul pole. It wasn't Clayton's fault, though; he went six innings and had seven Ks, scattering eight hits and yielding just the one earned run.
The Dodgers' offense, though, was simply woeful. The top five in our lineup: Chris Taylor, Corey Seager, Yasiel Puig, Kike Hernandez, and Cody Bellinger, all went a collective 0-for-17 with two walks (both Hernandez) and eight Ks (two each from the other four players). All of them looked like they were trying to swing for the fences and lost patience. Taylor was caught looking (a la Carlos Beltran) with the Dodgers' last best chance (runners at the corners with two out in the seventh). (To be fair, Taylor knew it, and looked really pissed off after that wasted opportunity.)
Yasmani Grandal went 2-for-3 but also was swinging mightily. It's so bad, Kershaw himself leads the Dodgers in batting average, having gone 2-for-2 (and showing more patience than most of the other guys in the lineup).
Do we miss Justin Turner? Absolutely. This team had none of the complexion of the 2017 National League Champions. In fact, they looked a little like the Dodgers teams in the late 2000s where they could barely eke out runs, so much so that when we got behind, it felt like it was over.
The Dodgers' 60-year anniversary logo, on the left field edifice.
On top of all that, the pageantry that is normally incredible for Opening Day, felt a little bit...muted. The national anthem was passable but the flyover came late (bad timing). The pre-game montage honoring Kirk Gibson, who threw out the first pitch, was compassionate, but didn't feel inspiring. In fact, the 60 years anniversary that the Dodgers are celebrating in Los Angeles, made the team feel more steeped in history rather than currently relevant.
I didn't like this Opening Day.
They fixed the padding on my seat (which is good!). However...
...the new netting that extends to the edge of the dugout will take some getting used to.
So about this extended netting. I get it, I appreciate the need for improved safety, and I have to say, it was nice to finally not have to freak out every time a left-handed batter was going up against Kershaw, just in case a late swing on a fastball would have a ball come rocketing into my section (I've seen it happen, and that's why you have to pay attention to the game!). And I agree with Deadspin, the NYT Op-Ed piece complaining about the netting is lame.
But the netting did make it more difficult to see the right field scoreboard from our seats; the new upper-and-lowercase fonts for the team lineups is particularly difficult to make out. Plus, the left field scoreboard was so busy prompting factoids about the batters (would have loved to have seen "Buster Posey's name anagrams to 'Oyster Pubes'!"), that it didn't show the key relevant fact recapping prior at-bats that game.
The pregame video montages were fine--and we saw a lot of them, arriving at the stadium two hours before first pitch--but behind the netting, it all just felt a little...distant.
At least the player introductions were sweet:
Yeah, it's always great to be at Dodger Stadium for Opening Day. This one was just not as cool as the other ones I've been lucky to attend. And of course, the outcome sucked; we shouldn't be losing to the Giants, like, ever. It was nice to have a 4p start, even if it did seem like everything was a little off, all day.
Okay I guess it's time to archive the 2017 attendance sidebar. Sigh.
My god, we went to a lot of games last year.
No maths on this, just the details:
SoSG 2017 Record: 27-13 / 5-2
4/3 vs SD (W, 14-3): AC, Dusty
4/4 vs SD (L, 0-4): Stubbs
4/15 vs AZ (W, 8-4): Dusty
4/17 vs AZ (L, 2-4): Nomo
4/19 vs COL (W, 4-2): AC
4/29 vs PHI (W, 6-5): AC, Dusty
5/1 vs SF (L, 3-4): AC, Dusty
5/3 vs SF (L, 1-4): Dusty
5/18 vs MIA (W, 7-2): AC
5/20 vs MIA (L, 6-10): Stubbs
5/23 vs STL (W, 2-1): AC
5/27 vs CHC (W, 5-0): Sax
5/28 vs CHC (W, 9-4): Dusty
6/6 vs WAS (L, 1-2): AC, Stubbs
6/10 vs CIN (W, 5-4): AC, Sax
6/16 @ CIN (W, 3-1): Dusty
6/17 @ CIN (W, 10-2): Dusty
6/18 @ CIN (W, 8-7): Dusty
6/21 vs NYM (W, 8-2): AC, Dusty
6/22 vs NYM (W, 6-3): Sax
6/26 vs ANA (L, 0-4): AC, Orel, Sax
7/6 vs ARI (W, 5-4): AC
7/20 vs ATL (L, 3-6): AC
7/22 vs ATL (W, 6-2): Sax
7/23 vs AT: (W, 5-4): Dusty
7/26 vs MIN (W, 6-5): AC
7/29 vs SF (W, 2-1): Sax
8/12 vs SD (W, 6-3): AC
8/13 vs SD (W, 6-4): Dusty
8/15 vs CWS (W, 6-1): AC
8/25 vs MIL (W, 3-1): AC
8/26 vs MIL (L, 0-3): AC
9/5 vs AZ (L, 1-3): Dusty
9/6 vs ARI (L, 1-3): AC
9/7 vs COL (L, 1-9): Sax
9/8 vs COL (L, 4-5): AC
9/9 vs COL (L, 5-6): AC
9/15 @ WAS (W, 7-0): AC
9/24 vs SF (W, 3-1): Dusty, Orel, Sax
9/25 vs SD (W, 9-3): Dusty
9/26 vs SD (W, 9-2): AC
10/6 NLDS Game 1 vs ARI (W, 9-5): AC
10/7 NLDS Game 2 vs ARI (W, 8-5): AC, Sax
10/14 NLCS Game 1 vs CHC (W, 5-2): Stubbs
10/15 NLCS Game 2 vs CHC (W, 4-1): Dusty
10/24 WS Game 1 vs HOU (W, 3-1): Dusty, Orel, Sax
10/25 WS Game 2 vs HOU (L, 6-7 (11)): AC, Sax
11/1 WS Game 7 vs HOU (L, 1-5): AC, Dusty
I haven't been able to post anything on this site since Game 7. The wound is still open and man, it still hurts.
But today writes a new page. Today is a new Opening Day, a new baseball season, a new chance to spend the next seven months riding the volatile emotional waves of major league baseball.
I think I'm ready. I hope I'm ready. I'll be there at the Stadium, in any event (post a comment if you want to say hi; I'll be on field level, third base side). SoSG AC and Dusty will be there as well!
When hope was highest: pre-game ceremonies for World Series Game 1.
It's tiiiiiime for Dodger baseball!
And I'm not ready.
The baseball fan in me has been suspended in cryonic stasis since November 1, 2017, the day the Dodgers' championship drought officially reached 29 years.
As you all know, it hurt like a bitch. And I'm sure I'm not the only one who dealt with it by burying the pain deep, deep inside (plus booze).
When the Dodgers made the playoffs, I purposely didn't attend any games because I wanted to save my shekels for the Big Dance. And once the Dodgers made it to the World Series, I smashed my piggy bank and bought tickets for Game 1, the first World Series game in Los Angeles in, well, 29 years.
Hours before gametime, SoSG Sax and I had settled into our seats in Reserve 5 when I got a text from my brother, a Dodger fan unfortunate enough to live in the Bay Area:
That's nice, I thought. He must be going to Game 2. Wrong. He was on his way to Game 1, lateness be damned. That's what 28 years of waiting will do to a fan.
So while my brother was racing down to L.A., Sax & I were giddy and in tears after one helluva National Anthem by Keith Williams Jr.:
The high final note, the flyover...it was electric.
Honestly I don't remember a lot of details from the game itself because every out, every pitch, felt like life or death. Especially without listening to play-by-play and color commentary, it was too easy to get way inside my head while watching the game.
Somewhere during the middle of the game, my brother landed and was hectoring a taxi driver to get him from LAX to Dodger Stadium in rush-hour traffic — ASAP!
We took a two-run lead in the 6th but it might have well been a tie game for how nervous we were.
My brother arrived in the 7th but he would have to wait. Our section was packed and I couldn't afford to miss a single beat of this experience.
The crowd was exemplary. No bullshit waves, no bullshit beachballs on the warning track. Constant cheering and standing and screaming for every two-out at-bat.
After Kenley slammed the door in the 9th: GIGANTIC EXHALE. The loudest I've ever heard Dodger Stadium. Awkward hugs and high-fiving folks I had never met before and will never see again. We finally found my brother and chilled in our section to savor the afterglow and let traffic ease up (it didn't help).
And that's the sum total of my in-person World Series experience. We had an awesome viewing party for Game 4 at Casa Orel but after Game 7...numbness. The Astros aren't even a really hateable team (Gurriel excepted, honorable mention to Reddick).
The Dodgers' extreme inactivity during the off-season reinforced my moribund mindset, although it's nice to have Matt Kemp back, for purely sentimental reasons.
So ready or not, we'll see how this season goes. We'll still do game/series threads (I think) but I know some of us are still looking for a hangover cure.
Go Blue (I can still muster that)!
It’s like the field is crying. Finally letting it all out after WS Game 7.
Celebrate Star Wars Night at Dodger Stadium with this Kenley Calrissian Bobblehead! The first 40,000 fans in attendance on June 15 will receive the item. Get your tickets now at https://t.co/yIzpa5asLu. pic.twitter.com/VpLO9bmJOq
