Blogger Night - A Second (Tardy) Take

The joy of Blogger Night was already beautifully covered by my esteemed colleague, Steve Sax (and as all the bloggers discovered, that's not his real name). Once again, the Dodgers treated us bloggers with great warmth and respect... all the more shocking considering what is posted by some of us. Though Tommy Lasorda did not make it by this time, we were still fortunate enough to have extended visits by Ned Colletti, Ron Cey, and the highlight of my evening... the Miller High Life guy!

Speaking of beer, Sax and I were the fastest to bring alcoholic beverages into the box. But we were far from alone in our gluttony. Ron Cey even commented on how the vegetables and healthy wraps were untouched by the Hot-Dog devouring bloggers. Just to prove him wrong, I posed with a healthy snack alternative...

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... which I promptly disposed of in favor of the hot dogs, chips, wings, popcorn, sodas, and desert cart (S'mores Cake, where have you been all my life!) This picture is why Sax needed to use a wheelbarrow to get me back to my car.

But it wasn't all about food. Especially if your (fake) name is Sax. Yes, he might have gone with California casual footwear...

... he was all business with his hands. While the rest of us were listening to Ned between bites of hot dog, "Scoop" Sax typed away furiously, bringing you the hot topics in real-ish time.

The other bloggers proved to be a friendly gang who do not live in their parents' basements. (Cause LA homes are usually one level:-) In fact, the Bloggers tend to have significant others, jobs, lives, and could talk about things besides baseball and the Simpsons. Except for one guy who gave Sax lip, it's a great bunch - hopefully we'll see a lot of them at THE EVENT.

We were all drawn into what became a tense battle with the Marlins. Sax already quoted my "Fool's Gold" comment to Ely. I was much more worked up by the appearance of Garret Anderson, a player whom Ned defended as a strong clubhouse example. When he returned to the dugout after a weak ass ground-out, I shouted "Now go lead!"

We didn't win the game - unless victories are counted by consumption of calories. Sax and I did not even stick around for the fireworks.

But it was one of the great nights of my eleven years in this city, and I am so grateful that the Dodgers view bloggers as legit enough to be included in such festivities. At least, until Ned Colletti actually reads our material.

Blogger Night Q&A with Ned Colletti

"Mr. Rawitch! Set phasers to stun! And throw me a chicken wrap!"

Ned Colletti was very kind to sit with a room of bloggers again at last night's Blogger Night, and we all listened intently as he waxed philosophical on a wealth of issues from the crowd. I didn't have my notepad in front of me, but here's what my blackberry and I seem to recall as his thoughts (I do not recall any disclaimer about the conversation being off the record, but I don't think I have written any negative comments Colletti may have made):

• He appreciates the professional approach and leadership of Jerry Sands.
• When asked about John Ely and how he found him, Colletti shared a story of going all the way back to the beginning in discussing options with Juan Pierre (following the end of the 2009 season), which was a neat approach to answering the question. Colletti's relationship with Ely's college coach at Miami helped him have confidence on Ely as part of the deal. Colletti had great things to say about Ely; he likes how he competes and "how his thought process adapts mid-game." Colletti also gave Ely a lot of credit for his start at Wrigley Field, especially being a native Chicago boy and having the hometown pressure.
• Xavier Paul has a lot of potential and though this call-up hinges a little bit on Manny Ramirez' status, Colletti is positive. He did lament the difficulties at bringing players up so quickly, and how challenging it is to try to refine and advance their development at the major league level.
• Colletti was pretty tight-lipped about Matt Kemp, except to say that he liked how Kemp's positive results the last couple of games. He quickly parried the question by remarking--in general, not (necessarily) toward Kemp in particular--how difficult this game is, and how the HOFers that he has seen (like Ryne Sandberg) have had to keep working at it diligently even when they're at the top of their game, and how particularly difficult that is to do in baseball.
• Garret Anderson, according to Colletti, still has a lot of value to the club and "can be a threat." I assume Colletti was talking about a threat for the Dodgers and not to the Dodgers, but he didn't get into detail. This comment in particular evoked much reflection later in the evening among the bloggers, most of whom could not believe what they just heard.
• We're still committed to sign Zach Lee, and he said it was a challenge to have one's first pick in the draft so low in the order.
• Over the next three weeks Colletti believes he will be "adding to the volume" of discussions. He has had more conversations this year rather than last, focusing a little bit on six to seven clubs that he thinks might be dealing. He did say that he scouts everyone, even someone like Cliff Lee, looking for things "that you can't see in a box score or on television, especially with veteran guys." Colletti described a great story (with names redacted) of a veteran player in a lopsided game who left in the eighth inning, and Colletti's scout detected a potential injury that would have otherwise been lost in the box score had he not been there to see it. If that story is indeed true, that's a pretty good catch.
• Our depth at shortstop is challenged, with Chin-Lung Hu out with surgery and Ivan De Jesus Jr. still being evaluated at both second base and shortstop.
• Like Orel and I over here at SoSG, Colletti has people on his team to read the press for him. (So, when Colletti says he doesn't read the blogs, that's only partially true, I suppose.)
• The biggest surprise for Colletti this year has been Ely (who unfortunately struggled that very evening moments later). The biggest disappointment has been the slow start, especially our record against the American League (the latter of which I might argue is only a disappointment if one had the absurd expectations that we'd be any better this year vs. the AL than our prior years of putrid performances).
• Colletti remarked that relief pitching is so volatile, it's hard to find quality relievers on the fly at the trade deadline. George Sherrill was brought up by one of the bloggers as someone who has been up (last year) and down (this year), but Colletti reminded us that Flat Breezy has huge heart having come from the AL East. But he couldn't explain the high beta.
• If it were up to Colletti, Rafael Furcal and Hong-Chih Kuo would have made this year's All-Star Game.
• He expects James MacDonald to get back into the swing of things, and has not ruled out J-Mac being a starter. It is natural for MacDonald at this stage to be working on his pitch consistency; Colletti likened this to Eric Gagne and his journey.
• Colletti thinks the time off for Ramon Troncoso will help him work out the kinks in some of his pitches.
• He talked about how the Vicente Padilla deal went down and again, like some of the other deals Colletti had mentioned, it involved personal one-on-one discussions to get over the final humps, in this case regarding Padilla's reputation prior to joining the Dodgers. Colletti appreciates how Padilla has been "a model citizen" for the team.
• He's pulling for Scott Elbert.
• He knows Russell Martin is really trying hard in a very difficult position, and knows it will pay off.
• He appreciates Blake DeWitt and how he's also trying hard in what is also a difficult position. He also talked about DeWitt being a great guy to be on the team for his character.

Colletti also had some interesting philosophical words about balancing patience and impatience, and the difficulties in doing so in such an important position. Clauses like "you can't microwave experience" were juxtaposed against thoughts of "a quick turnaround from 71-91" [the Dodgers' record when he joined the team]. He also had some great stories about where he was for the Kirk Gibson WS HR (in the Oakland dugout, trying to help out the Scully/Garagiola broadcasting team as a young PR executive), and where he was for the Mookie Wilson / Bill Buckner play (right along the first base side, remembering the ominous air of silence after the ball was hit).

It made me realize how difficult it must be to approach a game like this, full of emotion and fanaticism and volatility, with a clear, calm, and collected mind. Colletti admitted that even in his Dodger tenure, he's made good and bad calls. But I have to think that having someone with Colletti's depth of baseball experience, having seen these ups and downs along the many stops in his career, is an advantage for the Dodgers--if he can review and assess the past analytically and objectively (which it sounds like he can). It has to be a tough job to do and a humbling job on which to later reflect.

At every Blogger Night, Colletti has been receptive to questions, appreciative of different perspectives, polite and cordial, and open to opinionated discussions yet assured in his stances. His visits are a real highlight, and I give him a lot of credit for coming by and spending more and more time with us each year.

Eric Stephen also has a recap on TBLA, as does Robert Timm over at Dodger Dugout. Dodgerfan.net has a slightly different angle, remarking about the Dodgers and new media.

By the way, the Dodger bloggers in attendance last night devoured the tureen of Dodger Dogs. But not ONE CHICKEN WRAP was touched, as far as I saw. Interesting.

At-Game Recap: Blogger Night 2010 (July 5 vs. Marlins)

Crafty SoSG readers will be able to deduce that either Delino or myself serve as webmaster for this fine site. Because while our GameThread imploded last evening (due to either Blogger wonkiness or us not paying our bills (or both)), Delino and I enjoyed the luxuries of Suite 216 at last night's Dodgers-Marlins game, thanks to the wonderful hospitality of Dodgers VP of Communications Josh Rawitch, and his entire PR/Communications team (Jon Chapper, Amy Summers, and Yvonne Carrasco, to name a few).

That's right, while SoSG burned, Delino and I fiddled. And ate. And drank a beer or four. And had a great time, with the exception of the game's final score.

It has become a genuine pleasure to attend Blogger Night each year, not only because of the lineup of guests that Rawitch bribes to stop by the suite, but because of the great group of bloggers whom we've gotten to meet and befriend over the years. The ever-charming Christine was there from Robots Took My Medicine; the always-peppy dynamic duo of Chris and Alex (from Scottsdale!) from Dodgerfan.net; the insightful and interesting Robert (and his wife Lisa) from Dodger Dugout; the newly-canonized Eric Stephen from True Blue LA; and the ubiquitous Roberto from VSIMH, and the very tall Ken from isportsweb, among other bloggers. Mark from LA Dodger Talk even flew out from Indianapolis to make the evening with his team member Jared, which was incredibly impressive. I know I'm forgetting some people, and I apologize...it was a long evening.

We started out near the media entrance, before getting re-routed to the will-call window (but still had the thrill of entering the top deck entrance as "media"!)

And by the time we had made it to the suite, batting practice was just wrapping up. Josh Rawitch's growing influence within the Dodgers organization is obvious, but it was made more clear by his ability to secure Suite 216 for this evening--the suite adjacent to Ned Colletti's GM suite, with a spectacular view from right behind home plate:

A big crowd was on hand for post-game fireworks.

And as usual, Rawitch hooked us up with an impressive lineup of guests. First came GM Ned Colletti:

Colletti enters the suite.

Colletti opines, Rawitch reclines.

SoSG Delino hangs on every one of Colletti's words like a 13-year-old girl at a Jonas Brothers concert. Just look at his serious facial expression!

Also visiting the suite was Ron Cey, five weeks after his hip replacement surgery and looking lean and mean and thankfully ambulatory:

"I have a conundrum for you. An enigma. A puzzle."

VP and Assistant General Manager Kim Ng stopped by as well, her first visit to a Blogger Night event. She had a crowd of people around her so I couldn't get too close to the conversation, but I was struck by how disarmingly polite and cordial she was, coupled with how focused and thoughtful her comments were. She had a small circle of rabid bloggers laughing and nodding and eating out of her hand. I'm really, really glad she's on our team, and I hope she stays here.

Dodgers President Dennis Mannion also stopped by and regaled us with stories from his days with the Phillies organization; Sweet Lou Johnson stopped by to say hi; and I'm sure Delino will tell us more about the Miller High Life spokesman who dropped by to make sure we were drinking responsibly.

The only bad news was the game's outcome, since John Ely had a shaky start (Ely was likely flustered by Delino's yelling "I loved you in 'Fool's Gold!'" from the suite), and the Dodgers' clawing runs back came up one run short. But Rawitch and his team really put on quite a show for us off the field, and I can't tell you how much I for one appreciated his generosity.

Thanks, Josh, to you and your whole team, for a great evening at the Stadium!

(P.S. I will post more detail from the conversation with Ned Colletti later in the day. Stay tuned.)