LA Times Calls Out Dodger Blue Heaven Thoughts

Today's LA Times' Calendarlive section has an article called "50 Ways to Love Your Dodgers," which includes this advice:

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS...

As a guy who, at age 10, "wanted to be Vin Scully" when he grew up, native Angeleno Jon Weisman has been synthesizing media reports, analyzing between-the-lines drama and occasionally venting on his Dodger Thoughts blog since 2002. If you're looking for online snark, move on; Weisman and his readers merely exude true-blue passion. dodgerthoughts.baseballtoaster.com/

...OR SPILL SOME VITRIOL

Not recommended for the true-blue fan, or anyone averse to blue language, the decidedly R-rated Dodger Blues website throws darts at players, management, ownership, even history. Like the clock that records "Time Since the Last Meaningful Dodger Moment" (going on 20 years). The franchise's lowlights are "celebrated" with an acidity usually reserved for divorce proceedings. Bitter? Yes. Funny? That too. www.dodgerblues.com

TRUE-BLUE FAN

Ernest Reyes, on his extreme-fan-tastic website Blue Heaven, links to countless player and fan blogs, dispenses obscure trivia, posts hard-to-find video and hawks collectibles. Oh, and he does real estate too. dodgersblueheaven.blogspot.com

Congrats to Ernest, Jon and Anonymous DB Guy. Nice mention!

We Think Stupid Things So You Don't Have To

A peek inside the SoSG writers' room.

We've been talking about mockery lately, but really, no one beats Dodger Blues for withering sarcasm. Witness DB's latest "Asshole of the Week":

> 3.6.08 - Ned Colletti
"What are the odds of having two third basemen go down in 15 minutes," asked Ned Colletti after the Dodgers lost Andy LaRoche and Nomar Garciaparra on Friday. Well I'm not a mathmetician, Ned, but I'm pretty sure the odds are the same as any two guys going down in 15 minutes. LaRoche and Nomar. Kemp and Ethier. Loney and your mom. Same odds.

Which led to this exchange:

SoSG Orel: a-hole of the moment--is this right?

SoSG Sax: is what right, i don't get it

SoSG Orel: Are the odds of having two 3B go down in 15 minutes the same as the odds of two players at any position going down? I don't think so.

SoSG Sax: technically he's not right as the two 3bs cannot be playing at the same time (by definition; unless one is subbing at another position for some strange reason). so in theory, a centerfielder and a catcher could go out on the same play, but two 3bs cannot go out on the same play. Right?

SoSG Orel: I was looking at it this way: Let's say you have 40 players at camp. Pick any two at random. Aren't you more likely to pick two non-3B (or one 3B and one non-3B) rather than two 3B? Which was Ned's original point.

SoSG Sax: Well I'm not a mathematician, Orel...

art from Luke Chueh's "Twenty Monkeys with Hats (And One Squid)"

Frank McCourt to Fix Everything This Year. You Will Pay for It

From Dodgers.com:

As for Dodger Stadium, [Frank] McCourt said the ongoing renovation this offseason included infrastructure work in preparation for next offseason's expansion of the concourses and an overhaul of traffic flow into and out of the Dodger Stadium parking lot that will go into effect this year.

He said the number of lot attendants will be doubled and the traffic patterns that have existed relatively unchanged since the stadium opened 45 years ago will be changed, with new signs and lights and the renaming or renumbering of lots.

McCourt said parking was one of three major projects his new ownership undertook based on fan input. The other two are stadium seats, which have all been replaced, and long concession lines, which he said will be resolved next year with the expansion of the concourses and doubling of concession stands and restroom facilities.

An overhaul of traffic flow? Fantastic! But every silver lining has a cloud. From Dodger Blues:

Yes, Frank McCourt has increased parking at the stadium to $15 a car. Yes, he's a dick. But you're the bigger asshole for actually paying the $15. Unless you've got gangrene and can't walk more than a couple hundred feet, park your friggin' car outside the stadium and get some goddamn exercise. Believe me, you can find parking... unless, of course, McCourt manages to convince the City of LA to ban street parking around the stadium, in which case he can eat my rotting dingleberries.

And as for "the expansion of the concourses and doubling of concession stands and restroom facilities," where exactly are twice the number of food stands and bathrooms going to fit? Hey Frank—crank-operated relish dispensers above the urinal troughs don't count.

Dodger Blues Links to SoSG-fest

Long the gold standard for Dodger-branded cynicism and making me laugh my ass off, Dodger Blues has linked to us with the succinct description of "Dodger commentary."

Thanks, DB! Keep up the snark.

An Anecdotal Antidote for the Dodger Fan's Holiday Blues

Dodger blues (the depression, not the website) got you down? Can't believe we're paying Juan Pierre $44 million for five years? Crying in your eggnog because you really, really thought J.D. Drew would stay?

If you don't have blessings to count, then you can always take solace in the misery of others. For instance, check out an excerpt from this interview by Barry Wittenstein with Stuart Miller, author of The 100 Greatest Days in New York Sports:

BW: What are the top two worst days in Mets history?

SM: The Mets have had many unique ways to break our hearts or give us agita....in the book, I have Dwight Gooden giving up that homer to Mike Sciosia [sic] in 1988. And I have to say, I'm a Met fan, and I love celebrating all these moments, top 100, and the top 25 on the road, but Met fans, and Knick fans, unlike Yankee fans, invariably ask about the worst moments, and spend as much passion on them. They'll ask, "Do you have the Charles Smith game, or do you have Gooden giving up the homer to Sciosia?" I was 22 in 1988, so for people younger than me and older than me -- every age group -- I think they remember that. If a team wins the World Series twice in three years, you’re a dynasty, but Gibson’s home run off McDowell (ruined that possibility).

BW: I remember the Sciosia home run, but not the Gibson homer.

SM: It was that same game. Gooden giving up the home run to Sciosia in 1988 only tied the game. They've got a 4-2 lead in the 9th inning. Gooden is pitching a three hitter. And if they win, the Mets are up 3-1, which you have to figure is pretty tough to come back from. And then Gooden walks the lead-off hitter and Mike Sciosia comes up and hits this home run. And your jaw drops because Sciosia had only three homers the entire year. So that only tied the game and made it 4-4. The Mets still could have won it, but it went to the 12th and then Kirk Gibson, who of course, hit his famous home run in the World Series off the A's, homered off McDowell.

BW: Funny how the Gibson home run takes a backseat to the Sciosia homer.

SM: Right. People remember the Sciosia home run, and the reality is, not only did that just tie the game and not win it, but the Mets left on two guys in the 11th and in the 12th, after Gibson's homer, they got two guys on again, Greg Jeffries [sic] was called on to bunt, and failed, and then, with the bases loaded, Strawberry popped out. But you know who's pitching at that point for LA? Jesse Orosco. Orosco comes on to get the lefty Strawberry out, then they bring in Orel Hershiser who pitched the day before, and Hershiser gets Kevin McReynolds on a weak fly-out. But it was kind of that double indignity of Orosco helping to beat the Mets and McDowell, his replacement, giving up the homer. So, that's just a bad day in so many different ways.

Ah, 1988.