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.
UPDATE: Thanks to Jason for figuring out that Fox had changed the time of the game. The Dodger game--now 6:05 first pitch--now conflicts with the USC game but we are still set on doing it that evening. Details to follow.
Congrats to those of you who found information on SoSG Fest 2011 through the "soft launch". That's right, we posted a clue to this event over two weeks ago, and the intrepid few who found the link hidden in our sidebar have had their calendars cleared for a while now (I'm talking to you, Mr. Customer, Josh S., Quadsevens, Mr. LA SC, Steve K., Jason, Dusty Baker, and Keven C).
Bonus points already go to you eight (we'll leave the link up for a while just for kicks, though we've closed comments on that thread).
That's right, we are gluttons for punishment and as such are opening up SoSG Fest 2011 on the afternoon evening of September 10, 2011, at a secret location again in Los Angeles. Last year's inaugural SoSG Fest 2010 was a blast, so we're bringing it back again this year.
You guys know the drill. We believe that the SoSG community is more fit to congregate at a bar to watch a Dodger game together on television, rather than have us deal with the logistical nightmare of pre-game ticket distributions for a night at the Stadium. Plus, this way, we can focus our energies on conversation with some snarky friends over a pint of beer, or four.
We'll provide at least some of the food and grub. There may be some prizes awarded. And the Dodgers @ Giants game, once again on Fox, will again be televised (last year's effort didn't go so well, by the way; just setting your expectations LOW). (I believe the USC game has a 4:30p kickoff.)
All of us Sons (at least, the five of us who remain) are really thankful and appreciative to have you as our readers, so we want to subsidize a portion of this event for you. Bring your livers, a little bit of cash, and a finely-sharpened can of sarcastic whupass, and come watch a game with some of the Sons and the SoSG readers.
Also, like last year, we are limited on space for this event so we are going to ask you to apply, just as we did last year. So, if you are available on September 10, 2011, and interested in attending, please send us an email, with your SoSG screen name and a brief paragraph on why you think you should be invited to SoSG Fest 2011--and, to those of you who attended SoSG Fest 2010, what training you've done in the past year to gear up for this event.
Historical frequency of comments, bonus points for having found the hidden sidebar link, and of course cash bribes, will all be taken into consideration in judging these entries. The Sons will make their wholly arbritrary decisions and will send emails with separate instructions on the event location and time to the winners.
That wacky Lenny Dykstra is back in hot water. This time by taking a page from the Favre / Weiner playbook.
LOS ANGELES — Former New York Mets star Lenny Dykstra was charged with indecent exposure after allegedly exposing himself to women he met via Craigslist, TMZ reported Thursday. Citing information from the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office, the entertainment website said Dykstra, whose wife filed for divorce in 2009, used Craigslist to post advertisements for a personal assistant or housekeeper.
When he met the women who answered his ads Dykstra would "inform the women that the job also required them to give a massage and would expose himself to them," the City Attorney's Office said.At least six women are involved in the case, with reports from 2009, 2010 and February and April this year, KTLA reported. Dykstra, who is in custody in Los Angeles on other charges, is to be arraigned on Sept. 7.
The former Philadelphia Phillies outfielder has already been ordered to stand trial on 25 criminal counts, including grand theft auto, for allegedly trying to lease cars using phony business and credit information. The 48-year-old is also facing federal bankruptcy charges stemming from the alleged sale of property from his $18 million mansion in Ventura County.
Please note: the picture of Bachman doing oral battle with a corndog does not signify SoSG's support of her as a candidate. (Most of us are Perot men.)
By this time, having hung out for about a half-hour on the field, we were advised by Jim Pool (our Cardinals staff friend) that the teams wouldn't start coming out for batting practice for another 30 minutes. So we decided to do a lap around Busch Stadium now, instead of just waiting there.
The aisle-seat detail was pretty cool.
Back into the tunnels we went, emerging behind third base in the field level concourse. The concourse was kind of dark, but that's probably because they hadn't turned on all the lights for the crowd just yet.
Build Your Own Fredbird workshop was closed.
I couldn't help myself; I had to go up to the fence and take pictures of the fans waiting to get into Busch Stadium.
This included taking a picture of a Dodgers fan that we met sitting on a park bench as we walked to Busch Stadium. He was cracking up to find us inside the Stadium already, and he waved to us.
The dark, abandoned concourse. Kind of eerie.
More Cardinals fans waiting on the outside. Wheee! We're in already!
Back on the concourse behind right-center field, the Cardinals' world championship titles are noted.
The view from center field.
Like the Royals, the Cardinals also have some fun areas for the kids in the back of the stadium. When we got back to this area, SoSG AC vaulted up a staircase to see what was on the next level, but I got stopped by a Cardinals employee asking if I needed help (really, she was asking what the heck I was doing back here). I showed her my media pass, and told her we were just taking a tour around the ballpark; she introduced herself as Rose and she said that this area was the part of the park that she managed, so she was happy to show us around. Sweet!
There's a lot of interactive activities back here, including a patio area for dining and a room with videogame consoles. She says it attracts a lot of families. Unfortunately, we wouldn't get much of a chance to walk around the stadium once the game began, so this was the only chance we had to see the area, unoccupied.
The kids' area pitching cage.
A little playground area for the little ones. Rose told me that there was a woman who comes here every game and brings her kids or grandkids, sits down in a corner and reads a book. "Why she has season tickets in the first place is a little bizarre," Rose said.
And here's Rose. Thanks for our mini-tour!
A golfcart even celebrates the 2006 title.
More locked out Cardinals fans. Okay, at this point I'm just being mean. Ha ha!
We kept walking, now turning to walk down the first base line, and guess what I saw:
Dammit! Fast beer, and I wasn't here to see it pour in person!
Luckily, there's a video of how the bottom-pouring, magnet-operated machine works:
Thank god for YouTube.
Onward we walked, until we found this scoreboard; it took a second before we realized that this was the old Busch Stadium scoreboard, which must have been frozen in time after the final game of the 2005 season. First is the American League:
Seven AL games, frozen in time.
Here's the NL scoreboard. For all eternity, we will be losing to the Padres in the fifth inning (in fact, we lost that game 3-1, and that year, the Padres went to the playoffs with an 82-80 record).
Our lap completed, we went back down to the field to see the players.
The red brick and inlaid detail from right behind home plate.
So the players hadn't really arrived yet, but first up was the Psycho himself, Steve Lyons. He stopped to wave hello:
Lyons, a brave man for wearing a tie in this heat.
The Cardinals employees congregated behind the plate, now numbering four people (including Jim Pool), asked me who that was. When I told him it was Lyons, one of the guys said, "Oh yeah, isn't that the guy who dropped his pants on the baseball field?" Years later, Lyons' legacy lives on.
Next to pass was Eric Collins, who was really, really fun with which to talk. We said hello to him and introduced him when he first passed by, but later on he came back to talk with us for around 10 minutes, and it was great.
He thought the name of our blog was hilarious. And then when I asked him about calling the games and what it was like this season (his third), the conversation went something like this:
Collins: Well you know, I only call ~40 games a year, but the Dodgers' record in those games isn't all that great.
Well, that was uncomfortable. But Collins laughed at it, and it was cool. I really appreciate the time he spent just to shoot the bull and make us feel at home (while on the road).
Behind home plate, pre-game.
And then, the players started coming out. First out was Josh Lindblom, who is a big guy.
Lindblom in the lead.
Lindblom started warming up with Clayton Kershaw (who also came over to talk with us and was totally polite and very welcoming, I might add. I didn't know if it was even possible to be even more of a Kershaw fan than I already was, but he made me even more fanatical and supportive).
Steve Lyons made a beeline over there too, as the players started to come out.
By this time, three kids had come down (they must have started letting fans in) and were asking the Dodgers for autographs. These kids were smart, armed with bats, balls, baseball cards, pictures, the whole nine.
Justin Sellers signs for some fans.
Javy Guerra re-emerges, while Jamey Carroll tries to describe how Busch Stadium can be a trap.
Dodgers start their throwing warmup drills.
Javy Guerra totally started playing to SoSG AC and me, which was funny.
"Check out all the ink on Justin!"
Dioner Navarro, right before the boom was lowered.
At this point, SoSG AC and I are giddy to be five feet from the Dodger players and on the field as they warmed up, joshed around, interacted with us a bit, and had fun. And then, suddenly, Jon Chapper of the Dodgers' PR department motioned us over toward him, waaaaay past where Jim Pool's sectioned off area was set.
We were going into the Busch Stadium dugout, to talk with Don Mattingly.
Dodgers are idle today but we can still keep track of the NL West race. Arizona has a two-game lead in the standings, but Baseball Prospectus' Playoff Odds still has the Giants with a 67.3% chance of making the playoffs, with the Diamondbacks at 32.6% (the Dodgers are at 0.1%).
First up is ARI @ WAS, with newly-promoted Wade Miley (0-1, 11.25) getting the start for the Snakes. Yeah, that's the way to fight down the stretch of a pennant race. Miley Cyrus will face John Lannan (8-9, 3.61). First pitch, 4p PT.
Later tonight is HOU @ SF; Giants start Ryan Vogelsong (10-3, 2.47). Astros counter, if you can call it that, with Henry Sosa (0-2, 6.35), on whom the Giants batted around in a prior start. Yeah, I hope Arizona can win today. First pitch, 7.15p PT.
As you can see, Sax has done a pretty comprehensive recap of our trip. Which leaves me the random crap to write about. The background on me is that I DO love baseball, but I DON'T do baseball trips. Unlike Sax, I have only seen 10 baseball stadiums (now with KC and St Louis) with 2 of those stadiums having been torn down. I really went to spend some quality time with Sax and the other "non-Son" and with Mrs. Cora giving me the OK, I was on my way.
Traveling with the guys is always fun as they have access to the lounge at the airport. The bonus was when we walked in, a fellow traveler who was leaving gave me his 2 unused free cocktail drink cards. Score! These were quickly snatched up by Sax and 2 bloody mary's popped up in front of us (at 1 pm no less).
View from the American Airlines airport lounge - Is that our plane?"
When we landed in KC (after a layover in Dallas - GO LAKERS!), we raced over to the Jack Stack BBQ rib joint. Pretty neat ambiance as it is located in an old rail yard. The place was huge, but getting there so late, I think the staff was more concerned about getting us out of there so they could clean up and go home. The waitress even spilled some of the wine she was pouring on the table and didn't even acknowledge the "party foul". Grrrr...that is some expensive wine lady! The food was pretty good, but everything was so big I was ashamed that I couldn't eat it all and even more ashamed that I couldn't take it home for some wicked leftovers. Also, even though we were full, the kitchen was closed and they were not serving dessert. Wouldn't you think that a place would want to milk as much money as possible out of you? Off we went to the hotel for some much needed rest to get up early for the next day.
Jack Stack's BBQ.
Gluttony baby.
Hey that place looks familiar!
As for the game, Sax took many of the same pictures that I took, but I have to give the Royals serious props with the Hall of Fame museum. The Dodgers MUST do this and make it accessible to EVERYONE! I know that they have some great memorabilia on the club suite level, but not everyone can get to it. Build something beyond the outfield and it is sure to have a line out the door. Here are some pictures of the museum to inspire the Dodger architects.
Ok Kevin Appier wasn't that great, but seeing a huge ring is pretty cool.
The original Matt Kemp - BO Knows Baseball.
Bobbleheads!!!!
Hot pants night. Sweet.
El Segundo's own George Brett.
Gold Gloves.
One baseball for each of Brett's hits. Look how much pine tar is on George Brett's bat!
Cy Young Awards. Kershaw, yours is waiting.
World Series trophy. Not many years before the Dodgers last one. (Sigh)
I see where they get the Sunshine part of the KC and the Sunshine Band. It was hot and humid and I don't do well with either one. It was kinda sad to see more red Boston fans that blue KC fans, but I guess that's life of a KC fan (and evidence of the Boston bandwagon). Here are some of the food offerings at the lovely stadium.
My sad meatball sandwich and pepsi.
Didn't see anyone get the turkey leg, but I always imagined it would look like those ones the vikings eat.
Funnel Cake Fries. Gotta love the midwest.
Did I mention that it was hot? I had to take some breaks and walk around the shaded concourse when I ran into a bunch of guys standing around, drinking beers, and wearing Dodger shirts. I walked up to them and asked "Is this where the Dodger fans stand?" It was great to talk to fellow Dodger fans and road trippers. Looks like they do one of these trips a year. We agreed that the stadium in KC was pretty, but small compared with LA, McCourt needs to leave, and the Dodgers need to build a Hall of Fame at Chavez Ravine. Looks like they buy cheap tickets and just walk around the stadium drinking beers and eating. Nice. Hope the rest of the trip as great guys!!! And if you guys are reading this, comment below to tell us your thoughts on KC and St Louis!
A la Milwaukee, the Hot Dog Races with little kids in Mustard, Ketchup, and Pickle Relish. Mustard won (and Sax took my 20 bucks).
Dustin Pedroia at the plate. Dude is kinda short, but can blister the ball.
My inner technophile side was raving about the great scoreboard!
Fellow Dodger fans in KC.
Running the bases after the game was great. It was also fun to interact with the other KC fans. It was a thrill for me to get down on the field, as one doesn't get to do this very often. It was fun jumping against the padded outfield wall, feeling the warning track gravel crackle under your shoes, and stepping on a real base and home plate. Such a simple activity, but one that conjures so many childhood fantasies.
View from the centerfield warning track. Looking up at the sun, I have no idea how these professional ballplayers catch a flyball - even a can of corn.
Foul Pole.
We were all winners today!
Thanks KC for a great time!
After the game, we were pretty famished (along with a touch of heat stroke) so we stopped at Arthur Bryant's for rehydration and ribs. Sax's recommendation was great and I actually liked this better than Jack Stacks. Plus Sax paid, so it tasted even better. All in all, the first leg of the trip was great. I don't know if or when I will ever get back to Kansas City, but if I do, I know that I need to get back to the beautiful stadium! Thanks KC!
Great place. I think better than the other fancier KC place.
3/27 vs. AZ (W, 6-4): AC
4/11 vs. TEX (W, 8-7): Sax
5/11 vs. SF (L, 3-9): Sax
5/25 vs. COL (W, 5-3): Sax
6/11 @ PIT (W, 8-6): Sax
6/15 vs. TB (W, 4-3): Nomo
7/4 vs. SD (W, 3-0): Orel, Sax
