Cheering On The Home Team

I loved this article in today's WSJ about the Cubs, and specifically about a (shared) season ticketholder's dismay about a $0.60 price reduction (on over $13K), despite the fact that the Cubs have no chance of making the postseason in 2013:

Good. But the Cubs are not going to make the playoffs next year. While I wait for them to improve, I can buy tickets on StubHub at huge discounts—sometimes less than a buck, if last season is any indication. And with the money I save I'll be able to pay whatever it takes to get a ticket to the 2047 World Series.

Tell me why I shouldn't take that approach? I asked.

"Every season's sacred and anything can happen," [Colin Faulkner, vice president for ticket sales and service] said.

Faulkner talked about attending a game this year with his parents and watching his 6-year-old son fall asleep on his mother's lap.

I reminded him that he didn't have to pay for those tickets. When I shell out $300 and my daughter falls asleep, or spends half the game going back and forth to the bathroom, I don't get sentimental; I get upset.

Faulkner goes in for the close.

"I'm asking you to renew your season tickets," he says, looking me in the eye. "We want you to be part of what we're building…. This is not the time to get out. This is the time to double down."

Is it foolish, perhaps even childish, to cheer for something as meaningless as a baseball team? Is it nuts to wear the hats and jerseys of a commercially exploitative corporate entity that happens to own a ball club?

Yes, it is. Especially when you have spouses and kids and jobs to care about.

Yet at a baseball game, I still cheer and dance with joy at the sight of a ball hit long and high over a wall. There's no logic to it.

For 12 years I've been part of a group of Cubs fans who have suffered and (less often) celebrated together. Though the tickets are in my name, they belong as much to my friends as to me. When I put the matter to a vote recently, 13 of the 15 men and women in the group chose to renew.

There may be no logic to my love of the Dodgers (who, unlike the Cubs, have a brighter future for next year). But I've renewed my season tickets anyway, as well.

Ding-ers! Ding-ers! Ding-ers!

Dodgers make it official...

Good? Bad? Indifferent?

The Best Election Day Photo

And then there's this...

Let the "Timmeh to the Rockies" rumors begin!

Vin photo by miss_montoya, via @VinScullyTweet. Colorado image swiped from Tumblr.

Hurry Up And Vote Melky Cabrera For "Heart And Hustle Award"

Sorry I'm catching this so late; you have eight minutes left to vote for Melky Cabrera for the MLBPAA's "Heart and Hustle Award":

The Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association's Heart & Hustle Award is voted on by Major League alumni and active players and is presented annually to a player who demonstrates a passion for the game of baseball and best embodies the values, spirit and traditions of the game.

I can't think of a more fitting tribute to a 5-game suspendee for juicing (not to mention the ridiculous botched cover-up).

Or, you could just vote for the Dodgers' Jerry Hairston, Jr.

The Giants Anomaly Will Pass

Great article last week from Bob Timmermann over at LA Observed, who reminds us to keep his Giants aberration in perspective:

Without a doubt, the San Francisco Giants have, much to the surprise of most baseball observers, become one of the more dominant teams in baseball. The Giants sweep of the Tigers in the World Series gave San Francisco its second world championship in three years.

Meanwhile, down in Los Angeles, Dodgers fans had high hopes from a good start to the season, only to see the overachieving team from April and May to start achieving at more expected level. And then, when the Dodgers made big trades to bolster a weak offensive attack, the offense got worse.

Up in San Francisco, the Giants made only one trade of note, acquiring infielder Marco Scutaro, who ended up: 1) driving in the game-winning runs in a game that eliminated the Dodgers from playoff contention, 2) was named MVP of the NLCS, hitting .500 and 3) drove in the winning run in the 10th inning of Game 4 of the World Series.

So are the Dodgers headed for an extended period of inferiority to their Bay Area rivals? Probably not. This has not kept the L.A. Times most prominent alarmist/troll/ESPN shouter Bill Plaschke from writing a column bemoaning the sad sack nature of the Dodgers.

Plaschke uses the Giants edge in alltime National League pennants as evidence of that franchise's superiority. The Giants have appeared in the World Series 19 times and the Dodgers 18 times.

(This does not count the 19th Century meeting between the two franchises when the Dodgers, then the Brooklyn Bridegrooms, won the American Association, the second major league of the time in 1889. The Giants won the National League title. The Giants won a postseason series that year that lasted nine games. If you count the 19th Century, the Dodgers and Giants have both won their league 22 times. The Giants also won the National League pennant in 1904, but refused to play a World Series that year. The Dodgers won a pennant in 1900, when no World Series was played either.) [...]

Since the Dodgers World Series win in 1988, the Giants have had the upper hand, making the World Series four times. The Giants edge during this time can be attributed to numerous factors: 1) having the game's best offensive player for a long time in Barry Bonds, 2) achieving financial stability after moving into picturesque (and transit-friendly) AT&T Park out of the horrible Candlestick Park (which has far worse access than Dodger Stadium.) The Giants have had stable ownership and a stable front office. The Dodgers ... have had ... a lot of different people sitting in a lot of different offices since Peter O'Malley sold the team. (In Plaschke's column, he complains about Dodger Stadium's condition, a remarkable change from when he thought it was the most beautiful place in Los Angeles to have lunch.)

The Dodgers new ownership group seems willing to spend just about any or all of its money in order to win. The biggest story of the year was the acquisition of four Boston Red Sox players with enormous contracts. The two most important pieces in the deal were first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, who replaced the light-hitting James Loney, and outfielder Carl Crawford, who was injured and did not play for the Dodgers in 2012. If Crawford, a major disappointment in Boston, can come anywhere near his production in his Tampa Bay seasons (a very big if), the Dodgers offense should be improved.

Click over and read the whole article; it's a good one. And get ready, Dodgers fans.

NFL Week 9 Smack Thread

Over in the SoSG Fantasy Football League (see sidebar), two 7-1 titans are doing battle: Marla's The Sammy Knight Rises vs. Mr. F's Smonks of Steve Garvey. Who will come out with the league lead?

Hollywood Beginnings

A Los Angeles team spends a ton of money to acquire a pair of star players. Sky-high expectations turn to disappointment as the team fails to gel immediately. Sound familiar?

The Lakers are now 0-3 in the Dwight Howard/Steve Nash era; the Dodgers went 6-12 after signing Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett (they would end up going 18-18).

What is it about the L.A. sports scene that causes such dysfunction? Are star athletes like star performers, beholden to the first impression of the opening weekend box office?

Common sense tells us if we lower our expectations, we lower the pain of failure. But in this city of blockbusters, we can't think any other way. Go big or go home. Go Dodgers! Go Lakers!

Mark McGwire Joining Dodgers???

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Mark McGwire, who has served as Cardinals hitting coach for three seasons under two managers, has informed the club that he intends to accept a similar position with the Los Angeles Dodgers, sources familiar with the situation told the Post-Dispatch this afternoon.

Though a deal between the Dodgers and McGwire is not considered final, McGwire has told the Cardinals that he does not anticipate accepting their offer of a contract extension. [...]

McGwire is leaning toward accepting the position with Dodgers manager Don Mattingly's staff because of geography. McGwire and his family live in Orange County and McGwire has long emphasized the role his wife and children play in career decisions.

Wow. Big Mac + (Kemp/A-Gon/Hanley/Ethier) = more runs? Wow.

Vin Scully Bobblehead 2: Vin Scullier

The Dodgers just released their 2013 promotional schedule. Probably the most surprising item on it is another Vin Scully bobblehead, less than a year after the first one. Clearly, the demand was there for another one, but I wonder if anyone feels the first one is just a little less special now. But hey, more Vin is ALWAYS a good thing.

The rest of next year's bobblehead lineup:

• Hanley Ramirez "I See You"
  
• Matt Kemp (his third)
  
• Jaime Jarrin (Shut it, Plaschke!)
  
• Sandy Koufax
  
• Adrian Gonzalez
  
• Rick Monday "Flag Saving"
  
• Magic Johnson

And two more TBA.

Some are already grumbling on Twitter about Rick Monday being a Cub when he saved the flag. I think there are bigger things in this world to get upset about.

Other items on the schedule include a hooded sweatshirt, fleece blankets, the now-standard Hello Kitty items, and a Fathead (which tells me they do have a plan for Juan Uribe).

Image via Flickr.

Happy 52nd Birthday, Fred!

Fernando Asks for a Sombrero So He Can Throw It to the Sky

Image courtesy of the Los Angeles Dodgers

Happy Halloween: League Kicks It Gangnam Style

Image Courtesy of Leaguer808 (Brandon League on Instagram)

A.J. Ellis Missed The Signs

At least, on October 12 he did. Which is why, as Molly Knight reported for ESPN.com, AJ and Cindy Ellis gave birth to Audrey and Elizabeth Ellis in the passenger seat of their car:

Ellis was away playing baseball when his daughter, Ainsley, 4, and son, Luke, 2, were born. So when Cindy woke him at 7 a.m. to tell him her water broke, he asked if he had time to shower before they left for the hospital.

“The doctor she likes is about 30 miles from our house,” said Ellis, who makes his home in Milwaukee in the offseason. “But with our other kids she was in labor for hours and hours, so we thought we had plenty of time.”

Said Cindy: “He’s really quick getting ready, and I had to pack, and we had to wait for my sister to get to our house to watch [Ainsley and Luke].”

But by the time they got into their car at 7:25 a.m., Cindy’s contractions were happening every 45 seconds to a minute.

She began screaming at her husband that she didn’t think they were going to make it to the hospital.

“And I’m thinking, this is 2012, not the 'Oregon Trail.' Of course we’re gonna make it,” Ellis said. “So I’m calmly telling her we’re making it. I figured she was just panicking because she was in excruciating pain.”

As Ellis merged on to the interstate, Cindy laid down the front passenger seat and turned to face out the rear window of the car. Writhing in pain, she got down on all fours and gripped the headrest.

“I kept telling him the pain was not normal, but in his mind it was,” Cindy said. “Then a minute later I felt the head.”

They were 18 miles from the hospital.

Audrey Elizabeth Ellis was born a minute after that, sliding on to her belly down the passenger seat and looking right at her terrified papa. She was two weeks early.

It's a really nice piece by Knight. As well as a good reminder never to buy a used car from A.J. Ellis.

Congratulations, A.J. and Cindy (and Ainsley and Luke)!

photos courtesy of A.J. "Soohoo" Ellis

SoSG Scribes The Dodgers' 2012 Concession Speech

Lost among all the vomiting this postseason was the fact that your very own Sons of Steve Garvey scribed the Dodgers' 2012 concession speech over at Yahoo! Sports' Big League Stew. It's a long piece, but here's the (unburied) lede:

My fellow Dodger fans:

It is with heavy heart that we, the Sons of Steve Garvey, formally concede our team's candidacy for 2012 World Series champion. This season was quite a roller coaster, with plenty of insane highs and ridiculous lows involved.

But what started out with some shocking surprises (Magic Johnson is buying the Dodgers?!) and some extremely positive momentum (best record in baseball through June 19) suddenly gave way to a quick downward spiral (a plague of injuries, most notably to franchise foundation Matt Kemp), and not even the late presence of a potent "final five" (Hanley Ramirez, Joe Blanton, Shane Victorino, Adrian Gonzalez, and Josh Beckett) could abate a dirge through the second half of the run (an impotent offense through most of August and September dropped us from the division lead to 11 games back), which finally culminated with a "what the heck just happened there?" surprise (winning eight of our last 10 games of the season).

Come to think of it, the Dodgers' 2012 plotline almost directly follows the story arc of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series (and I still can't get over the Kara-Thrace-suddenly-disappears-in-a-poof-of-smoke thing, but that's another story altogether)...

Enjoy, and thanks again to Kevin Kaduk for giving us the soapbox.

So say we all.

Earlier SoSG content on Big League Stew: 10 best things about being a Dodgers fan (along with a ton of other posts, accessible in the sidebar)

Colletti Gets a League of His Own

From Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times:

Reliever Brandon League has finalized a new three-year deal with the Dodgers, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Times.

The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the deal isn’t expected to be announced until Wednesday. Financial terms of the contract were not immediately known. [...]

The Dodgers bullpen posted an earned-run average of 3.23 this season, fourth-best in the National League and eighth-best in the major leagues.

Many of the main contributors, including Kenley Jansen and setup man Ronald Belisario, will be back. [...]

Colletti said last week he also had interest in re-signing the Dodgers’ two other free-agent relievers, right-hander Jamey Wright and situational left-hander Randy Choate.

Are you so sure Belisario will be back? Anyways, it'll be interesting whether League or Jansen gets anointed the closer during spring training. If these guys can replicate their success from last season, I'm feeling pretty good about the seventh through ninth.

UPDATE:

Ned Colletti on League: “We think that after what he did the last two or three weeks in the season, that closing is the role.”

— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) October 31, 2012

RT @jimbowdenespnxm: Dodgers deal with League is approximately $21.3m according to a Dodgers source over 3 years. "just north of $7.1m per"

— Eric Stephen (@truebluela) October 31, 2012

Kemp, Ethier Join Cleveland

"The Cleveland Show," that is. From @Dodgers:

Dodger Stadium To Again Become A Kuroda'd House?

Hey now, hey now. Don't dream it's over: Hiroki Kuroda could return to the Dodgers, if Ned Colletti is able to put together a starting pitcher corps that's...something so strong:

LOS ANGELES -- Former Dodgers right-hander Hiroki Kuroda could emerge as a top free-agent target of the club, even though management is increasingly optimistic that starting pitcher Chad Billingsley will avoid Tommy John elbow reconstruction and be ready to pitch in 2013.

General manager Ned Colletti has made acquiring another starting pitcher a high priority because southpaw Ted Lilly is coming off shoulder surgery and Billingsley missed the last five weeks of the 2012 season with a partially torn elbow ligament.

Billingsley threw a two-inning simulated game on Monday in Arizona, another step forward in his rehab. But that won't preclude Colletti from signing another starter to join the four healthy members of the Dodgers' rotation -- Clayton Kershaw, Josh Beckett, Aaron Harang and Chris Capuano.

The top starting pitchers on the free-agent market are Zack Greinke, Ryan Dempster, Kyle Lohse and Jake Peavy. All are expected to receive multiyear contracts.

Kuroda, 37, left the Dodgers a year ago and signed a one-year contract for $12 million with the Yankees. The Dodgers, in bankruptcy at the time, instead signed Harang and Capuano for less than $12 million combined in 2012 salaries. The Dodgers now have the financial resources to satisfy Kuroda if he's willing to accept another one-year contract.

I'm hoping Kuroda had better be home soon. (That is, at Dodger Stadium, not Japan.)

George Lucas Can Buy the Dodgers Now

BREAKING: Disney to buy Lucasfilm for $4.5B; new Star Wars movie in 2017. hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-bu…

— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) October 30, 2012

UPDATE (Sax, 1.33p): WSJ breaking news here. NYT here. Wow.

No One Cares About The Giants

Honestly, I found the Giants' run so nauseating (albeit incredible, to be fair) that I couldn't watch the 2012 World Series. Turns out, neither could anyone else:

The San Francisco Giants' sweep of the Detroit Tigers set a record low for the World Series' television ratings.

The four games on Fox averaged a 7.6 rating and 12 share, Nielsen Media Research said Monday. The previous low was an 8.4 for the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies-Tampa Bay Rays and 2010 Giants-Texas Rangers series, which each went five games.

Last year's St. Louis Cardinals-Rangers World Series went seven games and built momentum to average a 10.0/16.

The Giants' 2-0 win in Game 3 on Saturday earned a 6.1/11, and their 4-3, 10-inning victory in the clincher Sunday drew an 8.9/14. Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with TVs tuned into a program. Shares represent the percentage watching among all homes with TVs in use at the time.

So the Giants own the two worst-rated World Series in history. Let that settle in.

Let's put those ratings into daily perspective.

• Game 1: Roughly 30% more people watch Modern Family than the Giants. At least Game 1 wins its 8p opening timeslot before people lose interest by 9p.
• Game 2: Even intelligent fanboy nerds abandon the Giants, as 50% more people care about Kaley Cuoco and The Big Bang Theory at 8p. Two and a Half Men at 8.30 also pulls a greater audience than the Giants, even though Pablo Sandoval represents roughly one and a half men.
• Game 3: I can't find show-specific ratings, but USA Today said Saturday's Giants game was down from prior year.
• Game 4: Saints at Broncos dominates the Giants.

I'm guessing MLB is alarmed by the low ratings, which are strongly correlated with the Giants' presence. People don't want to watch cheaters from a small-market town, it's as simple as that.

And it's not the Tigers' fault. The Tigers drew a 10.1 average rating when they lost to the Cardinals in 2006. And in 1984 when they last won, they drew a 22.9.

The Dodgers' 1988 win drew a 23.9 rating, fifth-highest of all-time.

San Francisco: Just Another Baseball City

The San Francisco Police Department is asking for the public's help to find this person. twitter.com/Josh_Suchon/st…

— Josh Suchon (@Josh_Suchon) October 30, 2012

Buster Olney States The Obvious

Here's what Buster Olney says are the Dodgers' offseason priorities (you'd better sit down, but don't bother clicking through unless you're an insider):

Los Angeles Dodgers: They say they have a lot of money to spend, and it'll be interesting to see if they choose to compete with their market rivals, the Angels, for Greinke. They have to decide whether Hanley Ramirez is a shortstop or a third baseman.

Greinke also makes an appearance, of course, in the Angels' offseason priority list:

Los Angeles Angels: Their framework has changed rapidly. This franchise was thought to have outstanding starting pitching at the outset of 2012 season, but the Angels may have as many as three openings in their rotation going into 2013. C.J. Wilson had surgery that figures to impact him into next season, and the Angels must quickly decide whether to pick up options on Dan Haren ($15.5 million) and Ervin Santana ($13 million). There are legit reasons for them to pass on those options, and if they do so -- and are unable to re-sign Zack Greinke -- well, their rotation would be a complete mess.