At-Game Recap: Sept. 27 vs. Rockies, Blogger Night 2013

It almost goes without saying at this point that the Dodgers are very good to bloggers. We get invited to cool events. We get press box access. (Some of us get it full time.) And, of course, we get a whole night all about us once a year.

This year, the Dodgers scheduled the 6th annual Blogger Night on the first night of the final homestand. (We thought they might not have it this year, and hey, they're not obligated to, so we've very appreciative when they do manage it.) It turns out this was a great time to have it, as the whole night felt like a victory party of sorts to conclude this crazy regular season.

One of the most fun parts of Blogger Night is sharing a suite with folks from other blogs and finally getting a chance to put some faces to the screen names (or Twitter handles). Blogs in attendance this year were Vin Scully Is My Homeboy, Lasorda's Lair, True Blue L.A. (represented by Craig and Brandon...Eric was busy, of course), Dodgers Nation, DodgerDiamond, Think Blue L.A., New Grass on The Field, West Coast Bias Sports, and Paint The Corners. (Paint the Corners is run by talented artist and Twitter snark master EephusBlue.) I joked at one point that I was surprised that Tony Jackson wasn't banished to the suite with us lowly uncredentialed bloggers after his peegate post.

The Dodgers are also great about providing guest speakers for this event. This year (as with last year), Stan Kasten and Ned Colletti spent some time with us. Keep in mind, this is an organization prepping for a playoff run. They could have easily skimped on the guests, claiming everyone is busy. Instead, we got the president and GM. Not too shabby.

Stan spoke first, mentioning how he's never quite sure how teams should handle bloggers (We're not quite press, but we're more than fans, essentially.), but that everything he was going to say would be on the record. He spoke briefly about renovation plans for the offseason (implying that he'd love to be forced to wait until November to start). There won't be any major demolition this offseason, but look for more bars, restaurants, and walk-up eating areas. He did say, if time allows, that the visitors clubhouse could get an upgrade this season. (Not sure how that fits with "no major demolition.")

I asked him about the wi-fi and cellular improvements. He said he was embarrassed that they were unable to deliver them when promised. The good news is, he received word shortly before seeing us that that there will be at least "some" wi-fi access in place for the Postseason. (A wi-fi newtork labeled "Public Access" was up and running during the game, and most of us were using it. Not sure if this is what will be available starting Sunday.) No definitive date or details on the cellular improvements were given, but Stan did mention that Sprint had opted out of the plan.

Other topics Stan touched on were the new Dodgers network (On schedule. We should hear more in January.), facing the Braves in the playoffs ("I have mixed emotions."), the Vin Scully Way plan ("I'm for honoring Vin Scully even if it means opposing Vin himself."), and the Jonathan Denver tragedy. Stan said no firm tribute had been planned for Denver, but there was a moment of silence before the game.

Up next was Ned Colletti, and the first thing I noticed was how much more jovial he was compared to last year's Blogger Night. I suppose winning the division does wonders for his mood. We shared a laugh about the idea of having a sitcom focused on Uribe/Hanley/Puig/Ryu on the new network. On the topic of Uribe, Ned strongly hinted that he'd be back in 2014. ("The guy you're seeing now is the guy we signed in 2010. I don't have an explanation for it.") Though, he was firm with us that there would be no talk of 2014 signings (Nolasco, Wilson, etc.) until 2013's run was over.

Some other highlights of Ned's talk: When he acquires a big-name player, he always thinks about who that player will be blocking. He wants prospects to get their first taste of failure in Single-A or Double-A, not in the majors. There are no Kershaw contract talks going on right now. Mattingly's job is not in danger if he doesn't win in the Postseason. (Interesting.) And, perhaps most obviously, this is the best team he's had in his term as GM.

After Ned wrapped up, we got a brief visit from Jon Chapper from Dodgers PR and Josh Tucker from Dodgers Social Media. Strange as it may sound, meeting Josh was the highlight of my night. He runs the Dodgers Twitter account, and as you might know, I spend a fair amount of time on Twitter. It was nice to get some behind-the-scenes info about how social media impacts the team. ("Juan Uribe was born for social media.") We talked about the Vin Scully Tweetcast ("Highlight of my career"), the "Stay Classy, San Diego" tweet (He thought it was harmless at the time.) and the George Lopez Twitter takeover (more popular among the general fan population than the Twitter-savvy crowd). Josh even had praise for those of us that use Twitter to both bring the funny and maintain a sense of community during games.

And then there was the game itself. To be honest, it's now just a blur of free Dodger Dogs and offensive explosions. I mentioned on Twitter that night that the game felt like a victory lap. Everything about the night reminded me of how crazy and fun this season has been, and it definitely got us all hyped for the upcoming October run. Some of us stayed in the suite until we were kicked out, unable to stop talking about matchups, rosters, rotations, and generally just nerding out completely.

A tremendous thank you to Garrett Thomas, Jon Chapper, Josh Tucker, Yvonne Carrasco, Stan Kasten, Ned Colletti (and a few more front office folks who came by but whose names I missed), and my fellow bloggers in attendance for making Blogger Night a truly special evening.

Dodgers Blogger Night 2011 Recap #2: 11 Things I Learned From This Year's Blogger Extravaganza

There wasn't much action on the field for the game accompanying Tuesday's Annual Dodgers Blogger Night event, but I still found it to be a wonderful evening at the ballpark. In fact, I'm still buzzing about it, a day and a half later (which may be partially driven by the fact that my Dodgers depression has reached such insane depths this year, that perhaps the club's generous invitation to a night in heaven is enough to re-energize me about this 2011 team). I had a blast.

In fact, I learned 11 things at this year's Blogger Night...

1. The new wall decorations on the club-level concourse (first-base side) are beautiful. Where historic photographs once sat (and those were cool too I might add), we now have a full museum full of Dodgers artifacts and memorabilia, from Ebbets Field seats to old-school pennants to sheets of vintage Dodgers baseball cards. I could have spent an hour perusing everything, if not for the fact that we were a little late due to a slight redirection from the press credentials table to the club-level will call window. But I hope I get the chance to go back and really study these historic pieces, as they not only evoked feelings of admiration for the Dodgers' rich heritage, but also were displayed in a way that seemed to get one excited for the game, too. Or maybe that was just my stomach talking.

2. Andre Ethier is pretty awesome to have called into the suite to say hi. When I am sick from work with a high fever, I basically roll around in bed and complain to my wife that I need more gatorade from the refrigerator downstairs. Andre was sick, but he not only went to work anyway (knowing he wouldn't be in the lineup), he also took time out to call in to a room full of rabid Dodger fans just to thank them for their support in his quest to be the NL Final Vote winner (and for pete's sake, go vote here before this contest closes). I liked his answer (about 0:50 into the video) on why he merits our vote: because he's a Dodger. He's earned my vote (or 100).

3. Even among the most ardent Dodger bloggers and fans, the passion for this 2011 team is muted. I'm not the only one feeling this way, unfortunately; this was the first Blogger Night in which more people were hanging out within the suite rather than fighting over one of the Aeron chairs on the terraces outside the suite, facing the field. This may have been because the spread was a bit better this year (at least, I assume those were chicken nuggets). Not that we have had a lot of opportunities to get used to this feeling over the Dodgers' history, but it's hard to get fired up when you're 11 games out and it's not even the All-Star break.

4. Eric Stephen is one crazy motherf'er. No, I'm not talking "streaking on the field" crazy, though it is true that one should always be wary of people with two first names. But Tuesday night, Stephen (of True Blue LA) convinced me that he would be a great guy with which to travel to Vegas, thanks to a series of increasingly absurd proposition bets that we made throughout the night. First, with two RISP and two out in the bottom of the third inning, the hirsute Aaron Miles comes up to the plate, and Stephen promptly says he thinks Miles is going to score two. Miles of course grounds to short. I raise the stakes with Stephen in the bottom of the fifth inning, when again it's two RISP and two out and I predict James Loney would score two. Loney walks (which we agree is a push). But Stephen goes all in and INSANELY predicts the next batter, Juan Uribe, would hit a grand slam. I mean, since that sort of proposition defies any sort of rational thought, I can only assume that Stephen is a risk-taker to the nth degree. Such boldness! Such bravado! Such confidence! Uribe flied out to center. But I give Stephen credit not only for this proposition but also for keeping an otherwise dreadful game interesting, at least for a while.

And here's an extra trivia question about Eric Stephen: guess what first album was? Now you know. Slick, blow.

5. Roberto Baly is one cool cat for a new dad. The man is a one-person blogging machine over at VSIMH, has a three-week old son, and still showed up dapper and ready to party, eyes inexplicably free of any sleep-deprived circle marks that befall all new parents. Shoot, Roberto, why do you have to make us all feel so mortal?

And ironically enough, guess what Roberto Baly's first album also was? (Ah, just kidding.)

6. Ron Cey is not one to mince words. I didn't catch this part in my Cey video, but the nutshell is that in this year's visit (Cey also visited the blogger suite last year), he not only looked more mobile (apparently getting over the arthritic conditions that have plagued him in recent years), but used pointed words to shoot from the hip as well. When asked his opinions about colleagues from his playing days who have been in the headlines recently as competing investors to Dodger owner Frank McCourt, Cey was very clear that he thought it was an unethical conflict of interest to do so while being employed by the Dodgers. He easily could have responded with a politically-correct quip, but wasted no time in painting it as a black-and-white situation. Honestly, it was unexpectedly refreshing, and I think the whole suite of bloggers appreciated Cey's candor.

7. Al Ferrara is an animated man. He regaled us with stories of playing piano in Carnegie Hall, growing up in the sandlots of Brooklyn, and even his acting career, which included a stint on the television series Batman along with Zsa Zsa Gabor (Delino had a picture of Ferrara in his wrap-up). It was nice to see him hold the room with such gusto.

8. SoSG DelinO is a really fun guy. Delino and I have spent a lot of time together, including multiple baseball trips to stadia impressive and pathetic. But you know how it is sometimes, life gets in the way of getting a chance to just hang out sometimes. So sitting on the terraces of the suite Tuesday night, overlooking the field, just catching up for an inning or two over a couple of $10 beers, was a real treat (except for the $10 beer part, that is). And DelinO even thought enough in advance to have brought props for three fun videos that I'm going to wait to reveal until tomorrow. I screwed up for talking him into wearing shorts (he's right, we were the only idiots to have done so; my bad). And still, he didn't razz me too much after the Mets started crushing the Dodgers like a tomato. I'm telling you, if you ever run into DelinO at a game, buy the guy a beer and hang out for an inning or two. You won't regret it.

9. Erin is missed. At the first Dodgers Blogger Night years ago, I met Erin of Robots Took My Medicine, a friendship connection which was one of the highlights of that evening. Alas, Erin has moved on (and moved away), dangerously imperiling the male-to-female ratio of the Blogger Night suite. So it was a pleasure to meet Clare Toffoli of the Ravine Report at the suite this year, even though I didn't get a chance to buy her a beer. Sigh. Must have been the Animal mask. Maybe at a future game, Clare? A pseudonym-concealed blogger can dream....

10. Josh Rawitch and Amy Summers are my heroes. I've always credited Josh and his team for their prescience in even considering bloggers as a constituency and inviting us to a suite each year. But this year, they even had a chance to hang out with us for most of the game, giving us bloggers a chance to get to know them a little better and ask them questions on and off the record. Rawitch also asked the group some provoking questions about the viability, appropriateness, and usefulness of social media which elicited a range of responses from the diverse blogging crowd, some of whom post every day and/or are more "news-item" focused than others. I can't imagine that this has been an easy year for the Public Relations department at the Dodgers, but watching Josh and Amy (and their colleagues), you'd never know it--they seem to handle the ups and downs with aplomb. And the logistics for this year's event were smoother than ever--I really appreciated how smoothly the night went. But this is related to the final point, which is...

11. ...SoSG Sax, apparently, can be bought. Walking away from the suite with a swag bag full of promotional items and media literature made me feel like the kid at Halloween that finds the one house on the block that gives away full-sized Snickers bars and not those worthless mini-boxes of stuck-together, half-melted Junior Mints. This was the first year we got swag bags and I was literally giddy with excitement. Between a night in a suite, plus a bag full of goodies, I was beaming with joy by the time I got home. Could it be that Sax is that easy of a mark? Could my viewpoints on the Dodgers be swayed by material objects? Could I let a beach towel, retro t-shirt, and Mattingly bobblehead overcome a half-season's worth of firestorm-like frustrations over this 2011 team and its embarrassing ownership debacle?

It's looking good so far.

But I probably need more testing of this hypothesis to really confirm the theory.

Thank you, Josh and Amy and Yvonne and John and Joe and Mark and Adam (and Ronnie Bobby Ricky and Mike (that's for you, Eric!)) and everyone else for a wonderful night at the Stadium. I really feel honored to have been invited, and appreciate your generosity and hospitality. Let's do this again, soon!

At-Game Recap: 2015 Blogger Night, Part Deux

My view for the evening. Not bad at all.
After a year off in 2014, the Dodgers reinstated Blogger Night with a special 2-night affair on June 8th and 10th, 2015. The team continued their streak of being incredibly generous to this here site by allowing us to split our four invitations and attend both nights. SoSG Alex Cora and Franklin Stubbs attended the first night (read AC's recap here, if you haven't already) and I attended Wednesday night's festivities. (SoSG Dusty was sadly and unavoidably detained.)

This was a different experience from past Blogger Nights I have attended, but still a very enjoyable event. The evening kicked off with a presentation in the Hall of Fame conference room on the Club level. It's always interesting to see areas of the ballpark that the general public does not have access to. The presentation was two-fold: To introduce us to the extensive lineup of summer promotions and to show off some of Dodger Stadium's new culinary options for 2015. In attendance from the Dodgers front office were Steve Brener from Public Relations, VP of Ticket Sales David Siegel, VP of Marketing and Broadcasting Erik Braverman, Director of Advertising and Promotions Shelley Wagner, Director of Digital and Print Content (and Godfather of Dodger Bloggers) Jon Weisman, Social Media Coordinator Matthew Mesa, Marketing and Broadcasting Coordinator Claire Miller, and Assistant Director of Public Relations (and Blogger Night mainstay) Yvonne Carrasco.

Siegel started off by walking us through the very strong lineup of upcoming Dodgers promotions and giveaway items. He mentioned always wanting to give the fans "added value" for their ticket dollar. He promised that the fireworks show after the July 4th game will be the "best fireworks show in Los Angeles." That game will have a 4pm start, and Siegel indicated that there will be entertainment for the fans in the downtime between the end of the game and the 8:45 (or 9pm) start of the fireworks show. There was a huge assortment of the upcoming giveaway items laid out in the conference room, ranging from beach bags to barbecue tongs to hampers(!) to, of course, bobbleheads. The prize piece, in my opinion, was this absolutely gorgeous Sandy Koufax perfect game bobblehead, which will be given away August 13th.


Here are a few of the other items coming later this year.


Dodger Headphones. Siegel said (jokingly?) that they got special permission to make them look Beats by Dre-ish.

Father's Day BBQ Set. I'm guessing this will be a post-game giveaway. (Also, unless I misheard, the Father's Day Catch returns this year.)

A great-looking Maury Wills bobblehead, though the angle of the slide is perplexing. Is he sliding *back* to first?
Also on display (but my camera failed me) were the Juan Uribe Bobblehead (which appeared to be staring at me the whole time, making me sad), a new Yasiel Puig bobblehead, where he's making a diving catch, and the rest of the Cy Young pin collection. Also mentioned, but not on display, was a new Vin Scully bobblehead.

The second part of the presentation revolved around Levy Restaurants' new food options at the stadium. (AC covered this pretty well in his post, but we did get a couple of items that the Monday group did not.) Unfortunately, head chef Jason Tingley was not available this evening, and I did not get the names of the people who talked to us about the food. I enjoyed everything I got to taste (everything tastes better when it's free, but I would actually pay for all this stuff). The wings and sweet corn nachos AC mentioned were indeed great. I also sampled a full slice of the pepperoni pizza from Lasorda's Trattoria, which I found surprisingly great. Far better than standard stadium or theme park pizza. I washed it all down with my first taste of a Dodger Stadium michelada, which I didn't think I was going to like, but I really, really did. The most, let's say, "interesting" option of the night was a "concept" that the chefs are working on for the Extreme Loaded Dogs stand, the Pop Fly Dog.


It's a hot dog with "beer cheese" and popcorn, on a pretzel bun. I'm going to be brutally honest here. This one is a miss, at least in its current incarnation. The pretzel bun isn't pretzel-y enough, the popcorn doesn't really add anything except the sensation that you spilled other food on your food, and the beer cheese, while actually quite delicious, is visually off-putting (to put it politely). I get that the current stadium food climate calls for attempts to out-weird one another, but this one needs more time on the drawing board.

Here are a few more photos of the food items. I am still cursing myself for not partaking in the gelato cookie sandwiches from Lasorda's.




L.A. Street Dog, St. Louis Dog (with brisket) and the Pop Fly.






The presentation wrapped up there, and there was a brief time to mingle (which I kind of missed out on, due to continuing to eat and take pictures) before moving on to watch the game. All of us in attendance were given tickets on the Club level (a first for me, other than having been in a suite before) and wristbands that gave us unlimited food and non-alcoholic beverages from the Club level concession stand. (Wait, what's a non-alcoholic beverage?) I took FULL advantage of the free food. I'm still full two days later.

I kind of fell in love with the Club level Wednesday night. It's a great, intimate environment with a really good view and a full bar. Plus, its proximity to the Dodgers' offices make for fun people-watching. I spied Andrew Friedman milling about a few times during the night, but never worked up the nerve to bother him. I did work up the nerve to talk to Molly Knight and Lana Berry, though, so that was cool. Two of the nicest people you'd want to meet at a game, those two.

All in all, it was a spectacular evening, accentuated by the late-inning drama and walk-off heroics. Yes, it wasn't quite the same as past blogger nights (less socializing amongst the bloggers in attendance), and David Siegel was transparent (his word) enough to tell us that the team sees bloggers and social media people as promotional assets, but it was still special to be included in this great event. Thank you so much to the Dodgers front office for always being so kind to us Sons.

Dodger Blogger Night 2009: The Night That Manny Ramirez Trumped Dodger History

It is hard to believe now, but almost 50 games ago, the biggest Dodger story I was considering was recapping on the night of May 6, 2009, was Dodger Blogger Night 2009, the second-annual evening that the Dodgers generously held to reach out to a small group of blogs. The brainchild of VP of Public Relations Josh Rawitch, the evening involved a suite with all the trimmings, a parade of Dodgers organization representatives, and of course a wonderful night out at the Stadium. What made this night even more special (that is, before the mind-blowing Manny Ramirez suspension news broke), was that the Dodgers were vying for the major-league record for the longest undefeated streak at home to open a season.

The Dodgers did end up winning that 13th consecutive home game, setting a modern-day record for wins to start a season, pounding the Nationals 10-3. And, like last year, I was too excited by meeting the Dodgers' brass and collaborating with fellow bloggers that I didn't get time to really enjoy all the goings-on on the field. We'd hear a roar from the crowd, and everyone would stop what they were doing and look down. But most of the bloggers were more interested in chatting with each other rather than keeping close tabs on the game, historical significance notwithstanding.

There is something about being in the suites which is itself a little removed from the game, almost as if you're in a cocoon instead of close to the action. The Dodgers suites are infinitely better than the Staples Center's multi-purpose suites, however, not only because they open to the outdoors, they're bigger, and the food is better. On top of all that, the hallway corridor isn't filled with pictures of three teams and concert events; it's all Dodgers stuff, like this shot of Jackie Robinson:

Getting invited to this event was obviously a special event. First we had to work our way past suite-level security:

...and then we noticed lots and lots of signed baseballs in a pretty display case:

The pre-game highlights, as SoSG Orel already pointed out, revolved around visits from GM Ned Colletti and EVP of Creative and Communications Charles Steinberg, among others.

With regards to Colletti, my notes are obviously so old from this event, that much of what he said isn't really a secret anymore, but I'll Monday-morning quarterback this nonetheless:

• There was a much-discussed rumor about an unnamed pitcher whose name would technically be defined as "to muld", that Colletti said we wouldn't be getting (we haven't);
• We shouldn't hold our breath to see Jason Schmidt (who is still working his way back);
• We would love to get a couple of other specific pitchers, but we'll see (we haven't);
• Andruw Jones was a huge disappointment (he still is);
• We need Hiroki Kuroda back in our lineup (Kuroda's return has helped strengthen our starting rotation, without a doubt);
• Colletti encouraged Joe Torre to use Ramon Troncoso (which has been good);
• Colletti also talked to Torre to use Brent Leach (which also has been good);
• There were some minor concerns about Russell Martin, which Colletti attributed to Martin "pressing this year." That said, he praised how Martin was more diligent in working with the coaching staff and spending time in the video room. And, he credited bringing in Brad Ausmus as a steadying force for Martin (which Ausmus has appeared to provide, as well as a better backup catcher option than recent years past);
• Colletti was happy with both Mark Loretta and Brad Ausmus (months later, I would agree);
• Juan Pierre was reasonable with how Manny Ramirez's signing moved him to the bench, though he did not have this attitude with the signing of Andruw Jones (and rightfully so; again, as Ramirez's suspension comes to an end, we will see how Pierre deals with another benching, after making outstanding contributions over the last 45 games that have been beyond expectations);
• Hong-Chih Kuo has been through a lot; he's working very hard (he still is);
• As to Matt Kemp's apparent change in approach to this year, leading to better offensive and defensive performances, Colletti credited Kemp's openness to instruction, as well as the help of batting coach Don Mattingly. He also called Kemp, among all of his fellow Dodger young-gun stars, the one "blessed with the most raw talent." (Kemp has continued to be great to watch, as his progress continues).

So overall, Colletti's words panned out well over the next seven weeks, which makes him either pretty prescient or pretty lucky, or both. Either way, clairvoyant or fortunate, the Dodgers continue to look strong coming out of a 50-game suspension that most people thought would crater the team's chances. Not so.

I don't remember much about Steinberg except (a) He is awful proud of "Don't Stop Believing" being played in the eighth inning (he called it "our 'Sweet Caroline' "), and (b) he likes the daily singing of "God Bless America," partially because it allows us to sign better singing talent to the games as they want to get televised (which they don't for the national anthem). As I didn't agree with either opinion (and still don't; after all, our GBA talent does not seem to be all that great on most nights), I didn't think about this much. GBA seems to put a buzzkill on Nancy Bea Hefley, and I don't understand why we would play an inspiring, comeback-inducing song when we had a lead after eight innings. Most of my blogger peers that night seemed to agree. But hey, it's Steinberg's call, I suppose.

And later on in the game, Ken Levine and Josh Suchon of KABC's DodgerTalk came by. Both are really tall, as you can see of this shot that they took with SoSG Orel (Suchon is on the left):

Yep, this Dodger Blogger Night 2009 was a wonderful evening, a historic win coupled with free food, insight into the organization, and warm surroundings. Free Mini-Sirloin Burgers were the capper to what would be a wonderful evening, which only became spoiled later on that evening as the Ramirez steroid news broke (I never got a chance to say goodbye to Rawitch that evening and thank him, but I assume he was occupied on other matters...). For a moment at least, the Dodgers were on Cloud 99, and things were great.

But believe it or not, the Mini-Sirloin Burgers were not the highlight of the evening:

No, we were quite fortunate to also get a special guest appearance from Dodger outfielder Andre Ethier. How Ethier was able to make it up to our suite during the game, out of uniform and dressed in casual clothes, was simply mind-boggling. It was also bizarre that he insisted in carrying around this menu from Nino's Mexican Restaurant (which I don't think delivers to the Stadium). But hey, he's a Dodgers star, I don't dare ask.

Contrary to all the press coverage of Ethier's reluctance to take pictures with fans, Ethier could not have been kinder or more giving of his time and image. Perhaps it was because he was a fellow blogger?

Andre first took a photo with Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts:

Ethier wanted to go outside, in front of the stadium, to pose with SoSG's own Alex Cora (nice background!):

Ethier then posed with True Blue LA's Eric Stephen:

And here's Andre with the Trolley Dodger:

Finally, here's Andre Ethier with the Loch Ness Monster (how Andre found a body of water in Chavez Ravine is beyond me):

Yesterday's News, Today! aka How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love BLOGGER NIGHT

Finally, the Delino is breaking his vow of silence. After being alluded to as the "Other SoSG'er" by a site I will just call "the Other Dodger Blog," I am here with my own tarnished two cents on a fantastic evening.

The Dodgers Blogger Appreciation Night has already been covered by more legit sports bloggers than yours truly. So instead, I offer up lots of pretty pictures. (And an incredibly genuine thank you to all the organizers... as well as the mediocre talents of this season's American Idol, whose last second cancellation enabled us to take the suite in their place. Hope that car wash opening in Encino was worth it.) Please note - The SoSG guard their privacy like George Lucas protects the scripts for his newest lousy Star Wars retread. All faces have been replaced for the safety of the not so innocent.

Tom Petty once said "The Waiting is the Hardest Part." He also said "You're Jammin' Me." Both aptly describe the longest 10 minutes of our lives, as the distinguished gentlemen of SoSG were forced to wait for tickets like common vagrants. Surrounded by hipsters in leather ties and the world's slowest will call patron, the SoSG'ers grew impatient and let the boo birds fly. Finally, we got our tickets and showed up late to the suite, cutting down our time listening to Ned Colletti and admiring his kick-ass boots.

Bloggers have wives, children, and lives. Guess I should have known this based on the high percentage of non-virgins writing for SoSG (app 40 percent). I tried to convince Sax and Orel to start a Blogger rumble, but that idea quickly dissipated once we realized the suite had free hot dogs.

There's actually a transportation center (aka Throw Transport Down the Well, So My Parking May Be Free) An obscured Steve Sax expresses his appreciation for the center's diligence in taking months away from his life.

Tommy Lasorda has an outtie belly button. I'll keep that pic to myself, but his tight blue sweater left little to the imagination. Having grown up 3000 miles from this city, I always equated two people as THE Los Angeles Dodgers. Fernando Valenzuela, and Mr. Lasorda. Seeing him talk was my personal highlight of the night, if not the year (at least until my wife gives birth... or the season finale of Lost).

SoSG was the 60 Minutes of Blogger Night, if 60 Minutes accidentally started at 7:18pm. Led by the Wallace/Bradley duo of Sax and Orel, SoSG let the tough questions fly at Mr. McCourt. "Why do you seem to disappear from bad publicity." "What's with the autograph meshugas" "What are the Dodgers doing to recruit African American players" "What's your favorite Baseball Movie!?!" (Bull Durham. Never heard of it.) And Mr. McCourt answered every question with conviction. He even offered to invest in Delino's Sunset restaurant idea. (I'm thinking a Beard Papa's or Red Lobster). I was this close to asking Frank McCourt why 'Tis was such a letdown after Angela's Ashes. But fearing the wraith of Blue Blogger Nation (and not wanting to give Mr. McCourt an exit strategy), I kept the question under my hat.

Did I mention the free hot dogs?

Oh What a Night. I actually really hate that song. In fact, I forbade my wedding band from playing it, along with dozens of other crap 70s music. If you want my official "do not play" list for your own upcoming nuptials, just drop an email.

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.)

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.

Blogger Night Returns!

Blogger Night is back tonight at Dodger Stadium, and the Dodgers PR department has once again graciously invited the Sons of Steve Garvey. This year, thanks to the generosity of the Original Flavor Sons, SoSG Stubbs, Dusty, and I will be attending. (Originally, it was just going to be Stubbs and Dusty, but some last-minute begging and bribing scored me a ticket, too.)

If you've seen the Sons' coverage of past Blogger Nights (if not, go here, here, here, and here), you know what an amazing event this can be. This year's lineup includes Q&As with Ned Colletti and Stan Kasten, as well as other surprise guests.

"Ask me about my mustache."

"I will not be taking questions about whether I'm firing the man above me, so let me stop you right there."

I'm going to be honest here. I'm more than a little nervous about this. My schtick since joining the Sons has been "guy who throws out one-liners on Twitter," so I have no idea how I'll handle asking real questions to real members of the Dodger family. (Well, I do have a few questions in mind.) So, I turn to you, SoSG readers. What do YOU want us to ask Ned and Stan? Go nuts! Leave your questions in the comments. I'll pick a few of the best and try my hardest to get them in tonight. (If I don't completely seize up from geeking out too hard.)

HUGE thanks to the Dodgers for inviting us and to Sax and Orel for giving the noobs a chance. We won't let you down.