Results tagged ‘ Giants ’
OPENING WEEK, OPENING THOUGHTS, DODGER FANS ARE BEHIND YOU BRIAN
Does it feel good to have baseball back ? After taking 3 of 4 from the hated ones to open the season then getting swept in a mini 2 game series on the road to Colorado, the Dodgers are back here in Cali to start a 3 game series to our neighbors down south. During the 6 games the pitching has been able to hold it’s own, though questions still arise about Jonathan Broxton, in spite being 3 for 3 in save opportunities.
Now, as for the opening homestand. I had the chance to attend Opening Day and the final game of the series. I can honestly tell you all that where I was sitting in those 2 games, our sections we’re incident free. And that’s the way baseball should be. . The Dodgers and Jints, I mean Giants rivalry( Hey, I gotta get my blue blood going here….) goes back to their days in Brooklyn and New York, and both teams have given each other and their fans their share of heartbreaks too. I’ve attended a few Dodgers/Giants games up north myself and though I have been told some nice pleasantries from time to time and some we’re personal ( Which you should expect when your a visiting fan ), never have I felt threatened to view a game. ( NOTE…I’m not so sure if anyone would want to threaten me ) and no fan should ever feel threatened to wear their favorite team’s apparel no matter how big a rivalry is. Go ahead with a little playful ” trash talk “, it’s all in fun, but life and death should never be taken into account while cheering our teams on.
As a Dodger fan, I , like many other Dodger fans, am still upset at what happened last week in Parking Lot 2 after the Dodgers Opening Day victory over the Giants. Unfortunately, I was nowhere near the incident to assist Mr. Brian Stow from what Vin Scully even called , COWARDS, ( And believe me, for Vinny himself to say anything bad about a human being, even the word COWARD, is really saying a lot here ) . After the game, I was mulling around until I got to say hi to one of my usher buddies ( Opening Day, New Year, New Season…) and having a good time, like Mr. Stow should have been entitled to as well. Instead, because of these 2 COWARDS who I refuse to call fans, Mr. Stow is in a coma clinging for his life, all because of this COWARDLY ACT !!! Unfortunately, this is not the first time this has happened at Dodger Stadium. Heck , i’m sure many of you remember a Giants fan being shot and killed in the parking lot back in 2003. It’s getting to the point where Dodger fans themselves dont want to come to the Ravine.
There was a candlelight vigil for Brian Stow outside of County USC Hospital this past Wednesday evening, and I had the chance to meet with family members of Mr. Stow, and I am happy to report that the family was in good spirits and are very thankful to all the Dodgers fans and the community for their continued and warm-hearted support. Let’s just hope that Mr. Brian Stow recovers from this blow and that any fan who comes to Dodger Stadium to see a game, even a visiting fan, can come and enjoy a great night out at THE OLD BALLGAME.
From the Top Deck
DREI’S OFFICIAL 2011 OPENING DAY PIC
FOR STOW
My fellow blogger Emma sending well-wishes to Brian
Family and friends of Brian Stow with the rally towel we signed for them
With Brian Stow’s mother.
Get well Brian, we want you back in OUR TOWN.
OPENING WEEK THOUGHTS
This was quite a homestand for the Blue Crew as they took 2 of 3 from the D’Backs and Giants, pulling out some late inning heroics in 2 of those victories. If there’s one thing we may know, it’s that this years team certainly wont be boring. One of the things I enjoyed during this homestand was our starting pitching going 7 plus innings in 3 of the 6 games, something our staff had a hard time doing early. And with Kuo and Bellisario due to come back soon, our bullpen could start to really shape up.
To say that this weekends series against the hated ones is sending a message would be a stretch, though you could say that the Blue served notice that they have every intention on winning a 3rd straight division title. OK, some sights around the Ravine this weekend against the hated ones…..
Somewhere in the bowels of the club level we honor Jackie Robinson on his night. Behind Jackie Big D looks very intimidating .
The view from the newly renovated Stadium Club….Outdoor seating!!!! The way baseball was meant to be viewed !!!!
My desert
ANDRE THE GIANT KILLER
Baseball 101 . If throwing a change up was only that easy I could be earning a hefty salary…….
It’s Friday night, and the pavillion is splashed with Dodger Blue
And some halloween colors mixed in with the Dodger Blue….
Stretch time….. Even the umps are all wearing 42 on Jackie’s night.
Another win for L.A. Thougu things got a little tight in the 9th…..
DODGERTOWN….” This is Dre’s Town…”
One of sports best rivalries….
Dodger fans in the LF Pavillion donning their free caps. What a beautiful sight, all that Dodger Blue
Dre and Matty, celebrating another Dodger win, this one thanks to Manny’s pinch hit home run in the 8th. We could have over 80 home runs this yearjust between these two alone….
My buddy Josh ( Between Duke Sniders and Jim Gilliams retired numbers ) was very happy about todays game
EXTRA INNINGS
On the way home on the Red Line, I quipped to some Giants fans that they were on the wrong subway, this wasn’t the BART.
On that same Red Line, before leaving Union Station, a sheriff came on and asked to check tickets. As we we’re taking our train tickets out of our pockets, the sheriff replied ” No not you guys, the one’s in all this Black and Orange “ J .
And finally, as I mentioned in an earlier blog, a feature the Dodgers are doing this year at the Stadium is called This and That, where a Dodger player is featured on the video board during middle of the inning breaks and is asked a bunch of questions and decides upon one or the other. ( You have to be there to enjoy it ) On Opening Day, Matt Kemp was the featured player and his questions were
Facebook or Twitter
MC Hammer or Vanilla Ice
UCLA or USC
OK, I’ll give him that one since Oklahoma is his home state ( Of course the crowd was of course divided on this one, I had to go with the Blue and Gold….)
And finally…
Beyonce or…
Rhianna
No Comment…( Right Matt…)
Though this wasn’t featured during the last home game, in this months issue of our Dodger program, the players were all asked this question…
KOBE or
LEBRON
Of course we know what the majority answered. The one’s who picked LeBron were Jamie Carroll and Ronnie Belliard. ( Of course they would, they played for the Indians at one time….)
Have a good weekend everyone. And for you Dodger fans reading this, hang in there, our pitching will come around , eventually……
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My first 7th inning stretch of the year , with some female fans and my lil’ bro’ . I hope it went through this time
DODGERS-GIANTS MEMORIES
OK Dodger fans. That sure was an exciting one last night all capped off with another one of Dre’s walk-off’s. Wow, Andre’s walk-off’s seem to happen as often as Kobe’s buzzer beaters that it’s just now to the point that some of us have become so blasé to this. OK, some, not all of us.
All right, now on to this weekends matchup with the hated one’s. The Giants are off to a hot start this year and are out to prove everyone that they have an offense that’s potent enough to compliment their outstanding pitching, once again led by that Freak, 2 time Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum. As for our Boys in Blue, the offense has certainly held their end of the deal and could easily be 7-2 or 6-3 if not for some late inning collapses by our bullpen. Our starters aren’t exactly out of the doghouse either. Only Hiroki Kuroda has pitched 6 or more innings this season, in fact doing it in both his starts. Vicente Padilla takes the mound in the series opener tomorrow. Hopefully, he can rediscover his form that he had in last years stretch drive.
Now for some personal Dodgers/Giants memories. We all have our personal favorites. And I have plenty as well. Since this is only April, here’s one from some time ago, the year 2000. That was the year the Giants moved into their new yard, Pac Bell Park . And of course they wanted to open the yard against the Dodgers. Tickets to Pac Bell were at such a premium you would have thought you’d be on a 5 year season ticket wait list. Though I was unable to attend the inaugural opener, the one when Kevin Elster smacked 3 dingers en route to a 6-5 victory, ruining the Jints home debut, I was able to make the trek up north for what was supposed to be the third game of that series. However, the previous nights game was suspended after 5 innings due to rain, so they continued that game prior to the series finale. You may be wondering how I scored a ticket to the game, well, being alone does have it’s privileges, and one thing I would discover is that when you go solo to a sold out event, more often than not, single tix always seem to be available. So I was able to score a seat in the lower field level behind home plate for $23 ( Try that today folks….) And from the moment I walked in the yard I was really impressed . Now you might think that any stadium is an improvement from old CandleStick Park ( Or as my HS English teacher called it, CandleStink Park ), but the Giants and the City By the Bay really hit a home run . As for the atmosphere, let’s just say that there wasn’t anything really harsh said to me. Heck, though I had some peanuts thrown at me ( In a playful way, it was all good….), the fans around me we’re actually cool, especially the college kids I sat with. They we’re even kind enough to take a picture with me, each one of them giving me the bird, directed at both my Dodger cap and UCLA sweater ( What a way to rep LA in the Bay huh ?…..) And of course the best part was sweeping the opening 3 game series of the hated ones new park. Oh yeah, what a way to help open your rivals new park.
As for the city itself, I don’t hate San Francisco. In fact, I love SF. I always look forward to going there at least once a year. They have many fine places to eat, and I’m not just talking about fancy dining either. SF is always ranked as being one of the top single-friendly cities, and I can certainly tell you from experience that SF is definitely a single friendly city. And of course if you are a male single ( Especially if you happen to be walking down Market St. ), The City will definitely wrap it’s arms around you. ( Read into that last statement all you want…… J ) HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND EVERYONE….GO DODGERS !!!!
And let’s not forget LA’s other teams too…
GO ! KINGS ! GO!
GO LAKERS !!!!
MORE ’09 PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS, DODGERS AVOIDING ARBITRATION, AND MY PICKS FOR THIS WEEKENDS NFL CONFERENCE TITLE GAMES
The fact that the Dodgers have avoided arbitration by agreeing on one or two year contracts with several players, including Kemp, Ethier, Martin , Billingsley, Loney, Kuo , and Sherrill, is a good thing. At least we know they wont be holding out from Spring Training. Now if we can only shore up the back end of our rotation and solidify our bench. Unfortunately Joel Pinero is out of the free-agent running, having been picked up by our neighbors down south. Perhaps right now, our hope in terms of the back end is to , AGAIN, hope that Russ Ortiz can be another one of those reclamation projects that holds his own until July, and hope that James McDonald can prove he’s ready to fulfill the role as a starter. And of course, perhaps come the non-waiver deadline in July, find another ace from a team out of playoff contention and work out a blockbuster trade. And of course, all this is just hope. I stated it before and I’ll state it again, we’re not that far away from our first fall classic trip since ’88. No one in the NL West has really done much to improve themselves, the Giants may have the best starting pitching in the division and maybe the league, but their lineup still doesnt match up to ours, The Rockies, we’ll see if they can continue their run from last season, they may be the biggest threat. Arizona has formidable pitching, but like the Giants, some offensive issues. And the Padres, though they showed signs of life at the end of the season, may still be a year or two from seriously contending.
OK, switching gears, here are my picks for this weekend
AFC TITLE GAME
Colts over the Jets
The Jets have shut up all doubters ( Including this one ) who said they benefited from playing two playoff resting teams during the final two weeks of the season, one which included a road win at Indy, preventing the Colts from an undefeated season. However, Peyton Manning did not play in the 2nd half, and he should be able to take apart the vaunted Jets defense this time around. Colts 24 Jets 10
NFC TITLE GAME
Saints over the Vikings
Both these teams are coming off impressive wins and this game should feature a lot of offense. Saying that, I’ll go with the home team here as the Saints win a close one on their way to their first big dance, thwarting Favre’s chance to lead the Vikes.
Saints 37 Vikings 31
And finally, more of my pics from last year, from the month of June
From the field level, 6/8/2009 Padres vs. Dodgers
Casey ( Blake ) at the Bat…… And there’s Big Dre in the dugout observing
Another Dodger win !!!! I LOVE L.A. !!!!
My buddy Art and his kid Angel, 6/27/2009. This was Angel’s first baseball game, and he’s still talking about it. Something tells me he’ll be going to more. WELCOME TO OUR TOWN !!!!
DODGERTOWN !!!! THIS IS OUR TOWN !!!!!
Here I am, by the Mariners on-deck circle after the game. ( Hey, the Dodger on deck circle was packed. And hey, wouldnt you want to stand on the on-deck circle that Ken Griffey Jr. stood on less than an hour ago ? ) And speaking of Junior….
KENNY GRIFF
One of the best outfielders to play the game…….
Here again is Art and Angel, with my buddy Josh, before Angel got to run the bases
Yet ‘Dre was far from through in ’09…….
The standings as of 6/27/2009
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