Andre Ethier kept my sharpie

I'm sure he didn't mean to. He set it down and we didn't pick it up. The guy had a dozen pens and sharpies. How was he supposed to remember the one he was using was mine? It's not like we were the hundredth person and hundredth and one person in line. Actually, we were fifth and sixth in line.

"In line for what?" you may ask.

To get his autograph, duh!

Joanne (my 12 year old cousin who is visiting from North Carolina, a Los Angeles native) and I got up a little after seven this morning, went to Starbucks (and Winchells, but I never got to eat my croissant) before heading out to Penske MotoCars in West Covina. According to the instructions I printed out, I ended up at Penske Mercedes MotoCars. The right one I was looking for was on the other side of the freeway. Fortunately, it was only 8, and the thing didn't start till noon. We got there and the employees there didn't know where to direct us. There was another guy and his three kids who arrived at 7. We hung around for the next couple hours, as the employees sent us into another area. A manager arrived and asked us to take a seat so we weren't standing in the middle of their show room. Another guy arrived later. He remembered me from the Earl Scheib signing. He was in front of our group. He joined us for the next three hours. Apparently a line started to form at the gate outside. We were unaware of this, since we had been inside the whole time.

My cousin thought it was funny how I talked to the guy before us (let's call him Joe) and the guy behind us (let's call him Jose) (and yes, I thought about doing the whole Jose and JoseB thing) like if I knew them my entire life. Considering I don't even know their names! It's quite interesting. Okay, so Jose and I talked because he mentioned the Scheib signing. I told him I've gone to eight or nine games and they've won every game that I've paid to go to. The only time they lost when I was in attendance was when I got free tickets from the La Mirada signing. Jose said I ought to go to more games. He said he went to the fireworks night and bobblehead night games and they lost. He joked how he had to drive out to Arizona for the team to win.

In fact, he drove out Saturday for the Monday game. AND on Sunday night, he and his buddy were hanging out at some club and guess who he ran into?!?!? RUSSELL MARTIN and Matt Kemp. RUSSELL MARTIN!!!! EEEEKKK!! Jose showed me the picture, and in it, Russell is just holding a water bottle. Good choice of beverage there, Turtle.

Okay, back to the Andre thing. The manager said since there is a line formed outside, and we have been waiting inside (the nice air conditioned building) and we got there early, we would be guaranteed to be in front of the line. Around 1o:30 they led us out to the side entrance where the line would start. They brought the line from the gate to join us. I was surprised there weren't as many people at this signing than at La Mirada or even Earl Scheib.

A little before noon, they brought us inside. Jose told me about how at the Ron Cey (?) signing, he was the only one who cheered when Cey walked in. Like at La Mirada and Scheib, everyone cheered when Ethier and Martin showed up. When they brought us to the show room again, Joe asked if at La Mirada if there was one chair or two set up behind the desk. At La Mirada, they had a comfy desk chair set up. This one two basic wooden desk chairs. We wondered if he was bringing someone else along. Well, he did. His wife. But she didn't sit down with him. Anyway, when Ethier showed up, Jose started clapping and no one else was really cheering with him. I chimed in a little. It was funny because it also echoed through the show room.

Ethier went into the office with the manager. He shook Jose's hand on the way. Meanwhile, the KFWB crew handed out wrist bands and free tickets to the July 22nd game against the Mets. Sweet. It was funny. Jose asked me if Joanne was my daughter. Mind you. We're 10 years apart. Though, she is just as tall as I am now. Then later, Jose was asking one of the crew guys about the autographing thing because there was a stack of 8x10 photos on the desk. The guy started talking about "mom here" and I must've had a look on my face. He must've thought Jose and I were Joanne's parents. Again with the "mom" thing.

Joanne and I went up together. I let her get the photo signed first. He looked at the photo and asked who took it. I said I did. He said, "You took it? I like it, it's a good action shot. Good form." Then I handed him my sunglasses to sign. He said, "You want me to sign the glasses too?" He sees Russell's autograph on one side. "Hey, that's my man! I tried to drag him out today with me. He's asleep. He sleeps in all day." So... Russell likes to sleep in all day? Sounds good to me!

How long did it take for my to realize we left my silver sharpie there? About twenty minutes. Joanne wanted to go to the Westfield West Covina mall. We got there and I was emptying my pockets and putting stuff in my purse. That's when I discovered I was missing my silver Sharpie. I asked Joanne if she had it. She said no. Then I realized, "Andre Ethier has my Sharpie!" I was too nervous and excited to ask for a 8x10 photo and I forgot all about my Sharpie. Though it makes for a interesting blog title.