FallingLEAVes of Sunshine: Like the Dodgers, bad start but it finished well (12

To say the least, both the Dodgers and I got off to a bad start at the beginning. Who goes first? Me or the Dodgers? Well, the quicker one to tell will go first. Things looked very bad when the Dodgers trailed the Giants by 4 runs and it was only the second inning. Then things started looking better when the Dodgers offense got sparked, including a home run from yours truly, Russell Martin! He's just one shy of being the only other catcher besides Ivan Rodriguez to go 20 / 20. Things were looking up when we had the lead, but it didn't last long. The Giants tied it up in the next half inning and it remained tied well into the tenth inning. Russell got up to bat in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded. Here was his chance to make something happen. When nothing happened and he walked away with another strikeout, he struck the ground with his bat. It sounded like he might've cracked it. That's okay, because it made it easier for him to break his bat once he got into the dug out. His helmet went flying after the shattered bat. So... who was the hero of the day? Luis Gonzalez came up to pinch-hit for Saito in the bottom of the tenth inning. I had completely forgotten that Adam LaRoche was on-base when Gonzo sent the ball to the center-field (it might've shaded left a bit) wall. It looked like it was going to clear the wall. It was enough to send LaRoche home with the winning run! There was also a great double-play when Kemp caught a fly ball and then fired it to Russell who tagged out the runner. The game went 3 hours and 42 minutes. So, I was at the Stadium for over four hours, had to change my batteries (for my camera once) and right before Gonzo went up, I had to change my memory card. Oh, and guess what? About the fifth/sixth inning, these two guys and a little girl in my row got up and left for a bit. Then they came back. Guess what? One of them knocked my soda over. Just my luck. So my right foot was soaked in soda and I sat in a puddle of Coke all night. At least I drank about a fifth of it this time. I couldn't believe it. My soda got knocked over again. This was the third time this week in two games that it got knocked over. Thankfully I'm not going to tomorrow's game or else I'd have to buy a bottle of water instead. And knowing my luck, the cap will be loose when that gets knocked over. And you know beach balls are part of the game right? I guess not in our section because there weren't too many beach balls up in the top deck. Paper airplanes were their replacement. There were a couple good ones that would go pretty far. This guy a couple rows told a couple guys to my left to stop throwing paper airplanes. These guys' planes were more like bombs because they never went far and usually nose-bombed. The planes farther to my right usually floated really well. Long-hair-guy told the plane guys that it was childish and unfair to the other people in the stadium. Around the 8th inning, these two guys came down and sat in the first row. They started folding paper airplanes. Long-hair-guy leans over and gives them a lecture, too. Security finally came and got them. Now, how did I feel about this? I liked the occasional ones that would float across the stadium. But the constant nose-bombers got annoying. Just like I can't stand girls who scream like they're screaming bloody murder every time the "make some noise" thing flashes. Cheers and noise, fine. Ear-piercing screams ... I would like my ear drums intact when I leave.

Okay, so how did my day get off to a bad start? Somewhere around 1:30 this morning, just as I was finally able to drift off to sleep, my sister came home. Mind you, she hasn't lived with us since she graduated. That's been about three years now. How did she wake me up when she came home? She rang the doorbell repeatedly like it was the middle of the day and not the middle of the night. She spent the night and then got up around 7:30 to start cleaning the house. Naturally, I got up and she put me to work. I finally left around 11:30 so I could go get ready for work. Work was work. My day started getting better the moment I arrived at Dodger Stadium. I got off work at five and hoped to get there in time for batting practice. When I did, the line to get in through the left field side was really long. I didn't think I'd get in there in time. I only had about ten minutes. So, I started to head to the right field side. There was a booth set up where if you took a Chevy survey, you could get a free back pack. So I did. Funny thing was, when it was my turn, this lady cut in front of me. I think her husband noticed my surprise and told her what she did. She apologized and went to her husband, who was about two people behind me.

By the time I finished, the line to get in was shortened. I got in the field area, took several pictures. I decided I didn't want to hang around and try to get a batting practice ball. After all, we got one from Joe Beimel back in May. I noticed some Dodger players behind home plate. So I went over there to get some pictures of Jeff Kent, Luis Gonzalez, and Takaishi Saito. NOW here's the part that made my day. I noticed Steve Lyons was out there. So, I followed my gut and yelled out "Hey Steve!" I thought about adding, "see, there's no bat boys around" to it, but didn't. He looked up, like he said he does when he hears his name called out. (9.13.07 podcast). When I see that I've got his attention, I yell out "I love your podcasts!" He replies, "So you're the ONE who listens to it." I tell him that I enjoy his podcasts and his stories, like the one about the Yankee hat (6.7.07 podcast). I asked him if he was going to keep up with it during the off-season. He said maybe, but he wouldn't know what to talk about. I said, maybe he could do it just once a week.

There were these two guys trying to get autographs. They asked me what was his name again. I told him his name and who he was. Steve started talking to someone else. When he was done talking, one of the guys asked Steve to sign his baseball. Then I asked Steve if he wouldn't mind taking a picture with me. He said something along the likes of he'd better because I'm the only one who listens to his podcast. I know there's tons of people who listens to his podcast. But he was so cool like that. BTW, I think about last week I saw Steve on the post-game show and I noticed he had some stuff on his face. I didn't like it. When I saw him today, I was glad he got rid of him. No offense, Steve. I like guys with facial hair (particularly Russell and Randy) ... but it just didn't work for him. I liked Steve a lot before today, even though I never saw him play. But today ... I like him even more. I wish I could've got something signed, but I didn't have anything on me. Maybe next year, I can get something signed. Go Psycho!