All Star Voting has BEGUN

Dodgers on the ballot: (plus some commentary)
First base: James Loney (15 game hitting streak to begin the season!!!)
Second base: Jeff Kent (umm going for the record of "oldest all-star")
Shortstop: Rafael Furcal
Third Base: Nomar Garciaparra (guess the ballot was made BEFORE he went back on the DL. Even though he started the season on the DL. And was off the DL for like nine days before he went back on it. Wonder if Blake's name would be there if Nomar hadn't come off the DL)
Outfielders: Andruw Jones (HAH! Is anyone seriously going to vote from him?), Juan Pierre (he got a lot of votes last year ... but that was last year), and ANDRE ETHIER (HOORAY!!!! I'M SO EXCITED THAT ANDRE IS ON THE BALLOT THIS YEAR. I AM SOOO VOTING FOR ANDRE. COME EVERYONE!!! ETHIER FOR ALL-STAR!!! LET'S GET BEHIND HIM LIKE WE GOT BEHIND RUSSELL LAST YEAR)
Catcher: Russell Martin (DUH! Who else would be on the ballot? Umm... do we have another catcher? J/k I know ... Bennett ... what does he look like again?)

Here are my choices:
First Base: Loney, J., LAD
Second Base: Utley, C., PHI
Third Base: Wright, D., NYM
Shortstop: Reyes, J., NYM
Catcher: Martin, R., LAD
Outfielder: Byrnes, E., ARI
Outfielder: Ethier, A., LAD
Outfielder: Holliday, M., COL

Shortstop was a tough choice. I may vote for Furcal a few times. Outfielder was tough too. Ethier definitely got my number one choice. I like Holliday, Byrnes, and Ankiel. Matt Kemp's name isn't on there. Maybe next year.

This is for you Randy!

Dave Grohl singing the acoustic version. Not the greatest quality. But I like this version better.



Here's the whole band.

Funniest thing was ... I heard the acoustic version by Dave Grohl at work all the time. It was on one of the CD mixes. Didn't know it was Dave Grohl. Didn't know it was an acoustic version of the Foo Fighters song. Didn't know Dave Grohl was the lead singer for the Foo Fighters. Why the sudden interest? I googled the song and got both the full band and acoustic copies of it. Why? Because Randy Wolf is a big Foo Fighters fan. He mentions it in his interview with Scott and BR. This is for you Randy! BTW ... Scott and BR (and Boomer) ... when are you going to have Randy on your show again?? Come on. After his nearly no-hit bit and his great first couple of outings (except for the last one)... WE WANT RANDY!!!

I had forgotten about this...

Last year ... I wore sandals for work a lot. And after awhile ... I developed this line across my feet. It was almost like a constant bruise. I didn't know how to explain it. The picture shows the bruise-like line going across. You see it right? Anyone have an explanation?


I haven't worn sandals for work this year. I bought a new pair, but they were too casual to wear for work. So I won't have that line again this year ... until I find an appropriate sandal for work. Right now, ballet flats are it. Trust me ... I'm on the look out for a new comfortable shoe for work.

What do you expect?

Another crazy game to end a crazy week.

First inning. Rockies take the lead with a 2-run homer. How do the Dodgers respond? With a homer of their on in the bottom of the first inning. Not just ANY homer. A grand slam. A GRAND SLAM!

What a crazy game tonight's was. I knew we should've gotten tickets. But it was fun to watch this one on TV and hear Vin throughout the whole thing. Bottom of the first inning. Not only do the Dodgers go through the lineup ... they also go through the first four batters of the lineup again. That's thirteen batters in the bottom of the first inning. All nine Dodger starters came home to score. Pierre was the only one who scored twice in the first inning. He singled in his first at-bat, and got hit in his second at-bat. Wonder if Ethier sympathized with him. After all, Ethier did get drilled like in the last two or three games. He didn't play at all today.

When the bases were loaded the first time, "grand slam" didn't come to mind. DeWitt singled home a pair. When Penny got a hit, I was like, "that's PENNY!" He is my favorite starter, by the way. In fact, the very first Dodger game I went to, it was the Dodgers versus the Rockies, Penny versus Cook. And guess what? Dodgers beat them 14 - 5, with home runs from Garciaparra, Drew (remember him), and Loney (his first career home run).

Then when they were loaded again ... "grand slam" didn't come to mind. Till it happened. I didn't even hear Vin Scully say:
"Matt Kemp, for those of you who are wondering, he doesn't have a career
grand slam yet..."

*BOOM*

"...cancel that YET."

We were too busy screaming our heads off like hysterical women. We couldn't believe it. Funniest thing was, Nina was on the phone when Pierre got hit and she screamed into the phone. As soon as she hung up ... boom. GRAND SLAM. Good thing she still wasn't on the phone. Not sure what Roxie (the person on the other line) would've thought if she heard two girls screaming hysterically. We ran upstairs to get her brother to get him to come down to see this 10-run inning. Loved the body bump Russell and Loney did. Though it looked like Russell was about to fall over. Super cute.

Then comes the first pitch of the fourth inning. 96 mph fastball. Nails the umpire. Nina and I weren't paying attention to the game at the time. I look at the screen and see the umpire lying down on the ground. Russell and Penny looked like they felt really bad about it. Which you see evident on the screen and in reports later on. I was so proud of them when they stuck around to see if he was okay and wanted to help lift him up.

OHHHH Russelll ... “It sounded like he got hit with a Mike Tyson uppercut,” said Martin, who won his first Gold Glove last season. “I was just hoping he was all right. That ball hit him square in the mask. He probably got a concussion. I was just hoping that he was still breathing. I told him `I’m sorry’ a couple of times, but I don’t know if he heard me.”

Okay guys, how are you going to top this one tomorrow? And please ... no more injuries ... to anyone involved.

Another wacky game

11:43 Russell gets walked!

11:47 Nomar has a strained calf muscle. So, who's getting called up and who's getting sent down?

11:48 Russ is thrown out at second. End of eleventh.

11:52 Park gives up a lead-off walk to Helton. Uh oh ... you know what happens with lead off walks. They come back to get you. That's what happened with Saito in the ninth. Holliday just singled, now men on first and second with no outs.

LOl there's a good enough delay from the radiocast to the tv that I can hear what's going to happen in my room (where the radio and computer is), run to my brother's room which is across the hall, and see what happens, even though it already happened.

It's midnight. I want to take a shower, go to bed. BUT not before the game is over.

12:11 AM 379 pitches have been thrown. It is now the bottom of the 13th inning.

12:12 AM Kemp is safely on first on an error by ... Barmas. Park is batting for himself. Guess Torre didn't want Penny or Lowe to pinch-hit ... though I'm sure they wouldn't mind getting to swing the bat.

Believe it or not ... this is the first extra-inning game of the Dodgers this year. If Furcal and Martin were gunned down my Torrealba ... what chances ... never mind. Bennett just lined a single into left. MATT KEMP IS ON THIRD WITH NO ONE OUT!!!! Park out, Bennett on second. Now they're going to intentionally walk Loney to load the bases for RUSSELL MARTIN WHO IS PERFECT TONIGHT!!! HE'S FOUR FOR FOUR WITH TWO WALKS. COME ON RUSSELL!!!! GRAND SLAM BABY!!!

....

Skittles8798 (12:23:37 AM): YES YES YES YES YES!!!!! DODGERS WIN DODGERS WIN!!!

Skittles8798 (12:23:41 AM): RUSSELL MARTIN IS DA BOMB!!!!

laazngurl29 (12:23:41 AM): lol

Skittles8798 (12:23:47 AM): YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DODGERS WIN DODGERS WIN!!!! DODGERS WIN DODGERS WIN!!!! DODGERS WIN DODGERS WIN!!!!

Oh man. Okay, so it wasn't a grand slam. And it was the only time Russ didn't get on base. BUT HE GOT THE WINNING HIT!!!! Anyone else's heart skip a beat when you saw him and Kemp body slam each other? If it wasn't so late, and my parents already asleep, and if they didn't already think I was crazy ... I would've been jumping up and down. It was funny because Scully, Monday, and Steiner all commented that there was no way they were going to throw out Kemp. Man, I love watching him run. He just needs to be a little more heads up.

Rick Monday just said he hopes someone drives Russell Martin home tonight and tucks him into bed. Now this is the Russell Martin we all know and love. Not only does he gets four hits, two walks, and a sacrifice fly to end the game ... he also moves from behind home plate to play four innings at third. Thankfully the curse of the the third base didn't affect him. And thankfully the curse of the BobbleHead didn't cost us a win. The other three bobblehead giveaways this year are all pitchers. Hopefully we can win those nights too!

Gotta love Vin Scully. "Russell Martin has a phenomenal night ... and he'll have a headache by the time they get through beating on him."

This year really has been a bad start for closers. Not just Saito. The Padres, Rockies, and Brewers are having trouble with their closers too. In fact ... the Rockies and Brewers demoted their respective closers.

Found this on ESPN's conversation thing:

SugarDaddySean (39 minutes ago)

Dodger Tickets: $16
Parking: $15
Dodger Dog and Large Drink: $10
Witnessing Russel Martin play 3rd base: Priceless

I would so love to have been there to see RUSSELL play third base. AMAZING. Actually ... I don't think he got that much action in the hot corner. Someone please tell me that they have pictures of Russell at third base????

Forgot some things .. plus some new things

This is what happens once you've gotten some sleep and aren't rushed to remember everything that happened in the past four/five hours. I wrote some things down after I turned off the computer. Then I wrote some more things down when I was at work.

Last Night's Game
Kids taking the field
In the beginning of every game, there are nine youngsters who take the field with the Dodgers, each one gets a personally autographed baseball. Russell had a really little kid ... who ran right past him. It looked like Russell had to call out to him. It was so cute. The kid was really little and super cute. The kid Loney had stood at first base for a little bit after his ball got signed. It looked like he wasn't sure where to go from there. Again, super cute.

The Bullpen Deer
Nina pointed out the deer to me. She was looking through the binoculars to see who was warming up in the bullpen. That's when she noticed the deer.

Russell Pregame Stuff
I was watching Russell in the dug out before the game started. First, I saw him with Billingsley. Billingsley was sitting down and his head was bowed. Russell was standing, but he bent over with his head bowed for a little bit. After a few seconds, Russ stood up and they bumped fists. I guess that's what you call it. Then he sat down. Mariano Duncan came over, and they did this funny pregame dance thing I guess. There's no way to describe it. Wish I could've videoed it, but my zoom isn't that great. And I didn't get that many photos because the pizza (or was it peanut) man decided to walk in front of me and block my view.

"Wacky game"
Yes, Vin Scully called it right. It certainly was a wacky game, with Furcal getting bonked in the back of the head in the midst of being caught in a run down. And then there was the wild pitch by Proctor that the batter swung at. It was also the same pitch that gave the D-backs the lead I believe.

Kiss Cam
Everyone loves the kiss cam, right? Except for the second or third pair they zeroed in on. The guy hid behind his blanket. The camera went back to them again a few pairs later. The guy hid under his blanket this time. Third time's the charm, right? Nope. He was still hiding.

Post-Game Dodger Talk
They talked about two things most of the night: Kent's ejection, and Jones. They also commented on how two of the callers they had were women, and both talked about how they didn't like it when Jones gets booed. I'm of two minds on that. But I'll keep my fingers quiet for now.

Tonight's Game
Charlie and Rick just mentioned that Jason Schmidt threw 70 pitches in a simulated game today. Looks like there may be a rehab assignment in the crystal ball. Who knows when.

10:00 PM Andre Ethier just got hit by a pitch. AGAIN. This is the third game in a row where he's been hit by a pitch. Wonder if he feels like a target, like Lowe last Friday against the Braves (Lowe got hit by three comebackers in that game).

10:01 Andre and Russ advance on a balk (second and third respectively). Sweet. Runners in scoring position. Rats. Two outs, Pierre in the batter's box. Sweeney in the on-deck circle. Wade warming up in the bullpen.

10:15 Cory Wade throws a wild pitch, allowing Tulowitzki to score. It's the fifth wild pitch of the game. Three by Colorado's Jimenez, one by Kuroda, and one by Wade. Loney's been hit by a pitch. And So has Ethier. Who's next?

10:51 Nomar made a dive. They're speculating if he's hurt. Who's on third??? Hu's at second ... Blake's been sent down ... uh oh...

10:54 RUSSELL TAKES THE FIELD AT THIRD BASE!!! Gary Bennett takes his place behind home. First pitch passes through Bennett's legs and allows the tying run to score. Great. Blown save. No one left on the bench. Hey, Penny might get to pinch hit! Let's see ... who's left in the bullpen? Proctor. Beimel. Kuo. Park. Then of course ... you've got your starters.

11:12 Furcal gets thrown out at second. End of ninth inning. Extra innings. No one left on the bench. Kemp came in early when Jones fouled a ball off and it hit his knee. Hu replaced Kent. Young pinch hit. Sweeney pinch hit. Nomar gets hurt and Bennett comes in. All we got left are pitchers.

11:23
Charlie Steiner kept saying Kent was up to bat third in the bottom of the tenth inning. I'm like ... Kent started the game. He can't pinch hit. He just corrected himself.

11:36
Middle of hte 11th inning. Our hottest hitters are coming up: Loney, Martin, Ethier. Come on boys!

I had hoped to get to bed early tonight. So much for that.

What a game.... now I'm 3 - 2

At least there was some action! And it wasn't just the bats or the gloves doing all the work.

The highlights
Billingsley struck out a career high 12 batters tonight. It was pretty cool to watch him strike out batter, after batter. He struck out Hudson and Reynolds in the first inning (Jackson singled in between), Gonzalez and Young in the second, struck out the side in order in the third (Hudson, Jackson, and Reynolds), Upton (fourth strikeout in a row) and Salazar (after Montero flied out) in the fourth, Gonzalez and Reynolds again in the fifth, and Montero in the sixth. After Chad left the game, the next three Dodger pitchers each got only one strike out each. Not bad, considering Chad faced 26 batters, and he struck out almost half of them. Proctor faced seven, Beimel two, and Wade three.

Bottom of the seventh inning. This has got to be blooper real material or something. Furcal got walked, reached second when Jones grounded out. It looked like Furcal got a good lead, or else it could've been a double play. Garciaparra hits the ball to the third baseman. Furcal is already off second, looks like he's going to get picked off, right? Well, while retreating to second base, the third baseman throws the ball to whoever is covering second. Except, it doesn't get to him. It hits Furcal in the back of his helmet (thank goodness for batting helmets) and bounces into centerfield. Furcal gets to third, Nomar advances to second.

Bottom of the first. With two outs, Kent doubles to deep left field. Nomar is on first, and he high tails it all the way to home. He slides into home plate just as the catcher is receiving the ball. Everyone is cheering and I'm holding my breath to see what the umpire signals. SAFE. Phew. Gutsy move with two outs in the inning. Another gutsy move by Nomar was in the fourth inning when he stole second. We know Nomar isn't speedy like Furcal or Pierre. But he pulled it off.

Lowlights(Is there such a thing?)
Top of second inning, Kemp misjudged a fly ball and misses it. Wake up Kemp! That allowed the batter to get to second, and the next batter to homer, scoring two more runs. We spent most of the game behind the D-backs. We never got the lead in the game. We had plenty of chances. Hello, bases loaded in the sixth with only one out. Kemp struck out and Sweeney flied out. When Kemp got up, I was like, "okay, here's your chance to redeem yourself." He never did. Sweeney, I love you and all ... but what's going on? Every game I've been to and you were called upon to hit, nothing. I keep telling everyone, you're the best pinch hitter. I still believe in you! You can do it!

And of course... the call that got Kent and Torre thrown out of the game. From where we were sitting, we thought for sure Jackson was out. Man was Kent stewed. Imagine my surprise when they took the field in the top of the ninth and he was still stewing about it. I was surprised that he didn't get thrown out earlier in the eighth inning. He got really close to the ump. But I was surprised that Torre got thrown out. I wasn't surprised when Kent finally got thrown out. Hmm I've been to five games this year, four in the regular season. I've seen three ejections now. Who's next?

Other things
It's musical chairs night. Have you ever noticed when the people around you are sitting in the wrong seats? I've noticed this a few times. Sometimes it's the case of them trying to get better seats than the ones they bought. Other times, it's just plain confusion. I've done it once, but I realized my mistake quickly and walked to my correct seat. But I've never sat in the wrong section thinking it was the right one. Don't people know how to read the sections, seats, and rows? A big group of people behind us came in, noticed some people were sitting in their row, and decided that since the row behind us was empty, they'd sit there. I don't know who was in the wrong section, but lo and behold, another group comes over and tells them that they are sitting in their seats. Apparently they were sitting in the wrong seats and the people who had those seats showed up and booted them out. Now they were coming to their correct seats and were booting the other people out.

Top of the fifth. They tried to get a wave going. First it went clockwise ... didn't work. Then it went counter clockwise. I've noticed this trend. Waves always work better counter clockwise.

Micah Owings, a pitcher, pinch hit for the pitcher. I didn't even realize Micah Owings was up. It wasn't until I was reading the recap and looking at the box scores that I saw he played in today's game.

Speaking of not knowing how to read... I got up in the sixth inning to go use the restroom. Usually I wait till the end of the game, but I decided, okay, might as well go now. I go to the closest restroom, walk in, and walk right back out. I couldn't believe it. There was this guy (a big one mind you) standing in one of the stalls (not just one, but like one of the ones right when you walk in) peeing into the toilet with the stall door open. There were some other girls standing outside who had walked in and seen the same thing and walked out. They were laughing about it. I walked in again, and he was still oblivious. So I did the only logical thing. I went and got a security guard. The guy's two friends were outside and wondering what was going on. The security guard escorted him out of the bathroom. I'm not sure if he said anything to him. His friends asked him something, but I didn't stick around to hear it. First of all, hello, didn't he see the sign that said "women's". Second of all ... couldn't he tell the difference? Well, I don't know. Someone tell me. Does the men's restrooms at Dodger Stadium (particularly on the Reserve Level) have only toilets or urinals? Because don't most public men's rooms have urinals? I wouldn't know because I haven't been in one. The girls were guessing he must be wasted or I don't know what. They also joked that the line in the men's room shouldn't be that long. And it's usually women who sneak into men's restrooms, not the other way around. Oh yeah. And when he came out, he looked like he didn't know what was going on or what the big fuss was.

One of the guys in front of us asked his buddy when the game started about the base coaches wearing helmets. He said he never noticed them before and asked his buddy why they were wearing helmets. Since neither of them knew, I told them about the new rule, Mike Coolbaugh's death last summer, and Bowa's refusal/loathing to wear the helmet. Later on, he asked me to take a picture of him and his lady-friend. He asked if it was good picture, and I said yes, because I take good pictures. And yes, it was a good picture. It was fun. The people who sat behind us later in the game were from New Zealand, so they weren't sure of what was going on sometimes. Jack would turn around and explain things to them. I would've too, but I was busy watching the game, taking pictures, and listening to the radio cast. I think I did explain one thing to them ... when Kent got ejected. Oh and after the seventh inning stretch, the group next to me left and the guy in front asked if we were leaving. I said no. He said something about the people who left being part-time fans. I told him I wasn't a part-time fan, I was a full-time fan. When I thought more about it ... more like a over-time fan. It doesn't start or stop when I get to the ball game. It doesn't even stop when I get home! It's almost one, and I'm still blogging about it. Then come tomorrow or the next chance I get, I've got to post the pictures on my other blog, flickr, myspace, and maybe even Bebo. Well, maybe not Bebo because I don't like the new upload feature on Bebo. And then, I've got to update my scrapbook! Yup ... I think I'm an over-time fan.

Another one...

This one was early in my shift. My manager was off the floor, having her lunch. This customer, and elderly lady, wanted to try a pair of shoes on. She said it fit, she'd get it. When I rang her up, the total was more than she expected. The pointed out that there was another shoe JUST like it, but in a different color, and a much lower price. Well, the two shoes weren't EXACTLY the same shoes. One was metallic suede (black) and the other was metallic leather. Not only were they different colors, difference prices ... but they were actually different shoes. But she kept saying they were the same shoes. But they weren't. They had different item numbers, same shoe name, different shoe style number. I told her they weren't the same according to the computer. She asked me if I could give her the shoe she was buying for the lower price that the other shoe was going for. I said I couldn't because according to the system, they weren't the same shoes. So, she asks me to get my manager. I explain the situation to my manager, who comes out to talk to the customer. She tells the customer the same things I had been telling her, and the customer keeps insisting that they are the SAME shoes. They aren't. In fact, I just went online to look at the same shoes. On the website, the metallic leather and metallic suede shoes were going for the same price. The higher one. I hope this one doesn't come back in the form of a complaint.

In case you missed it ...

Did anyone see David Wright on the David Letterman show last Monday night (April 14 to be exact)? I was at the game, and I usually don't stay up late watching late night shows anyway. Usually when I get home from a game, I spend a few hours winding down: uploading the pictures from my camera, blogging about the game, uploading the pictures onto my flickr and a blog entry... but I wish I had a TiVo or DVR so I could've recorded it. The annoying part was that you didn't see David till like the last seven minutes of the show. David Letterman spent most of the show with Al Pacino. And of course, he talks for how long in the beginning of the show? That's one of the things that I don't like about late night talk shows. I want to see the guest stars. I guess that's why I like TiVo or DVR ... I can fast forward through the talking part and get right to the good part... like seeing David Wright. David Wright, btw, got his 100th career home run before he showed on the show. He talks about how he "read" about that homerun being his 100th. Then he goes to say it was a "3-2 fastball about 84 mph, because that's all [he] could get around on." He talks about the slow start they were on and jokes about why games are longer these days. The best part is when he talks about how he has the best view of what's going on in the stands, like when a Phillies fan got decked. I love David. He's hilarious in the show. I'm not sure if he's being humble for real or not. Like when he says that usually when he hits a home run, he doesn't know if it is or not. Or when David Letterman asks him about being able react from the moment a pitcher throws the ball to swinging. I love how when he talks and smiles, the left side of his mouth turns up more than his right. At the end of the show, David Letterman takes David Wright outside to swing a bat. And Letterman tells Wright (it's getting tiring trying to differentiate between the two Davids) that the city is making them use softballs instead of hard baseballs. I love watching Wright swing and hit the ball. I wish Letterman could've thrown a few more at Wright. He did hit him once. That was great.

Store or lobby?

Today when I got to work, I discovered not only was the escalator going down not working, but they had also closed off the entrance to the mall on our level. The escalator thing, no problem. I just did what the guy in front of me did. I went around the little thing they put up and walked down the non-moving escalator. The door thing however turned our store into a walk way for the mall. Sure we get a handful of people who use our store as a mall entrance. But today was ridiculous! It was well into the afternoon when they finished working on the doors. Once the doors were fixed, our foot traffic definitely slowed down. And then, later on, some girl was standing in different parts of our store, just talking on her cell phone.

Somebody explain this to me. This lady comes into our store to do a return. She pulls two things out of some sort of tote bag that is COVERED in animal hair. It was either cat hair or dog hair. Who knows, it might've been her hair! Anyway, neither item has a ticket, she doesn't have a receipt. One is a white skirt. Obviously been worn and washed. It's covered in animal hair as well. Second item, even worse. It was black top. No Talbots label anywhere to be seen. And how do I know it was worn? There was deodorant stains on it. GROSS. I had my manager take care of it. The lady then walks around the store, talking to herself. At first, I gave her the benefit of the doubt that maybe she was on her cell phone. Turns out, she was having a conversation with herself. The entire time she was in the store. She tried on a few things. Went into the fitting room like three times. I shuddered every time she put her dirty hairy bag down. She bought a black top (full price), and then found a creme top (on sale). She wanted to put the creme top on hold for three days, but we don't hold sale items over. So, she returned the black top, bought the creme one, and put the black one on hold. She talked to herself on her way out the store, came back later and asked for an application. Then she asked for one of our names. And got mine completely wrong. She came back later to turn in the application. And had a conversation with herself coming in and out of our store. Can someone say a few eggs short of a dozen???

Today was an interesting day. I had another lady get lost in our fitting room. One of my associates went in there, and she was standing in the middle of the fitting room. She didn't know how to get out. Mind you ... there's only ONE way in and out of the fitting room. And then our other Special Lady came in. She's got to be at least 80, wears big fish-eye glasses, her wrists are like the size of my thumb ... and the scariest part? She still drives herself around, even though she's in outer space more than half the time. My manager told me she was leaving once, and she saw the Special Lady driving. She was stopped in the middle of an intersection ... didn't know what to do ... didn't know what was going on around her ... and everyone around her is honking at her because she's stopped in the middle of the street. And I'll leave you all with this. Sarah and I were folding things on a table, and this customer was looking at something. She said something, and I asked her, "What was that question again?" And she very rudely and hotly replies to me, "Did I ask you a question?" I just apologized and went back to folding. After she left, Sarah and I got a good laugh about it. There was no reason for her to be rude about it, btw.

In case you missed it...

The Padres-Colorado game last night started with Jake Peavy throwing the first pitch at 7:05 PM Thursday night. It ended at 1:21 AM Friday morning when Glendon Rusch struck out. It went 22 innings! I was driving to the DMV and turned on XX sports radio because that way I can hear some baseball talk instead of just talk radio. They were talking about what time the Padres arrived in Arizona (about 3:30, 4:30). One fan called in and mentioned when he was in the sixth grade, he went to a double header. The first one was like eleven innings, and the second one ... I forgot how much but he saw a lot of innings that day.

This I saw when I was checking MLB news on my phone. A 36-year-old man fell to his death at Shea Stadium. Looks like he wasn't the only one. There appears to have been another incident, where a fan fell in Camden Yards.

Sending in the Wolf. Former Dodger/Philies pitcher, Randy Wolf pitched seven innings, allowing only ONE hit. That hit that spoiled his no-hit bid came with two outs in the seventh inning. The WOLF is looking good.

Forgot some things from last night's game

The one good ting about Sherisse running late yesterday was ... while I was waiting for her, I realized I dropped cheese on my shirt. Not like a slice of cheese. Melted cheese. Melted cheese that hardened. So, I had to go back home and change my shirt. No big deal. We live like four blocks away from each other. I could've parked my car on her street, walked home, changed my shirt, and walked back to her house.

Sherisse got up to get garlic fries, must've been around the fourth inning or so. When she came back in the sixth inning, she noticed there were two people sitting to my right who weren't there when she left. In fact, they arrived some time during the fifth inning. What time did they leave? Right after the seventh inning stretch of course. When else would they leave? Hmmm how about when the game ended? Sure, they already missed all the action ... like four runs in the first, two more in the second.

Oh yeah ... the guy behind us bought a bag of peanuts. Guess the peanuts man threw the bag to him. He caught it ... okay half of it I guess. The other half? Well, the bag broke and I felt several peanuts fall on my back and saw some landed in my purse. Gave some to Sherisse of course because I don't care for peanuts

And here's probably Sherisse's favorite part of the night. When we finally got to my car, there was this guy dancing in the parking lot next to his car. What kind of dancing? Like techno/robot move dancing. He was wearing a muscle shirt, and trust me when I tell you it wasn't that hot outside. One person made this passing comment: either he's drunk or horny.

Hooray! 3 - 1

Tonight was blanket night. Originally, it was supposed to be me, Sherisse, Kevin, and James going to the game. Last week, I kept asking both Sherisse and Kevin when should I get the tickets. Originally, we were going to give Kevin the money to get the vouchers' from Costco. But his parents weren't able to go. Then he wasn't going to go to the game. So, I started looking for tickets online. I came THIS CLOSE to winning some sweet tickets on Ebay. Till the last minute. Grrr. And by then, James wasn't going to the game either. So it was going to be me and Sherisse. When Sherisse and I talked about what time we should leave for the game, she said it was okay with her if we left early to go to batting practice. Today comes and we didn't leave till around six.

AMAZING. INCREDIBLE. That's what comes to mind with tonight's game. First, when the players took the field to warm up ... guess who caught my attention first? No, not Russell. NOMAR. As in, the guy who has been on the disabled list since March, when he and Andy LaRoche (the two men competing for the third baseman spot) went down in the same inning. Andy isn't back yet, but Nomar is! Who got sent down to open a spot for him? Ramon Troncoso, one of the only other rookies on the team.

The top of the first inning went beautifully. Three up, three down. When Freddy Sanchez was up the bat, he fouled a ball that bounced off the ground and into Russ' mask. I wonder what was going through Russ' mind when he saw that ball coming at him. I wonder if he's used to that kind of stuff. The bottom of the third inning went even more beautifully. Nine up, five hits, four runs batted in. Furcal ended up going four for four, including a home run! He was SO CLOSE to hitting for the cycle the other night. Russ got a base hit, one that bounced off the pitcher. The best part of the first inning, and maybe the whole game, was when with no outs, Russ on second, Matt Kemp on first, Jeff Kent hits a single to right. Russ scores easily. Matt rounds second, heads to third, and realizes that he's caught in a run down! He tries to run back to second, trips and falls! You're thinking "oh no! They've really got him now." Well, when he falls, the third baseman trips over Matt. He then kinds of slides/scrambles/belly flops to get to third. AND HE'S SAFE! And while this is going on, Jeff Kent advances to second.

Okay, so the rest of the game is a blur to me now. In the second inning, Matt Kemp threw a bullet to home plate for Russell to tag out Xavier Nady! What a great play that was! Then, Rafael leads the second inning off with a home run! Sweet! The Dodgers are up, five to zero and it's only the second inning! In the bottom of the third, Nomar gets his first hit of the season. He was walked in the first inning. He gets walked again later. By this point, Loney has been up twice and sacrificed twice. He still needs a hit to extend his hitting streak to fifteen games. Penny came out of the game in the sixth inning. BTW, I got some great photos of what looks like Russell massaging Penny's shoulder! I saw it, couldn't believe it, and captured it! It was hilarious. In the bottom of the sixth inning, with Furcal on second, Martin on first, Matt Kemp hit into a double play. Russ took out of the second baseman who landed on top of him. I wish I had a picture of that. Earlier in the game, I don't remember which inning or who was up to bat ... but whoever it was hit a fly ball that landed in shallow right. Loney, Kent, and Kemp all went running for it. They all missed! In fact, I think Kemp had the best read of it, but it was a long way for him to run. And all three of them almost collided. Again, I wish I had my camera ready to capture that. But I didn't. I think the easiest inning for the Pirates must've been the bottom of the eighth when the Pirates pitcher struck out Kemp, Sweeney, and Loney (only Loney struck out swinging). After Saito's bad outing on Monday, he came out tonight! He only gave up one hit. It went ground out, strike out, double, ground out.

Tonight's "Behind the Clubhouse" video was "funniest thing on the field?" Andruw Jones mentioned falling down on first base after hitting a home run. Andy LaRoche mentioned something that happened in the minor leagues, where James Loney was throwing the pine tar to the batter and the umpire thought he was throwing the pine tar at him, and Loney was thrown out of the game. And of course, Russell mentioned when Mark Hendrickson fell on the mound. There was a YouTube video floating around once of that. It was hilarious. Mark Hendrickson is a TALL guy. What, 6'9"? Russ even mimics the "face plant". Oh, and i loved the video montage they had of Penny set to "Baba O'Reilly." Monday night's video was a Russell Martin video montage set to "I Can't Drive 55". And they had some great bloopers tonight! I've seen a lot of their bloopers that they show and sometimes they show a lot of the same stuff. Tonight's blooper montage was one I have never seen before. The best was when you see Orel stumble on the mound after he struck someone out!

The beach balls were out tonight! I think there must've been at least three or four that fell on the field. There was a little green soccer ball beach ball in right when Matt Kemp made an amazing catch near the wall. Good thing he was no where near that beach ball. If he had tripped on it, and missed the catch ... don't even want to think about the possibilities. And I can't tell you how many guys I saw who turned their free "Fleece blanket" into a fleece poncho! How did they get scissors into the stadium to cut up their blankets? When Saito came out to pitch in the ninth inning, I just cheered my head off. The little girl in front of me turned around and stared at me. And then the guy behind me asked me about my camera. He said he didn't speak much English so he asked his son to ask me about my camera. LOL if Kevin was at the game, he'd roll his eyes and say "every time." He says that because there's nearly one person at every game who comments on my camera.

Sweet. My record for the year is now 3 - 1, making it .750. Next game: May 5, against the METS. Not only do I get to see DAVID WRIGHT ... it's also the anniversary of RUSSELL MARTIN'S MAJOR LEAGUE DEBUT! It will be two years since RUSSELL MARTIN stepped onto the scene, after Dioner Navarro went down. RUSSELL got the call up, and made it impossible for the Dodgers to send him back down.

Some baseball quotes

No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference. ~Tommy Lasorda

Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he's losing; nobody wants you to quit when you're ahead. ~Jackie Robinson

Back then, my idol was Bugs Bunny, because I saw a cartoon of him playing ball - you know, the one where he plays every position himself with nobody else on the field but him? Now that I think of it, Bugs is still my idol. You have to love a ballplayer like that. ~Nomar Garciaparra

Well, boys, it's a round ball and a round bat and you got to hit the ball square. ~Joe Schultz, 1969

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. ~A. Bartlett Giamatti, "The Green Fields of the Mind," Yale Alumni Magazine, November 1977

You know you're pitching well when the batters look as bad as you do at the plate. ~Duke Snider, 1975

It actually giggles at you as it goes by. ~Rick Monday, on Phil Niekro's knuckleball, quoted in Sports Illustrated, 1 August 1983

Sandy's fastball was so fast, some batters would start to swing as he was on his way to the mound. ~Jim Murray, on Sandy Koufax

You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too. ~Roy Campanella

The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid. And if the hitter is timid, he has to remind the hitter he's timid. ~Don Drysdale, quoted in New York Times, 9 July 1979

I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks in batting practice. ~Casey Stengel, 1967

It ain't like football. You can't make up no trick plays. ~Yogi Berra

When you're in a slump, it's almost as if you look out at the field and it's one big glove. ~Vance Law

Things could be worse. Suppose your errors were counted and published every day, like those of a baseball player. ~Author Unknown

I have discovered in twenty years of moving around a ball park, that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats. ~Bill Veeck

Life will always throw you curves, just keep fouling them off... the right pitch will come, but when it does, be prepared to run the bases. ~Rick Maksian

Baseball is a game where a curve is an optical illusion, a screwball can be a pitch or a person, stealing is legal and you can spit anywhere you like except in the umpire's eye or on the ball. ~Jim Murray

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby

Baseball is the only sport I know that when you're on offense, the other team controls the ball. ~Ken Harrelson, Sports Illustrated, 6 September 1976

Good pitching will beat good hitting any time, and vice versa. ~Bob Veale, 1966

Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer. ~Ted Williams

A baseball park is the one place where a man's wife doesn't mind his getting excited over somebody else's curves. ~Brendan Francis

It's no coincidence that female interest in the sport of baseball has increased greatly since the ballplayers swapped those wonderful old-time baggy flannel uniforms for leotards. ~Mike Royko

I don't know why people like the home run so much. A home run is over as soon as it starts.... The triple is the most exciting play of the game. A triple is like meeting a woman who excites you, spending the evening talking and getting more excited, then taking her home. It drags on and on. You're never sure how it's going to turn out. ~George Foster, 1978

Spread the diaper in the position of the diamond with you at bat. Then fold second base down to home and set the baby on the pitcher's mound. Put first base and third together, bring up home plate and pin the three together. Of course, in case of rain, you gotta call the game and start all over again. ~Jimmy Piersal, on how to diaper a baby, 1968.

If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base. ~Dave Barry

*Sigh* 2 - 1

So close. It was 3 - 4, Dodgers winning, with one out to go in the top of the ninth. Saito had come into the close out the game. It went: one out, one single, one strike-out, another single. Then comes Nate McLouth. He hadn't gotten a hit yet, and his hitting streak was in danger. Well, it wasn't in danger anymore. He homered to the right, driving in not only the tying run, but two more insurance runs. With Furcal, Ethier, and Kemp up to bat in the bottom of the ninth, you'd think we might have small chance, right? If anyone followed the game, you saw them go out 1 ... 2 ... and Matt Kemp swinging at the third strike for the final out of the game.

And what a game it was. Now that I told you how it ended, I'm going to backtrack and tell you the beginning of my third game of the year. Nina and I got there for batting practice. We hung out in the left field corner for a bit. Then I thought I spotted Steve, and we made our way to where he was. By the time we got there, he was gone. There was a long line of kids by the dugout for autographs. When the Dodgers headed in after batting practice was over for them, only ONE player stopped to sign some things. Mark Sweeney. He asked one of the kids what they were waiting for, and I guess they said him, because he said "Me? You were waiting for me?" Here's a link to the picture of Mark signing things. As I said before, I'm going to post my pictures on a separate blog. After batting practice was over, I needed to look for an Advance Ticket window to get tickets to Wednesday's game. I had been bidding a pair of tickets that ended at 5:30. And I was winning... up till the last two minutes! On our way there, we're stopped by one of those booth people. He was cute. He asked us if we went to games often, if it was a girl's night. When I said I brought my friend and that no one else could come with me, he said to call him and he'd come. Of course, he wasn't serious. After finally getting him to realize that he was wasting his time telling us about a deal that we were going to refuse, we went to the Advance Ticket window to get my tickets.

Then, it was time to get some food before going to our seats. Knowing that my seats were in the second row of the Top Deck, I knew I wasn't wanting to get up during the game to get anything. Someone had some chili cheese fries that looked good. But, we ended up on the Reserve Level and getting garlic fries. My friend wanted some frozen yogurt, and it turned out that she knew one of the employees. As I was paying for her yogurt and our soda, the employee noticed we didn't have any Dodger dogs and asked us if we were got them yet. We said no, and the employee slipped us each a Dodger dog!

We got to our seats. Turns out, some of the guys around us bought the same ticket plan. Looks like we've got our own little Top Deck crew. One of the girls behind us cheered for Andre when Matt Kemp caught a fly ball in right. She didn't realize it was Matt in right and Andre in left. That's okay. Kevin did the same thing last year with Nomar/James. He thought Nomar was still at first base, when Loney had been playing first for... a few months. The guys were talking about third base, and they were trying to remember who played third base before Nomar. My friend spoke up and said it was Betemit. The guys behind us said she ought to get a beer for knowing that. When we told them she was underage, they said they'd get her two. She jokingly asked if she could get one of those light-up cups. (BTW, neither of us drink). In the second inning, one of the Pirates hit a home run that landed in the left field pavilions. It got thrown back, of course. The in the Dodgers' half, Russell hit an infield single. He advanced to second on what the scorer's called a balk. Then he advanced to third on a passed ball. Andruw Jones, who's average during that at-bat was only .100, hit a grounder and was thrown out at first. But since Russell was on third, he was able to score a run!

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Kuroda got himself a double and his first Major League RBI. They had to call time for someone to run his jacket out to him. I had noticed that before. I saw a picture of Kuroda on base, but he had a jacket on. Then in the bottom of the eighth, Russell got up to lead off the inning. He ran the count up to three and two I think when he popped one up behind home plate. It looked like an easy out for the catcher. It probably would've been an easy out for Russell if he was catching. But somehow, the catcher missed the ball and it was scored an error. On being given a second chance, Russell gets himself another single. Even though there were no outs, the following three hitters failed to A) advance him, or B) bring him home. Jones and DeWitt both flied out, and Sweeney grounded out. And that about brings us to the end of the game.

My friend, like her father, tends to rag on players (or the team) when they're not doing well. I know we all talk about when they're not doing well. But they tend to really criticize them, like if all they ever do is play horribly and lose every game. It's like they forget that they CAN win and they CAN play well. It just so happened that tonight, the offense got off to a late start and Saito blew a save. That happens. Okay, so the offense gets off to a late start a lot. But like one of the guys who was sitting with us said, at least they didn't get shut out. As for Saito blowing a save... it happens. How many saves did Trevor Hoffman blow in the first week? And what about some key saves Trevor blew last year? Like the ones that probably would've taken the Padres to the play-offs? The players get mad at themselves when they lose. They don't need us pounding on them too. Okay, so a little pounding doesn't hurt. But whenever she (or her dad) starts getting in on a player, I always feel like I have to defend them. Kinda like I feel like I have to defend baseball when people say it's the worst sport. To each their own.

For example, she harps on Troncoso, saying he's the worst, she doesn't like him, et cetera, et cetera. Why? She saw him pitch ONCE. It happened to be the one game where he gave up two hits, two walks, and four earned runs. Since then? he's only pitched once and he gave up three hits, two earned runs, and one walk. Before that? He pitched in four games, gave up only three hits, and no runs. The one game where we got to see him pitch, he pitched a perfect inning. And then there's Scott Proctor. Same story there. She doesn't like him either. Not including today, he's pitched in five games. Other than one game where he gave up four hits (two of them were home runs), four runs, and a walk ... he gave up two walks in two of the other games, and pitched perfectly for the other two. She tends to judge them very harshly on ONE bad outing. Her favorite phrase is "what's [insert player's name]'s problem? Why is he doing this and doing that?" Remember when Broxton had a tough patch in the second half last year? Every time he was called up to pitch, she was like "oh no, he's pitching! He's horrible!" It's funny. It's like she expects the Dodgers to go 162 - 0, but her dad expects them to go 0 - 162.

It's interesting. I was just on Yahoo's Dodger page. The top three leaders in batting include Andre Ethier and James Loney in three of the categories (home runs, average, and RBIs). Rafael Furcal is in two, and Kent is in one. Though I don't think the stats are updated for today yet.

Happy days are here again

Hooray! I for one am happy that they have changed the rules back on the batting practice rules! I knew the Sons of Steve Garvey would have the low down on it.

From T.J. Simers at the LA Times:

Dodgers drop rule, will give all autograph seekers access
Club bows to wishes of fans and will give them field-level access before games.

The Dodgers, surrendering to the wishes of irate fans, announced Friday they have dropped a new rule and will allow all youngsters to seek autographs in Dodger Stadium in much the same way they have done for years.

No comment yet from the rich kids, but now everyone in the stadium will be given the same opportunity to stand on the dirt strip at the end of the Dodgers dugout and be ignored by the players while trying to get an autograph.

[...]

But despite the Dodgers' efforts to improve the situation, only a few players took notice. Andre Ethier, Delwyn Young and Matt Kemp were seen obliging some of the kids; Andruw Jones was obviously in the batting cage beneath the stands getting in some extra work.

The Dentist, the team's new PR guy, said a large number of fans provided "data," using the team's e-mail address published on Page 2 this week. They apparently made it quite clear they were not happy about kids' being kept away from the players.

"I read the e-mails aloud to everyone here and it helped," the Dentist said. "We decided to allow everyone to enter the field level the way they have in previous years -- through the end of batting practice.

"We had been concerned about crowding on the field level but that just doesn't seem to apply through batting practice. We'll try to funnel people down Aisle 27 to help with the cleanliness and occupancy problems in the field box seats, and we'll see what we can do about expanding the available area in center field for kids."

I know that before every game, I usually see the same players on the sidelines signing autographs: Andre Ethier, James Loney, Matt Kemp, Nomar Garciaparra. I've seen Jeff Kent sign one or two, but he's a rare one. I read somewhere else that fans could also get autographs after games, but most players walk by as if they're not there. I'm not that surprised. Hello. It's late, they're tired, and all they want to do is get out of there. That's how I feel at the end of my shift at work. Don't stop me, don't bother me, I just want to get home ASAP. But I am excited that they're changing the rules back. And it's not for the autographs. Well, at least not from current players. I'm long past the age and appearance of a cute kid because those are the only ones who get autographs anyway. And the possibility of getting a batting practice ball? Hello, I had one guy nearly run me over for one! Why do I go to batting practice then? It's for that chance. That chance of getting something memorable, whether it be an actual ball, or that impossible autograph, or my favorite ... a conversation with someone. Ok, so it was Steve Lyons last time. But it was still memorable for me. I can still remember that batting practice and the moments that led up to that conversation. I still remember the nervousness, the excitement, the "oh dear, I have his attention now what am I going to do?" thought that ran through my mind.

Speaking of Steve Lyons...

I came home and saw that I got a new message from one of my Myspace pals, DodgerGirl65. Her subject was "Steve Lyons." She's a big Steve Lyons' fan. I wondered what it could be. Turns out, her husband works at a night club and Steve Lyons walked in. Her husband got Steve on the phone and they talked. Guess who came up? ME! She told him that she has a myspace friend who is a Steve Lyons fan also, and that I had a picture of him with me. WELL... Steve goes and describes me (perfectly according to DodgerGirl65) and says he remembers taking that picture with me. Is that crazy or what???

Autographs

I'm listening to the pregame show for the Padres (don't shoot me). And they're talking about the autograph argument. Guess who they're siding with?

New batting practice guideline

I was reading the new guidelines about batting practice. Does that mean if I have a top deck ticket, I can't enter during the field level during batting practice, seeing as the Left Field Box gates now open 1 1/2 hours prior to the game instead of 2 hours prior? It's changed from last year. I'm going to a game on Monday and I had intended on getting there early to attend batting practice in the left field box area. But if centerfield is all that is available, I may not arrive that early after all. I really enjoyed being able to enter the field level seats during batting practice last year. My favorite memory was being able to talk to Steve Lyons during one particular batting practice.

Read the signs people

When our sale started, the sign said "save up to 50%". Now if you saw that, do you automatically assume that everything on the rack is 50% off ... or some percentage up to 50% off? I can't tell you how many times we got that question. Now, the sign says "further markdowns up to 60%" and we get the same question! Someone help me understand. Is that really difficult to understand?

Now, when I go to other stores and I look at the sales, I look at the sale sign very carefully. Maybe it's because I'm a salesperson now. And I have been confused by sale signs before. But I think if it says "Save up to 50%" then the prices should be marked already, UNLESS it says "further reductions taken at register" or "Take and extra % off". Because I know we sometimes have an extra 25% that's taken at the register. And then, of course, we get the question, "how much is this with the 25%?" Today, someone asked me, how much is 39 out of 58, what was the percent off that? Umm, I don't know. I'm not great at math, especially off the top of my head. I told her, I didn't know, I wasn't a math major. Of course, since she didn't speak English very well, I got away with that response. If she wasn't, I would've said something completely different.

Speaking of signs ... I was driving eastbound on Wilson from Glendale, towards Eagle Rock. I was at the intersection of Wilson and Central. I have the redlight, but the opposite traffic from me has the green light and green arrow. I'm waiting for my light to turn green, this guy pulls up next to me, moves past the white line, and makes a left turn onto Central. While the light is still RED. Where's a cop when you need one?

Another thing that I've been wanting to write about. The other day, I was ringing up a customer and my manager was talking with another manager from another store. The customer made a comment to me, "your manager is a good mood today." This isn't the first time the mood of my manager has been brought up to me. I've actually had other customers make comments about the mood of my customer, whether or not she's in a good mood, or just a comment about her bad mood. Frankly, what does it matter if my manager is in a good mood? Usually she's just serious. Does she have to be smiling to be in a good mood? Because she can be serious and still not be in a bad mood. Not just this manager, but the manager before that too. And, they (the customers) don't know what's going on in the store. There could be dozens of reasons why the manager isn't in a Happy Face mood. Another thing, are we expected to have an ear to ear grin every minute of our shift of every day of the week? Because I know that if my shift has been slow and is almost over or I'm frustrated with a certain person on the staff, I wouldn't be smiling ear to ear. I remember one time, I got really mad at that certain person and I certainly was NOT smiling.

Monday's game

So, last Christmas, I decided to take advantage of one of the holiday packages the Dodgers were offering. It was 12 games, for $48 if I chose to sit in the top deck. Since I didn't want to go to 12 games alone, I asked some of my friends if I got two tickets, would one of them go with me? They said yes, one or the other. Actually, one friend wanted to pay for the other ticket plan. Her parents were supposed to give her the money for it, but they never did. And they even forgot to actually get her a Christmas gift. Well, here comes the first game of our ticket plan and guess what? Neither of them know if one of them is going to the game with me! Grrr. I told them that if no one will go with me, I'll just go by myself. My friend (the girl - the other's a guy) said that it would be a waste of a ticket. Duh. I know that. Hello. It's her ticket that I'm wasting. But I can't not go. Hello. I have two tickets. So. Here I am. Two tickets to Monday's game. Can't really think of anyone else to take with me yet. Hopefully someone will say yes. Again. All else fails. I'll just go by myself and my purse can sit in Nina's seat.

Autograph signings and radio stations

Okay, so we're done with the first week of baseball. Any news of any autograph signings? I remember last year, there were two autograph signings in April. Russell Martin at Earl Scheib's and Andre Ethier at Living Spaces. Does anyone know anything yet? Also, when it comes to the radio stations... I think I preferred it when it was on KFWB. First of all, I haven't heard much of a pregame show on KABC. Maybe I just haven't tuned in yet. But on KFWB, the pregame stuff started about an hour before the game. Then about half hour before the game, AMartinez (whatever happened to him? I heard him once on ESPN radio) would have a player profile. Granted, after awhile, you heard the same old player profile over and over again. I don't really listen to the postgame stuff (other than the player/coach interview) so I don't know how different that is. And yes, the two (okay three) autograph signings I went to last year were hosted by KFWB. That was one of the things I wondered if it was going to change along with the change of radio stations. The website for KABC looks better. They do have a much better podcast. The KFWB podcast stopped after spring training. So, yes, each radio station does have it's up and it's down. What do you guys think?

Spam blog?

As you may know, I just started another photo blog (FallingLEAVes Photography) to post my pictures on another blog. Well, I just got an e-mail about my blog being blocked! Why? Because it's been flagged as a spam blog. What in the world is a spam blog? I read their info about it, and I'm still confused. And this is what is shown on my dashboard:

This blog has been locked and unpublished due to possible Blogger Terms of Service violations. You may not publish new posts until your blog is reviewed and unlocked.

This blog will be deleted within 20 days unless you request a review.

Hmph. Anyone else have this happen to them? No wonder. When I first posted photos on my new blog, I had like 18 hits immediately. And the info for the hits were weird. Interesting.

2 - 0

Great way to start the season, right? Two wins, no losses. I got off work, picked up Kevin, got food, and went to Nina's. We got there just as Angelina got there. Angelina got two pairs of tickets through 76. She and Nina took the seats in section 51. Kevin and I took the seats in section 59. That put us at the very end of the reserve level in the left field side. The day before the game, I looked in the box score and guess who's part of the umpire crew? Jim Wolf! The older brother of Randy Wolf! He was the third base umpire for the Opening Day game. Since I didn't know which way they rotated, I guessed he was either the home plate umpire or second base. They rotate clockwise (? depending on which way you look at it) so he was the second base umpire.

Jim - first base umpire
Randy - starting pitcher for the Padres

Jim WolfRandy Wolf

Back to the game. From our seats, it was very hard to see the DodgerVision screen. I did like the angle I got of the bullpen. However, my childhood fear of heights did make me wary of the steps. And the railing. When I saw that Russell was throwing in the bullpen, I went over to take some pictures. The guy standing by the railing told me that Russell wasn't throwing yet. Strange, because the catcher in the bullpen looked like Russell, moved like Russell.. and he was wearing Russell's number. Hmm. Yes, it was Russell and he was wrong. I almost made a comment like I knew it was Russell. And before the game started, Nina was asking me who the bullpen catcher was. She said it looked like Lieberthal. It probably was Rob Flippo. Flippo threw some balls out of the bullpen to some fans. I've seen him do that after games.

Onto the game. Another low-scoring game. We spent most of the game in a tie. Blake DeWitt is amazing! He and Hu pulled off a double steal. Sweet. And, yes, I did miss the Bowa blowup. Kevin and I were coming back from getting garlic fries and we heard the crowd. I also heard what was going on (thanks to my little radio). Nina and Angelina told me they were in line for food and they heard the crowd first. Everyone around them didn't know what was going on and they didn't know who Bowa is. Is it me ... or are the more moths this year? Maybe I just didn't notice them before. Because I really don't remember seeing that many moths last year. Angelina said there was a humming-bird sized moth that kept crashing into a guy in front of them. Around the 8th inning, Angelina and Nina tried to tell us that they wanted to leave. The game was tied. It was cold. I wanted to stay. Kevin wanted to stay. So we stayed for the ninth, and guess what? With two men on base, Delwyn Young comes up to pinch-hit. He makes a mad dash to beat the ball to first, and Furcal who was on second makes a mad dash to beat the ball home. And you know how fast Furcal can be. Game over. Dodgers win! Last year, the Giants beat the Dodgers 6 out of the 9 times they met at Dodger Stadium. Well, first series is over. Dodgers beat the Giants 2 of the 3 times they've met so far.

As for my pictures... I think I'll do what JoAnna did. Start another blog just for the pictures. What do you think? Too complicated? Too many blogs to keep track of? Unless someone says otherwise, I'll give that a try. If not, I'll go back to posting pictures on here. Here's the blog address http://fallingleavesphotography.blogspot.com/