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.