Monthly Archives: April 2017

Game 2: Dodgers 3 – Padres 1

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The matchup: Dodgers vs Padres (4.5.17)
Special Guest: Me!
Snacks: Dodger Dog w/ spicy brown mustard and onions (x2), Bud Heavy, Point the Way IPA, plus many more beverages at the Short Stop and Little Joy following the game.
Giveaway: Fernando Valenzuela jersey.
Memorable Moment: Tie between Puig’s first homer and Kenley’s first appearance.

RECAP: Now this is the Dodgers team everyone expects to see this season. Compared to the previous night’s frustrating shutout, these guys played like a well-oiled machine up and down the lineup.

Rich Hill made his first (and hopefully not only) start of the season and continuously buckled the Padres with a curveball that more than justified his free agent signing. The offense came out swinging and put up a pair of runs in their half of the first that would be all Hill and the rest of the pitching staff would need.

Yasiel Puig countered Hunter Renfroe’s 4th inning solo home run with a no doubt bomb of his own that landed in the Dodger bullpen to put them ahead for good.

I’m not gonna lie. I was weird seeing Sergio Romo make his debut in Dodger Blue. It felt like half the crowd started to instinctively boo thanks to his years in San Francisco but we all pumped the brakes before any real noise made. If this game is any indication, the 8/9 punch of Sergio and Kenley is going to bum out a lot of teams.

My friend Meg, who joined me for a few games last season, bought a chunk of our tickets for this year. She asked me to join her for her first game to get the lay of the land and meet her new Section 2 family.

Ran into this guy on a beer run. Is there any better reason to dress up like a hot dog on a Wednesday night than a Dodger game? I need to find him again so he can remind me of his Instagram handle. I woke up the next morning remembering half of it but it was no help. You wouldn’t believe how many variations of @weeniedog you’ll find on the ‘gram.

Dodgers win! One intangible upside to Kenley coming back is we get 3-5 more years of California Love.

 

Spotted this family leaving the game. They must really love Kershaw. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

Game 1: Padres 4 – Dodgers 0

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The matchup: Dodgers vs Padres (4.4.17)
Special Guest: My lovely wife.
Snacks: Dodger Dog w/ spicy brown mustard and onions (x2), Bud Heavy
Giveaway: Phone charger
Memorable Moment: It only took 14 minutes to drive home from this game.

RECAP: The long, brutal off-season has finally ended and it’s time for Dodger baseball that counts. For us, The Day After Opening Day has become our official start to the season and spirits were running high when we left for the stadium.

Along the way, we took a pit stop to do our civic duty.

Voting is an important right to exercise. (And that is as political as this site will ever get.)

One of the best off-the-radar aspects of the Dodger Stadium experience is the consistency among the game day staff. If you go to enough games, you’ll eventually notice the same employees posted up in the same spots. Game after game, season after season.

Our aisle has had the same usher the four seasons that we’ve been in Section 2. She was all smiles as she welcomed everyone back. My favorite beer vendor was at my favorite, super secret beer stand, and I got my nightly scouting report from my favorite cashier at the self-serve concession stand. I always start our transaction by asking how the Dodgers are looking tonight and she replies with a detailed scouting report that’s usually sprinkled with some Yoda-level wisdom.

The stadium was still buzzing in the wake of the Dodgers’ 14-3 Opening Day romp. The new pre-game pump up video is incredibly well done. Instead of relying on Kendrick Lamar (like last year) or some other random grab bag of celebrities, the new video features a wide assortment of Dodger fans all around LA that gives a real sense of pride in being a fan. The best part about the video is that it starts out with a slow burning “Let’s Go Dodgers” chant that gets the crowd rocking as if it were a playoff game.

As the randos that made up the Padres’ starting line up were introduced, I wondered why they were even out there. They’d save themselves a lot of time and trouble and make it easy on everyone if they just forfeited the game. They’d probably have more fun catching an early dinner than catching a second consecutive beat down from the Dodgers.

Then the game started and the Boys in Blue forgot how to play baseball.

Our friend Marc is already in mid-season meltdown form.

Following the Padres’ 2 run offensive explosion to start the game, my lovely wife asked me to pass her our binoculars.

“Why?” I asked.

“So I can get a better look at Dave Roberts punching Kenta in the face,” she replied.

(It should be noted that my lovely wife was only kidding but if she ever managed a team, she’d take a lot of pride in having the shortest leash in baseball.)

The Dodgers’ half of the 1st started out promising until Corey Seager stepped to the plate and promptly grounded into the first of four spirit crushing double plays of the night. Most everyone hit the ball hard, the only problem is that everything was hit right at the defense.

By the 7th inning, all we could do was accept the Dodgers’ fate and have a few laughs about such a bummer way to start the season. I guess you need games like this one to make October that much sweeter.

Even still, I would have been perfectly happy if the Padres would have forfeited.

As these fans passed us walking into the stadium, the fella in the Corey Seager jersey told us that he hates walking but he hates giving Frank McCourt money even more which is why they park outside the gates.

The free woodpile is going off right now!

The last photo I took during the game. The irony was cranked up to 11 when my phone’s battery died on phone charger night. Good times.

It’s (Finally!) Time For Dodger Baseball

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Hey there,

Remember this blog that fell off the face of the Earth right when the Dodgers started their playoff run last October? Well, it’s back for 2017 and there’s a long story about why it vanished at the end of the regular season.

(The story itself is boring so I’ll spare you the details. Let’s just say you never want to get swamped with house hunting duties while the Dodgers are in the middle of a playoff run. It really drains your free time.)

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s do a little recap of the 2016 postseason. We’ll make it quick.

Game 3 of the NLDS against the Nationals (aka the Dodgers’ first home game) was the first time my lovely wife ever saw the Dodgers lose in the playoffs, dating back to our first playoff game together in 2008. She’d been such a good luck charm that we didn’t even think to get a playoff selfie until we left the stadium. In the background, you can see the FREE wood pile that can be found along Scott Road. Seriously, if you need free wood, there’s always a pile right next to the stadium. Have no idea where it comes from.

In a tie for my favorite moment of the 2016 playoffs was this kid rocking a Clayton Kershaw jersey during the must-win game 4 against the Nationals. Kershaw was on the mound in a total ride or die situation and I got to see this kid have the best day of her life.

I arrived at the stadium early to stake out my usual spot over the bullpen and this girl and her dad showed up in the nick of time to snag the last available seat, which happened to be right next to me. They weren’t there for more than 30 seconds before her dad asked if I could keep an eye on her while he ran to the restroom and hit the concession stand.

Before I could even let him know I was marginally qualified for the task on my best day, he was gone. Words can’t describe what an avalanche of responsibility it is to be suddenly put in charge in the well being of a random child. Before her dad sat her down next to me, I was a dude sitting by himself day drinking a Bud Heavy and somehow, I was deemed “responsible enough.” I still can’t believe it happened.

While her dad was away, we had a nice little bro down and it didn’t take long to realize she knew more about the Dodgers than me. They lived up in Ventura and her dad surprised her by pulling her out of school to take her to the game. She had no idea it was happening until she was called down to the principal’s office to get checked out for the day.

After about 45 excruciating minutes, in which every horrible scenario flashed before my eyes, her dad finally returned with pizza slices.

If you’re keeping score at home, this kid was pulled out her fifth grade class to go to her first Dodger playoff game with her favorite player pitching AND she was having pizza for lunch.

Now here’s where it gets unbelievably good.

Once her dad was returned, he started talking strategy to her to try to snag a ball from Clayton during his warmup. I chimed in with the tip not to ask Clayton but to ask pitching coach Rick Honeycutt right after he gave Clayton a fresh ball.

After Clayton threw this very pitch, here’s where the ball ended up.

Can you say best day ever? Playing hooky from school to see the Dodgers win in the playoffs, pizza for lunch, AND you get a ball from Clayton? It doesn’t get any better than that and my new friend was a total pro. She yelled ‘Mr. Honeycutt’ right on cue and made a clean barehanded catch. It was awesome.

This was our fireplace when Kenley took the mound in the bottom of the 7th in game 5.

Doing our best to communicate with the baseball gods.

I don’t know if I’ll ever see a performance as heroic and Kenley and Kershaw tag teaming for three inning save.

In the other spot for favorite moment of the 2016 playoffs is my buddy Mike. This GIF is from the Dodgers’ 6-0 romp over the Cubs in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the NLCS. I’ve never seen him so happy in his life. This is exactly where hopefulness peaked on the season.

Unfortunately we all know how things ended.

Another year, another photo of Marc wallowing in his misery.

Third year in a row an unused World Series ticket went into my basket of ticket stubs.

Finally tally on season: 45 games attended (including the playoffs) and 43 Dodger Dogs consumed.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s step into the present.

The matchup: Dodgers vs Angeles (4.1.17)
Special Guest: My lovely wife. This game marked the start of our 12th season together.
Snacks: Dodger Dog (x2), mooched some of my wife’s fries, souvenir sized Coke.
Giveaway: Nope.
Memorable Moment: The best/worst rundown play I’ve ever seen in my life at any level of baseball.

RECAP: 

In our fourth season of being season ticket holders, this was the first year we took advantage of our bonus tickets to see a Freeway Series game. We usually give them to friends but this year we had an important mission. We needed to make a test run to the stadium from our new address.

Seven minutes after we pulled out of our driveway, we slid into our secret parking spot and cackled like idiots at the fact that we now live 2.4 miles from Dodger Stadium. This season is already off to a fantastic start.

Hello, gorgeous.

You see those circled palm trees?

Here they are as seen from our backyard.

Our 12th Dodger season together started with seeing our first tie. Hopefully it will end with seeing our first World Series.

Section 2 legend Chuck is back and is already in mid-season form.

If you can make it down to the Club Level concourse, there’s a new display honoring Vin. Can’t say that it didn’t feel strange not hearing him at Dodger Stadium his presence was felt.

It really cracked me up that Vin’s game notes were called “Super Secret Notes.”

The hallway leading into the Vin Scully Press Box has some new art on the walls.

This is going to be a good year.

Let’s go Dodgers!