"Holy mackarel, that's embarrassing." - Vin Scully

In case you missed this play, the Dodgers made 3 throwing errors in one play.  One of the funniest bloopers ever.

Cue the Benny Hill music!

Dodgers make 3 throwing errors in one play!

Los Angeles- Dodger Stadium Review

Dodger Stadium

Year Built: 1962

Capacity: 56,000

Surface: Grass

Cost to Build:

$23 million

Overall Grade: C+

Return Someday: Yes

Dodger Stadium, baseball's largest seating capacity stadium and third oldest ballpark, is located in Chavez Ravine in the heart of Los Angeles. Let's face the facts...the Dodgers are and always have been LA's true team. Growing up in LA, this is where I attended my first ballgame as a kid, where I saw the Houston Astros against the Dodgers in 1985. I remember seeing the blue and orange seats, and thinking that the Dodger fans sat in the blue seats and only Astro fans sat in the orange seats. I remember as a kid, stopping the LAPD patrol cars that would drive down our street to get LAPD Dodger baseball cards from them. I love listening to Vin Scully on the radio or on TV. It's really cool that he has been the voice of the Dodgers since the 1950's. Vin is by far the best baseball broadcaster in the majors. His voice can be heard echoing throughout the stadium during a game, due to many fans traditionally bringing their am transistor radios to the game. "It's time for Dodger baseball..." It will be hard to imagine watching or listening to a Dodger game without him. The Dodgers have honored Vin by naming the Press Box after him. If you get to the stadium early, you can catch Fernando Valenzuela for an easy autograph outside of the Vin Scully Press Box, before he begins his Spanish radio broadcast of the game. The Dodgers have a lot of tradition. They have the history from their Brooklyn days with Jackie Robinson, to playing at the LA Coliseum, to Tommy Lasorda, to Koufax, to world famous Dodger Dogs, to Fernando-mania, to beachballs, to Kirk Gibson, and four WS championships...just to name a few.

With that said, this is a stadium review, not my walk down memory lane!!! So, putting aside my fond childhood memories, I am going to do my best to give Dodger Stadium an impartial review. Depending on what day of the week, your experience of the stadium can vary greatly. If you want the best overall experience, go to a weekday daytime game, if possible. It doesn't get very crowded, but most importantly, the typical Dodger fan knuckleheads aren't there. If you don't know what I am talking about, think of typical Raider fans, and bingo, there you have it. This is a must if you are looking to bring the kids or are trying to root for the visiting team. I strongly recommend NOT wearing any visiting team gear at all, unless you don't mind get messed with, and possibly assaulted. You can avoid the profanity, fights, and potential physical harm. I have seen fans get in fights and there was even a fellow Giants fan that got shot while I was at Dodger Stadium. At all costs, avoid the outfield pavilion seating, as this is where the trouble makers like to sit. If you must go to a weekend or weekday evening game, remember, the lower & pricier the seats are, the safer you will be. If you are looking for a good family weekend outing, either shell out the bucks for lower section seating or drive down the I-5 to Angel Stadium. As far as the stadium staff, they aren't very fan friendly at all. The could really use some customer service training, especially if you are sitting in the top deck section. The food has gotten much better over the years, but still has a ways to go. Try a world-famous Dodger Dog at the game. Make sure that you get a grilled Dodger Dog, they are much tastier, than the regular ones. The grilled dogs aren't sold everywhere, so you will have to hunt a little for them...trust me, they are worth it. One of Dodger Stadium's best kept secrets is the Stadium Club. This is a bar and restaurant that is open to the public before and after the game. It overlooks right field. If you want to eat there during the game time, you will need a special pass and reservations to get in. Season ticket holders are given a couple of these passes, so thanks to my buddies, Eddie & Robert, I have had the privilege to watch a game while dining in the Stadium Club. It is a really cool, high end type experience.

I would have rated Dodger Stadium a little higher if the fan factor wasn't such an issue, but at least you know what to expect, when you go to watch one of baseball's historic teams in Chavez Ravine.

My trip to the ALCS game #4

The Big A, a sea of red, rally monkey dolls, thundersticks, a monument to Nick Adenhart, bad umpiring calls, footlong italian sausages, Sabathia's strong 8 innings on 3 days rest, and more. We went to last night's ALCS game and it totally rocked! There were so many NY fans throughout the stadium, cheering on Jeter and the boys. The best was seeing most of the depressed Anaheim fans with their annoying thundersticks leave in the 7th inning when the score was 5-1. No rally monkey sightings at all last night. Tomorrow's game is now just a formality...To quote Ice Cube..."today was a good day."

Too bad Torre couldn't pull it off. It's kinda boring with the Phils in the WS again. Plus I was really hoping to go see the Yankees in a WS game at Dodger Stadium, since I've never been to a WS ever...stupid Dodgers!!!

Papi, Manny, A-Rod..who's next?

Okay, I know that I haven't written a baseball related posting in a while... but with yesterday's news about Manny and Papi testing positive for steroids in 2003, I had to get this off my chest. WTF!?!? I am so close to walking away from this ridiculous circus of a game completely. Were all of the MLB stars from the last two decades on steroids? Are all of beloved players cheaters? Are all of the Dominican players on the juice? I am so sick of hearing about these players cheating. It's really disgusting to think of the past couple decades and all of the broken records that were treasured by baseball purists. And what's up with the ridiculous stupid fans continuing to cheer for these losers? Manny comes back and gets standing ovations by almost all of the fans, except my buddy Rob, at Chavez Ravine! Aren't these the same idiots that booed and vilified Bonds just a few years ago? So it's okay if he's on your team? Trust me as a Giants fan, I didn't cheer for Bonds. And to Bonds' credit, his name hasn't surfaced from the 2003 list, at least not yet. Even the idiots at Fenway were jumping on their feet cheering for Papi after his double and HR during yesterday's game...come on BoSox fans, you are smarter than that! These are the same morons that held up asterisks signs and booed Barry at Fenway in 2007 when I was there watching my beloved Giants (see the proof above). Even most of the fans of the Bronx Bombers still cheer for A-Roid...come on people, show some respect for the game and it's history. Do something that Papi, A-Rod, Manny, at whoever's next hasn't done...RESPECT the game and it's treasured records!

So even the Curse of the Bambino wasn't strong enough to ward off the great cheaters of 2004 and 2007. What do we do, strip them of their WS titles? Put asterisks on everything achieved since 1989? No, that's not practical, but it is very very sad. I already once walked away from the game in 1994 due to the strike because I was disgusted by the players greed, but this is way worse...talk about greedy disgusting players! I didn't return to watching baseball until 2000, when my wife got me back into it. Who's next? Pujols, Howard, Ichiro, Vlady, Mo? I promise you all this...I will walk away from the game FOREVER if Derek Jeter, MLB's poster boy and fan hero, is ever found to have used steroids. I will keep my words and find a new past time. Maybe soccer or hell kite flying, why not?

WBC Finals...Japan Wins Again!!!

Nippon, nippon!!! That's what the fans of the stadium's minority were chanting (including us), unfortunately we kept getting drowned out by the Korean faithfuls! My wife (who's a Japanese girl at heart) made a really cool ninja/Nippon sign and I was wearing my Yomiuri Giants cap as we were rooting for team Japan to repeat their WBC title. This was by far the best WBC game that I have ever seen...it is even one of the best baseball games that I have attended. The Korean fans were intense with their drums, flags, powder blue thunder sticks, and uniform Korean chants throughout the entire stadium. This was definitely the most respectful group of fans that I have ever seen at Dodger Stadium. There weren't any of the usual fights among fans breaking out and no disrespectful behavior at all. Just a group of 55,000 fans pulling for their teams and having a great time. The Hollywood celebs were even out, as we saw Dodger season ticket holder faithful, Alyssa Milano taking pics with her Japanese fans. 

Talk about two pure fundamentally sound teams, giving it all. After 10 exciting innings, Ichiro led Japan to the repeat WBC title. Why Korea didn't pitch around Ichiro is still puzzling, but hey, it worked in Japan's favor, and backfired on Korea. This game had it all...small ball, strategy, Ichiro, stolen bases, great pitching, and even Yu Darvish. This is the closest thing that I will have to attending a WS game 7 and an Olympics game. We got to see the opening and closing ceremonies, the medal ceremonies, the trophy presentation by Bud Selig, and Dice-K receiving the WBC MVP award. Even Tommy Lasorda and Fernando Valenzuela made appearances by throwing out the first pitches. It was cool hanging with my friends that I've had since junior high school, Robert and Cyrus (Dodger season tix holders), at the game who were sitting a few sections over from us. This game displayed the total essence and spirit of what the World Baseball Classic stands for. What a perfect finish to our 2009 WBC journey!!! Hey, Team USA, take note, this is what it's all about. This is baseball at it's purest, finest form. I applaud teams Korea and Japan for showing the world their finely tuned game of baseball. What perfection. This was the best way for the WBC tourney to wind down, proving to all of it's critics that the WBC is necessary for the game. Thank you WBC for giving us a truly great baseball adventure...we can't wait for 2013!!!