Baseball-Related Program Activities

Longtime fans of Baseball-Related Program Activities may remember that, on August 30, 2004, Levi and I went to two baseball games in two cities in one day: White Sox vs. Phillies in Chicago, and then Brewers vs. Pirates in Milwaukee.

We finally had a chance to recreate that experience. Levi came to Los Angeles for business, and both the Dodgers and Angels were at home, and on May 9, the Dodgers were scheduled for an afternoon game, with the Angels playing at night.

The only thing that put a damper on the experience was Manny Ramirez being suspended for 50 games just three days before we were going to see him.

What Levi, I, and hanger-on Jason did end up seeing was the Dodgers defeating the Giants 8-0, followed by the Angels over the Royals, 1-0. Yes, we saw no visiting team runs. We also saw complete games by three pitchers -- Eric Stults of the Dodgers, Joe Saunders of the Angels, and Zack Greinke of the Royals. Greinke entered the game with a 0.40 ERA, which meant that his ERA went up after pitching a 1-run complete game, which is almost as rare of an event as the Dodgers and Angels both playing at home the same weekend. The Angels game finished in 2:07 -- not quite as short as the 1:56 Indians-White Sox game on our road trip, but impressive nonetheless.

(Special shout-outs to Maggie, Kimiko, and Kate for being hangers-on for the first game.)

There have already been plenty of Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium pictures on this blog over the years, so all you get here is a picture of Greinke looking intense during his warmup:

Labels: angel stadium, angels, dodger stadium, dodgers, eric stults, game report, giants, joe saunders, Manny Ramirez, royals, zack greinke

Levi was in town on business, and so were the Angels, which meant it was time for the first official Baseball-Related Program Activities event since the 2004 road trip. The hangers-on were Jason, and Levi's co-worker Carrie.



When Edison International dropped their sponsorship of the stadium in Anaheim, their logos on the end of the seats were covered over -- but you can't stop people from scratching paint off, I guess.



Jim Leyland showed up himself to exchange lineup cards, but Mike Scoscia sent a lackey...



It had been announced earlier in the day that Anaheim would be hosting the 2010 All-Star Game...



My new camera is noticeably faster to actually take the picture once you press the shutter button than my old one was -- making it easier to get shots like this...



Early mound meeting, since Angels pitcher Joe Saunders had given up three runs in the first inning...



They kept having to reset this video display in order to fix this problem...



The Amtrak noise meter, because nothing is as noisy as a train...



The rally monkey was invoked a little late, and so the Angels lost 6-2...



The final line (not quite final at this point, but I was anticipating)...



And finally, a picture to replace the one that's been at the top of this blog since 2004, which I was sick of looking at...



No, the Angels didn't literally make me sick. There was a stomach bug involved. For you fans of Jim Ellwanger illnesses that coincide with baseball games, I also had a stomach bug right around the time I traveled to Chicago and attended Opening Day 1997 at Wrigley Field -- I spent an entire day lying on the floor of the dorm room of Levi's future wife.

Labels: angels, brpa, carrie adams, game report, jason kaifesh, tigers

Jason called at about 3:30 to see if I wanted to see the Dodgers play the Diamondbacks. I know from experience that last-minute invitations to baseball games should be accepted if at all possible. Plus, they were giving out Tommy Lasorda bobbleheads to commemorate his 80th birthday (which is actually on September 22nd, but the Dodgers are going to be out of town).

However, I didn't have a camera with me, so you're going to have to deal with a lack of photos. Also, since we weren't in the all-you-can-eat section, I had to deal with a lack of free hot dogs.

Labels: diamondbacks, dodgers, game report

I went to Dodger Stadium tonight with a big group from my office. Our seats were in the right field pavilion, which happens to be the all-you-can-eat section. What that means is that some of the food is free -- hot dogs, nachos, peanuts, popcorn, and Coke, as served by concession stands that have no lines unless someone is attempting to pay for the free food -- and then there are some other concession stands selling beer, ice cream, and candy.

(You may notice that the ticket stub above shows the group name; unfortunately, it was too late to get it changed from "Yahoo! Content Solutions" to "Smellosaurus Rex." Actually, if there was a point at which they showed the names of all the groups in attendance on the scoreboard, I missed it.)

The view from right field is pretty good...



It's a fine place to get some studying done...



Not particularly baseball related, but I notice that although Spanish for "high definition" is "alta definition," they're still abbreviating it "HD"...



In conclusion, it turns out that three Dodger Dogs, two Cokes, and an order of nachos is all I can eat.

Oh, yeah, Dodgers 6, Padres 3. The starting pitchers were Greg Maddux for the Padres and David Wells for the Dodgers, so I believe the total age of the starters was something like 119.

Labels: dodgers, game report, padres

Phil Rizzuto's death today comes just a couple of days after I (finally) listened to a Christmas present from my father: a 2-CD set containing the radio broadcast of the Yankees and Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1949 World Series (the deciding game). At one point during the game, Mel Allen points out that if you saw Scooter walking with the rest of the team, because of his small size, you might think he was the batboy.

It was a game with a lot of action (16 total runs), but I found the radio broadcast more interesting for things other than the game itself. Red Barber and Mel Allen were the announcers, with each responsible for the team they announced for during the regular season -- Mel was at the mike by himself in the half-innings when the Yankees were batting, with Red while the Dodgers were up. Occasionally, they would talk to each other between innings, mostly to do live commercials for Gillette (all of the commercials were for Gillette -- this was a "Gillette Cavalcade of Sports" broadcast).

At one point, Red Barber mentions that Jerry Coleman was moving Jackie Robinson's glove out of the way -- fielders used to leave their gloves at their position. And Mel Allen refers to the fact that the American League umpires were wearing their chest protectors on the outside, and the National League umpires were wearing them on the inside.

There's also a mention that this Sunday game started an hour late (2:00 instead of 1:00) due to "New York state law" and couldn't go past 7:00 for the same reason. Because of all the action, the game goes fairly long, and the umpires confer with commissioner Happy Chandler in the stands, with the results being that the lights are turned on for the first time during a World Series game.

And for a broadcasting geek like me -- I didn't realize the phrase "let's pause 10 seconds for station identification" was that old, but there it was, followed by a station identification for "WOR and WOR-FM, New York" and a suggestion to watch the game on WOR-TV, Channel 9. Yes, I did know WOR-FM and WOR-TV were that old.

Labels: dodgers, game report, mel allen, phil rizzuto, red barber, yankees

When I saw in hanger-on Dan's photos of the Mets' opening day that Shea Stadium's replacement was already under construction, I decided I'd better hurry up and see a game there. Fortunately, a cousin had a wedding in the Philadelphia area on a Friday of a weekend when the Mets were in town, which made it relatively easy for me to get across New Jersey for a Sunday afternoon game. Better yet, hanger-on Maura and non-hanger-on Maggie were able to join me for the game, as you can see below (Maura left, me center, Maggie right)...



Shea Stadium as seen from the Willets Point-Shea Stadium elevated station platform. That's the city parks department logo on the right. A boy behind me said, "The Mets are playing the Leaves today!"



Yes, the new Citi Field is further along than it was three months ago.



As it turned out after I'd taken the seat cushion all the way back to Philadelphia with me, it wouldn't fit in the luggage I was carrying back to L.A. with me, so it now belongs to my cousin. (No, not the one who just got married, although that would have been a great wedding gift. Especially since he's a Yankees fan.)



The view from our seats in the mezzanine level. Under cover, which was good, because it was raining off and on before the game, and then started raining again in the third inning.



The skyline atop the scoreboard, which either needs some light bulbs replaced, or they've got a nice effect going there.



Between innings, they showed my employer's stock price on a scoreboard, and everybody laughed.



Ramon Castro hit a home run. Maura said she's seen that apple-in-a-hat up close, and there's a very thick layer of dust on it.



With the Mets ahead 5-0 in the bottom of the 5th, and the rain intensifying, it was time for the swarm of the guys in blue shirts.



The guys in blue shirts all worked in unison to roll out the tarp, and to avoid running over any straggling Nationals.



You'd think the Mets would have a blue tarp, but it's white. Maybe the blue tarps are all (still) in the New Orleans area.



Maura, Maggie, and I walked around the stadium for a bit. They made a couple of announcements that the forecast was that the rain would continue for at least a couple more hours, but didn't announce anything specific.



We eventually left, and found out via text message (from Dan at MLB.com) that the game had indeed been called. Mets 5, Nationals 0, in four and a half innings. It's a complete game, so it counts, and I've now seen games at 18 of the 30 current MLB stadiums. Anyway, we ended up at a bar Maura knows in Manhattan. Actually, that's redundant, because Maura knows every bar in Manhattan, or so it seems.



(P.S.: These Mr. Met exit signs are awesome.)

Labels: game report, Mets, nationals

Jason and I went to see the Lake Elsinore Storm play the Stockton Ports yesterday. That's about a 90-minute drive from Los Angeles.

The folks from the 2004 trip who were in Davenport will note that the Swing of the Quad Cities isn't the only team that has problems with rabbits getting onto the field...



The Storm claims their "eyes" are the best-selling logo in minor league baseball. They're definitely one of the most creepy...



The Storm's mascot, Thunder, is suspiciously similar to the Phillie Phanatic, although he's supposed to be a dog and not an alien, or whatever the Phanatic is...



Final score...

Labels: game report, lake elsinore storm, stockton ports

First of all, here's a link to a baseball piece from Sunday's Los Angeles Times magazine: the writer and his son go to a Dodgers game with Arnold Hano, author of "A Day in the Bleachers." Among other things, he doesn't like the visual and audible cues to get the fans to make noise.

On Sunday, Jason and I went to the second-to-last game of the Golden Baseball League's short season, this one the Long Beach Armada versus the San Diego Surf Dawgs.

The Armada play at city-owned Blair Field, which has an analog clock on top of the scoreboard...



And there's a ship in the outfield -- unfortunately, it's just a cutout...



Even though the mascot should be a Spanish conquistador or maybe a pirate, the mascot is actually a bird named Arby I. Here he is "helping" with a between-innings water balloon toss for kids...



And here he is sitting two rows in front of us...



Meanwhile, Rik Currier was on the mound for the Armada, pitching what would be a complete game one-hit shutout...



In some places, they have metal rails for the "K" cards to fit into, but Long Beach is a Velcro kind of town...



The final line...



Yes, "Armada" does look a lot like "Ramada," especially at the lower left. A missed marketing opportunity!

Labels: baseball books, game report, jason kaifesh, long beach armada, los angeles times, san diego surf dawgs

Yes, I went to this game alone, because all my friends here in L.A. have jobs and are a lot less likely than Levi to take a half day off to go to a game. On this date in Dodger history, in 1963, Sandy Koufax pitched a no-hitter. No such luck for Derek Lowe today, although he was fairly effective; the real problem was some fielding mistakes by the Dodgers, notably an amusingly botched rundown. So the Dodgers' winning streak came to an end, and now they have to go to San Francisco and spend three games intentionally walking Barry Bonds.

Cheesesteaks are new at Dodger Stadium this year, courtesy of a local chain called South Street, to which I was introduced by hanger-on Jason. Their Dodger Stadium cheesesteaks are half the size and twice the price of the ones they serve in the restaurant -- but, still, it was pretty tasty, and a nice change of pace from a Dodger Dog.

For the first time, I brought my radio and listened to it during the game -- might as well get some use out of it, I figured, since I never use it at home, not even its NOAA weather radio-receiving functions. (It's just a cheap AM/FM/TV/weather portable radio, not a fancy radio that turns itself on whenever there's a thunderstorm watch in the middle of the night, like a certain other baseballrelated.com poster has in his bedroom.) Vin Scully gets simulcast on radio and TV for the first three innings, which is great, although he'll occasionally say something that sounds like a complete non sequitur when you're listening on the radio because it obviously relates to something not quite game-related that's being shown on TV at that moment. Today was school field trip day, and a couple of times, he was referring to what must have been shots of kids in the stands.

Anyway, for the fourth inning and on, Charley Steiner and Rick Monday come in to do the radio only. They're fine, except that they're not Vin Scully. Now, Rick Monday -- if you've got to be known solely for one thing, there are a lot worse things you could be known for than "keeping an American flag from being set on fire." And Charley Steiner -- well, when the Dodgers were down 4-2 and had the bases loaded for Kenny Lofton in the bottom of the ninth, he was excited enough that I was expecting him to blurt out "Follow me to freedom!" if Lofton got a hit. But he flew out to end the game.

Another advantage of listening to the radio -- they announced the attendance about a half-inning before "Guess the Attendance" was played in the stadium, thus allowing me to loudly and confidently yell out that it was choice "A" on the scoreboard. So, in conclusion, I'll probably bring my radio again if I'm going to a game by myself, or if I'm going to a game with someone I don't want to talk to.

I should mention that this was all prompted by my mother. She suggested a couple weeks ago that I go to a weekday afternoon baseball game before I start my new full-time job on the 17th. I said, in my Eric Cartman voice, "But, Maaaaaaahm, the Dodgers don't plaaaaaaay any weekday afternoon games." I looked at the schedule anyway, and saw this game, so there you go.

Relating to that job: I temporarily have a PC in my living room within view of my TV, and Levi now has Internet access at home. Way back at the beginning of the season, I suggested that the two of us should watch the same game simultaneously, instant-message each other during the game, and post the log here. However, we haven't yet been able to come up with a time that both of us are able to actually do this -- Levi's busy at work, as usual, and seems to have more of a life on the weekends than I do, and tends to attend a few Cubs games, especially when they're playing the Cardinals, and since he's just recently moved up to home Internet access, it's probably going to be a while until he has a Treo or Blackberry and can use the Internet from the Wrigley Field stands. (To be fair, there's been a couple of games when Levi was available but I wasn't.) And now I'm not 100% sure how busy I'll be at my new job, but I am certain that it will preclude us from scheduling this for one of those weeknight ESPN games that starts at 7:00 Eastern -- I'll still be at work at 4:00 Pacific. It also doesn't help that we're limited by the baseball schedules of ESPN/ESPN 2, WGN, and TBS, since those are the only networks that we can both watch together, and neither of us is too excited about doing this during a Braves game on TBS.

All of this is to say that there will probably be an IM transcript posted here when you least expect it.

Labels: astros, dodger stadium, dodgers, game report, vin scully

Yes, Dodger Stadium has new seats this season, in lovely pastel colors which really do look like they're from 1962. They also renumbered the seats, so that instead of having aisle numbers, with seats starting at "1" on one side and "101" on the other side, the reserved level now has section numbers like a normal stadium. (Things were even weirder on the field and loge levels, with one row letter covering two rows, one with seat numbers increasing and the other with seat numbers decreasing -- presumably, that situation has been dealt with as well.)



Yes, quite a few Chicagoites will show up at Dodger Stadium when the Cubs are in town, wearing the world's cutest baseball cap...



Someone near us had a radio, so I know that Vin Scully described 6-foot-7 Cubs pitcher Sean Marshall as "a tall drink of water"...



This game had something for everyone, from bone-jarring collisions to wildly errant throws. Best of all, though, is the fact that the Dodger Stadium music selection committee has provided the world with a new, particularly appropriate song to play for bases on balls: Tegan and Sara's "Walking with a Ghost," in the form of the White Stripes' cover version. Why is it particularly appropriate? Because walks haunt.

Labels: cubs, dodger stadium, dodgers, game report, music, walks haunt

The usual Los Angeles-based Northwestern alumni suspects and I headed to Malibu to see our beloved Wildcats play the Pepperdine Waves in the final game of a 3-game series. The 'Cats had lost the first two, but perhaps today would be different.

Why not Eddy D. Field Field?



Sorry, even if your pet really likes baseball, it can't come in...



The Pacific Ocean is in this picture, although it's doing a good job of blending in with the sky...



Pepperdine has quite the baseball tradition...



There was a range of Northwestern fans in the stands, from little to not quite as little...



Northwestern starting pitcher Julio Siberio held the Waves to 2 runs in 6 innings...



Northwestern outfielder Antonio Mule takes a cut...



In the top of the 9th, the Waves stood in front of their dugout and tried to put some mojo on the Northwestern hitters. It didn't work; the 'Cats tied the game at 2.



However, in the bottom of the 9th, Pepperdine DH Justin Tellam hit a walk-off home run and got mobbed by the rest of the team for his effort. Pepperdine 4, Northwestern 2...



Well, at least someone enjoyed his Fritos...



The scoreboard at the end of the game. It had begun to act up in the top of the 9th, just as Northwestern was threatening -- but you'll notice that Pepperdine got the short end of the stick. (Their scoring line was 100 001 002.)



One more note: although the start time of the game was supposed to be noon, when we arrived at 11:55, the second inning had just gotten under way. The same thing happened when Jason and I went to see Northwestern play Cal State Northridge last year. This is either some bizarre NCAA policy, or everyone's so sick of Northwestern showing up in California and demanding to play baseball, they just want to get the games over with as soon as possible.

Labels: college baseball, game report, jason kaifesh, jenn carney, northwestern, todd carney