Wallet Card Goes To TheDodger Game

Aloha everybody,

Today the Giants came from behind to win and complete a sweep of the Dodgers at Giant Soda Bottle Stadium. 

On the bright side, the Dodgers remain in First Place as the Giants remain in last. I'll take some consolation in that, but it's not quite enough to erase the bitter taste of broom dust. In an effort to raise some cheer on a dreary night, let's take a trip with Wallet Card to Chavez Ravine. 

It was last Friday night, and I decided to give the honor of watching MVP and Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw to my Fightin' Milton Bradley jersey. 

 I took the Metro to the game. On the way to Union Station in downtown L.A., the Metro runs right alongside a cemetery. 

You can't quite see them in this photo, but trust me on this one - out there among the graves was a group of roosters and hens happily clucking the day away...

Follow the "D" in Dodgers (down and to the left) to see them...

From Union Station we switched over the the Dodgers Express, the bus that will drive us to the stadium...

Right outside the gates are some very cool large-scale replicas of the Dodgers' World Series Championship rings. Although Sandy did not play in the 1955 series for Brooklyn, he was on the team. 
 

The next shot is the 1963 WS ring. Sandy not only played for the '63 club, he was the World Series MVP.  Of the six World Series championships the Dodgers have won, this was the only one to be clinched at home. 

The "4 straight" on the ring refers to the four game sweep of the Dodgers over the Yankees. The number four is also significant as four Dodger pitchers (Koufax, Don Drysdale, Johhny Podres and Ron Perranoski) combined to give up only four runs in the entire series. The scores from the four games are there too.

We entered the stadium as Kershaw was completing his warm ups...
 

A beautiful evening, Kershaw on the mound, and the ol' stadium looked more beautiful than ever...

Night, and the crowd settles in...

I had to take a walk if I wanted to view the game from behind the plate. Along the first and third baselines are logos for the Jackie Robinson, "Civil Rights Game", that was held a few nights before. 

Regular readers of ATBATT know that I toot the horn for equal rights for all, but in my opinion the "Civil Rights Game" is a dopey moniker. 
 

Beer prices are out of control at my stadium! How about yours?  
(And why is Korean beer only $7? Bud is equally watery.)  

Kershaw struck out a dozen, the Dodgers won, and we were treated to fireworks after the game...
 

Time to hop on the Express back to Union Station...

You can just feel the history all around you at Union Station...

And...you can get a snack for the rest of the ride home...
 

 Next time: The loot from the Institute of Baseball Studies