Adrian Bomb-zalez To D-Backs: "Wear This!" As The LA-AZ War Rages On

Aloha everybody,

Yeah, yeah, it's Week One for the NFL, but the big news for me today was El Jaguar, Adrian Gonzalez, blasting two big home runs against the Arizona Diamondbacks. 

In back-to-back innings Gonzalez went yard and he ended the day with 6 RBI's, matching his career high.  He did it once before - also at Dodger Stadium - but he was playing for San Diego back then. 

Sixth inning for Bombzalez, with Dee Gordon and Han Ram on base - 

BOOM!!!! 3-run home run

 Next inning, again with Gordon and Ramirez on base - 

BLAMMO !!!! Another 3 run bomb

 The next batter up was this guy...

KA - BLAM !!!!  Solo Blast! Another homer.

Next up was the man who's gone missing this season, who is now listed behind September call-up Joc Pederson, now standing as LA's sixth outfielder, Andre Ethier.  

Ethier better be do something spectacular, or he may not even make the playoffs roster.

There was a boom on his at bat, but it was the sound of Arizona intentionally drilling Andre Ethier.

BLAM! Sneak attack on Ethier's ribs.

 Is it me, or do those Diamondbacks just love to throw at batters?

Dodger Stadium erupted in boos, the umpires warned both benches, Mattingly argued vehemently with the umps without getting thrown out (amazingly), and then (equally amazingly) this guy got thrown out for yelling from the dugout...

Ya think Kid K has a time bomb waiting for the D-Backs for next season?

What a game! 

One last note - Lots of folks out here are pushing for Kershaw to win the NL MVP award, but my vote goes out to Bombzalez, who was unconscious at the start of the season, hitting home runs left and right, then slowly but surely knocked in runs for the Dodgers all season, and is definitely heating up again at the right time. 

100 RBI's - BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

The Day The Blue Dam Broke

(Hunter Martin / Getty Images)

 We may very well look back on Josh "No Hitter" Beckett's masterpiece of a game today as being the spark that lit the fire for the 2014 Dodgers.

By throwing today's no-hitter Beckett has tossed the last chain off of his recovered shoulders and declared he is all the way back. 

 When the 2014 season began Beckett hadn't won a game since early 2012!  Although he pitched pretty well from the get go this year, the mediocre Dodgers didn't give him much run support.  

He only recently recorded his first win in two years and he continued to show improvement with his brilliant performance today.  Beckett's is the first Dodger no-no since Hideo Nomo's in 1996. 

 Beckett's personal breakthrough was partly due to a ripple effect now being felt amongst the Dodgers.  Manager Damn Mattingly first cracked the dam when he (finally!) made the wise decision to move Matt Kemp out of the lineup.  Mattingly admitted Kemp's liabilities and sat him down, leading to firestorms and blizzards in the blogs, twittersphere, and corporate media.

His defensive shortcomings notwithstanding, and with the exception of a few highlight shots, Matt Kemp has mostly had a bat made of wet spaghetti this season. The WAR, WIP and WACK stat heads point to + or - numbers and insist Kemp has done well at the plate so far.  Those cold stats however, tell very little about Kemp's numerous strike outs and double plays with RISP. Kemp needed to sit, or at least compete for a position as I called for  two weeks ago.

That movement of Kemp broke through the oft-mentioned logjam of outfielders and allowed the Dodger Nation a fresh breath now that the elephant - read Bison - in the room has been put into a new place, improving both the offense and defense, and the team seems to be responding positively.

Want more breakthroughs to feel optimistic about? 

A couple of other question marks in the Dodger batting order are starting to assert themselves.  When Juan Uribe went on the DL, most Dodger fans bemoaned the loss of his bat.  His replacement, Justin Turner has uncorked some power and given us a pair of key home runs. 

The Dodger's latest Cuban player, Erisbel Arruebarruena was tagged as being great with the glove, but sorely lacking a bat.  Now filling in for an injured Hanley Ramirez, he's quickly adjusting to major league pitching and is knocking out hits.

El Jaguar, Adrian Gonzalez is heating up at the plate again.

Even the Dodgers broadcasting booth is blowing up!
Radio broadcaster Rick Monday, whom I normally would place into the "snoozer" category of radio announcers, matched Beckett today pitch for pitch in his play-by-play. I tuned in during the fourth inning and Monday and Nomar Garciaparra called a great game on the radio.  They both had excellent insight, and let the drama unfold like we were sitting there in Philadelphia with them.  

Kudos also to the radio team for not uttering the jinx words.  Yes, I believe in the "no-hitter" jinx. 

 It seems the Philadelphia announcers also believe in it as they couldn't utter the phrase enough.  During the ninth inning it was almost comical the way they were straining to find new ways to insert the phrase "No hitter" into every sentence.

 Returning to my premise; today Josh Beckett broke on through the Phillies announcer's voodoo. In doing so he released quite a bit of pent up steam that had been building up and down the Dodgers over the past couple of weeks.  

The dam is now open.  Let the Blue Wave begin! 

Posting about Some G -reat C-ardboard R-eally L-ate

Hey everybody,

It's been a while since my last post, so here we go.  These are cards that I received from that great blogger, Jim, over at Garvey, Cey, Russell, Lopes.   Jim posted some cards that he picked up shopping, and I promptly spotted a card that I needed from the 1959 Topps subset "Baseball Thrills".  

I inquired if it was available - indeed it was - and I not only got my hands on that great vintage card, but Jim tossed in some Dodger heroes as extras...

World Series Hero - Just ask Reggie.

Jay Howell was a great relief pitcher for the Dodgers on the 1988 World Series championship team.  He's infamously most remembered by N.Y. Mets fans as the pitcher who got busted with pine tar in his mitt during the National League Championship series.  

I'm very happy to have the Bison back with the Dodgers, just in time for the playoffs, and just in time part 2 because Andre Ethier is definitely out for the first round.  I'm also very happy that Jim tossed in a Kemp card that is new for me!

I consider Chris Gwynn to be a hero because it's possible he indirectly helped me to get his brother Tony's autograph TTM.  Back in the day, I wrote to Tony Gwynn requesting autos on some cards.  I included a short letter and mentioned to Tony that I appreciated having Chris on the Dodgers and I wished they would give him more playing time, which was completely true.

Tony signed my cards with great autos and sent them back quickly.  Maybe my mention of Chris helped...but then again, Tony Gwynn is such a class act, he probably would have done the same for me anyway. 

Finally, we have a Dodger hero from 2013.  Hanley has been a huge part of the Dodgers' success this year, and his bat is getting red hot again just in time for the playoffs.  This is my first Hanley Ramirez relic card - absolutely awesome!  Thanks a bunch for this one especially, Jim.

Well, after all that Dodger blue goodness, let's not forget the card that started everything...

Rocky Calavito is action!  What a beauty this card is.  This is my fourth card of the subset - just 6 more to go.

Thanks for the great Calavito card, Jim, and for all the bonus Dodgers cardboard!  

Super Hot Trades for a Super Hot Day

Hey everybody,

My team got absolutely shellacked last night! I mean, those dang Phillies just ran roughshod, and then scored some more.  Final score:16 -1.  *Sheesh*

Putting that aside, let's spend a little time checking out some super cool cards on a super hot summer's day out here in L.A.  I'm glad to be inside with my jerry-rigged window air-con, hoping all y'all out there are staying cool today as well. 

First up is a trade with Scott Orphan.  Scott sent over some great cards and a nifty team Dodgers package from early 90's Stadium Club.

 Leading off with a great art card of Raul "Puig" Mondesi.  Apparently he's exploding some unlucky baseball while vacationing (in uniform) on some exotic island with bizarre lines of perspective.

Piazza in a sepia-toned shot. I believe he made this same face during one game when he took a foul ball into his groin, proving catchers should wear a cup for EVERY game. 

 Hideo Nomo bringin it on fimsy cardboard stock with remarkably nice gold lettering.

 I'm digging this RC of Dodgers reliever Paco Rodriguez.  Paco is from Florida and hails from Cuban stock.  I would imagine Puig and he have become friends.

I remember trying to complete this insert set way back when.  The checklist was full of 90's stars.  I don't remember the list now, but it probably reads like a rouges gallery of PED-enhanced rouges.

Topping off the package was this sealed team package of Dodgers from 1993 Stadium Club. The top didn't scan well because it was sitting high and away from the scanner glass.

I'm tempted to open this up and check out all the cards, but I won't for now because I just want to keep it all intact for a while.  Here's the checklist.

I can't wait to open it later and get a look at the Daryl Strawberry and Pedro Martinez cards inside.

The second trade is from another reader, Zippy Zappy, based out there in New Yawk.  I was under the impression Zippy was just going to send 4 cards over in a PWE, which would have been fine enough, but what arrived was a bubble envelope with a stack of cards.  Here's a few highlights from the stack...

I dig the shiny, chromy in this card of my favorite L.A. Dodger shortstop.  Here's Raffi turning two against against the evil ones, in their house. Sweet.

Give a little and get a little.  After sending some Kemps over to Nick at Dime Boxes, I've started to receive more Kemps to restock my collection.  The latest is this golden Bison parallel.

YEAHHHHHHH !!!!!!

 I'm very happy to get my first 2013 Gypsy Queen Dodger.  On top of that, it's an excellent shot of our rock steady backstop.

Also among the firsts is this, my first Topps Marquee.  These cards are very nice, indeed.  Substantial cardstock, great photo with colors that just pop right off the card.  Very nice.

But speaking of firsts, the cards below are what Zippy first opened our trade talks with.  Presenting awesome Dodgers 2012 Topps and Sega CardGen cards from Japan!!!  Check 'em out !!!

Here's what the backs look like...

Zippy Zappy and Stealing Home will not be stopped by Japanese writing.  ZZ really went the extra km and translated the backs for me.  Here's a portion:
 

 How cool is that?  Thanks for translating, ZZ.  Finishing out with 2 more...

 The Dodger's new/old/new/shoulda-been-closer all along.

And finally, this awesome card featuring the Bison in old-time Dodger blues.  Sweet card.


Sweet cards all, gents.  Thanks for the trades, Scott and Zippy Zappy.

THANKS for reading, everybody!

Of Course It's Kosher To Boo - Even When We Love Who We're Booing.

Say what you will about this crazy Dodgers' season, but if anything, 2013 has given the local and national media, social media and us bloggers plenty to write, gripe and debate about over this past month. 

The latest fuel for fire is still attached to Matt Kemp, and whether or not it's OK to "boo" the face of the franchise.  One might say that I've been booing Kemp regularly here, and that would be a fair assessment.  Another might say I have no right to boo a guy who is so generous and gives to the fans straight from the heart.

Matt Kemp flew Joshua Jones to Los Angeles (Photo Credit: Sportspedia)

 I do have to admit that Kemp definitely has a knack for immediately going out and doing something wonderful,like flying and hosting terminally ill Dodger fan Joshua Jones and his family out to Dodger Stadium, immediately after I've written a less than positive piece about him.  That said, Kemp's benevolent moves away from the field, while worthy of respect and admiration, do nothing to advance runners in scoring position when it matters on the field.

Baseball has always been the sport of "Boo!" as much as "Peanuuuts!" and "Down in front!"  Anybody who's paid the price of admission is entitled to express a non-obscene opinion out loud, even if that sometimes includes hurling one or two hearty razzes at the home team.  It doesn't make you disloyal to your team or less of a fan simply because you expect more and you let the guys on the field know that you're not happy when they don't deliver. 

I'm definitely not advocating booing every time a player muffs a play or grounds out, and I'm definitely NOT advocating booing a struggling player in the middle of an at-bat.  That's exactly what happened in a recent game when the Dodger Stadium crowd actually started booing Kemp when he got to a two-strike count.  They weren't booing a perceived bad strike call by the ump.  No sir. They were booing in anticipation of an inevitable third strike.  Which inevitably came, and was followed by even more boos. That second-strike negativity doesn't help anyone, and possibly will cloud a player who's already pressing at the plate. 

That said, we should consider what exactly are all those boos directed toward?  Yes, in a situation following a third or fourth (the dreaded Golden Sombrero) strike out of a game, many of those folks are directly booing Kemp.  But many like me, are booing the entire scenario.  We're not only booing Kemp's strike out, we're booing the big picture, if you will.

In the case of this season, we've been booing the general situation of yet another case of runners left stranded, another ruined rally, another game lost that we should have won, and - until recently - the resistance of Don Mattingly to face reality and drop Kemp down in the batting order where his current offensive capabilities truly deserve to be.

If I may digress for a bit - all I've got to say about that recent development is - FINALLY!  I've been  writing here for quite a while practically begging that Kemp be dropped down in the order.  I suppose it takes a while for humble little blogs like mine to filter over to Mattingly. 

We're not booing in the stands or grumbling in our blogs because we're anti-team.  Rather, it's quite the opposite.  We love our team and we want them to win every night.  Point of fact: Dodger fans don't boo the home team easily.  That hasn't been our M.O. like it is in other cities; Philadelphia, to name one.

We're just tired of losing, tired of the enemy up north leading the division, and damn tired of rising ticket, hot dog and beer prices for a last place team.  There.  Now that a healthy boo has been let out -

( Credit: Lisa Blumenfeld/Getty Images)

 GET A HIT, BISON! and LET'S GO, DODGERS !