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!!!!

I Make It To My First Game Of The Year - Bonus Aerosmith

It took more than half the season, but I finally got out to Dodger Stadium.  I was lured in by the above bobblehead featuring the four Dodgers who hit 30 (or more) homers back in 1977.  

The bobblehead is cool enough, but it seems Ron Cey might have a concussion, as one pupil is a bit larger than the other, and Reggie Smith looks perturbed to be hidden behind Cey. I really love the old time Dodger Stadium pavilion and scoreboard in the background.

The bobblehead was modeled after the photo below, which is featured on the box...

Here are some quick observances from last night's game - brought to you by Bad Camera Productions...

The game was a sellout, and it was a traffic nightmare trying to get into the stadium. I usually arrive early to avoid all of that drama, but we ran behind schedule, leaving me at the foot of the hill at 6:40 for a 7:10 start.  Ordinarily, that's not so bad, but last night, it held the potential to keep us bottle necked outside until the third inning.  

Luckily, I've been going to the stadium enough years to have a couple of "Plan B's" up my sleeve, and we walked into the stadium (clutching our precious new bobbleheads) just as Ace Kershaw was delivering the first pitch of the night. 

 It was an absolutely gorgeous night to be out at the Ravine, and with Beast Mode showing some stirrings of a resurgence, the Matt Kemp Marching and Chowder Society was out in full force. 

 Dodger Stadium is absolutely beautiful again this year, it was a beautiful warm summer evening, and there were plenty of beautiful gals attending the game.  

Victims of the traffic and parking lot jams were still arriving well into the fourth inning. 

Kershaw didn't exactly pitch a gem by his standards - giving up nine hits, but he struck out nine and pitched a complete game, which was fantastic.  I can't even remember the last time I saw a Dodger pitch a complete game. 

During the ninth inning chants of "MVP, MVP" started raining down on Kershaw, and it got me to thinking this team is becoming something special with a few legitimate candidates for MVP. 

Of course Kershaw should receive attention for that honor, but sparkplug Dee Gordon should also be considered.  While Kershaw gave up nine hits, he went into the ninth with a shutout, mainly thanks to Gordon's defense. 

Dee made four rally-killing defensive plays behind Kershaw with three double plays (one was unassisted), and a circus, basket catch.

Puig is another candidate for MVP chants. Last night he scored from first on a double by Jaguar Gonzalez.  He hesitated a bit at second, but has enough wild horse speed to still make it around and he gave us a dramatic, around-the-catcher slide at home plate to score the Dodgers' first run of the night.  Later he blasted a line drive shot into the left field pavilion for a solo home run, and hit a double. That kid is incredible.

Matt Kemp didn't contribute a lot last night as he was too eager in his first at bat, and later the Braves pitched around him. However, Beast Mode has been awakening, and if it's for real this time - look out! We might really have cause to shower Kemp with the ol' MVP chant that he used to hear, once again. 

 It took the Braves all nine innings to get to Kershaw, and above is a shot of them scoring their only run. Kid K lost the shutout, but stayed strong and got the final two outs along with the complete game win. He only needed 111 pitches to do it. 

Kershaw's win also sealed the Dodgers' longest winning streak of the year (6), and our second series sweep in a row.  

Afterward, we were off to my favorite post game eatin' joint...

 It was a great night, capped off by a delicious cheeseburger and chili fries.

BONUS - any Aerosmith fans out there? I saw Aerosmith two nights ago at the LA Forum, and all I can say is WOW!  They absolutely rocked the house with a setlist full of greatest hits and hidden gems. 

Steven Tyler has still got it as a front man, playing with and to the audience.  Joe Perry is burning up those guitars and you can just feel the energy shooting from between the band all the way out into the audience.  

They are giving it their all, and it packs quite a punch. If they're coming to your town, I highly recommend checking out this tour.

BTW - who wants new Ski Boots ?  

 
Aloha everybody!

Cardboard Breakdown Of A Great Trade

So Gavin from Baseball Card Breakdown posted up some 2014 Gypsy Queen extras and I jumped forward to claim a few.   After a couple of emails we settled on a trade.  

That's par for the course, but what took this from the level of your basic trade and elevated it to "Great" level, was the fact that Gavin was generous and tossed in some cool extras.  

I first had my eye on a select few of the Dodger cards that he offered up, but when I opened the package he sent over, it was packed with just about the entire Dodger team set. Since I haven't bought a single pack of GQ yet, this was a most unexpected and excellent bonus.  Hence, greatness. 

Most of us love the cards that show our team's big boppers at the plate blasting a home run, but I also dig cards showing them play defense.  Here's El Jaguar taking care of business quietly and confidently, which is pretty much the way he approaches all aspects of his game.  That's why I apply the "Jaguar" moniker to A-Gon. 

Speaking of my favorite Dodgers, here's Hyun-Jin Ryu, insert-style...

 Bringing on yet even more pitching greatness is Kid K (these Dealing Aces inserts were what I originally asked for in the trade)...

Here come a couple of Dodger Glove Story Inserts...

How cool would it be to be clearly portrayed in the background of a baseball card?

 Below is another one of my favorite Dodgers.  Dre continues to get a bad rap as an underachiever that I don't think is deserved.  His name is always floating around in trade rumors, and I think if he is traded, he's going to be solid for his next team.  

Matt Kemp has lower RBI's, strikes out twice as much, can't throw anybody out (beyond second base) any more, places himself above the team ("I'm not a platoon player, I'm a staaaaaarterrrrrrr"), and yet he gets all the LA love.  Go figure.

Finally, these very cool inserts, the N174's.  These are based on a set from 1888...

I can't have too many Yogi cards.

THANKS for the great trade, Gavin!  Looking forward to the next one. 

One Down, Two To Go!

RIIIIIIIP goes the little foam tomahawk.

Game One was great.  Simply fantastic. I loved it.

For a minute there, I was a bit worried, as many Dodger fans were, about how the Dodgers were going to perform in this first round of the playoffs.

Although they played like gangbusters in the second half of the season and crushed all opponents like a steamroller running over play-doh animals, they finished September looking very much like that non-hitting, injury-prone team from the first half .

And darn it if they didn't start out like the latter, with the first Dodger batters opening the game with three quick and sickly looking strike outs.  I'm sure the Atlanta fans were going crazy with their annoying tomahawk chop chant, but I had the TV sound turned down so I could listen to Vin Scully on the radio.  Maybe the chant was audible on the radio, but who can hear that static when Vinny's voice is up front?

Things didn't start out too well for the Boys in Blue (and visiting greys).  But then came the one.  Our ace.  Kid K. Clayton Kershaw was having none of that and he proceeded to stop the chop with two strike outs of his own, and it was on!  Actually, I should say, it was OVER!

Daniel Shirey - USA Today Sports

  
KUDOS:

Yasiel Puig.  Congratulations to Puig for knocking out the first Dodger hit of the 2013 postseason.
Double kudos for scoring the first Dodger run as well.

El Jaguar. Congratulations to Adrian Gonzalez for blasting the first Dodger home run of the playoffs!

A.J. Ellis. Two doubles.  Ellis found his batting groove right as the season was ending and it's carrying forward.  Sweet!

Of course, Kershaw.  He once again entered the Koufax zone by gritting out 12 strike outs - the most in a Dodger postseason since Koufax struck out 15 in 1963.  At one point Kersh struck out six in a row!  Awesomeness personified.

I can't really wrap my head around the fact Kershaw pitched 7 innings, struck out 12, allowed only one run, and yet we're viewing it as an outing where he "struggled" at times.  As one of the talking heads on one of the highlight shows I later watched said, those are the kind of struggles and troubles he would take any day back when he was pitching.

Vin Scully.  As Dodger fans know, Vinny doesn't travel west of the Rockies, so we never get to hear him call games from faraway stadiums any more.  Furthermore, as Dodger fans know, one of the best things about the Dodgers playing in October is having our beloved broadcaster in the room with us, calling the game.  This time Vinny went to Atlanta and I got to enjoy that golden voice just as Dodger baseball in October should be.  Now that's home cookin'. 

HONORABLE MENTION KUDOS:

Andre Ethier.  He pinch hit tonight and grounded out, but the positive note is, (apparently) nothing happened to cause him to re-aggravate his ankle injury.  WHEW!


BAH!: 

Those silly Atlanta fans.  Two reasons.  The first is that inane "chop chant".  The marketing folks at Turner Field gave everyone foam tomahawks so the fans can use them with their chanting.  It was wonderful to see the Dodgers make them all sit down and put away their tomahawks for another day.

Those tomahawks bring me to my second reason.  Marketing must be stuck with thousands of leftover foam toys because Atlanta fans don't even support their team enough to sell out their stadium for a playoff game.  I guess they figured Kershaw was pitching, so why waste money on a ticket for a losing game?  I wonder if they know who's pitching for the Dodgers in Game Two?

The people who can't (or won't?) synch up the radio broadcast with TV.  I love listening to Vinny, but it was slightly annoying that for innings 1-3 the radio was 5 seconds ahead of the TV.  Hence, I knew balls, strikes and outs before the pitcher on TV even began his wind up.  However, it was kind of sweet to know A-Gon's home run was a home run ahead of time.  Just for laughs, innings 7-9 switched it up and had the radio lag behind TV for five seconds.  That was slightly less annoying.

Damn Mattingly.  Speaking of inane. The Dodgers were up 4-0 in the 5th inning and had Atlanta reeling.  We had two men on, and Juan Uribe at the plate.  Uribe could have broken that game wide open if allowed to swing, but Mattingly had him bunt!!!  Stop already with these ridiculous bunts in ridiculous situations.  Sheesh!  Other than that, Mattingly was a genius.


I can't wait for Game Two.