The Sky is Falling!

In 5 days the Dodgers went from Baseball's Best to a pile of poo. Yeah, a pile of poo. The NL's worst/hated rivals, SF Giants came in and swept the series at Dodgers Stadium. Ahhhhhh excuse me? The worst team in the NL comes into YOUR house and whacks you like a mob rat?

Armando Benitez has been one of the worst closers in baseball for 2+ years but he slams the door on us 3 GAMES IN A ROW?!!??!! We didn't even face SF's "aces," Zito and Cain. Holy Crap Batman!

Juan Pierre is just pure garbage. He can't hit (sub .270 avg), he can't bunt (hung Eithier out to dry on a squeeze) and can't play defense or make a throw from the OF to save his life (Durham's weak ass double which turned game 3 in SF's favor). What is it with Dodgers that get 5 year contracts? Is it the kiss of death? Dreifort sucked. Drew sucked. Pierre SUCKS! Stop giving 5 year deals to wunderturds that regress to the mean of suck-ti-tude once they start cashing the new checks.

Now we're licking our wounds, heading to SD for a weekend battle. Oh by the way, SD owns us down there. So, come Monday, we'll be 13-12 after starting 13-5. Place your bets accordingly.

Its only April, keep telling yourself that, its only April

So its April 20th and the Dodgers are a Major League best, 11-5, WITHOUT much of anything from Juan Pierre and Jason Schmidt. If you would have told me this in March I would have laughed at you. Of course we started this hot a couple of years ago and then went into the tank BIG TIME. Lets see where we are come May 20th.

Regardless, nice roadtrip and we come home to the Pirates. Anything less than a sweep will be a disappointment. Jim Tracy was a nice guy and a decent manager but there is no reason that LA should not kill PIT.

Wolf, Penny and Tomko have all pitched pretty well so I like our chances of expanding our lead on the division.

On a side note, Boston vs. New York for 3 games in Boston this weekend with Schilling, Beckett and Dice-K going in the 3 games. This should be quite a fun series to watch for any baseball fan. The Yanks are like a beer league softball team that can score 10 runs a game so as long as their pitcher isn't a total gas can, they can win any game. Now they will have to face 3 of the league's best pitchers so it will be very interesting to see the outcome. Of course if Manny does not start hitting, Boston will have a hard time producing enough runs to stay with NY. Looking forward to it though!

Do the Dodgers know its 2007?

One quick rant though, why is it all of my local movie theaters can afford to PLASTER the lobby with plasma flat screen TVs but yet, the Dodgers continue to use crappy TV sets from the 80's all over the stadium? Standing in line waiting for food (which lasts an inning or two!) ans all we have to watch is a curved screen with green edges that barely works? AND ITS ON A TAPE DELAY? Come on guys! Throw up some flat screens all around the stadium and in the food lines, it is 2007!!

Its not all bad.....

Ok, so I've been very critical of the Dodgers in the last week so its only fair to give praise when it is also due. I was at the Jackie Robinson celebration last night and had pretty much the complete opposite experience as I did O-Day. Of course, parking is still $15 and I was mobbed by about 12 yellow jackets as soon as I pulled in, tried to avoid their placement parking and take my own "good spot" by an exit, but after threats of arrest subsided and I agreed to move, things went smoothly.
(Note to fans, this is something we really should all embrace and try. When you pull in, just ignore the parking tools and park where you want. If we all do it, they'll have to change it eventually because they cannot keep fighting ALL OF US.)

The game was a sell out but I made sure to get there before 4pm to avoid the parking drama. Sat in the loge section and had quite an enjoyable experience. Of course, when the Dodgers beat the Padres and you spend 30 minutes honoring one of our Greats, it is hard to go wrong. Also, I tried the Stadium Grill, which is down in the left field corner of the loge level and it was quite good. Prices are too high but the burgers looked good, my BBQ chicken sandwich was great and my brother wolfed down a steak sandwich without breathing. Nice to see a positive addition.

On the field, Pierre still looks like crap. I don't know if he's just trying too hard or what but he's losing the battle with the Mendoza line and constantly bounces throws in from the OF. Lets get it going Juan! Grady might want to drop him to 7 or 8 to get him going. Wolf didn't look great but he survived and we finally put up some runs, so it all ended up ok. On to AZ for a battle for First Place!!!

Dodgers support Gambling and Obesity

Is it just me or are the rest of you in total horror over these two new Dodgers "promotions?"

The ALL YOU CAN EAT PAVILION
Lets see, I can pay $30 for a ticket that is worth about $7 and eat myself into another notch on the old belt. What a great idea. Heart disease is not the No. 1 killer in America is it? Our kids are not fatter than ever and suffering from serious diseases at younger ages because of these heavier weights. Lets give them all 5 Dodger Dogs a piece to help them along the road to an early death and 4 or 5 cokes to wash it down. Another great idea brought to you by the num-nuts in charge now.

DODGERS LOTTERY TICKETS
While I'd love to bash McIdiot over these, he does not appear to be alone in this bad idea. The state lottery released Giants, A's, Dodgers, Angels, and Padres tickets. Why? I know the proceeds go to our schools but do we really want to show kids how great gambling can be? "Here Johnny, go throw this $5 down the toilet and scratch to your heart's content."


Somehow, I don't think the O'Malley's would be caught dead supporting either activity......

Opening Day in LA 2007

COST

45 minute wait on Stadium Way to get into the stadium.....At least $3.29 (gas)

Parking prices raised 2nd or 3rd time in 4 years................$15.00

Tickets from a scalper, face value $17, I paid................ $66

A large beer.........................$11.00 (^&^%%$$#!%^^%&*)

Bathroom (yes even the men's line!!!) and Food lines outrageously LONG.....2 Innings

Having baseball back even with a clueless owner.........PRICELESS.....or is it......

Alright, I have not missed an Opening Day at Chavez Ravine in more than 10 years. Back when the O'Malley's ran the premier franchise, I never had a problem getting tickets for opening day and did not even have to buy season tickets. Now the fans are held hostage. The Dodgers release maybe 50 tickets for sale to the general public for opening day. The rest they hold back and use to BLACKMAIL you into buying some kind of ticket package. Whatever, I'd rather pay a scalper $50 more than a ticket is worth than buy a "Plan" from these A-holes running the team now.

Anyway, so I've been going to games for over a quarter of a century. I have NEVER had a problem parking my car at Dodger Stadium. Let me repeat that again for the idiots now in charge, I'VE NEVER HAD PROBLEMS PARKING MY CAR IN 25+ YEARS!!! If you have half a brain cell you can navigate a lot and find a spot. On the rare days like Opening Day or the playoffs (yeah...ha ha), then it can be a little harder but try showing up before the 2nd inning and you can find something! We don't need the Disneyland Nazis pointing us to spots. If anything, we need them MORE at the end of the game to direct exiting traffic. (That requires common sense though!)

Even with all of this, I still managed to be in my seat for the F-16 flyover, the Anthem and all that jazz. I was happy to see the names return to the jerseys (another idiotic move by Frank the TANK). The product on the field that we are paying these HIGH prices for could be a whole lot better. I love that our leadoff hitter/new 50 million dollar man hasn't met a pitch he won't swing at. (Back to prices - the Dodgers raised them on average over 20% this last year. What a way to thank the 4 million fans that came out last year!) So the game is moving along through 2 non-descript innings when I get up to go to the bathroom. HOLY COW. The bathroom line for the Men's "room" was a giant U. It started at the aisle to the seats, went all the way to the exit gate then back into the john. IT WAS LONGER THAN THE LINE FOR THE LADIES ROOM?!?!? How is that possible? We guys can line up in groups of 12 and happily pee into a long metal trough, how can this take so long?? Well it did.

Next, onto the food lines to get a beer and a dog. The lines were equally long and slow moving to the point where the line-members broke out into a "LET'S GO VENDORS" chant. AMAZING. Beers now cost $11 at the stadium. Yes, $11!!!! Apparently Frank did not go to the Arte Moreno school of treating fans right. So I missed at least 2 innings and the Schmidt HR (our only power of the day) because of this and came back just in time to see our new ace pull up lame and leave the game. Grrrrreat! "I love this Game"

So the bully ended up giving up a few more runs and we lost in typical Dodgers fashion. Outside of a late rally in the 9th, nothing really to get excited about. Maybe that is why I am so furious over everything else. Don't even ask about the drive home. Got in the car in the lot at about 4:30pm and did not get to the freeway until about 5:30pm....... THANKS FRANK! At least we went on to win the next two games vs. COL.