Tagged: Mattingly
Pictures from New York
I had a wonderful time in New York in our Baseball trip. There was five of us in our group, four women and a guy. At Yankee Stadium we ran into friends
Here in the picture, George, Rosie, Lorena & me. Natalie that we run into her in New York and Trinidad.
Everywhere we go, Yankee fans were saying how much they love Mattingly.
I love this picture taken by Jon SooHoo of Mattingly and Mariano Rivera.
Joe from Brooklyn in the white Dodgers shirt with his Brooklyn hat and his umbrella. Also in the picture Turtledip & her boyfriend, Bob Bacon, Serena and her dad Joe, Lorena. If you know anyone else, please ID. We saw Dodger fans walking by and we asked them to be in the picture like the guy with the sombrero.
We visited Jackie Robinson’s grave. At the entrance we met Mr. T who when we asked him where Jackie Robinson’s grave he said “Is a long way up there…I can give you a ride there so we squeeze the five of us plus Mr. T in his Jeep Cherokee.
We lid a candle for the Dodgers at the Cathedral of St Patrick. I bought a St. Christopher’s medallion and a chain for me plus some other souvenirs. I looked for St. Rita’s medallion but they did not have it.
We visited the statue of Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese at the site where the Brooklyn Cyclones play
We went to visit the former site of Ebbets Field.
I had to take a picture with Hilda Chester, the original Dodger fan.
Met a Giant fan that wanted for us to take a picture putting up our dukes.
I became a member of the Hall of Fame museum so I got my ticket free after paying $40 for membership, a $10 discount offered while we there.
We visited Citi Field where the Mets were playing the Cubs.
In the picture is Miss Puiggy who is traveling with me now. She has visited Citi Field, Yankee Stadium and now Petco Park and of course Dodger Stadium is her home stadium.
I was going to include the pictures of San Diego but I’ll wait for more pictures from Sunday and besides I forgot my camera at home but I do have my i-phone. Lorena will share some pictures.
The Dodgers and Don Mattingly
The rumors have been flying high about Don Mattingly being fired soon. Even non-baseball fans at work have come to me saying “I hear Don Mattingly is getting fired soon.”
I am in the minority but I don’t think Mattingly is getting fired and I don’t think he should be fired.
Firing Mattingly seems like a sign of desperation. I doubt they find someone available that is better at this stage in the season. If management wants to do something they should have done it in the offseason.
I don’t think you can blame Mattingly for the Dodgers poor performance. I think that Mattingly is doing a fairly good job especially with all of the injuries plaguing the team. I do think that he should give Kemp a day off here and there and the same goes for Ethier and Crawford. If Van Slyke is fairly hot, play him.
So here is Thursday, a Dodger day off and the day that some think Mattingly will be fired. The Dodgers open up a three game series with the Cardinals. I think Mattingly will be there.
The matchups for this weekend:
Friday: Capuano faces Lance Lynn. Capuano had two pretty good starts in his last two starts.
Saturday: The game starts at 4:15 on Jaime Jarrin Bobblehead Night. Ted Lilly returns from the DL to face John Gast. I hope Ted Lilly pitches like he pitched on his first start instead of his second. It is also Jaime Jarrin Bobblehead day! Game on Fox.
Sunday: Clayton Kershaw 🙂 against Shelby Miller. I have not missed a game this year and I especially make it a point not to miss Kershaw’s games. This game promised to be a good matchup.
From Koufax to Kershaw: What an Opening Day at Dodger Stadium
What an Opening Day at Dodger Stadium! All Opening Days are special. We await them with so much anticipation. What an Opening act with Sandy Koufax throwing out the first pitch and Orel Hershiser catching him.
Magic walks to the mound to throw out the first pitch
But wait! Here comes Mattingly to lift Magic for Sandy Koufax
Sandy koufax
A beautiful view of Sandy on the mound
Orel Hershiser said on Twitter: “What a day! To have Sandy throw the first pitch. To catch it and Thank him for all he taught me, was a moment I will never forget”
Sandy into his windup, here is the pitch….
Got to say Vin Scully still enjoys baseball.
Standing room only
El nino de oro after rounding the bases
El nino de Oro taking a curtain call after his Major League Home run in the 8th to take the lead 1-0. Kershaw hit the first pitch of reliever George Kontos.
Final score Dodgers 4, Giants 0. Kerhsaw with a complete game.
We went into Dodger Stadium with big smiles. We came out still smiling after that incredible Opening game. I did not even mind the long wait for the shuttle after the game.
Icing on the cake: I have Clayton Kershaw in my Baseball Fantasy team 🙂 Los Locos Azules play in the TwitterMaffiaLeague.
Ref: pictures from Jon SooHoo. check out his blog at http://dodgersphotog.mlblogs.com
Dodgers Take two out of three from the White Sox
With the Dodgers White Sox series tied 1-1 the Dodgers took Sunday’s game on Father’s day 2-1.
Saturday night we were complaining about umpire Jerry Meals behind homeplate. Well Meals was the 3rd base umpire on Sunday involved in a contraversial play. With catcher Treanor at third base, one out, Herrera hit a sac fly to right field. Treanor tagged and scored. The White Sox prostested that Treanor left the bag early. Jerry Meals ruled Treanor out. We kept hearing on Twitter and from the announcers that Treanor DID NOT leave the bag too early. In fact some said that Meals was not even looking at the play. Mattingly came out to protest.
Mattingly kept going at it with Jerry Meals and home plate umpire Darling, eventually getting tossed from the game. This was the fourth time this year that Mattingly gets tossed. One of those times was on Mother’s Day.
With as long as it took for Mattingly to complain with the umpires, we could have had a quick examination of the play if we had instant replay.
Both Capuano who struck out 12, and Quintana pitched well going eight innings. Capuano allowed one run and Quintana did not allow any runs. Belisario pitched the 9th for the Dodgers and Reed pitched for the White Sox. Abreu, coming in as a pinch hitter in the 9th, openned with a single. Dee Gordon struck out trying to bunt but Herrera’s single advanced Abreu to third. Rivera sac fly to right field scored Abreu. Game tied with Lorena’s rally cap on!
Rally Cap!
Belisario came back to pitch the 10th inning, He retired the White Sox in order or like Jaime Jarrin & Pepe Yniguez say “Se fueron a paso de Conga” “they went out doing the Conga
dance 
The bottom of the 10th, Loney batted for Belisario. Loney grounded out for the first out. Tony Gwynn tripled, Treanor grounded to the second baseman. Abreu was intentionally walked to face Dee Gordon. Dee responded with a walk-up single.
Dodgers win! Belisario worked a vulture win. His record is now 3-0 coming out of the pen.
Ethier K’d three times but he made three stellar defensive plays. Jaime Jarrin said “a corrido como un pura sangre” “He has run like a thoroughbred”
Quoting Vin Scully at the end of the game “They continue to pull the rabbit out of the hat”
Dodgers day off today. They start a three game series in Oakland.
rally cap picture mine, others by Jon Soo & Jill from http://dodgersphotog.mlblogs.com
Pictures from the first Dodger Stadium FanFest
I arrived at the first Dodger FanFest at noon. There were a lot of people there waiting for the gates to open. The first thing I did was have my baseball card made. This is my third baseball card but this one has the Dodger schedule in the back. The next thing I did was the Dodger flip book. Basically you put a glove on and pose for pictures pitching, catching while the camera rolls and they make that into a tiny book.
It was already hot so when I saw sosmeone with a paper fan with half of Matt Kemp’s face, I asked where they got it. It is KCAL CBS sponsored with their broadcast schedule in the back. They gave you three rubber baseballs and if you made it thru the big hole you got the fan. If you made it thru the smaller hole you got Dodger tickets. I wanted the fan but I only came close. Lucky for me my brother Victor was with me. He aimed for the big hole and got me my fan! How do I look?
When Mattingly was on stage, I went to the mike and asked him what Lilly had done to get tossed in Chicago. Also I said on the Mike while wearing my Vote for AJ Ellis button (I took the image from MikeSciosciatragicillness blog and glued it to one of my buttons. Mattingly said “yes, I am voting for AJ.
Here is Matt Kemp on stage being interviewed and taking questions.
The longest Dodger infield was missing the iron man Steve Garvey. He had an emergency so only Russell, Cey and Lopes were there. I thanked them for 1981 which was my first year as a season ticket holder and told Lopes that back in 1981 I had given Bobby Welch a greeting card to make him feel better because he was not doing well. He said something like “you don’t know how much we appreciate that when we are not doing well..” That year in December 1981 I received a postcard from Lopes thanking me for my support. I still have it.
Vin Scully also made it appearance! He talked and we listened only with the “WE Love you Vin!” “No, you are Great!”
Next it was Pepe Yniguez, Fernando Valenzuela & Jaime Jarrin. Pepe funny as usual and even Fernando. Jaime great as always.
Earlier I had gone to the section where the Dodgers had the Tommy Lasorda wine tasting. This section was only for season ticket holders. Later on Tommy was going to walk around talking to fans there posing for picures but I had a conflict since it was the same time Vin Scully was going to be on stage. Anyway, after Pepe, Fernando and Jaime appearace on stage, Tommy followed. He was funny, inspirational and full of Dodger Blue energy. He got the crowd going. I asked him “what kind of food I should have with two bottles of his wine I have at home. He said “Save it!” “And when the Dodgers win the World Series I will drink those bottles of wine with you!” 🙂 Tommy: I got plenty of witnesses!
I left in time to watch some batting practice. Clayton Kershaw pitched a great game. He blanked out the Cardinals 6-0,
Happy St Patrick’s Day
Happy ST Patrick Day everyone! We are in Arizona. Going to the first game at Talking Stick for the Dodger game against Colorado. Then is back to Camelback Ranch for the game against the hated Jints. I am wearing my green jersey. Lost my phone. So fricking mad at myself but “que se la hacer” what can you do? I’ll just try to enjoy the rest of trip.
St Patrick video with Kershaw, Mattingly, Kemp, Loney, Ethier
A Night to remember with Sandy Koufax !
I don’t know where to start! That was a once in a lifetime event and I loved every minute of the event!
The event was put together to benefit the Torre’s Safe At Home Foundation to combat domestic abuse.
I will never forget this night! Thank you Sandy! Thank you Torre, Thank you Simers and all that made the event posible!
I got home after the event and throughly enjoyed watching the playback!
“It gave me goosebumps,” Torre said of the sold-out crowd of 7,100 at Nokia Theater, which included the likes of Ron Howard, Billy Crystal, Penny Marshall and Jon Lovitz and raised more than $750,000.
LA Times sportwriter T.J. Simers started his questions with “Where’d you go,” “I went home,” Koufax said, later explaining that it was something his grandfather taught him that has kept him out of the limelight.
“Your most precious asset is time,” Koufax said. “Spend your money foolishly, spend your time wisely.”
And the reason he came back?
“Joe Torre,” Koufax said.
“It’s about friendship, a very special friendship,” said Torre, 69, of Koufax, even though the two were never teammates
Simers finally asked if it bugged Koufax that people perceived him as “soft.”
“Oh … no,” said Koufax. “That didn’t bug me at all.”
“Then what did bug you?” asked Simers.
“Sportswriters like you,” replied Koufax to a thunderous ovation
At the John Wooden and Vin Scully, a kid was picked so that John Wooden would show him how to put his socks. Mr. Wooden was very particular that no creases should be left from his players put on their socks before the shoes. Well Simers wanted something similar to be done with Koufax. So he said the crowd had been scanned and a tall skinny kid was spotted so he was summond to go up the podium.
The Kid? 21 year old Clayton Kershaw!
Here is Koufax showing Kershaw how to throw the curball. Kershaw said “OK, I’ll give it a try.”
Simers said “If you are good, I’ll get you a tryout with Arte Moreno. Yep! Arte was in the audience.
Look at the size of Koufax’s hand in comparison to Kershaw!
Here is Mattingly after Simers said Donnie Baseball showed up because he thought Torre was announcing his reti
rement.
Tommy Davis and Sweet Lou Johnson. Sweet Lou got the only hit in Koufax perfecto. and got two homeruns in the 1965 World Series. Koufax said Sweet Lou was a breath of fresh air.
Peter O’Malley got the biggest standing ovation after Koufax and Torre.
When Simers asked Koufax about the two homeruns that Torre hit off of him. His response was “We Brooklyn kids stick together.”
“This man has been very special to me,” said Torre about Koufax. “We have never been teammates. We have played together on All-Star teams, but my first World Series, in 1996, when I walked into my office at Yankee Stadium, his was the first message on top, wishing me luck.”
“When I was diagnosed with prostate cancer, he was just about the first guy who called me.
When I got off the plane after saying goodbye to the Yankees, he was the first guy to call. It has been a very special relationship and one that we don’t have to talk to each other every day.
“It’s something that I treasure, and I’m so touched, and my wife, Ali, is very touched, and our foundation certainly thanks you for being here.”
With that, the two friends for almost 50 years walked off the stage together to another ovation.
There I am in wearing blue and with my White and Blue Dodger bag(third row from the left). In the next aisle to my left is my friend Amber who is a ticket checker at Dodger stadium.
Dodger Blue World 
