Spring Training in May

I had a choice this past Saturday. Actually, I had several choices. The Dodgers were behind the Orange Curtain this weekend for an interleague series against the Angels in Anaheim. Since my home base is just a 15 minute traffic-free drive from Anaheim going to the series seemed as natural as fish in water. At the same time, though, an unusual Baseball event was taking place in Long Beach that promised to be very interesting. The Chinese National Baseball team was playing an exhibition game against the Long Beach Armada during their leagues pre-season. As you may know, Steve Yeager is the Armada coach and with the Olympics around the corner seeing the Chinese National team now might be an event to remember.

I was torn. Then I realized that Saturday could potentially be a doubleheader as the Dodgers were playing a day game and the Armada game was that evening. Unfortunately, since I had other activities to attend to I could only choose one or the other. I could not do both. So, I decided to stick with potential history and went to the independent league exhibition game.
Above and below is some of the pre-game activities that included Steve Yeager handing off a bouquet of flowers.
Below is the Chinese National team lining for pre-game introductions.Here is the first pitch of the game below. The Chinese team started off strong as they scored 4 runs in the 1st inning. Excitement was high on their side. Their number four hitter whacked a 3 run bases clearing double over the head of the centerfielder to get the scoring started. The Armada, on the other hand, looked very shaky. They committed 2 errors in the 1st and numerous other errors throughout the game. They dropped balls and threw wildly as I started to feel embarrassed for the team. I found out later that this was a pre-pre-season game. The Armada only recently started practicing for the season which starts in about a month.
By the time of the last out the Chinese team had outlasted the Long Beach Armada 8 to 6. Overall, I was impressed with the Chinese team. They handled all of the routine plays and played good fundamental Baseball. They might not be a highly skilled team, but I suspect within a decade or so we may be seeing a influx of Chinese players into the Major Leagues. Above is the Chinese National team helmet that comes complete with vents. They are the strangest looking things I've seen in awhile.

See the rest of my photos from the game in my photoalbum here.

Blog Kiosk 5/18/08

I refuse to write anything about a recently indicted former Giant.

• A Must Read: Harball Times writer Alex Eisenberg does a full analysis on Clayton Kershaw. (Hat Tip: Dodger Thoughts)

  After running through Kershaw's mechanics, injury risk, overall stuff and numbers, we can now answer the question: Is Clayton Kershaw worth the hype? The answer is yes...for the most part. Kershaw has a couple of red flags, but pitchers who seem to have a good head on their shoulders, have an athletic build, possess two pitches that rate as plus to plus-plus and display clean mechanics are of a rare breed.

• Perry Lee Barber, a female professional umpire, has a blog and recently wrote a wonderful Mothers Day tribute. (Hat Tip: LoveMyTeam.com)
• Erin at Beantown West is holding the Dodgers feet to the fire as she works on the making sure the Dodgers keep to their promise of staying green.
  
• There sure are a whole bunch of these "Top 10" type of list on the internet. Here are a few I ran into recently. Top 10 Booties in Beach Volleyball. Top 12 Baseball Traditions That Should be Revived. Top 14 Tailgaters Who Annoy the Crap Out of You.
• Dodger fans crack me up sometimes. Below is a video of Houston Astros slugger Carlos Lee conducting the bleacher seat fans while they serenade him. Hilarious.
  
  YouTube Link: pupkin12:
  
• Minnesota Twins reliever Pat Neshek is a Baseball card collector and has a website promoting his love of the hobby. He shares some tips about getting autos from other Major League athletes. Unfortunately, Pat recently received some bad news about a torn ligament in his elbow.
  
• The Dodger blogroll just keeps getting larger. Say hello to Dodgers Homeplate.
• This is just great. Check it out.
  MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.
  

eBay Buy: A Victorian Trade Card

My favorite cards to collect are Victorian era Baseball themed trade cards. They date from about the 1870's to the 1890's and can be very scarce. As I had written previously,

It became one of America's early fads and collecting crazes. They started out as business/ advertising cards given away to customers. The name of the establishment would be printed on the front with a simple design around the edges. Soon the designs became more ornate and customers started collecting them to put into scrapbooks. This started the age of Victorian scrapbooking in America.

Below is a trade card i picked up on eBay a couple of weeks ago. I had been searching for ages for this particular card. It features an afternoon Base Ball game with the crowd in the background. The umpire always fearful of a wild throw sits comfortably inside a birdcage style cage to protect him from danger. I can imagine sitting on the sidelines with an afternoon meal watching the drama unfold before me.
I can never get enough of these inserted autographed cards. They just look great. Below is a Paul LoDuca 2003 Donruss auto card. Since LoDuca's slide from superstar catcher to a "juicing" has-been his cards have become very affordable. I paid 99 cents for this one. The shipping alone cost three times as much as the card.

Giant Troubles

Well, it appears the fall and folly of the SF Giants is about to reach a tipping point. Maury Brown of the Biz of Baseball writes that Peter McGowan, head of the ownership group, will be stepping down shortly. Shysterball thinks that Brian Sabean is headed out the door too. He suggest our old friend DePodesta as GM.

But what else is he going to say? His champion -- Magowan -- is being pushed aside, and I'd bet my second born (my firstborn just learned how to fetch beer from the fridge so she's currently indispensable) that Sabean's butt is going to be on the unemployment line before the All-Star break.

Hat Tip: ShysterBall:

What A Way To End A Losing Streak

Last Night the Dodgers scratched and clawed to garner a well earned and much needed win against the Milwaukee Brewers. This victory ended their most recent losing streak that saw them lose five straight.

Things were looking bleak early on as Derek Lowe gave up three quick runs in the 2nd inning as a result of two consecutive hits by Parra and Kendall. He finished the evening having given up four earned runs while striking out six.

The Dodger offense started off slow. Blake Dewitt homered in the 5th inning. A fielding error by Fielder gave the Dodgers another two runs to bring the Blue Crew to within one run. By the 9th inning the Brewers still held the lead by a score of 4 to 3.

This is the time when old Dodger star "Game Over" Gagne would come in and clean house for his new team. Fortunately, his poor season so far has relegated him to bench as the Brewers did not want him pitching for a third day in a row. Instead, former Dodger Guillermo Mota came in to try to close the door.

Dewitt came up first in the 9th inning and grounded out. Delwyn Young batted in place of Hu and fought to gain a walk. This was probably the key to the inning. His at-bat appeared to rattle Mota as he took the count full and fouled off numerous pitches. Ethier was next as he batted for the pitcher Broxton. He singled sharply down the right field line. Then, much maligned outfielder Juan Pierre, who had already recorded an RBI in the 7th inning, banged a deep drive to the the left-centerfield alley to score both Young and Ethier. The Dodgers now lead for the first time in the game, 5 to 4. Juan Pierre, no doubt the MVP for the evening, had three hits and 3 RBI's. He is now batting a healthy .293 for the season.

Saito was able to get the job done as he earned his 6th save of the year. Smiles were everywhere to be seen. Saito was smiling. Torre was smiling. Juan Pierre was smiling.

Bobby Valentine Documentary Tonight

Former Dodger, Bobby Valentine, is in a new ESPN documentary about Bobby and the team he manages the Chiba Lotte Marines. It should be a fun show. It's on ESPN2 tonight at 6:00 PST (9:00 EST). Below is a promo video.


Video Link: ESPN: