Freeway Series Starts Tonight

(pic Link: Luscious Liz)

Not much to say other than "Let's Go Blue!"

NL West may have gotten easier

San Diego is headed towards a rebuild.

Jake Peavy, one of the ace pitchers in the NL West, may be heading to the American League. Apparently, the Padres and White Sox have agreed to a trade that involves Peavy moving along in exchange for some prospects. The only thing in the way is approval from Jake to move east.

Peavy has full no-trade power through next season and the trade will be entirely his call. The sides are expecting a fairly quick decision by Peavy. Peavy's agent, Barry Axelrod, said that Peavy prefers "Middle America,'' so that should work. However, Peavy is also known to like the National League.

The suspected prospect going to the Friars are top pitching prospects Aaron Poreda and Clayton Richard.

Sources say the Padres would receive top White Sox pitching prospect Aaron Poreda and Clayton Richard (both left-handers). San Diego may have some choices on additional elements of the deal, but Poreda and Richard are seen as the key pieces. The 22-year-old Poreda is currently 3-3 with a 2.54 ERA for the Double-A Birmingham Barons. Richard (4.33 ERA) started the year in Chicago's bullpen, but recently earned a spot in the rotation. In his last start, Richard pitched seven innings, allowing one earned run on three hits. The Padres also need a shortstop, but the White Sox won't part with their top overall prospect, SS Gordon Beckham.

Lima Time in Long Beach

(pic link: LB Armada Blog)

It's near the end of May and a brand new season is about to begin for the Long Beach Armada of the Golden Baseball League. Tonight is opening night as the Armada face off against the Calgary Vipers. Yes, they have Baseball in Calgary.

What makes this game so special, you ask? Well, starting for the local team is one of my favorites and probably the most animated pitcher since Mark Fidrych, Jose Lima.

Lima Time!

I love this guy. He's loud and a bit obnoxious, but he exudes passion for the game.

The game starts at 6:05 at Blair Field. If I can get out of work in time to make the commute then I'm there otherwise, maybe, I'll tune in to the live broadcast online here.

Here is a video of Lima pitching during training camp.

YouTube Link:

Here is the team led by Lima in a song.

YouTube Link:

Bloggers in the Press Box

A couple weeks back the Dodgers treated numerous Dodger blogs to a night of revelry and excitement. We had our 2nd Annual Blogger night at Dodger Stadium as they gave us, "pajama wearing geeks," a suite to watch the game and enough Dodger Dogs to feed a family of elephants. Anyway, one of the surprises Dodger VP Josh Rawitch shared was the potential opening up of the Dodger Press Room to us.

Yes, we the uncouth and dishevelled few will get an opportunity to report from the press box, walk around the field during batting practice and go to the clubhouse before and after the game.

As you can imagine I nearly wet my pants.

Well, this recent homestand was the inaugural. Phil with True Blue LA was there on Tuesday and Eric from the same site will be there on Saturday. Brandon from Reflections of Blue will be there Sunday. Chris from Dodgerfan.net will be there Friday. Orel from Sons of Steve Garvey is there today. Check out his live-blogging right here. Hopefully, I will be doing the same soon.

Casey Blake Bobblehead Tonight

For the lucky tens of thousands of fans going to today's game you get a Casey Blake bobblehead.

Box Break: 2009 Goudey

(click to enlarge)

Yesterday I wrote that I had stopped into a Target and left with a blaster box of 2009 Topps Heritage. Well, there is a little more to that story. I actually walked out with 2 blaster boxes. The other being the 2009 Goudey Baseball box by Upper Deck.

I had refrained from mentioning it because, well, I didn't get a whole lot. Although, I did get a bunch of Dodgers. Overall, it was a weak box. Anyway, as you may know, this new set from Upper Deck borrows its design from the 1933 Goudey Gum card set which is famous for having 4 different Babe Ruth cards in it. So, putting together a complete vintage set is very cost prohibitive.

Check out the 6 different Dodgers I pulled in the box above; including cards of Brad Penny and Takashi Saito- both of whom are now with the Red Sox. It's funny that both of those cards actually designate them as Boston players, but keeps their uniforms in Dodger Blue. Nevertheless, since they are still wearing the right colors they go in my collection. Below are the back of the cards.

(click to enlarge)

In addition to the base set show above there are 3 main subset or short printed sets within the set. Below are examples of the 3 sets. On the left is the "4 in 1" insert set of the Rays that take its design from the 1935 Goudey set. Center is Reggie Jackson in the "Heads Up" subset that is fashioned after the 1938 Goudey set. Finally, on the right is Tony Gwynn in the "Sports Royalty" subset. The Gwynn card copies the design of the 1933 Sport Kings Gum set.