Tuesday, April 10, 2007

OK, Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Program


Enough of sports that pass the time from football season to baseball season. I know baseball season officially started last week, however this blog's season starts after the Dodger home opener, one that featured the dreaded failure of Lon Rosenburg's brain child, ten dollar cups of cheap beer, a cheering section that reminded me of a walk I took down Boyle Heights, and a loss to mediocre Rockie ball club. But hey, the tickets were free and the kid enjoyed himself, so what more can I ask for?

All these two bit hacks that suggest Jason Schmidt is a shell of what he used to be are full of crap. He made his mistakes, however the shot that Garret Atkins hit in the first was a good fastball, clocked at 82 but really more like 89, that Atkins turned on and smacked out of the park. Some Yahoo! Sports "analysts" make the claim that Atkins could have caught that ball with his bare hands and tossed it back to the pitcher like Jack Parkman did to Rick Vaughn in Major League 2. All I have to say to an unnamed writer, Tim Brown, is when have you ever tried to hit big league pitching? Atkins could have caught that with his bare hands had he wanted to shatter his hand.

One thing that is painstakingly clear is that this club has no home run threat. Matt Kemp may be it, however he can't play right field, as witnessed by his face meeting the wall incident in the fifth. James Loney, the team's best hitter in spring training is down in AAA, they could sure use that bat right about now as the team once again made a mediocre Jeff Francis look like a Cy Young candidate. One digression, I hate it when pitchers strike out a batter to end the inning and walk off the field like someone just pinched them in the taint, walk off like a normal human being Jeff and get the hell in the dug out.

That's all I got for now, Schmidy will be back, only a leg cramp, but Matt Kemp looks like he could use some time off after smacking into that wall like an AFL player. That was nasty and it sounded like that time when you were a kid and you get pushed into the aluminum trash cans and, any one? Anyone? No? OK, but in any case, it was bad and hopefully he is able to come back without the need of a shoulder or backiotomy.

The parking situation didn't help matters either. Getting in was not a problem, however I knew I was in for a rough time when I entered the lot and began follow a long line of cars into an area of the stadium I never even knew existed. Needless to say, they don't call lot 15 "the hole" for nothing. The place reminded me of the yard at San Quentin from the movie American Me, and all the "esses" and "homeboys" made the walk to the stadium a bit of the adventure for my party and the kid. Needless to say, the "ear muffs" rule went out the window for the day. This new parking system isn't worth the paper they signed Lon Rosenburg's contract on, and here is hoping the VP of Customer Experience gets canned ASAP.

In any case, the game was blast and everyone enjoyed themselves that of course is the reason we all go. Never mind the game, if the Dodgers win it's a bonus, but you really go to hang out with friends and family and take in the entire pomp and circumstance. With that said, they better win tonight, because from this point forward, it's all about the game.