Category: Dailies

New Dodgers Magazine hits the stands…

For those who haven’t seen it yet (or who don’t have a subscription), the new Dodgers Magazine is out today and it features a very cool shot of Matt Kemp on the cover…if you remember the days of Bo Jackson, it’s somewhat reminiscent of that, only Matt’s shirt is on! Check it out…
p1_cover_final.pdf

Also, for those unaware at this point, Rafael Furcal is going to go on the 15-day disabled list to make sure he doesn’t aggravate his injury any further. Nick Green was recalled but is not in the lineup tonight.

And for those of you reading this and commenting on Inside the Dodgers, please know that I did not intend to ignore the comments. I try to read as many of them as I can, but I honestly hadn’t seen your concerns and I can assure you that we take the issue of fan safety more importantly than almost anything else we do. That’s not just lip service, that’s reality and I’ve been in enough meetings discussing it to assure you of this fact. And because of that, I ask those of you with concerns to email them directly to fanfeedback@ladodgers.com. That way, they will be logged into our system and can be addressed by our Fan Services department. 

One thing I do know is that on any given night, about 99 percent of the stadium behaves well and represents the Dodgers in the manner we’ve all come to expect. But, we need to make sure that the other one percent does not ruin the experience for others and your comments do not fall on deaf ears.

Here’s tonight’s lineup:

Johnson, LF

Martin, C

Ethier, RF

Kemp, CF

Loney, 1B

Blake, 3B

DeWitt, 2B

Carroll, SS

Kershaw, P

 

 

 

Hard to believe…

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, baseball’s official statisticians, Blake DeWitt’s 4-for-4 game yesterday was the first time a Dodger second baseman went 4-for-4 (or better) with three RBI in a game since Charlie Neal on June 30, 1960.

Wow, that is hard to believe. That includes Lopes, Kent, Sax, you name it. Pretty crazy.

Oh, and by the way, Andre Ethier is leading the NL in all three Triple Crown categories.

Hope to see some of you tonight at James Loney’s bowling event, which benefits the Dodgers Dream Foundation. I’m sure we’ll be tweeting, facebooking and all sorts of other ing things from there.

UPDATE: Thanks to the commenter for pointing out the news on Dave Roberts. What an incredible guy he is and we’re all pulling for him. I’ve worked with a lot of players over the years and you’d be hard pressed to find a more professional individual and genuinely nice person.

 

 

 

Homeboy Carlos…

It’s a combination headline today, with Joe Torre’s horse Homeboykris having just run in the Kentucky Derby, which has to be one of the coolest things you can experience as a sports fan. Joe watched the race from the coaches’ office at Dodger Stadium but unfortunately, his horse didn’t quite get out in front and finished 16th. But, his family got the chance to be on site and anyone who has ever attended that event will tell you it’s one of the more unique experiences you can have in sports. And Calvin Borel, the winning horse’s jockey, has no real equal in sports right now, having won three of the last four derbys. I don’t believe there’s anyone in sports currently at “hot” at their sport’s major event.

As for Carlos, the reference is of course to Mr. Monasterios, who gets his first big league start today. He’s pitched incredibly well so far this year and we’re hopeful he can stay on track and give the team a boost after last night’s win ended our losing streak.

For those who haven’t yet heard, one of our prospects, Andrew Lambo, unfortunately tested positive in a minor league drug test for a drug of abuse, so he will be suspended for 50 games. As Ned has told the several media members who have asked, we’re obviously disappointed to learn of the test results and we hope he’ll use this time to evaluate the decisions he has made and learns from this experience. And we’ll certainly use this time to help him work out his challenges.

Here’s tonight’s lineup at Dodger Stadium:

Johnson, LF

Martin, C

Ethier, RF

Kemp, CF

Loney, 1B

Blake, 3B

DeWitt, 2B

Carroll, SS

Monasterios, P

Mixing it up…

We’ve had rough patches before and quite often, when the manager mixes it up, you turn things around. So, with Xavier Paul at the top of the lineup, we’ll see if we can’t get this offense going.

And for you UCLA Bruins who had to stomach all the USC Trojan colors last night, this is your chance to get even. First 20,000 in the park get an LA hat in Bruin colors.

Here’s the lineup:

Paul, LF

Martin, C

Ethier, RF

Kemp, CF

Loney, 1B

Blake, 3B

DeWitt, 2B

Carroll, SS

Billingsley, P

A rough road trip

Not much more you can say that that. We didn’t pitch, hit, defend or do much of anything else all that great – it was just a rough road trip altogether. But you know what? In 2005 we started out 12-2 and everyone was talking about making World Series plans, only to see us finish 71-91. So, while none of us are okay with the way the team is playing right now, the only thing we can do is work hard to turn it around and hope that some home cooking serves the team well.

And for what it’s worth, I hope all of our fans realize that Ned Colletti was not trying to call out Matt Kemp solely in his comments yesterday on KABC. He was specifically asked about Matt’s defense and answered the questions he was asked, but his concerns were voiced about everyone involved in baseball operations, from himself on down to the players. And he reiterated those concerns today to reporters in NY.

Anyway, the homestand starts tomorrow and I’m sure you USC and UCLA fans already know that you can come support your schools at the stadium. Plus the ever-popular fleece blanket night and plenty of other fun in store over the next 10 days. Don’t let the road trip get you down…I know I’m always the optimist but it’s hardly a time for panicking. 

Double dipping in the Big Apple

Less than an hour from first pitch of the Dodgers’ first double header in a couple years. Many of you will be happy to know that Joe Pierre, will be at the games today at Citi Field. For those who don’t know about Joe Pierre, check out a recap of his visit last year. It was a true highlight from 2009.

Here’s the lineup for Game 1:

Furcal, SS

Johnson, LF

Ethier, RF

Kemp, CF

Blake, 3B

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

Carroll, 2B

Kuroda, P

Manny to the DL…

Obviously not the best news that Manny is headed to the disabled list. But that opens an opportunity for Xavier Paul, who is en route to the nation’s capital.

Here’s the lineup for today in DC

Furcal, SS

Anderson, LF

Ethier, RF

Kemp, CF

Loney, 1B

Belliard, 3B

DeWitt, 2B

Ellis, C

Haeger, P

Come together…

For those who missed this story in today’s Times, it’s a great article about a number of Los Angeles business leaders and philanthropic types who have helped save the local high school sports programs that were going to be cut due to a lack of funding. As a product of a local high school baseball program, my personal thanks go out to all involved, including the Dodgers Dream Foundation.

Out in Cincinnati, the offense continues to click, as the Dodgers are leading all of baseball in hitting following last night’s rare feat of scoring in eight of the nine innings. They’ll head back out tonight trying to take two of three from the Reds.

Oh, and I keep forgetting to mention this but I tried to go visit cpompe1 on Opening Day on the reserved level, but couldn’t find you. I went to the seat location you posted to say hello but there were thousands of people around and none who looked like I’d envision a compe1 would look like! So, let me know if you’re out again and I’ll try to pop by.

Here’s tonight’s lineup:

Furcal, SS

Kemp, CF

Ethier, RF

Manny, LF

Loney, 1B

Blake, 3B

DeWitt, 2B

Martin, C

Padilla, P

All-Star balloting begins today

All-Star balloting begins today at mlb.com and dodgers.com and I’d imagine that Dodger fans would love nothing more than to see our entire outfield voted into the All-Star Game that takes place down in Anaheim this year. It’s in your hands to vote up to 25 times per email address for Dodger fans to help send all deserving Dodger position players to the Midsummer Classic.

On a much more serious and sad note, we want to express our most sincere and heartfelt condolences to the Colorado Rockies and the entire MLB family on the loss of Rockies President Kelly McGregor. What a tragic loss today of one of baseball’s top executives and, by all accounts, a great human being.

And there’s no real way to segue to the next topic, so here’s tonight’s lineup in Cincinnati…

Furcal, SS

Kemp, CF

Ethier, RF

Manny, LF

Loney, 1B

Blake, 3B

DeWitt, 2B

Martin, C

Billingsley, P

Slash and the homestand

So we’ve had quite a week in Dodgertown, both on and, well, on the field.

The team itself has been up and down, with plenty of drama in just 5 home games so far. We’ve had an Opening Day victory, an extra innings defeat, a walk-off win on Jackie Robinson Night, a 10-run onslaught on offense, followed by a 9-0 shutout at the hands of the ‘The Freak’. And Opening Week concluded with a dramatic come from behind win thanks to a pinch-hit home run by the one, the only, Manny Ramirez.

But the action on the field before the game has been just as exciting with appearances by Will.i.am, Leann Rimes, Frank Robinson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Don Newcombe, the American Idol finalists, a former American Idol finalist, Guillermo from Jimmy Kimmel Live, the Peetes (Holly & Rodney) and the one, the only, Slash.

Now I have a few stories to share on all of the above, but ill focus on the rockstar for now. Slash was on hand Friday, April 17th to perform the National Anthem & God Bless America. For those in attendance last fall, Slash did the same during the playoffs in 2009 before Game 2 of the NLDS and thanks to a Matt Holliday error in left, probably because the sounds of Slash’s guitar were still ringing in his ears, the Dodgers went on to win the game and take the series from the Red Birds.

On Friday, before Slash even took the field, he took a few photos with some lucky winners from our new fan club, the Boys in Blue, during a VIP meet & greet. A meet & greet that I myself would have loved to win, especially in the days of Guns ‘N Roses. Speaking of which, when I mentioned that Mr. Hudson was performing the anthem to a friend, he reminded me of another ‘cover song’ favorite performed on the Guitar and thanks to the magic of YouTube, I can share that with you now.

I can only imagine the former lead guitarist for one of the biggest rock bands of all time is used to the pre-show photo ops and I also imagine the 10 lucky winners from the Boys in Blue were a little tamer than what he’s used to. But the man knows how to meet & greet and made a few lucky fans feel VIP…and one Marketing Director.

— Josh Lukin