Sorry for the day off…

Well, it wasn’t a day off…but I didn’t get around to posting yesterday. We managed to win, so I contemplated not posting today but let’s be honest, this can’t have anything to do with it.

I did, however, give Eric Collins grief for losing his first two games on the air with us and then having the team pick up the win in the finale, which was on MLB Network. He promises to do better on his next trip and he and Steve Lyons will continue to post new entries on their blog (Steve had his first last night).

And by the way, our annual reminder to get out the vote for All-Star Balloting is upon us. Make sure you vote up to 25 times on MLB.com…anyone who does gets into a lottery to come down to the field, watch BP, and meet one of the Dodger All-Star nominees (not that we need to entice you all to vote, right??)

Here’s tonight’s lineup in Colorado:

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Manny, LF

Ethier, RF

Loney, 1B

Kemp, CF

Blake, 3B

Ausmus, C

Stults, P

 

The newest Dodger blog…

Welcome Eric Collins and Steve Lyons, who joined the blogosphere with Eric’s first post following tonight’s game.

It was a tough loss…and a good battle, but as Eric points out, he’ll surely remember his first Dodger TV game forever.

Stop by and drop them a comment and hopefully, you all can wish Eric well in his new role alongside Steve. This is just one way that our broadcasts can become more interactive and we expect that they’ll be updating the blog frequently.

UPDATE:

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Manny, LF

Ethier, RF

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

Kemp, CF

Blake, 3B

Wolf, P

 

Deep in the heart of Texas

The nine-game road trip kicks off today. Here’s the lineup:

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Manny, LF

Ethier, RF (you Ethierholics are all coming to Carne Asada Sunday with Andre, right?)

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

Kemp, CF (simply on-fire)

Blake, 3B

Kershaw, P (tough act to follow after his last outing)

And by the way, in case you guys haven’t seen it yet, there’s a contest online right now where you can get season tickets for the rest of the year (at least starting after May 10, when the contest ends). It’s called Paint the Town Blue and I’d imagine those of you coming to this site are the perfect people for this.

Looking to sweep the homestand…

Coming off an incredible evening in which the premiere of Bluetopia seemed to go over very well with those who saw it…at least from my conversations afterward. Hopefully you will get to see it, too. One thing that seemed to surprise people was how much the movie was done from the viewpoint of the fans, not the players. Rather than a recap video of the 2008 season, this is more about the people who dedicate their lives to the Dodgers, and there were a lot of very touching moments throughout.

That’s not to say there’s something wrong with recap videos at the end of a season. I collected them all as a kid — still have the ones from 1986, 1988 and 1990 on my shelf at home — but I think this movie will have a longer shelf life beause it could have taken place in any year…it just so happened that it was during the most successful season we’ve had in two decades and that we were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the move to Los Angeles.

In any event, we’ll leave the judging up to you all but my kudos go out to Tim Marx (an all those involved). Tim basically lived with the team for the last year and, in my opinion, captured the true essence of what it means to be a Dodger fan…

Here’s the lineup for today:

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Manny, LF

Ethier, RF

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

Kemp, CF

Blake, 3B

McDonald, P

Hollywood history from Mark Langill

This month’s release of the movie, “Bluetopia,” (which includes the blue carpet premiere tonight) is the latest project to bridge Dodger baseball and the Hollywood entertainment community. Director Timothy Marx takes a behind-the-scenes look at the 2008 Dodger season through the eyes of everyone from players and coaches to fans from all walks of life.

When the Dodgers hosted their first game in Los Angeles on April 18, 1958, the crowd of more than 78,000 at the Coliseum included such sports and entertainment personalities as Edward G. Robinson, Chuck Connors, Walter Winchell, Babe Herman, Alfred Hitchcock, Gregory Peck, Danny Kaye, Burt Lancaster, Jack Lemmon, Nat King Cole, Danny Thomas, Buddy Rogers, Ralph Edwards, John Ford, Ted Husing, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Gene Autry, Groucho Marx, Jo Stafford, Paul Weston, George Jessel, Jimmy Stewart and Dennis Morgan.

Behind the Dodger dugout, comedian Ray Bolger and his wife wore “His” and “Her” Army surplus helmets on which he had painted “L.A. DODGER BEANBALL PROTECTOR.”

Right-hander Carl Erskine, who started the game and defeated the Giants, 6-5, recalled his teammates weren’t always concentrating on the ballgame. “Somewhere during the game, I looked into the dugout and saw three or four of my teammates with their heads turned and looking into the stands,” he said. “They were looking for movie stars like Cary Grant and Danny Kaye.”

—

Here’s hoping our guys are paying attention today at the 12:40…this is the lineup (and note, Scott Elbert will be coming up in place of Cory Wade, who is going to the 15-day DL)

Hudson, 2B

Ethier, RF

Manny, LF

Loney, 1B

Kemp, CF

DeWitt, 3B

Ausmus, C

Castro, SS

Billingsley, P

Getting ahead of ourselves…

While still focusing on tonight’s game, I wanted to make sure you knew about two things tomorrow.

First, a reminder that it’s now a day game (12:40 p.m. start), as FOX picked it up. Even though your tickets and most printed material says 7:10 p.m., tomorrow is a day game, and it’s actually the annual Photo Day, so you can come out between 11 and 11:50 and take photos of your favorite players.

And to make it an entire Dodger Day, you should make plans to stop by tomorrow night at the Pacific Design Center (8687 Melrose), where we’ll be having a “blue carpet” premiere of Bluetopia, the movie that was shot last year about the team and its fans. While the seating is not open to the public due to very limited number of seats, you can come out and watch the goings on like other movie premieres and get glimpses of your favorite players and personalities as they walk the carpet. Among the guys who have told us they plan to come are James Loney, Matt Kemp, Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Ned Colletti, Maury Wills, Jaime Jarrin, Rick Monday, Charley Steiner, and many others.

And, since I’m sure you’ll all want to see the movie, you should know that DVD sales start on April 21 and you can preorder now on Amazon.

UPDATE: Lineup

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Manny, LF

Kemp, CF

Ethier, RF

Martin, C

Loretta, 1B

Blake, 3B

Wolf, P

UPDATE 2: Doug Mientkiwicz is going to have to have surgery on his shoulder on Monday and is going to be out for a while. Blake DeWitt will join the big league club tonight.

ITD Tour

So here’s the question…

First off, please let me know if you’d be interested in going on a tour of Dodger Stadium with the group from this forum and second, please let me know if you have a preference of weekend vs. weekday, etc. Just post it in the comments section and we’ll gather data from there.

We’re trying to sort out details to get you all a discount and a very cool experience…

UPDATE: Today’s lineup…

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Manny, LF

Loney, 1B

Martin, C

Ethier, RF

Kemp, CF

Blake, 3B

Stults, P

Honoring Jackie Robinson

It’s a special day here at Dodger Stadium and throughout baseball. Without Jackie Robinson, there would be no Maury Wills, no Tommy Davis, no Dusty Baker, no Matt Kemp, no James Loney, no Russell Martin, no Orlando Hudson, no Barack Obama…the list goes on and on. 

His memory and actions will be saluted and all of our players will wear No. 42 in his honor. Here’s the lineup:

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Manny, LF

Ethier, RF

Martin, C

Loney, 1B

Kemp, CF

Blake, 3B

Kershaw, P  

Tour de Dodger Stadium

For you cycle enthusiasts, we’ve been hard at work coming up with interesting factoids about Orlando Hudson’s cycle, which came in his first game as a Dodger at Dodger Stadium.

It’s the first by a Dodger since May 7, 1970…a date etched in my head for years as we’ve had so many guys come close.

It’s just the second ever by a Dodger, joining Wes Parker, who had the one in 1970

It’s the first by a Dodger in a non extra-inning game since Gil Hodges in 1949

It’s the second ever in this stadium…only Jim Fregosi (when the Angels played here in 1964) had hit one in this ballpark

It’s the first in any Dodger game since the Phillies’ Gregg Jefferies on Aug. 25, 1995 (turns out, this is wrong. Our TV producer, Brad Zager, just pointed out that Cristian Guzman did it against us last night).

It’s just the ninth in franchise history…

And wouldn’t you know, with Jackie Robinson Day coming up on Wednesday, Jackie is one of the other eight…

Feel free to peruse one of the best sites on the web, retrosheet.org for more info on cycles.