Sorry there was no post yesterday. I actually had to fly back to Los Angeles for the day and it was another reminder just how easy it is to get to LA from here. I was on a plane at 9:10, spent the day in Los Angeles and was back in my house in Glendale by 10:30 p.m. And apparently, a lot of you are starting to realize how close it is, as we had the largest crowd of the year so far here yesterday. From what I understand, it was hard to find a seat!

Same goes for Opening Day, which sold out yesterday when tickets for individual games went on sale. There’s definitely a vibe in the air that’s unlike any other year we’ve had in my recent memory.

In any event, with the day away, I hadn’t had the chance yet to give a shout out to Diamond Leung, the Riverside Press Enterprise beat writer who was laid off last week. Many of you probably read his blog daily and it’s a shame he’s no longer going to be on the beat, as he was really starting to develop a niche. I joked with him recently that despite being at the smallest paper on the beat, that it would be him who was going to solve all the problems of the newspaper industry with some of his new ways of aggregating information. In fact, I’m pretty sure he had a google search on the word ‘Dodgers,’ as he was always telling me about random stuff that I hadn’t even heard about yet.

He’ll certainly be missed not only personally around the stadium, but professionally and we wish him well in wherever his new path takes him. It’s a safe bet he’s going to be a success in whatever that is.

UPDATE:

Today’s lineup:

Furcal, SS

Hudson, 2B

Ethier, RF

Blake, 3B

Loretta, DH

Kemp, CF

Pierre, LF

Ausmus, C

Mientkiewicz, 1B

Kershaw, P