Tagged: inside the dodgers

How the Sox and Dodgers teamed up to #VoteAndre

You guys came through big time for Matt Kemp, vaulting him into the starting lineup at the All-Star Game so your help is needed once more this week.

With 10 teams in baseball starting to put on a campaign to vote for their respective player in the Final Vote, we want to use every advantage we can and that’s how the Dodgers and White Sox (and Inside the Dodgers and Inside the White Sox) have teamed up to help our players.

When the Final Vote players were named yesterday, we immediately heard from Scott Reifert, the VP of Communications at the White Sox and the guy behind Inside the White Sox. His blog was the inspiration for this one and he’s always thinking creatively, so we immediately set out to join forces and help our guys. It works out great that not only do we share a Spring Training complex at Camelback Ranch, but both guys are Arizona natives.

Many of you probably remember Konerko from his days as a top Dodger prospect who was traded back in 1997 for Jeff Shaw (who, coincidentally, joined the Dodgers during the All-Star Break and wore the Dodger uniform for the first time at the All-Star Game). This game clearly means a lot to both guys, as you can imagine what it might be like to grow up and have the opportunity to play an All-Star Game in front of your home crowd.

Both guys recorded videos today for one another and there’s all sorts of campaigning going on this week, so please help Andre and vote as often as possible at dodgers.com.

Inside the Dodgers catches a home run

Many of you who read this on Inside the Dodgers (as opposed to Facebook) will recognize the man who caught Uribe’s home run last night. It’s FanSince53, Ron Cervenka and there’s even a slow motion replay of his grab.

Ron is a Dodger Stadium regular who was featured in Bluetopia and if you didn’t get a chance to see that flic a few years back, you should grab a copy at Dodger Stadium’s merchandise stores. It really shows how much this team means to its fans.

Nice grab, Ron!

 

Childhood Memories of Dodger Stadium

If you follow the @Dodgers on Twitter, you know that on Tuesday we have contests where fans can win various prizes. Well, with #childhoodmemories trending we figured we’d ask for people’s best memories from Dodger Stadium and the response was overwhelming.

Hundreds of great tweets in just half an hour and there would be no way to really re-tweet them all, so we figured we’d post some of them here and then tweet a link to this blog. And keep in mind, this is only from those who happened to be on Twitter at 5 p.m. PT.

If this is your first time to the Inside the Dodgers community, welcome. Lots of Dodger fans talking here each day so join in if you’d like.

If nothing else, today’s tweets remind us just how special Dodger Stadium truly is to so many people, including:

@Michelle_M16 First time meeting Shawn Green. I took the field in ’04. So sweet!
@reisNEEZY kissing the grass of the outfield on a day where they let fans on the field… my parents still have teh picture
@ryantfischer Games with my grandpa
@BleedDGRBlu  going with my father, who recently passed
@JesRey7 Sitting in the outfield seats talking to the pitchers in the bullpen
@DodgerManny58 Walking into the reserve level and seeing the Stadium from above
@Scarface909 My #Childhoodmemories of spending time with my dad going to Dodger games and enjoying classic Dodger Dogs!
@ArtG44 steve finley grandslam homerun to win the division
@RCShibley Sitting in the outfield during batting practice trying to catch homeruns.
@garbs hearing the game announced by vin scully by people with portable radios in the stands
@dogfacedandhurt Favorite #childhoodmemories are walking into stadium for first time and hearing Nancy play the sweet, sweet organ.
@nikkilicous best memory is seeing the Pope at Dodger Stadium !!
@hockeycutie13 never got to go to a dodger game as a child…but i am making up for lost time as an adult!
@fighton1985 eating dodger dogs and keeping score in the bleachers with my father

@jrzdevils30 every year going to a dodger game on my birthday June 19th it was my annual bday gift
@levi_v24 i remember going to the stadium and loved Sheffield batting stance & tried to mimic it #Dodgers
@pmartist_g The 88 WS !!
@dianavincente whenever my abuelo and abuela from Puerto Rico came to visit we would ALWAYS go to #Dodger games, favorite memories
@dodgerfanathome 1988 championship series against mets. Dad buying me a foam finger that stayed up in my room for ten years!
@boomitzel Taking a tour of the stadium.
@ava_252 dodger dogs non stop all day long wearing a hat that’s way to big
@blondielv Going w/my dear Dad who is now deceased. He gave me my love of the Dodgers.
@bongomo being on the field & able to take pictures with the players!!! still have my pics with Karros & Wallach #childhoodmemories
@bigsaldogg kirk gibson hr, fernando’s no hitter, 88ws,81ws, and nomo no hitter
@1chefdiva got to shake hands with Sandy Koufax. Didn’t wash my hand for a week!
@sylentmike being a little kid and my parents took me to watch the Olympic baseball games at dodger stadium!
@roseknows Being at the park when Dodgers clinched 1983 division title. Fernando was pitching & paper was flying everywhere.
@culverfan I remember Fernando losing 1-0 in 1985 on a 9th inning homer by tony Gwynn
@djbradster My wife remembers playing with Wes Parker in the parking lot after games as he would hit balls to the kids
@csimnick my fav. thing about going to the games when I was little was having a Dodger dog & a cool-a-coo
@itskloquewerk July 6th 1988, Franklin Stubbs grand slam against the Cards. Cards fans were giving us all high 5’s. Electric
@jase_sun going to dodger games and seeing my favorite dodgers, piazza, mondesi and nomo!
@toolOC having my mom represent long beach school district in centerfield on teacher appreciation day @Dodgers stadium
@minamonster my mom making me fake being sick so she could call out to take me to games.
@oomyjosh catching a foul ball at Dodger Stadium against the pirates in 1st grade.
@DavidTich Sitting behind the home dugout with my grandma Alice. She had the biggest crush on Tommy!

Your patience is appreciated

Many of you reading this on Inside the Dodgers have provided feedback for years that have led to the current changes taking place on the MLBlogs network of sites. If you haven’t ever visited the team’s offiicial blog, please bookmark us and come back…why?

Because the kinks are being worked out. I’m told that because ITD has had so much content generated over the past five-plus years, it’s presented a challenge during the switchover. But, I’ve been assured that the end product will be much better for all of you as commenters (and, for many of you, as bloggers yourselves).

So, hang in there for another day or so…we’ll surely be up and running smoothly by Opening Day, which is less than 100 hours away at this point.

Inside the Dodgers

It’s been 11 days since the last post here at Inside the Dodgers and no, we haven’t forgotten about you.

When this blog started nearly five years ago, there was a photo from Holman Stadium and we invoked a James Earl Jones line from Field of Dreams.

Five weeks later, Twitter’s founder Evan Williams had his first tweet and the way in which the world communicates changed. Well, that was only part of it. In between then and now, Facebook has grown to the size of the world’s third-largest country, videos go viral and reach more people than many mainstream media outlets ever did and the way in which we speak with our fans is vastly different than in 2006.

We wrote that day from Vero Beach that “It is our sincere hope that much like the cornfields in Iowa, ‘if we build it, you will come.'” And you have. Thousands and thousands of you view this site daily (admittedly, I stopped checking the numbers long ago) and the comments are among the most active on the entire MLBlogs network. Even as the regularity of posts has dropped off, you’ve still made Inside the Dodgers the ninth-most visited site on the network, according to the November leaders.

So as we wind down for the holidays, we’re trying to figure out what exactly we should be doing with this site for 2011. We have every intention of keeping it up and keeping it active, but we’ve got to do a better job of keeping it fresh…perhaps more photos, video and a true inside look at the thing you all care about most – the Dodgers.

Any and all ideas are welcome…it’s really been amazing to watch the community here grow. In some cases, kids who started reading this blog in junior high are shipping off to college. Others, like Joe Pierre, made their first pilgrimage to Dodger Stadium after decades of loving the team. One couple even met on Inside the Dodgers and are now married. OK, I made that one up, but the amazing stories go on and on…

So we thank for your support over the years and your patience as we redefine what this blog is all about. Happy holidays to all, here’s to a healthy 2011 (with a lot of victories and a parade) and stay tuned for more from Inside the Dodgers.

Turning point?

We’re hearing a lot of fans who think that last night could have been a turning point in the season. Let’s hope it was a lesson learned (the hard way) and that it jolts the team back into some positive results prior to tonight’s game and the big weekend with the Yankees.

As a reminder for all coming out this weekend, gates open half an hour early (4:40 tomorrow), so please try to carpool and come early so that you don’t have to deal with traffic headaches. You can meet Bill Russell at autograph alley and there will be a buzz in the stadium, I presume, like we haven’t had in a while. It’s rare to get the longtime rivals here, let alone a few months removed from their latest World Series title.

But first, the team needs to go out and play well tonight. There’s no looking past a big game against the Angels so let’s hope last night’s game was the lowest point of the season and that it’s all good stuff from here on out.

And thanks to those who provided feedback on an Inside the Dodgers Tour. We’ll figure out something…