Tagged: kershaw
Kershaw and Cupcakes
A couple years ago, during the postseason, we had a local bakery called Dots (started by a former Dodger employee) and Mrs. Beasley’s, provide themed cupcakes for the media in the press box and that was when I really realized what an insane craze this had become.
Well, the madness continues tonight as The Food Network’s Cupcake Wars airs a Dodger-themed show they taped a couple months ago, partially at the Stadium. Lee Lacy is a guest judge and the winner got to provide cupcakes to the Dugout Club and man, do these bakers take this stuff seriously.
I’m assuming most of you will be watching Kershaw take on the Rockies tonight as the team goes for four in a row and eight of the last nine home games, so if you’re either at the game or watching it on TV, you should DVR the show. Even if you’re not a food-show fan, this one kind of sucks you in…and makes you hungry.
And for those who are coming down, be sure to come early and snag your Fernandomania bobblehead. He’s the first Dodger to be honored with three bobbleheads since we started giving them away in ’01. Here’s a list of all those that have been distributed over the years.
Dodger Bobbleheads in history
Recently, a Dodger fan on Twitter asked for a list of all the bobbleheads the Dodgers have given out over the years.
With Clayton Kershaw on the mound today and his bobblehead night coming up on May 17 (click here for tickets), we figured today is as good a day as any to research the question and provide an answer for @JoeChacon.
| Name | Date |
| Tommy Lasorda | 4/4/2001 |
| Kirk Gibson | 6/9/2001 |
| Fernando Valenzuela | 7/29/2001 |
| Paul Lo Duca | 5/31/2002 |
| Shawn Green | 7/18/2002 |
| Hideo Nomo | 8/24/2002 |
| Eric Gagne | 5/2/2003 |
| Brian Jordan | 7/1/2003 |
| Fred McGriff | 9/12/2003 |
| Eric Gagne (Cy Young) | 4/30/2004 |
| Don Newcombe | 7/23/2004 |
| Don Drysdale | 8/20/2004 |
| Cesar Izturis | 6/1/2005 |
| Jeff Kent | 9/29/2005 |
| Ron Cey | 6/2/2006 |
| Fernando Valenzuela | 6/23/2006 |
| Steve Garvey | 7/28/2006 |
| Nomar Garciaparra | 4/26/2007 |
| Rafael Furcal | 7/6/2007 |
| Russell Martin | 8/2/2007 |
| Tommy Lasorda (HOF) | 9/14/2007 |
| Joe Torre | 4/25/2008 |
| Takashi Saito | 6/5/2008 |
| Brad Penny | 7/25/2008 |
| Joe Bimel | 8/12/2008 |
| Casey Blake | 5/20/2009 |
| Manny Ramirez | 7/22/2009 |
| Matt Kemp | 8/19/2009 |
| Manny Ramirez (Grand Slam) | 9/16/2009 |
| Andre Ethier | 5/18/2010 |
| Jonathan Broxton | 6/8/2010 |
| James Loney | 7/20/2010 |
| Matt Kemp | 8/17/2010 |
| Clayton Kershaw | 5/17/2011 |
| Don Mattingly | 6/1/2011 |
| Hong-Chih Kuo | 6/14/2011 |
| Andre Ethier Throwback | 7/7/2011 |
| Fernandomania | 7/26/2011 |
| Duke Snider | 8/9/2011 |
What you missed today at Camelback…
If you’re a Dodger fan, now is an incredible time to get down here to Camelback Ranch. I think I saw about 30 fans, at most, watching batting practice, bullpen sessions and close-up drills with the team a mere dozen feet away. And tons of the players sign autographs…it’s some of the best access you can ever imagine.
I get the feeling that it still hasn’t sunk in to many that Spring is here…and, of course, I know a lot of people have to be at work or school. But it’s completely free and those who take advantage of it will probably get to meet some of their favorite players and see big league action closer than they’re used to seeing it. It’s especially great for kids.
For those who did come, they got to see our newly announced Opening Day starter, Clayton Kershaw, throw his first ‘pen of the spring, in addition to Kuroda, Lilly and Garland. Lots of conditioning drills to start the day, and the first injury of the spring, as lefty non-roster candidate Dana Eveland strained his hamstring.
One thing you can’t see, if you come out, is the private clubhouse meetings but I can tell you, Don Mattingly was impressive this morning. His first time addressing the team as their manager and he really seems to have made an impression. I wish I was allowed to tell you all that he said but you’ll just have to trust me. This guy is really going to make Dodger fans proud.
And finally, if you haven’t yet voted for which uniform the Dodgers will wear on the six half-price food/drink throwback games this year, today is the last time to do it. We’ll announce the winner one week from tomorrow.
Promo items galore
Somewhat lost among the news yesterday that we were opening up a day earlier was the official release of our promotional schedule. Six bobbleheads (including Kershaw, Mattingly and Fernando) as well as fireworks back again on Friday nights and the half-price food and drink for all the midweek day games.
There’s something about the promo schedule that just seems to bring me back to my childhood. I guess it has to do with the fact that each year, we would get Line Drives in the mail and my dad would have me and my siblings pick out the four or five games that we wanted to go to. Usually it would be bat day or helmet day or one of the Unocal pins. It must have been the pins a lot, as I still have the hat that I put them all on in my office today.
Day 1 in the books…
Joe Torre addressed the team this morning in his 51st season with a big league team (albeit six as a broadcaster).
The first workouts took place and about half the pitchers threw bullpen sessions. One interesting photo caught by team photographer Jon SooHoo (now in his 25th year) was of the Dodgers’ former All-Star closer and current one.
Plenty of media on site, though it’s amazing that there was more Japanese media here covering Kuroda than all other American media outlets combined.
Otherwise, it was a relatively quiet day. Blake DeWitt checked in and we figured out that he’s one of 19 players on the 40-man who are 26 years old or younger. Amazingly, despite a year-plus of big league service, Clayton Kershaw is still the youngest guy in camp.
Random stuff
Congratulations are in order to Clayton Kershaw and minor league pitching coach Danny Darwin, who were both honored last night in Dallas.
And serious kudos go out to Casey Blake, who clearly understands the meaning of giving back to the community. He and his family are donating $1 million to their hometown, according to their local paper.
Hopefully we’ll see many of you out and about at the caravan this week. More public stops than we’ve ever had before, so come out and see current and former Dodgers as we gear up for Spring Training (pitchers and catchers report in less than three weeks).
And we’ll leave you with the following photo from Joe Torre, who has a cameo on Jay Mohr’s show Gary Unmarried (seen here with Rob Riggle of The Daily Show fame). It’ll air on March 10 when we’re at Camelback.
100,000 fans
Pretty cool that our facebook page has topped 100,000 fans. Are you one of them? We should be in the millions if you think about how many people out there bleed Dodger blue.
Out on the field today, Kershaw through a simulated game and Joe Torre told the media he’ll throw a bullpen on Sunday. According to Joe, he looked good and if he comes out of the bullpen session well, he’ll pitch out of the bullpen in Washington, then take it from there. Chad Billingsley will start Wednesday in Washington and could be used tonight out of the ‘pen, if we needed.
Also, Steve Lyons weighs in on Jonathan Broxton over at Psychollingy.
Meanwhile, the regulars are back in! Glad I could stir up some debate yesterday and that we won while resting the regular crew…
Here’s tonight’s lineup:
Furcal, SS
Martin, C
Ethier, RF
Manny, LF
Kemp, CF
Blake, 3B
Loney, 1B
Hudson, 2B
Padilla, P
Air Traffic Control…
So the thread got a little long this weekend, as I was in Ohio for a wedding…at the airport now en route to Chicago, where I was set to meet up with the team. But with Manny’s assignment in Albuquerque expected to draw a lot of media attention, I’m headed there instead while the team takes on the White Sox.
Heck of a game last night from Kershaw and great to see us take two of three from the Angels. I can’t remember the last time that happened, let alone in Anaheim. If you want to ask Clayton about it, you can do so tomorrow during his live webchat at 1 p.m. PT/3 p.m. CT.
Is anyone on this blog from Albuquerque? Would love to see ITD represented among the Isotopes crowd this week! Should be an interesting one with lots going on in a couple different parts of the country. In case you haven’t found it yet, the ‘topes have a blog there called ‘Topes’Tattler and I’d imagine they’ll be updating it all week long.
Leading off…
Kemp stays in the leadoff spot in Houston…good to see the team regroup last night after giving up the lead and pull out the victory. Before tonight’s game, the Dodgers optioned Clayton Kershaw to make room for Hiroki Kuroda, who gets the start. I’m not with the team, so I can’t explain the reasoning but I’m sure Joe Torre will do so shortly…obviously someone had to go for Kuroda to be activated and it makes sense if we have six starters for the most recent one to get a little respite heading into the All-Star Break. At least that’s my sense at this point.
Hope to see some of you tonight at the Hollywood Bowl show saluting the Dodgers. Vin Scully, Tommy Lasorda and Nancy Bea Hefley will all be a part of it this evening. So will fireworks all three nights (as well as July 12 at Dodger Stadium).
After the game tonight, James Loney Before the Bigs will premiere on FSN Prime Ticket so keep the TV tuned in.
And finally, I’m not sure what the comment means about numbering the blogs like DodgerThoughts does. I tried to look and see what that was referring to but do not see what you want us to do.
UPDATE: The lineup…oops
Kemp, CF
Ethier, RF
Martin, C
Kent, 2B
Loney, 1B
DeWitt, 3B
Young, LF
Maza, SS
Kuroda, P
Suddenly on the radar
When we arrived at Spring Training in mid February, neither Clayton Kershaw nor Blake DeWitt was in big league camp and here it is, May 25, and they will both play key roles in today’s game and potentially, the course of the 2008 season for the Dodgers.
With Andruw now going down and joining Furcal, Nomar, and Schmidt on the DL, it’s a very different team than the one that showed up in Vero just three and a half months ago. It just goes to show how quickly things can change, when you consider that three and a half months from now, we’ll be in early September, hopefully gearing up for a pennant race. I guess it’s also a reminder of just how long the season is and how each game is extremely important, but is just one part of a huge puzzle. I think that’s how I manage to remain positive after tough losses and not get too excited after big wins. It’s a big picture, and hopefully we can all see it ending with a celebration in October.
Speaking of DeWitt, he’s the subject of Ken Levine’s blog entry as a write-in candidate for the All-Star Game. For those who do not know Ken, he’s one of the two hosts of postgame DodgerTalk on KABC 790 and the Sunday Night Sports Final, which airs tonight from 6-9 p.m. Josh Suchon, the other host, is set to fly with us to Chicago tonight, so Brian Kamenetzky will host alongside Ken this evening and there’s some good stuff coming your way.
In the eight o’clock hour, they’ll be interviewing Roy Gleason and for those who don’t know his story, check this article out from a few years ago. In the nine o’clock hour, Maury Wills will be a guest, as we wind down the 1960s celebration and head toward the 70s for the month of June.
That’s the past. The present and future will be on display today at the stadium, with Clayton Kershaw taking the mound backed by Loney, Martin, Kemp, Ethier, DeWitt, and Hu. Here’s the actual lineup:
Pierre, LF
Maza, 2B
Ethier, RF
Martin, C
Loney, 1B
Kemp, CF
DeWitt, 3B
Hu, SS
Kershaw, P
Inside the Dodgers 