Paul Walker, John C. Reilly, Arsenio Hall and Other Celebs Love the Dodgers Too!
I know many of us Angeleno’s love the Dodgers, but it looks like the celebs in town do too (well, now that the Lakers season is over). And hey, they’re people too, right?
Celebrities at last night’s Dodgers-Rockies game at Dodger Stadium included Paul Walker, John C. Reilly, Arsenio Hall (all pictured below), James Van Der Beek and even Linkin Park drummer Rob Bourdon. Unfortunately the Dodgers did not shine as brightly as the stars in attendance…they lost 3-0 on a two-hit shutout to even the series 1-1. But hey, there’s always tonight!
Photo Credit: Juan Ocampo/LA Dodgers
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Jeff Kent: A Superstar on TV as Well as the Baseball Field
Jeff Kent & Ali Landry...Superstars!
Ahh, yes, The Superstars! Remember this classic show from the 1970’s? Well it’s back and starring none other than Mr. Personality himself, Jeff Kent! Don’t get me wrong, I loved having Jeff Kent on the Dodgers, but he was known to be a tad bit grumpy, so it’s slightly ironic to see him smiling, laughing and encouraging his partner Ali Landry on the show.
The crazy thing is, Jeff almost NEVER takes off his black baseball cap…even when doing a long jump off a pier into the ocean. I’m actually surprised he’s not pictured with it in his official cast photo. In any case, Jeff and Ali had a rough go of it last night and just avoided elimination, so we’ll see what next week’s episode has in store for them!
Monday’s great game!
Click on image to see a larger version!
Sorry for posting this the day after the fact…it was a long night that finished the right way – with a Dodger victory!
Thanks to a guy named “Doc” at work, I was able to watch Monday night’s game from a great position – loge level, first base side, row A…fantastic seats in foul ball territory (one landed one aisle over and about 5-6 more were in our “area”)…of course, the only souvenirs I walked away with were a soda cup and a white Dodger soft serve helmet…
The game got off to a great start as Randy Wolf pitched 3 perfect innings before giving up a hit to leadoff the 4th inning…even though Wolf gave up a 2-run homer in the top of the 5th, he made up for it with a 2-run single in the bottom of the 5th!
The bullpen went to work in the 7th inning when Ronald Belisario came in and struck out the first two batters he faced…it was great to see the Rockies a bit off balance – seeing Randy Wolf and his high 60’s curveball for six innings and then facing Belisario and his mid-90’s heat in the seventh…
It was then Ramon Troncoso’s turn in the 8th, pitching a scoreless frame and then handing the ball to Jonathan Broxton who was throwing even more heat (high 90’s with a couple of pitches reaching triple digits on the Dodger Stadium radar gun)…
The only inning where we got into trouble was the 10th when Jeff Weaver gave up hits to the first two batters he faced, but proceeded to strikeout the side to get out of the jam…the fans were going crazy!!!
Brent Leach, Guillermo Mota and James McDonald each pitched a perfect inning to setup the heroics in the bottom of the 13th…
Casey Blake led off with a single to right field that Brad Hawpe trapped on a diving attempt…Andre Ethier, the Dodger’s leading “walk off man” with three game winners this season, stepped to the plate…
Strike one called…everyone in the stadium disagreed with the call…
Ball one…low and away…
Strike two called…another questionable call from the fans’ perspective, but we all have a worse view compared to the home plate umpire…
Pitch #4 was fouled away…
It was at this point that my friend put on his jacket and called it the “rally jacket”…I told him he should have put it on in the 9th inning so we could have gone home earlier…
The 5th pitch was a thing of beauty – for Dodger fans…Ethier ripped a line drive to right field that I thought was going to hit the wall…so did Brad Hawpe as he stopped and prepared to play the rebound off the wall…
…except the rebound never came…
The ball barely cleared the wall in right field…HOME RUN!
The crowd was going crazy…the Dodger bench emptied onto the field, awaiting Ethier at home plate…the helmet was off…the grin was ear-to-ear…he was pointing to someone at home plate…the final leap to touch the plate was complete…the dogpile began…what a game, what a game…
While Ethier stole the headlines in the paper this morning, the true heroes of this game were the guys coming out of the bullpen…in fact, the entire pitching staff…
17 strikeouts were recorded in the 13-inning game…the bullpen did not allow a run in the final 7 innings…the ONLY hits the Rockies got came off Jeff Weaver in the 10th…we brought the heat and the Rockies could do nothing with it…I love it!
Jarrod Washburn to Dodgers? But for Who?
Filed under: 2009 Season, Dodger Trade Rumors, Juan Pierre, dodgers pitching
Jarrod Washburn
So the hot trade rumor right now involving the Dodgers involves Mariners starter Jarrod Washburn, according to the Los Angeles Times’ Ben Bloch:
Joe Torre, Andre Ethier and Clayton Kershaw Post-Game Comments
Filed under: 2009 Season, Andre Ethier, Kershaw, Live Blogging, joe torre
What a game! Ethier’s three home-runs are the most since Hee-Seop Choi on June 12, 2005 and his six RBI are a career high. Looks like the Dodgers got a little extra motivation from having Pau Gasol in the stands! Mota’s also been “rebounding” (pun intended) pitching two scoreless innings. That means shutout baseball in 13 of his last 14 games for a 0.52 ERA. Since May 17, he’s lowered his ERA from 9.00 to 4.50.
Great post-game comments from Torre, Kershaw and Ethier. Definitely don’t miss Kershaw’s take on his developing pitching style.
First up is Joe Torre:
On Ethier: “That’s the guy we all know is in there.”
On Kershaw: “As far as Kershaw, he grew a little bit at his last outing on Sunday and tonight was just an add-on. Any time you can put two or three back to back like that, that means you’re making some progress.”
More on Kershaw: “Early in the game he’s not trying to overthrow the ball. He’s so agressive, and sometimes it works against him because he goes out there and just tries to throw the ball by people and you can’t do it at this level…not on a consistent basis. I saw him using his pitches the last time out and he used all his pitches tonight. I thought his curveball was better and we told him he was done after six and he had these big wide eyes and said, ‘Really? Is that it?’ We’re gonna try and get as much good out of this thing as we can.”
On Never Having a Three-Game Losing Streak This Season: “People told me that, and it’s great. Streaks are great, but you certainly want the good ones to outnumber the bad ones. I remember ‘96 when I had the Yankees, we never lost more than five in a row and we never won more than five in a row. There’s no question that if you keep going the rest of the year without losing more than two in a row, we’re in pretty good shape.”
Clayton Kershaw’s Post-Game Comments:
On Andre Ethier: “He’s so tough when he’s hot. There’s really no right way to pitch him; maybe walk him is the best idea. He’s just got so much power and he;s got power to all fields. When he’s seeing the ball well like he was tonight, you saw what happened – there’s no one way to get him out.”
On His Developing Pitching Style: “I think that’s the key for me – trying to incorporate all my pitches. Sometimes when I get into trouble I just want to go hard, hard, hard and get people out. Sometimes the best way to do that is just by backing off. When you’re in certain situations, like whether it was the Angels and the bases loaded or tonight with the bases loaded in the fourth inning, you’re really just trying to make quality pitches. Sometimes soft is the way to go. Brad and Russell have both been great. They’ve both started calling the pitches that I need to throw. Instead of shaking off like I have done in the past, I trust them and trust myself a little bit more.”
Andre Ethier speaks:
On Having ‘Quick Hands’ Tonight: “I just went in there and worked with Donnie and worked on some stuff and got back to where I need to be. So I guess not to expect that that’s what happen after you work with Donnie, but I’m relaxed, more comfortable up there and ready to go.”
On Hitting Seventh in the Lineup: “We have a good lineup. You should be honored just to be in the lineup. We’re now in a situation coming in a couple weeks where we’ve got a guy that will definitely be in the lineup and everyone’s got to fit in where they can and have their opportunities. It just shows you that you should be happy to be in this lineup because it;s so good and deep from our bench to our starting eight.”
On Attending Wakamatsu’s Baseball Camp as a Youth: “I remember going to Don’s hitting and fielding camps in the winter there in Phoenix. I’m surprised he remembers me. I was probably 11…12 years old at that time. I don’t know if he knew at that time that I’d be his opponent on the major league level.”
On His Home Run Power: “I was never a home run hitter. I didn’t hit my first home run until I was 13 years old. Not even Little League. I didn’t hit one until I was a seventh grader in junior high. So I can say, never three in a game.”