Frankly, it sickens me to see a proud and historic franchise like the Dodgers dragged further into the mud.  Fans are clearly staying away from Chavez Ravine, and Frank has to be aware that the actions of the fans amounts to nothing less than a silent boycott of his ownership, right?

In the end, I just don’t see how McCourt wins (if there can even be a winner in such matters).  But regardless of who owns the team or how bad the baseball is on the field, I’ll always love coming to Chavez Ravine as long as the likes of Vin Scully and Tommy Lasorda still walk the halls, reminding all of us of happier days and the promise of the future. 

But it could get worse.  My greatest nightmare is that these proceedings are so distasteful to the stately Scully that he silently walks away at the end of the season.  The fans need him more than ever to return for the 2011-12 season, ideally with a new owner in tow.  Vin Scully retiring now would deprive Dodger fans not only of one of the greatest treasures this franchise has ever had, and also an element of hope.  A light to see them through the darkness.  Scully leaving would send this silent fan revolt to a level we haven’t imagined.

I have no reason to think this will indeed take place (and certainly don’t believe Vin would ever discuss his personal feelings on the subject), but in my opinion, that would be the saddest day in Dodger history.  And Frank McCourt’s greatest crime of all.

Lots of great writing from around the web over the past few days.  Unfortunately most of this news isn’t all that positive, but that’s the way it goes some years, right?

- I’m a little late in getting to this, but Bill Shaikin had a thought-provoking look at the on the McCourt divorce saga in yesterday’s LA Times.  Very interesting to see that Commissioner Bud Selig is closely monitoring the situation, but not getting involved at this point.  Also interesting to see the list of potential buyers should the Dodgers come up for sale (my money is on Dennis Gilbert, but that’s just a hunch).

- Ross Newhan has a great story on his blog, looking back at the reporting that was done by him and former LA Times Dodgers’ beat writer Jason Reid on the McCourt’s financial situation when they purchased the team, and what their plans were for the future.

- Tony Jackson from ESPN Los Angeles recaps Clayton Kershaw’s brilliant complete game shutout against the hated San Francisco Giants.  One of the true highlights of the second half of the season.

- Ken Gurnick at MLB.com looks back at the life of Al LaMacchia, the longtime scout for the Dodgers and the man who is credited with Andre Ethier being in Dodger Blue.  Al passed away yesterday at the age of 89.  Old-time scouts are sadly a dying breed, and from all accounts, Al was a suberb baseball man.  Former Dodgers’ GM Fred Claire also wrote a great story on Al and the Ethier deal a few years ago.  Check it out…it’s one that I’ve always loved.

- Answer Dave over at Big League Stew has a rare Q&A with Vin Scully, where he discusses his love for Jolly Ranchers,  his thoughts on Elizabeth Montgomery (from “Bewitched”) and what the Seventh Inning Stretch means to him.  Terrific stuff.

- Jon Weisman gets a jump start on the 2010-2011 offseason and lays out the questions (and they’re big ones) that Ned Colletti & Co. face in the months leading up to Spring Training.  Yikes.

- There’s a lot more going on in Dodgerland, including Asst. GMs Logan White and DeJon Watson interviewing for the open General Manager position with the Diamondbacks.  Neither are rumored to be the current favorities, but the fine folks over at Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness brought up a good point: what if Logan or DeJon gets the job and takes the other with him?  What if they take Kim Ng?  Losing one would would be really tough.  Losing more than one would truly be tragic.

Photo Credit: Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

It’s now official – Vin Scully has announced that he will return to the Dodgers to broadcast their 2011 season. Scully has been signing one-year deals the past few years in order to give him flexibility in his retirement plans.

“I’m just honored and humbled to continue my association with the Dodgers, which has been a major part of my life,” said Scully. “I’m as thrilled as our fans that Vin will be returning,” said Dodger Owner Frank McCourt. “He is not only the greatest broadcaster of all time, but also a wonderful friend.”

Steve Dilbeck had a great write-up on the L.A. Times Dodgers blog that I’ve included in its entirety below. It brought a smile to my face and I wanted to share it with our readers.

Home is wherever Vin Scully is on the air; a scary moment turns celebratory as he announces his return
August 22, 2010 | 12:28 pm
And then, a giant sigh of relief.

A day that had seemed so ominous suddenly filled with an explosion of happiness.

Vin Scully is coming back.

Back to fill our summer evenings, to anchor a troubled franchise, to give us that one familiar, warm verbal embrace.

I have never been so happy to be so wrong about a gut feeling in my professional career.

Vin said Sunday he was embarrassed for any anguish he had caused with fans over the past day because he had left his decision oddly hanging for a night. I don’t understand the mechanics of it — if it was just going to be announced in a morning press release, why not just announce it Saturday and avoid all the Southland hand-wringing? — but right now it doesn’t matter.

What’s matters most is, Los Angeles’ greatest living treasure will return for at least one more season.

“I found in the deep recesses of my mind that I did not want to sever the relationship,” Scully said.

That’s a relationship with the team that goes back 61 years, and every season since the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles in 1958. That’s a 52-year relationship with Los Angeles. That’s iconic.

It has to be hard to walk away from. Maybe Vin was going to, too, and then at the eleventh hour changed his mind. Selfishly, you want him to be with the Dodgers forever. But he’s 82 and long ago earned the right to do whatever it is that makes him happy.

And happily for Dodgers fans, this still makes him very happy.

“I just love it so much,” he said. “It’s like a very good marriage. I found when push came to shove, I just did not want to leave. My wife understood it, God bless her. She said, ‘If you love it, do it.’ So I love it and I’m going to do it.”

So the Dodgers win. Their fans win. Baseball wins. All of Los Angeles wins.

And, for at least one more season, we can all exhale.

– Steve Dilbeck

Time to rest easy Dodger fans!

As the remembrances for the great John Wooden slowly wind down, there’s one final moment that’s worth catching, and it’s the 90-minute discussion that former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden and Dodger broadcaster Vin Scully had with columnist T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times on June 18, 2008 at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles. 

“Scully and Wooden…for the Kids” was a one-time benefit for the Mattel Children’s Hospital and covered a variety of topics, but as Jon Weisman noted back in 2008, the conversation did not focus on the expected topics of basketball and baseball, but rather reflected on their lives, as well as more philosophical topics such as life and death.  Getting Wooden and Scully to participate in such an even at such a time in their lives is really quite something, and I believe this is the first time this program has been rebroadcast.

According to T.J. Simers, the program is scheduled to air on Fox Sports West immediately following the conclusion of tonight’s Dodger game.   Truly a ”must watch” for Angelinos and sports fans everywhere.

Photo Credit: Los Angeles Times

Click here to view the embedded video.

UPDATE: “Scully & Wooden…for the Kids” will be rebroadcast TONIGHT (Monday, June 7th), following the conclusion of the Dodgers-Cardinals game.  This is a “must watch” for Wooden fans everywhere.

Traditionally, Scully does not travel east of Denver for any regular season games, but with Manny’s return, it certainly has the feel of a special series.

Per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:

The game, with a 4:10 p.m. PT start time, will be televised on Prime Ticket and broadcast on flagship radio station KABC 790 AM. Scully calls the entire televised version, with the first three innings simulcast on radio.

And speaking of legends, John Wooden, the great forner UCLA basketball coach, is reportedly in the hospital and in grave condition.  Send him a good thought or prayer – it sounds like he needs it.

Keep those comments coming, Dodger fans!  If you send them, we’ll publish your memories below!

From William Green:

VIN SCULLY, I STARTED LISTENING TO DODGERS BASEBALL, ON ARMFORCES RADIO IN THE SUMMER OF ”55 ON MY SHIP IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC, 6MO. ON WATER & 6 MO. IN LONG BEACH , I REMEMBER , GAMES THAT MADE ME FEEL @ HOME BASEBALL, HELPED MY GROW AS A PERSON, BEING 18, NEVER BEING AWAY FROM HOME I LOOKED FORWARD TO THE GAMES & VIN, JERRY DOGGET, WAS GREAT TOO, THEY WERE THE BEST TEAM IN BASEBALL, THERE HAS BEEN SOME GOOD ONE SINCE BUT SULLY IS THE BEST, HE REARLY PROMOTED THE TEAM , ALL PLAYERS FROM ALL TEAMS, GOT THE SAME NOTICE .UNLIKE SOME OF THE KIDS ON THE MIC’C TODAY , YOU’D THINK THEY WERE , NEXT UP TO BAT, BUT VIN, KEPT IT REAL & THE DODGERS WERE ALWAYS THE BUMS & UNDERDOGS SO I WENT FOR THAT, VINNY, WAS A LOVING FATHER, LOVED HIS KIDS, THRU THICK & THIN HE NEVER LET THINGS BOTHER HIS LOVE FOR THE GREAT JOB HE DOES BEHIND THE MIC, VINNY I WILL MISS YOU ONCE YOU SHUT OFF YOUR MIC FOR THE LAST TIME, I CAN SAY AS A MAN & DODGER FAN, VIN I LOVE YOU MAN.–BILL, DIE HARD FAN OF VIN & DODGERS

From Robert:

vinny is like a great artist who paints a unmatched audio that becomes a clear and interesting picture of a game in your mind. the ultimate experience with baseballs greatest announcer is being at chavez with 50 thousand fans and their transistor radios while vinny describes a sandy k classic shuting down the hated giants…yes indeed,vin scully one of kind ….arguably the best announcer of all time.

From Charlie:

I gave up on the Dodgers when they moved to the coast–up until that time, I would listen to Vin call the games on my dad’s shortwave radio. He was the best in the game then, and remains the best to this day, although the late Harry Caray gave him a run for his money.

The guy has the voice, the love of the game, and as much as he loves the Dodgers, he isn’t all that much of a homer. We are blessed to have him–even if I can’t hear him anymore.

From Ms. Fan:

Goodonya Vin!! At this point, you have to be the consensus #1 baseball sportscaster in the WORLD. May you live long and prosper.

From Jim Jernigan:

Love him or hate him-Vinny is a master at his craft. He is among those who really report the game neutrally and gives credit to both dugouts where and when it’s due. I’ve never lost the impression that he truly feels it is a privilege to have his job. Some complain when he sprinkles his report with events and statistics from the past, but to me it adds color to a game that can be slow at times. In sixty years he has seen the greats and not so greats and tells the stories about them they way all great story tellers do-with an economy of words, yet with vivid eloquence. His style is like the soft easy going summers in which the games are played. Artist? Maybe. All I know is we will be missing part of the fabric of what is good and honest about the game when he is no longer in the booth.

From Harry Schaeffer:

THE YOUNG REDHEAD LEARNED FROM THE OLD REDHEAD, “RED” BARBER. THEY CALLED THE GAMES FROM THE” CATBIRD SEAT” AT EBBETTS FIELD. THE STUDENT LEARNED HIS TRADE VERY WELL. HE BECAME A GIANT IN THE BASEBALL BROADCASTING FRATERNITY. VIN SCULLY, DODGERS, MEL ALLEN, YANKEES, AND RUSS HODGES, GIANTS, MADE GREAT BASEBALL LISTENING IN THE BIG APPLE. VIN’S TENURE HAS BEEN A LIFETIME. VIN STILL IS A GREAT PLEASURE TO LISTEN TO AND A REAL CLASS ACT.

From Joe H.:

You the man Vinny!! I grew up in LA listening to Vin, and had to move with the family to Colo. in 1973. I will never forget Vinny’s call of Kirk Gibson’s improbable home run in 1988 against Oakland and The Eck! “And sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee issssssss gonnnnnnne!” The Dodger’s aren’t the Dodgers without Vin Scully. Many more years and good health to you Vin!!!!

Photo Credit: Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2010

The start to today’s Dodgers game against the Giants was just like any other for broadcaster Vin Scully.  In fact, when someone went into his booth to congratulate the 82 year-old Scully on the 60th anniversary of calling his first game, he wasn’t aware that he had reached the significant milestone.  And in typical Scully fashion, he brushed it off and continued about his business, preferring that all attention be focused on the players on the field, rather than himself.

And, Dodger fans, if you think we have it great now with Scully, imagine back to April 18, 1950 when the rookie Scully switched innings on the radio with Red Barber and Connie Desmond.

Evan Drellich of MLB.com caught up with Joe Torre to get his thoughts on Scully’s career:

“What does that take us to, 1950?” Dodgers manager Joe Torre said of Scully’s first year. “1950, I’m 10 years old. I didn’t think I was ever 10 years old. I think it’s just the steadiness of what he did — I think you appreciate it as a manager when a player goes out there, he doesn’t do spectacular things, but he’s there for you all the time at a high level. And that’s Vin Scully for me.”

And that is really the crux of what makes Vin Scully truly great: he has a fantastic rhythm with his words and, like a patient grandfather, guides the listener through each game, sprinkling in anecdotes and stories from years pasty or the player’s own background.  It’s remarkable that he can continue that conversation with his listeners inning after inning, never stumbling and only rarely making a small mistake.

When Scully physically stumbled and banged his head during Spring Training earlier this year, the Dodger Nation held it’s collective breath.  But Scully was fine, apologized for all the fuss he had caused and went about his business, calling that evening’s game.  I imagine today was much like that Sunday for Vin, quietly acknowledging the event, and then getting back to the business at hand.  But it’s moments like this that remind the fans what a true national treasure we have in hearing Vin Scully’s eloquent voice so often during each baseball season.

Today the team is in Pittsburgh, going through final workouts and preperations before tomorrow’s 10:00 a.m. PT game against the Pirates.  Just a few notes before the action kicks off tomorrow morning:

Dylan Hernandez tweets that Garret Anderson has selected No. 9 for his uniform, replacing No. 00.  Charlie Haeger will wear No. 49 and Carlos Monasterios will wear No. 37.

Josh Rawitch has a bunch of small updates from Pittsburgh, and reveals that Andre Ethier has a small knee bruise.  The injury won’t stop him from playing in the regular season, but it is why he missed the last couple Spring Training games.

Josh also confirmed that the team will purchase Russ Ortiz’s contract on Monday and put Cory Wade on the DL (Wade has been sidelined since surgery in late-March).  Per Rawitch, “[Torre] likes having 12 starters, especially without Kuo and Belisario on the active roster.”

And finally, Tom Hoffarth of The Daily News has a great Q&A with Vin Scully.  There really can’t be anyone more modest or simply enjoyable than Vin Scully, can there?  He reminds me of my grandfather, and I could listen to him read the dictionary.  I know this is the most well-known fact of all, but we are SO lucky to have Vin Scully in our lives (a tip ‘ the hat to Jon Weisman for calling attention to Tom’s article).

Photo credit: Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2010

Less than 19 hours to go until the first pitch of the 2010 season!

Photo credit: Jon SooHoo/LA Dodgers 2010