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Get Ready to Run the Bases at Dodger Stadium

January 16, 2009 By

So this is pretty cool: the Dodgers are hosting their second “Public Batting Practice” tomorrow night from 5-8 p.m.  James Loney and Matt Kemp will be on hand, as well as “several of the team’s top prospects” (no specifics given right now).  So if you’ve ever had a desire to throw a nasty curve like Clayton Kershaw, run like Juan Pierre or go deep like Manny, then this is your event!

…but it ain’t cheap!  $500 per person gets you through the turnstiles, but honestly, this does sound really cool.  Additional bells and whistles include: live batting practice on the field, indoor batting practice in the batting cages, pitching practice in the bullpens, opportunity to play the field and shag fly balls, behind-the-scenes locker room and clubhouse tours, OPEN BAR, the chance to see your name and image on DodgerVision and a handful of other things.  I imagine it will be something like this first-person account  from Erin at Robots Took My Medicine of the Dodgers’ holiday party for season ticket holders.

 The Dodgers are expecting 200 people to show up tomorrow.  I’m pretty interested to see if they really get that many given the current economy.

Maybe Ned can use this opportunity as a chance to scout for that elusive power hitter the Dodgers need!  At the very least they should spend the $100,000 in  expected revenue on Manny’s deal…that should buy us about a week of his services, right?

For more info or to buy tickets, visit www.dodgers.com/underthelights. 

Filed Under: Dodgers Offseason Tagged With: ,

Sabathia Gone, Dodgers Going After Wilson?

July 7, 2008 By

While I know I’ve spouted off about the need to make a deal (especially for a shortstop), trading Matt Kemp for Jack Wilson straight-up is sheer lunacy! Kemp is one of the brightest stars of the Dodgers’ future, and trading him for an average shortstop is ridiculous. Yes, the club could win the NL West with the right move, but this isn’t going to put them over the top in terms of winning the pennant. This would be a move made by Ned out of sheer desperation and is cause for immediate dismissal. Surely the Dodgers brain trust can see the disaster that this move would bring with the fans, right? I’m trusting that after all the time Ned has spent defending the younger players, that he wouldn’t just go out and trade Kemp the moment he decided one or more were expendable.

At the very least, you would hope the Dodgers would package 1-2 of their high-profile younger players/prospects together for two of the following three holes: a #1 starter, a big bat and a quality shortstop. But trading Kemp for an average (albeit solid) shortstop, is just wrong. Hopefully this is just a rumor, but time will tell. You just never know with Ned.

Filed Under: Dodger Hitting, Dodger Trade Rumors Tagged With: ,

Trade Rumors Circling: Kemp, Ethier, Loney on the Block?

June 11, 2008 By

 Pittsburgh Pirates' Jason Bay strokes a two-run double off Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Matt Scherzer in the fourth inning of a baseball game at Pittsburgh Sunday, June 8, 2008. The Pirates won 6-4.

If you believe Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports, that is indeed the case.  According to Ken’s article, the Dodgers might actually pull the trigger on dealing one of the kids for a proven hitter, ala Jason Bay, Magglio Ordonez or Matt  Holliday.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this lately and have had a change of heart: I think the Dodgers should consider trading one (1) of their younger players.  I would have a bunch of conditions attached, of course, with the first being that Matt Kemp is off the table.  The guy is a future All-Star and he wants to be a Dodger.  I’d prefer to deal Loney or LaRoche, and could be convinced to move Ethier if the price was right.  The problem is the guy making the deals.  I simply don’t trust Ned to bring us back someone who isn’t on the downside of their career or a rent-a-player.  No, this needs to be a move that helps us win now, but also is piece that allows us to build for the future.

From Dejan Kovacevic (the Pirates’ beat writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette):

If any team offers the Pirates premier prospects for what they feel is fair value, from what I gather, they will not hesitate to move. Who takes over at shortstop or any other position would be secondary. The goal, as they often lay out, is to win a championship, and that only happens with a lot of high-end talent. That is not the current situation.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

Vin Scully and Troyfromwestvirginia on Matt Kemp

June 4, 2008 By

I recently came across two great YouTube videos – one with Vin Scully giving the play-by-play of the Matt Kemp vs. Yorvit Torrealba (a fight that I missed due to a family event) and another with our old friend TroyFromWestVirginia who decided to film 2.5 minutes of himself impersonating Matt Kemp sitting in the dugout with nothing to do. I’m not sure where he comes up with this stuff, but I’ll have to give the nod to ol’ Vin for his interpretation of the fight.

Matt and Yorvit go at it in Denver

TroyFromWestVirginia “ridin’ the pine” as Matt Kemp

Filed Under: Kemp, TroyfromWestVirginia Tagged With: ,

Matt Kemp Named NL Player of the Week

May 6, 2008 By

Matt Kemp
Dodger outfielder Matt Kemp has been named the NL player of the week, according to The Sports Report, for the period ending May 4th. Kemp’s been a hitting machine as of late, contributing a great extent to the Dodgers winning 9 out of their past 10 games.

Kemp beat out San Francisco’s Aaron Rowand, who hit .478 with two home runs; San Diego’s Adrian Gonzalez, who batted .385 with 4 HRs; and Pittsburgh’s Xavier Nady, who hit .450 with 7 RBIs. While Matt may not have led the NL with the best batting average, his all-around performance was really remarkable.

Kemp’s average over the past week was a respectable .407 and delivered four doubles during that time. Hed led the National League with 11 RBIs and also stole a league-best six bases and tied an NL-week best with 11 hits. Did I mention that he hit safely in all six games, and recorded four multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games last week?

Glad to see Kemp is getting his due and staying in the Dodgers starting rotation consistently now! Keep it up Matty!

Filed Under: Kemp Tagged With: , ,
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