D O D G E R S T A D I U M
July 10, 2011
San Diego Padres v. Los Angeles Dodgers
1:10pm
Los Angeles 4, San Diego 1
WP: Lilly (6-9, 4.79 ERA)
LP: Stauffer (5-6, 2.97 ERA)
S: Guerra (4, 2.33 ERA)
Attendance: 35,249
Time: 2:58
80 degrees, sunny
Dodger Stadium. Considered to be a classic by most. It’s been sitting in Chavez Ravine just outside downtown Los Angeles since 1962. They draw from a completely different group of people than Orange County’s Angels. You get the views of the Hollywood Hills and, if the smog blows away, the mountains. It’s definitely not the most fan-friendly stadium, and you’ll see why below.
The “Hollywood” sign can be seen off in the distance. To the left in this picture.
The parking lot opens 2 hours before first pitch, but the gates stay shut until 1-1/2 hours before. Turns out that doesn’t matter a whole heck of a lot, because once you get in you are stuck on whatever level your seats are on. You can’t run around during batting practice like your a kid in a candy store. You can’t go to the bleachers. Nowhere. You can only go up, and that’s so you can get to the team store. It’s definitely not a crowd control issue because Dodger fans are notorious for showing up late. I suspect it’s so once you’re down in the field box, you don’t stay in one of the many empty seats. When I went in, I walked out to view the stadium. A Padre fan was next to me and said, “You mean we can’t even go down there during batting practice? I’ve never been to a stadium like that.” Now he has. And so have I.
The Atmosphere and The Crowd: Dodger fans are generally good. They know when to cheer. It was, however, another 2-homer game for a hometown player and there was no curtain call. The Dodger fans were the best Take Me Out to the Ballgame singers I’ve ever heard...ever. Loud. With the appropriate exclamation point on DODGERS!
The Scorecard: Ehh. Southern California is 0-for-2 in the scorecard area. Again, you have a buy a program. The program is $5. But, don’t just whip out your 5 bucks and hand it over...that’s before tax. So, if you are going to keep score at a Dodger game, have your 5 dollars and 44 cents ready before you get to the scorecard stand. Oh, wait. There is no stand. You go to the souvenir stand. The only good thing about it is that it was made of plain paper, and wasn’t glossy. I had to rip mine out, though, because there was no way to fold the program open and keep it that way. They also put a diamond in each box for you--I hate this because only when people get on base do you need one, and as we all know baseball is a game of failure...most of the time you don’t get on base.
The Hot Dog: The Dodger Dog ranks up there with the Fenway Frank in terms of “historical baseball hot dogs”. I made that up, but everyone has had heard of a Dodger Dog. I decided to give the Super Dodger Dog a whirl. There are no options here. Regular Dodger v. Super Dodger is the only decision to make. It might have been grilled, but again there was no proof of that. Doesn’t matter, though. It severely lacked in taste. They were Farmer John brand if that means anything to anyone. I’ll rank it above the Angel Dog just because of the history of “the Dodger Dog”.
The Broadcasters: Vin Scully. Need a I say more? Unfortunately, he only called the first three innings and then turned it over to Charlie Steiner (formerly of ESPN). They never converse together, so there is no color commentator. Vin will make you just want to sit and listen to a Dodger game every night, whether you care for the team or not.
To the top of the list..for now.
Entertainment: They have an organ, and the lady who plays it has been doing so for the last 24 years! That definitely adds to it. Plus, she played “Here Comes the King” after the second inning. Obviously, it wasn’t as good as Busch’s rendition but it made it feel a little like home. She’s also the one who leads the 7th inning stretch so it’s all the fans singing and the organ. Like the Angels, they place tickets in Ustorage moving boxes and shuffle those around. There really wasn’t much entertainment between innings. I guess everyone in L.A. owns a t-shirt, so they didn’t fire any away. After the win, Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” blasted over the speakers. Sixth street! We Love It!
Listening to the radio, they have Jay Johnstone doing an ad for some company. Can anyone tell me who Jay Johnstone is and why I’d care? Comment, text, or email me your answer and I’ll let you know if you’re right. I didn’t realize he was a real person.
The “Scorecard”.
The Super Dodger Dog. The ketchup came out like a water hose.
They have no authentics store per say but they do carry some game-used items in the team store. The people in the store have limited knowledge of what they have. I got a game-used ball from a game earlier in the season. They said I could check with the stores located in left and right field for more options...but, again, YOU CAN’T MOVE AROUND THE STADIUM!
Views from Around the Park:
Limited by the fact that...did I mention this already?
YOU CAN’T MOVE AROUND THE STADIUM!
You already saw all the views I had above.
Other words: Kind of an interesting mix here. Dodger Stadium has it’s share of pluses, and it definitely carries a lot of tradition. I liked staring into left field thinking “that’s where Jack Clark’s homerun went and that guy threw his glove down”. Looking into right and thinking of “we have a big 3-2 pitch coming here from Eckersley. Gibson, swings, and a fly ball into deep right field. This is gonna be a homerun! Unbelievable! I don’t believe what I just saw!” The crowd was good given the current circumstances of the team. Vin Scully is great. The Dodger Dog needs an upgrade, as does the “scorecard”. And, please, LET US MOVE AROUND. It really sucks a lot of the fun out of it.
Gripes: Just in case you aren’t paying attention, YOU CAN’T MOVE AROUND THE STADIUM!
Not sure how to sum it all up. The bad stuff about Dodger Stadium is easily fixable. I wouldn’t go and build a new one anywhere--this one works just fine, and it’s a classic. Just don’t treat us like we are in the L.A. County Jail. Give us the freedom to move around. Sell a scorecard. And grill those dogs out on a stand so we can smell ‘em.
S T A T I S T I C S U P D A T E
MLB Games Seen
4 of 31
Days
9 of 86
Driving Miles
3133.1 of an estimated 18,735
Estimated Gallons of Gas
160.7 of an estimated 1,102
Hot Dogs Eaten
4 of 30
Nights Under the Stars
0 of 12
States
8 of 35
Border Crossings
0 of 2
P R E D I C T I O N S U P D A T E
(AFTER 4 OF 30 GAMES)
Runs
37 of 249
Hits
71 of 512
Errors
6 of 36
Home Runs
11 of 65
Doubles
15 of 101
Triples
1 of 10
Sacrifices (Hits & Flies)
4 of 31
Strikeouts
57 of 415
Walks
28 of 189
Home Team Wins
3 of 17
Complete Games
0 of 1
Shutouts
0 of 2
Saves
2 of 15
Blown Saves
0 of 7
Balks
0 of 2
Wild Pitches
1 of 19
Hit Batters
2 of 18
Walk-offs
0 of 2
Stolen Bases
8 of 40
Caught Stealing
0 of 15
Ejections
1 of 4
Smallest Crowd
35,249
Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
July 10th, San Diego v. Los Angeles
Largest Crowd
44,111
Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim
July 9th, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim v. Seattle
B A L L P A R K R A N K I N G S
I’m going change my ranking system. If this causes any issues for anyone, just take a nitro and relax. I just took mine.
The Atmosphere
(I was combining this with “The Crowd” before, but that’s wrong. The crowd here at Dodgers Stadium was good, but the atmosphere took a hit with keeping us locked up.)
1. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
2. Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim
3. Minute Maid Park, Houston
4. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
The Stadium
(I’m adding this one. A bunch of factors get thrown into this one. The coolness of it. The nostalgia. The tradition. It all plays a role.)
1. Minute Maid Park, Houston
2. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
3. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
4. Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim
The Crowd
1. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
2. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
3. Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim
4. Minute Maid Park, Houston
The Scorecard
1. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
2. Minute Maid Park, Houston
29. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
30. Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim
The Hot Dog
1. Minute Maid Park, Houston
2. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
3. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
4. Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim
The Broadcasters
1. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
2. Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim
3. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
4. Minute Maid Park, Houston
Entertainment
1. Minute Maid Park, Houston
2. Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim
3. Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, Arlington
4. Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles
D O D G E R S T A D I U M
L O S A N G E L E S , C A L I F O R N I A
H O M E O F T H E D O D G E R S
The Dodgers have struggled this year. Both on and off the field. They sit next to the bottom in the NL West and are 11 games out of first. They are also in Chapter 11 while the McCourt’s figure out their divorce. Despite that, they had a descent showing of fans on a warm Sunday afternoon. The official attendance was over 35,000 but it was probably less than 30,000. Half of the those 30 were there at game time, and everyone hung around until the end. It was a pitching matchup for the most part. Prior to the game, there was some sort of large cheer group putting on a performance. Their mission was to promote “confidence, self-esteem, and...coordination”. The coordination kind of through me off as part of the mission statement. Are area youth are struggling with their hand-eye-coordination?
Batting practice. No ball shagging here without a bleacher ticket, and no closer view without a lower level ticket.
Blueish seats own the upper deck and yellowish seats cover the lower levels and bleachers.
There were probably 200+ cars waiting to get in. I somehow made it to the front of one of the lines. They don’t open a second before 2 hours prior to game time.
Doesn’t look like 35,000 to me.
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