You know how people are always talking about the “good ol’ days?” Well, the humiliating ol’ days would be more like it.
So, what’s more embarrassing: the steroid scandals of today or THAT?
Category: Los Angeles Dodgers
los-angeles-dodgers
Brad Penny wins again.
1. The NL’s New Leader: Either the Brewers, Mets, or Padres have held the National League’s best record for most of this season. But now, the Dodgers have the league’s top mark at 53-40. They crushed the Phillies last night 10-3 as Brad Penny improved to 11-1. Penny pitched seven innings, allowing one run and striking out eight. He joined Carlos Zambrano and Cole Hamels as the NL’s only 11-game winners. The Dodgers’ offense pounded Jamie Moyer for 10 runs, including three-run homeruns by Jeff Kent and Matt Kemp. The Dodgers have now won five in a row, but they’re still only a game up on the Padres.
2. Welcome Back: Horacio Ramirez was having a poor season for the Mariners, battling both injuries and ineffectiveness. But in his return off the DL, he looked excellent as the Mariners topped the Orioles. Ramirez allowed two runs in seven innings as Seattle won 4-2. He still has a 5.89 ERA, .317 opponents’ average, and only 15 strikeouts in nine starts. If Ramirez can continue this one good start into a string of good performances this second half, he won’t make the Mariners feel quite as stupid for trading him for stud reliever Rafael Soriano.
3. Playoff Preview?: In a matchup of two teams that could face each other in October, the Padres and Mets started a three-game set on Monday. The Padres won 5-1 behind a strong start from David Wells. Wells gave up on run in six innings in his 7th quality start in his last 11 starts. Michael Barrett powered the Padres with 3 RBIs and 3 hits. Jorge Sosa pitched well in his return from the DL, but he wasn’t supported by the offense or the bullpen. The Mets’ division lead stays at a game and a half as the Braves were pounded by the Reds.
Player of the Day: Kason Gabbard, Red Sox: 9 innings, 3 hits, no runs in a 4-0 win over the Royals.
Hey, fat boy! Yeah, you; the one stuffing your face with pork rinds, sitting on your couch in a pair of stained tighty whities with America’s pastime playing out on the tube. We think we might have found a way to coax you out of your mamma’s basement.
Dodger Stadium now has an all-you-can-eat section of seats out in right field where the Dodger Dogs, peanuts, popcorn, nachos and sodas flows like wine. Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano. OK, so we made up that last part about the babes but you really can stuff your face for one low price and people have been taking advantage of the free dogs ($4.75 throughout the stadium) by downing `em in bulk. The only thing slowing down these ballpark Kobayashis is the limit of four items per trip to the vendor.
But don’t think you’re going be getting on your knees, fumbling through your keys drunk by paying $40 for you ticket o’ gluttony. No, you’re gonna have to get wasted like the rest of the stadium; by forking over either $8 or $10 a brew!
Of course, if you can afford those kinds of prices then you might want to consider upgrading your Dodger dining experience to the Dugout Club behind home plate. Not only do you get a better view of the game (that is what you’re paying for, right?) but you’ll get your food delivered to your seats by the section’s staff. And it’ll only cost you $400 a ticket.
Now, we don’t know if he sat in the Dugout Club or with the right field fatties, but we’re guessing that this sports anchor had one too many of those mystery meat Dodger Dogs before making it into the studio.
Links:
[International Business Times]: All You Can Eat at Dodger Stadium
In 1988: In one of the most amazing and downright surreal moments in baseball history, Dodgers’ manager Tommy Lasorda took “a roll of the dice’” (in the words of the great Vin Scully) and sent Kirk Gibson – who could barely walk – up to pinch hit in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Dodgers trailing the Oakland A’s 4-3 in the World Series opener. Dennis Eckersley, the most dominating closer of that era, took Gibson to a full count with a runner on second. After fouling off several pitches and barely able to hobble halfway to first, Gibson shocked everybody when he turned on an inside pitch and drove it deep into right field bleachers to win the game 5-4. Gibson limped around the bases, pumping his fist. He did not play again in the series, and the Dodgers used the momentum to bully the shell shocked A’s in five games. The red lights you see as the ball is going into the stands are a stream cars that left the game early , figuring the A’s had it won.
In 1969: The New York Mets, only seven years in the National League, shocked the sports world by defeating the Baltimore Orioles in Game 5 to win the World Series. The “Amazin‘s“, who set the record for futility just seven years ago with 120 losses in their inaugural season, turned it around behind the pitching of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman and a young Nolan Ryan, plus timely hitting and defense. Donn Clendenon, a Pittsburgh Pirates and Montreal Expos castoff, was the hero with the big homerun in the deciding game and was awarded MVP honors.
In 2003Just when Red Sox fans didn’t think it could get any worse, Grady Little decided against his better judgment and the screams of millions of Sox fans (and anybody who remotely followed baseball) that ace Pedro Martinez didn’t have enough left for one more hitter in the bottom of the eighth inning . Little left him in, Jorge Posada hit a double to tie the game at five apiece, and Aaron Boone eventually won it with a towering solo homerun to lead off the bottom of the 11th inning off Tim Wakefield, sending the New York Yankees to their 39th World Series.
In 1995: One of the worst ideas for a promotion (right behind Disco Demolition Night and 10-Cent Beer Night) took place at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers thought it would be a good idea to hand out free baseballs to all fans, but didn’t follow one of the golden rules of promotions:
“Don’t give away anything the fans can throw on the field and possibly kill someone”
The Dodgers failed to listen, and fans repeatedly tossed hundreds of baseballs onto the playing field after disagreeing with a few umpiring calls and Dodger ejections during a game against the St. Louis Cardinals. After the third time the umpires stopped play, crew chief Jim Quick felt he had no choice but to forfeit the game to the Cardinals in the ninth inning, 2-1. The Dodgers protested, but the N.L. upheld the forfeit the following day. Another umpire blamed L.A. manager Tommy Lasorda for inciting the crowd, saying, “Lasorda instigated the whole damn thing by waving his fat little arms out there.” link
Brad Penny loves his Ws. Though the Dodgers got the win, Penny had a meltdown on the mound because Grady Little pulled him in the fifth inning before he qualified for the win. Even though he had given up 6 straight runs, 4 of them in the 5th inning, Penny decided to show up his manager and the water cooler by hitting it with a bat. The cooler, not the manager.
Grady Little said that pulling Penny early was key to the Dodgers’ win but Penny disagreed.
I wanted a chance to get that inning out of the way. I’m out there pitching hurt. … I don’t appreciate not getting the chance with a three-run lead to finish the inning.
Little defended his decision by saying, “I didn’t want to pull a ‘Grady Little’.” Oh, if only that last sentence were true.
Links:
[Tennessean.com]: Little’s hook angers Penny