Nice to see you at the get together Marty i finally have a visual of you. Eric Enders drove all the way from San Diego i can't imagine how far Icaros was coming from.

My wife asked how the day I was. A moment later, she said, "You must've had fun because you can't stop smiling." She's right most of the time and this was one of those times.

277. dzzrtRatt
Many, many thanks Jon, bhsportsguy and everyone who was there. I had so much fun. Great talking to everyone I managed to talk to, and hoping I get to talk to all the rest at a future event. Not only my first DT game, but my first internet-sponsored meet-up of any kind. That, plus seeing Kemp, Loney, Martin and Broxton literally taking over the Dodgers emphasizes that we're indeed in a new century.

The 8 slot is the new cleanup. When you include Penny's double, the Dodgers put an AL-style lineup out there today.

McCourt is obviously a whole different person when things are working out. The defensiveness is gone, and while I wouldn't call him relaxed, he seemed happy. Right now, life is good at Casa McCourt. Josh and Camille were a study in PR contrasts. Josh is selling what he loves. He obviously wouldn't have minded bs-ing with us for the rest of the day.

Camille has an extremely loud cell phone and scurries off like an ER nurse when it rings. She's got the talking points down -- she's very good at what she does. But you can tell it stresses her out. It probably cost her more mental anguish to share so much of McCourt's time with us than it did McCourt himself. If you have her job, you always want to get your guy off the stage after he's said what he came to say.

She also led an interesting discussion of whether a fan should be thrown out of the Stadium for yelling the word "sucks." Is that still a curse word?, she wondered. I think the consensus was "yes."

Two important concession-related facts came out today:

- The lower level concession stands are built "against the mountain." There is no space behind what you see.

- Without any room for storage, the crew in those stands must ride up the elevator to restock. The same elevator fans take. It's slow. No wonder they run out.

McCourt says he is fixing this.

The only thing McCourt said that disturbed me was his idea for a statue in front of Dodger Stadium. Someone in the DT group talked about the monuments outside ATT Park and Yankee Stadium, and wondered if we could have a statue of Koufax, say.

McCourt has a different idea. He wants a statue of the fans. It's his way of saying that the fans are what's important.

I'm glad he likes the fans and keeps us uppermost in his mind. But the fans don't go to Dodger Stadium to see other fans. McCourt can have a statue of the fans in his office. The fans want to see heroes. Yes, we're Dodger fans, and the name on the front of the uniform is more important than the name on the back. Except sometimes that's not true!

Other than that, I'd have to say this experience made me extremely hopeful about the Dodgers over the next decade. Thank you all again!

Tomorrow actually marks the 20th anniversary of the last game I attended at Dodger Stadium. I will be in Houston for all three games next week, though.

A lot of you will have a new stadium to get scratched off your lists after all.

I'm not heading to Dodger Stadium again until August 13.

The way this year is going expect a loss. A very big loss. Lance Berkman will go 4 for 5 with 2 HRs.

He's in the white pages!

Matt Kemp, Bison Strength. I love that guy.

12 - Sam! Will that be a new new stadium or an old new stadium? Will you be missing RFK more than you ever thought you would, by then?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJ3oHpup-pk

i did a double take when i read that, aside from that Greg Brock was telling me that Frank McCourt comes off very well on one on one situations. I got there late so i was asking around how everything went with the Q&A.

I had a great time meeting everyone and of course it was great that the Dodgers won.

It was also great meeting the Belle of the Ball, Greg Brock, in person.

But they didn't.

They lied.

It made me cry.

It made my cat cry.

And my cat wasn't there, but he's very sensitive to my emotions.

17 They couldn't be more emphatic that the new stadium will be ready for Opening Day 2008.

17 I will actually be one of the two or three people in Washington DC who will miss RFK. It has everything I need in a ballpark and even a bit of charm. Mostly, it has big seats, lots of leg room, and the upper deck is pulled forward and steep so you can really see well from upstairs.

But it won't be anyone else but me and Red and Crazy Joe crying in our beer when they implode the place.

I was doing the Robot & the worm while listing to that jingle.

Oh yeah, Suffering Bruin has a booming voice. Props to him for predicting the 6-run inning and props to Brock for calling Penny's double.

That's hysterical.

On the statue, Ratt said it so well: "McCourt can have a statue of the fans in his office. The fans want to see heroes."

Suffering Bruin is a False Cassandra!

And I have to go to work tomorrow morning and meet for four hours with a die hard White Sox fan. He has a bat signed by the WS team up above his desk.

I look at it when I've screwed something up.

And I just can't help briefly thinking of the Untouchables.

Occasionally there is a national ad.

Contrast that with a Dodgers or Angels broadcast which usually has very few commercials for anything smalltime except for Phil's Big Screen TVs.

Ahh, the power of TV markets.

Knew I should've checked.

Offense 10, Pitching 4, 9th inning.

i'd be curious to hear more details about the Q&A session. anyone ask about signing a-rod? :)

Stand down.

The Dodgers, for instance, will be in St. Louis on Aug. 10-12. I can't make that weekend, however, so I propose we have a Makeup Satellite DT Day on Wednesday, September 5, at the Cardinals/Pirates game.

In the event of rain or other postponement of the Makeup Satellite DT Day, we'll just try to track down Eric Enders' spelling bee highlight reel on YouTube.

We got into baseball talk mostly with Josh. I found his explanation of Logan White's role rather interesting. White is focused on amateur players and international players. Kim Ng is in charge of player development, with all the minor league managers and coaches reporting to her. I forget which one of them is responsible for scouting the major league teams. So, while Logan White might weigh in on a trade of a prospect, it's really Kim Ng's recommendations that are relevant.

Josh also talked a lot about Juan Pierre, as someone else reported on the last thread. Apparently Juan's influence on other Dodger players is vast. So even when he fails, others succeed because of him.

It was this kind of day: DT favorite Matt Kemp and DT scourge (but the guy Josh likes) Juan Pierre both got to be heroes.

Maybe they'll be inducted into the HOF on the same day.

Incredibly, young Wilson went long. Like Bruce Banner when you get personal, Betemit got angry* and pitchers everywhere haven't liked him when he's angry. In 93 at bats since that awakening (Sample size? Who cares? This is the stuff of legends, not stats class nerds.) Wilson is sporting the Ruthian- nay the Andersonian- line of .315/.400/.800. Our hero has arisen, all hail Betemit, king of the pine.

* Any representations about anger are creative license- unless they are in regards to Milton Bradley, who I think we can all agree has issues.

Remember when that would have been a huge sports story?

Webb ran 3:46.91 breaking a 25-year old record by Steve Scott.

Seriously, it was such a fun experience. Everybody is so friendly, knowledgable, and smart, it was a great treat. It exceeded my expectations times a million.

Oh, and SB has a man's voice. No joke.

Back to reading.

Now, who sees track and field ever? I wouldn't even know how to start.

Overkill: thanks for the ride, man!

It was great hanging with all you crazy dodger fans. It was great watching people throw their hands up in laughter when I confessed to being Who Is Karim Garcia.

Well done boys. How about we do this... maybe at a bar so we can all get to know one another?

My logon, at this point, is geographically incorrect. It's more a state of mind.

That being said...

I will make every effort possible to make it to next season's "Dodger Thoughts" game.

I live in the Midwest now, and proudly wear a "Dodger Thoughts" t-shirt.

I have a weird tradition, I will only wear a Dodger cap if it was actually purchased from Dodger Stadium. I haven't been in 4+ years, so my last one is pretty gnarly... I don't really wear it much.

Any-who... I'm breaking one of the posting rules right now, please forgive. This site allows me to enjoy so-cal nostalgia in a very present way.

From the strings about Oingo-Boingo, to discussions about parking at Dodger Stadium.. It all works for me.

Since this post is "all about me" at this point...
a few thoughts..

1) Jon has created a truly unique community that encompasses the best of what Dodger fans have to offer.

2)Bob Timmerman's brain is truly intimidating.

3) The best Dodger moment I've witnessed in person was Orel's game 2 performance in '88.

4) Mike Piazza has to be on any Dodger Stadium statue.

5) So does Orel and Fernando.

Jon, and everyone else; Being far, far away from Dodger Stadium.. this website makes me feel like I'm eating a Dodger Dog and a Cool-a-Coo.

I think there were five female attendees.

Had a great time meeting everyone, next time it would be great to meet up beforehand somewhere a little more conducive to getting to know everyone (halfway thru the game I realized I had no idea who Greg Brock was and was sitting behind Rob the entire time not even realizing who he was.)

Anyways, a great day from top to bottom and big thanks to Craig for setting everything up and thanks to Josh for treating us like special guests. And Jon, obviously, for putting so much work and effort into the site and sharing it with everyone.

Can't wait to do it again!

It must be my aura.

More the posts.

Very nice of the Dodgers to set aside some face time with Frank, Camille and Josh.

But above all, just real impressed with the passion everyone has for the team and the great conversations that we can actually have face to face, what a concept.

Now back for our more comfortable places behind the blog wall.

And Eric Stephen's comment to Marty was priceless.

When Ethier came up I said to him, "so is this where we tie the game."

He said "no." Ethier got a base hit and when Kemp came up Toy Cannon said to me "Now this is where we go ahead."

The next pitch left the yard. I asked him who was going to win the 5th at Del Mar or what the stock market was going to do on Monday but he said he could oly use his powers for good. Ok, made that last part up.

The first game of Saturday night's Pacific Coast League doubleheader between the Las Vegas 51s and Tacoma Rainiers was suspended due to rain.
It will be resumed on Sunday at 4:35 p.m. ET before the regularly scheduled game.

The game was tied, 3-3, in the eighth inning when play was halted.

Year after that ... in Eugene!

A much better idea would be to get all the memorabilia that the O'Malley family has stashed away in that warehouse and open up a Dodgers Museum/Hall of Fame. I'd happily pay a separate admission for that.

that's definitely a good idea, i heard whispers about it last year also. You know it's nice waking up in the morning & seeing our Dodgers back in 1st place.

Did he mean influence in a "sees more fastballs with him on base" way, or a clubhouse leader kind of way?

I would argue that they have THE iconic legend to immortalize in Jackie Robinson. A statue of him would be entirely appropriate, I think. Not even Babe Ruth could say his influence went beyond baseball like Jackie could.

i was sitting next to 2 lovely women Kadycee & her friend i didn't catch her name cause of the crowd noise but both were very pleasant

Koufax would be the logical statue. As much as Jackie Robinson did for baseball, he didn't do it in L.A.

And there are Jackie Robinson statues in Southern California already, so it's not like he's ignored.

statues in order of time line would also be sweet, why not we have a rich history here.

I feel a little stupid that I didn't know this. See what living in OC does to you?

I agree on Koufax and Fernando. And Vin. Staples has two, after all, so DS needs at least three.

Cincinnati:
http://tinyurl.com/yok7zk (Robinson, Lombardi, and Kluszewski)
Pittsburgh:
http://tinyurl.com/2ccu7r (Honus Wagner),
http://tinyurl.com/2fyesu (Roberto Clemente)

http://tinyurl.com/yt2v4n

It was great to meet many of the Dodger Thoughts people out here yesterday and our thanks go out to Jon Weisman for the kind words on his site. However, I cannot personally take all the credit. As with everything we do, it was a team effort and Camille Johnston was the one who had the idea of inviting Frank McCourt. I think he genuinely enjoyed chatting with those who were here, as did Camille and I.

And the lineup:

Furcal, SS
Pierre, CF
Martin, C
Kent, 2B
Gonzo, LF
Nomar, 3B
Loney, 1B
Ethier, RF
Stults, P

So, we're facing a RH who's brutal on RH hitters. Surely, Betemit would play over Nomar, right? But wait! There's Nomar in the #6 hole!

Jon, that's a sweet Mondesi shirt you're sporting there.

there's more pics to come if i remember correctly Rob (scareduck) took many a pics as well including the group pictures.

James Loney is batting.600 (3/5) with a 1.600 OPS against Orlando.

I noticed that, but none of those plate appearances were have been in 2007.

We almost got a meeting hosted by Dan Evans.

Then McCourt hired DePodesta.

Best way to do that is to throw at their feet.

And, yeah, because of how annoying Sergio is in that commercial Bob mentioned.

>>> The 51s (47-51), who have won nine straight, scored all of their runs Saturday on Andy LaRoche's 11th home run of the season, a three-run shot in the third inning. The hit followed a single by Chin-Lung Hu and a walk to John Lindsey. <<<

http://www.lvrj.com/sports/8648736.html

Bonds has the day off.

http://tinyurl.com/2ot5m8

One day I'll post a link to something that gives the first person to click on it a million dollars and they'll skip it.

>>> Now, Hendrickson will follow Chad Billingsley in the rotation against Houston. Derek Lowe, who will avoid starting in Colorado later next week, is scheduled to finish the Astros series on Wednesday. <<<

http://www.dailybreeze.com/sports/articles/8647281.html

Dodgers need help, but not by mortgaging future.

>>> One glance at the combined contributions of James Loney, Andre Ethier and Matt Kemp in the Dodgers' 8-6 victory over the New York Mets on Saturday — four for 12, four runs scored, one home run, four runs batted in — explains why General Manager Ned Colletti is hesitant to trade any of those promising youngsters for short-term help. <<<

http://tinyurl.com/yshcyv

That points out it is not really the future they would be mortgaging but the present. Ethier, Loney, Kemp and Billingsley are a big part of why we are in first now, so sending them away would hurt on some level in the present.

LaRoche is crushing the ball lately in Vegas (still think he has a good shot at being the regular 3rd baseman next year) and Hu, whose offense may be the biggest surprise in the Dodger's minor league system has an OPS of over 1450 in limited time at Vegas.

The next week until the trade deadline will be interesting. It seems we have gotten rid of all the moderately attractive prospects who we didn't really want (Navarro, Jackson, Tiffany, etc...). I don't see Ned sitting on his duff for better or probably worse.