If you’ve followed this site for a while, you know I’ve been on a long search for Dodger Dogs.  I had some help that certain Smart and Final stores in the Bay Area might have them, but alas, the one near me didn’t carry them…even after I called and they said they did have them.

Well, everything looked brighter this week, when I made a list of all the Smart & Final stores in the Bay Area.  I started calling them, but you had to be careful because many carry Farmer John dogs, but not Dodger Dogs.  Finally, I made a breakthrough.  The store a little farther from my house carries Dodger Dogs..but in their frozen section.  Apparently this is the difference.  You have to check the freezer section, not just the refrigerator section.  They only seem to sell them in 18 packs, which are a lot to eat, but all the more reason to have a party for your local Dodger fan friends. 

So here’s the kicker.  I have searched high and low on the internet and no one seems to sell Dodger Dogs.  Unless you live near a Smart and Final in California, I don’t know of any other way to get them.  I also called UPS and they do allow you to ship them, but you have to do them 2 day air to make sure they don’t spoil.  You also have to freeze ship them with dry ice.

Here’s where I need your help.  I know that people from all over read this site, and not just here in California.  My question is:

Would you pay to have some one ship a pack of Dodger Dogs to your house? 

Would you pay even if it cost $40-70 dollars for an 18 pack?  Obviously the dogs don’t cost that much, but early estimates of shipping are $20-40 just for UPS.

Let me know your comments below.  Also, if you know for sure you want them, e-mail me at scott@sfdodgerfan.com and I’ll work out sending a pack to you.  I’m really thinking of starting to sell Dodger Dogs on-line, so I’d love a few people to test the process with.

Thanks for your help.  Long Live the Dodger Dog…I can almost taste it I’m so close.

Tags: Dodger Dogs

So I came really really close to the All-Star game this year…I was just a few days off. I spent the week before at Disneyland and drove right by the park the Friday before the game. It was cool to see all the banners they had around the City. They also had special Mickey Mouses painted around the city with all the Major League teams. Sadly, I didn’t have tickets to the Home Run Derby or the All-Star Game, but I did what millions of others did…I watched it on TV.

At first I was bummed that David Ortiz won the Home Run Derby. I love David Ortiz, but he happens to be on my fantasy baseball team and the homerun derby is notorious for ruinning guys’ homerun swing after the derby. Here’s hoping he breaks the trend. He looked like he owned the competition, so hopefully his hot hitting will continue.

I am glad that the National League finally won.  I still don’t know if the Dodgers can get that far yet, but it would definitely help them to have home field advantage.

I alwasy root for Dodger players and always hope they don’t blow it in front of a national audience.  I’ll never forget Eric Gagne choking at the All-Star game.  Furcal, Ethier and Broxton did well…but as it would figure Kuo couldn’t hit first base on a routine throw.  Thankfully it didn’t matter, but not a way to show off your good stuff.

For those of you who didn’t see the L.A. Times today, Dylan Hernandez had a hilarious piece at the end of his article on how Kuo responded when back at practice after the game.  You can find the article here, but I copied the specific piece below. 

“And the Dodgers had a lighter moment in their early workout, which had Torre laughing as he recalled it later.Hong-Chih Kuo. In the All-Star game, Kuo fielded a grounder by Joe Mauer and threw the ball far above first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, starting a sequence of events that led to the American League’s taking a 1-0 edge. (The National League came back to win, 3-1.)

When the Dodgers started fielding practice for pitchers, standing at the front of the line was

In the drill, Kuo fielded a similar grounder. This time, his throw was on target.

“Everyone gave him a round of applause,” Torre said.”

Tags: Andre Ethier, Hung Chi Kuo, Jonathan Broxton, Rafael Furcal

The best part of a sweep in San Francisco is that all your friends down in L.A. start to call you to say congratulations. We are all part of the same club, I’m just a remote ambassador. It’s fun when everyone is united and they know it was a big deal to sweep the Giants in their own park.

The great thing about yesterday was that it was the Giants fans who kept telling me the score. They knew they had lost the series, and as the score kept going up, they felt inclined to see if I knew about it. It was like they were trying to soften the blow of me coming to them and bragging about the score. Either way it was fun.

Bring out the brooms. Good stuff.

I’m going to have to call out Matt Kemp in these posts more often.  He tore it up yesterday.  Here’s hoping that can continue.

Go Blue!

Tags: Los Angeles Dodgers, Matt Kemp, San Francisco Giants

Just like last year, there are few things better than doing some “silent bragging” via the use of a whiteboard at work. I started with the “Go Dodgers” before the series, but today added the brooms. The best part is the reactions.

Yesterday, the Giant fans were in arms that I even had the audacity to root for the Dodgers rather than the Giants. Today, ahh today, they just lower their head and walk on.

It’s such a funny thing it cracks me up. I knew it was coming too. There’s been a few times now that the Dodgers have taken the first two games of the series. The Giants fans know they are beaten, they lost the series, and now they just hope they don’t have to take too much crow from us Dodger Fans. I on the other hand take great joy coming to work and talking with anyone I can about how “good” the game was last night and how “bad” the Giants are.

The talk shows were all abuzz again this morning, some feeling that the Giants will never turn it around (fine with me), and those who feel it is just a long season and this will pass.  The thing interesting this morning is that there really is a feeling now that the Giants are free falling.  They have lost 4 series in a row, aren’t getting the production out of their veterans, and don’t trust their General Manager to help them at the trade deadline.  It’s looking bad with no real hope of change.  Again, that’s fine with me.  Get the Dodgers the sweep, and then Giant fans can continue to wallow in self pity.

On another note, I need to talk about Matt Kemp.  I haven’t touched on him a lot this year, but I now believe he is the key to the end of the Dodgers season.  Manny Ramirez went down yesterday which I don’t think will be that bad, but Kemp has been benched the last few games.  He fell apart after Ned Colletti called him out earlier this season, and now Joe Torre had a closed door meeting with him.  The expectation is that he will put it all together at some point, but he certainly doesn’t seem to be doing it after his new 10 million salary this last off season.  On one hand I consider putting him on my fantasy team because now he should figure this out.  On the other hand, if Joe Torre is benching him, there are fundamental work ethic questions involved.  Here’s hoping this can all be resolved as the Dodgers need him and he can bring great offense.  If the Dodgers have truly soured on him, I wonder if he could be trade bait.  We’ll see.

Go Blue and bring on the brooms!

Tags: Joe Torre, Los Angeles Dodgers, Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Ned Colletti, San Francisco Giants

Ahh, the Dodgers. How I do love thee, especially when you beat the Giants and I drive to work hearing the local talk shows whine and cry about how bad the Giants are. It is a beautiful day, no matter what the weather, one full of hope and joy, and great bragging….

Man I love living up here when the Dodgers beat the Giants. It’s hard to sum it up in words. I listened to the Murph and Mack show today, which I have come to really enjoy because they talk good baseball. Today, they were lamenting the loss last night…lamenting a lot. Got to love Manny being involved and then my boy Casey Blake hitting the homerun. Talk about Giant killers. Those guys just seem to come alive against the Giants.

The talk radio shows had quite the comments today. There was a Dodger fan who pointed out that the Giants just can’t beat a very flawed Dodger team. The Dodgers sat four of their starters and still came away with the win.

There was another fan who pointed out that ever since Renteria came back from the DL, that the Giants haven’t played as well. There is many a Giants fan who feels that Rowand, Renteria and Molina should all sit now and let the young guys get it done. It is too bad to see Molina not doing well. I respect a longtime Dodger killer, but he just doesn’t have it these days.

Also, there is great trepidation regarding Pablo Sandoval. He was the Giant Panda killer last year, but this year, he’s just another meal at Panda Express. People are eating him for lunch and he just seems to have lost his groove.

The best part of last night was the Dodgers bouncing back from the Yankees defeat. The Dodgers are now 19 and 5 against the National League West and seem to thrive against these teams.

We’ll see tonight as Cain may stop them cold, but one up is the way to start.

I’ve decided that when watching the Dodgers/Giants that you might as well wait until the 7th inning to really park yourself and watch the game. It doesn’t matter what day, whose pitching, or even the lineup, the score is usually close or tied until the 7th, and then the game is won. As long as the Dodgers do win it after the 7th (like last night), I don’t have any problems with the strategy. Go Blue.

Tags: Aaron Rowand, Bengie Molina, Casey Blake, Edgar Renteria, Los Angeles Dodgers, Manny Ramirez, Matt Cain, Murph & Mack show, Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants