Chad Billingsley - Gina Ferazzi/L.A. Times

10-0 at home to start the season.  What a way to start.  I love the fact that I was at the 1st game of this streak that was a Giants romp.  To win today with out Ramirez, Blake, Martin and Furcal makes it all the sweeter.  The Dodgers have depth and they can score runs.  It was good to see Pierre having fun out there again today too.

I said it earlier, Billingsley may be in the Cy Young voting this year.  If he is, the Dodgers will be in the playoffs.  He was the question mark ace this year, but there’s no questions now.

I’ve realized one of the things I miss most about not being in L.A. is not hearing Vin Scully call the game just by turning on the radio.  I could get satalite radio, but I don’t know that’s worth it just for that.  I did however get the MLB package where I can watch every game on the computer.  I even upgraded this year so I can plug it in to my big screen and watch it in HD.

I got to hear Vin today and he had a story that cracked me up.  If you heard the game, you may have heard it, but it was classic Vin.  He was talking about how the players years ago fought and fought to avoid wearing helmets when on the base paths.  Apparently they would wear it when batting, but put their soft cap in their back pocket and take the helmet off when they reached first base.  He was commenting how things have changed now and that guys have now swung the other way.  They keep their helmet on, and when the ball is coming towards them, they usually cover the ear that isn’t protected.  He even had a case in point when Ethier was on base.

What was funny though was when he shifted the story.  He made the point that as slow as it was for players it was even slower for coaches at 1st and 3rd base.  He commented that even now they wear a helmet, but it doesn’t cover their ears.  I couldn’t write it all down, but he made a comment something to the effect that, “now if a ball comes straight down on their head, they are protected, but if it comes from the side, that helmet is worthless…” 

It was just a classic Vin telling a story, but leaking a little bias as only he can.  He was dripping the sarcasm pretty thick because the balls coming straight down are the easy ones to dodge, but the coaches are always dodging ones to the side, but have no protection.  Who knew he had an opinion on coaches helmets, but obviously so.  He finished by saying that at some point the light will finally come in, as if to say that some year those coaches will finally figure it out and protect their ears.

In his 60th year, I don’t know that we’ll have too many more of him at the microphone, but he sure is fun to listen to.  I bet for him seeing the Dodgers go 10-0 at home is a treat because even that hasn’t happened in 60 years.

AT&T Park from sfgiants.com

Special welcome to all those new visitors to the site.  I especially appreciate Dodgerdugout.com and VinScullyismyhomeboy.com for the recommendations.

I got my tickets today for the game on Monday (4/27), so if anyone is going to be near the View Reserve Section 312 Row 4, look me up.  (You can even shoot me an e-mail through the contact form) I’ll have a blue Dodgers spring training jersey on (no name on the back) and a blue and white Nike Dodgers hat…oh yeah, I’ll be sitting next to a Giant fan.  I’ve got a good buddy who loves baseball who also happens to be a Giants fan.  He’ll rub it in if the Giants win…or score, and I’ll do the same to him if the Dodgers win or score.

I’m glad the Dodgers could pull a win out of Houston.  I was ready to quote the classic, “Houston…we have a problem.”  Again, pitching may be the fall card this year. 

Should we start making predictions now…Billingsley as an All-Star and in the Cy Young voting?  How sweet would that be to take away the Cy Young award this year from a Giant!

Go Blue.

Dodgers Mob James Loney - Brian Vander Brug - LA Times.com

I was gone for a few days to go see the Dodgers in L.A., and when I got back a Giants fan I work with told me that he was hoping that I didn’t get back until Thursday.  With the beating the Giants took on Monday, he hoped I was gone at least until the second game of the series, hoping the Giants would win and level out the series.  He felt if the Giants won game two, that he could point out that Monday was just one game, and wasn’t all that significant.

Well – sorry Jon.  No luck.  I came back, AND the Dodgers won game two.  The Dodgers are still better.  He even told me yesterday that the Giants were better than the Dodgers because all time they still have a better winning percentage than the Dodgers.

Again – sorry Jon.  Maybe so, but this year so far is all Dodgers.

I’m not sure if Dodger fans are aware of this, but Matt Cain is still 0-6 lifetime against the Dodgers.  He always pitches them well, but continues to come away with a loss.  It really became obvious last year when he consistently held them to less than 3 runs, but then once he left the game, the Dodgers beat the bullpen and won the game.  Last night Casey Blake got the best of him, but he pitched well…the Dodgers just beat the bullpen.

Got to love Casey Blake and Clayton Kershaw.  Blake is the 8 hitter and has 3 homeruns.  He may hit 30 this year.  Kershaw strikes out 13 and looks brilliant.  Running tally – the Giants have struck out 24 times out of 54 at bats in 2 games.  That has to be rough for a pitching coach.  Between Stults, Wolf, Billingsley and Kershaw, Ned Colletti obviously knew something more about the pitching staff than we all did.  They could still use one more arm, but they look great right now.

You could have an interesting debate as to if Loney was trying for walks in two of his at bats last night, including the one to win the game.  He stared down multiple beautiful fastballs, and then took the walks.  You could say he was afraid to hit and wanted the walk, or you could say he just knew the pitchers would end up throwing balls, and therefore he just let them do it.

I don’t buy that he was afraid to hit as he has been hitting the ball like crazy the last few days.  I think he’s just a smart hitter who knew the power of a walk, and was going to let the pitchers do it if they couldn’t throw strikes. How bitterly sweet that the Giants walked in the winning run.

Brian Wilson is a good closer, so tough luck to him, but to the Dodgers gain.  Even if the Dodgers lose tonight, the series has been won.

Dodger Stadium Opening Day 2009

So I had the honor of attending Opening Day at Dodger Stadium on Monday.  I maybe get to one game at Dodger Stadium a year, so the fact that it was Opening Day was cool.  Then the fact that history was made that day is a memory I’ll never forget.  Oh yeah, and the fact that it was against the Giants…doesn’t get much better than that.

I went to a game years ago with a Giant fan at Dodger Stadium against the Giants and watched the Dodgers destroy them.  This was as good, if not better.

Reason #1 why Giants fans should switch over to being Dodger fans…The Dodgers are just better!

Major Highlights

1. Orlando Hudson hits for the cycle.  Ironically, I happened to be in the restroom for his final triple, but how cool to say I was at a game where the cycle was hit.
2. Andre Ethier hits two homeruns.  I wrote earlier that I wondered if he would be on this year.  No doubt now.
3. Chad Billingsley looked like the Ace.  11ks.  The Giants just didn’t have anything against him.  He looked great.
4. Being part of the largest crowd at Dodger stadium – over 57,000.  I was there when they set the record at the playoff game in 2004, and now here again.  I guess I know the good games to go to!

Major Highlights (That weren’t always shown on TV)

1. Every Dodger had a hit, including Chad Billingsley.  The offense was primed and they will do a lot of damage this year.
2. Will Ohman and the Pen looked sharp.  With a lead that big, you have room to give, but they held strong.
3. Russell Martin finally hit a little.  He has started slow, but had two key hits and now has 50 RBI in his life with the bases loaded.
4. I saw a couple get engaged right in front of me!  They brought the cameras up to my section (about 7 rows in front of me) for their “Kiss Cam” between innings.  The guy poked her on the cheek, then got down on one knee and proposed to the surprise of everyone in the stadium.  She said yes and was playing with the ring around her finger for the rest of the game.  I’ve never been that close to the camera at the stadium, let alone to someone’s proposal.  Way cool.
5. Randy Johnson is a Hall of Famer…but needs some work.  He was good for 3 innings, but then he got lit up.  Getting 300 wins may take a long time this season.
6. The traffic in L.A. is as bad as you hear…especially with 57,000 people going to and way from the same spot.

Overall, what a day and what a memory.  Special thanks to Lance for securing the tickets and to the guy in Pasadena from Craig’s list who sold the tickets.

Just for fun, here’s two articles from the local papers on the perspective of how the Giants did during the game.  Keep in the mind that their loss was the fourth straight, and they were just swept by the Padres.

SF Chronicle – http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/14/SP42171MNL.DTL

SJ Mercury – http://www.mercurynews.com/giantsheadlines/ci_12136182

(This one is great because it blames the Giant’s for not signing Hudson this off-season!)

Go Blue!