Dodgers on The Price is Right - Amber Matsumoto/Dodgers

The Dodgers showed up on the Price Is Right this last week.  My grandpa watches that show every single day, so I had to check out the action.  It took me a little bit to find it, but I was finally successful. Here’s the story from the Dodgers website too.

Below is the video (my apologies for the commercial at the start), but first let me say that the guys shouldn’t quit their day jobs.  They are good ballplayers…but definitely awkward on camera.  Delwyn Young has the enthusiasm, but almost too much.  Russell Martin cracked me up.  The guy is a great catcher, but I don’t think he took his hands out of his pocket both times he was on camera.  He has that look like…”I have to stay cool, but this is really embarassing…”  I think James Loney had that same look…but he always has funny looks in his pictures anyway.  Mark Loretta actually looked fairly comfortable.  I wonder if he has a broadcast career ahead of him.

So when I first heard about them having the showcase showdown, I thought the price was $31,000.  Ends up it was $38,000, so the other guy would have won anyway.  It was a cool prize.  I would have gladly taken the press box, the front row seats, the Camelback ranch experience and the car.  They never say which Dodger legend will visit you in the press box, but I wonder if it’s like Vin Sculley, Tommy Lasorda or Fernando Valenzuela.  Just to be down on the field for batting practice would be cool.

Either way – all for naught.  Joel didn’t win the prize and the Dodgers don’t have to donate it.  I wonder what that would go for if they put it on Ebay.  I’d bid on it.

Randy Wolf (The New Dodgers Ace) from Dodgers.com

So the Dodgers played the Giants today in Arizona.  It was the first Dodgers/Giants “Regular Spring Training” game as part of the cactus league.  In the spirit of David Letterman, here are the top 10 things I learned:

10.  Man it’s good to have baseball again.  It’s been too long thinking about Manny (even though he came up again and again in the game) and not listening to the crack of the bat.

9.  Who’s playing center field now?  I listened to Jon MIller (Giant’s radio station) and even he had trouble naming all the new players switching in and out of the game.  Got to love spring training where most of the names are new and you never know who just subbed in.

8.  Jon Miller interviewed Henry Schulman (Writer for the San Francisco Chronicle) during the broadcast and I liked what he had to say.  He was talking about the rivalry and that even though this was a nothing game that the fans still get into it.  He was saying that he could really see it in the players too that there was a greater energy going into the game.  There is something deeper to this rivalry, and I hope it never leaves.  I really like that the players get into it too.

7.  The Dodgers can finally hit Sergio Romo.  (See previous post)  They lit him up today.

6.  Delwyn Young needs to take more fly balls.

5.  Jonathan Broxton still has me worried as a closer…unless they just sit him when he plays the Giants.  They just continue to light him up.  He got out of the inning, but not without a run, and not without striking fear as to how bad the Giants may beat him later this year.

4.  Randy Wolf may be well worth his asking price.  Who knew he could become the ace!?

3.  Russell Martin is still a stud.  Here’s hoping he can hit the second half, but he is definitely still my current favorite.

2.  Never heard of Valentino Pascucci before today, but I hope we keep hearing about him.  He launched a homerun, and he has the coolest name of any Dodger in years.

1.  The Dodgers are still better than the Giants and proved it by the final score.  Ahh, I love living in this area when the Dodgers are obviously better and every Giants fan knows it.

Too bad it isn’t a 3 game series…