Off to a Great Start!

March 29, 2024 //
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The Opening Day font reminds me of either Disneyland or a graveyard. Weird.

I swear, the new graphics for this season of Dodger baseball make me think management believes the more fonts you use, the more money you’ll make! Holy cow! Not only does every single announcement have, like, 6 different fonts, but the announcement cards for the players use nonstop changing fonts for their numbers. Some of the fonts look like bubblegum, others like they belong on a tombstone. It’s a real mishmosh.

What was not convoluted on this glorious Opening Day was the team’s resolve to kick some Cardinal ass! After Mookie Betts walked, Shohei Ohtani did what he’s getting the big bucks for: he doubled to right field and got the (almost) full house rocking! Unfortunately, our overly cautious third-base coach, Dino Ebel, held Mookie at 3rd (he could easily have scored), and Shohei got doubled up on that base, so he was out. But then Freddie Freeman knocked in Mookie with a beautiful seeing-eye single up the middle, and there was no looking back! The Dodgers took their home opener, 7-1.

MY SCORECARDS
Game 3: LAD 7-STL 1

What most impressed me, however, was the great pitching we got from starter Tyler Glasnow (an alum of my alma mater, Hart High School) and reliever Ryan Yarbrough, who got a 3-inning save after he and Glasnow kept all the Cardinals except Paul (“I Hate L.A.”) Goldschmidt from getting any hits at all.

It was just a great team effort all the way around, and if it doesn’t start raining soon, we’ll be back at it tonight. A great start to the season!

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Tomorrow Is Opening Day

March 27, 2024 //
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The view from our new seats in Top Deck 9. It was not my choice to move; the Dodgers management just likes to mess with those of us in the real fans’ section!

We open at home against the St. Louis Cardinals tomorrow at 1:10 p.m.

I could not sleep last night, I was fretting so much about getting to the game on time tomorrow, walking up to the stadium, what I would take to eat, whether I would make it in time for the first pitch. (This year, I am truly going to try to take score at every game I attend.)

Thus far, since Korea, the Dodgers have shown a somewhat lackluster level of energy. They lost that 2nd game — a nearly 4-hour slugfest — to the Padres in Seoul (Game 2: SD 15-LAD 11). I had my DVR set to record for 3½ hours, so I didn’t see the final innings! But I did see the 1st, when our new ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto put the game out of reach by giving up 5 runs almost immediately.

The freeway series was equally underwhelming. We won the first game, but lost the second two. My husband and I went to the games at Dodger Stadium, and it was too cold out there to sit and watch our Boys in Blue play with the enthusiasm of teenagers in detention. I hope they were just saving their strength for tomorrow.

I’m looking forward to another great season! We have a lineup to die for, but unfortunately, our pitching is thus far nothing to write home about. If we don’t have more effective arms on the mound, we might as well not hope for any trophies, just a certificate of participation and a fun time at the ballpark.

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Spring Forward!

March 20, 2024 //
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A new mural is being created on First Street in Little Tokyo celebrating Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers’ history of welcoming Japanese players over the years.

Our first game of 2024, against the San Diego Padres, started this morning at 3:05 A.M. in Seoul, South Korea. I got up early to watch it … but not that early. At 6, I woke up, didn’t look at my phone (didn’t want to spoil the fun), and started watching the game that I had DVRed. (It’s great to be able to speed through those stupid Rotolo Chevrolet commercials in which Orel Hershiser so debases himself.)

Commendable game all around! Tyler Glasnow (an alumnus of my own Hart High School!) pitched 5 innings, allowing 2 runs and left without a decision, and then the bullpen came through like gangbusters! Daniel Hudson got the win after we exploded for 4 runs in the 8th. (That’s immediately after I put on my lucky earrings! I know, I know, the action had happened three hours earlier, but I still think my earrings make a difference.) Then Evan Phillips came through with a 1-2-3 inning for his first save of the year. Closer material, for sure.

Everyone in the lineup got on base or notched an RBI, either with a hit, a walk (4 pitch-clock violations by Padre pitching), a sac fly or by scorching one literally through the first baseman’s glove (an error). Never seen that before!

All in all, the perfect way to start the spring!

Game 1: LAD 5 – SD 2

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