Archives for posts with tag: Billie Joe Armstrong
Juan Uribe usually swings at every pitch as if his family's lives depend on it.

Juan Uribe usually swings at every pitch as if his family’s lives depend on it.

Here are five words I never thought I would say: How about that Juan Uribe?

He’s never been my favorite player, mainly because his practice in the past with the Dodgers has been to swing wildly at every pitch he sees and make contact only occasionally. But in the Thursday closer of the team’s series in New York, the crazy third baseman we got from the Giants made spectacular plays, walked not once, not twice, but three times, and knocked in a run in the top of the ninth that turned out to be the game winner. Wow!

Today’s a busy day for me and my over-achieving family. We have Steve’s art opening, the first night of the United Film Festival (though “Young Turks” doesn’t play until Monday) and Zach’s Honors Convocation (grad student of the year in film and television production) all happening at once. So I can’t write more than this about the Dodgers: Nice turnaround in New York! Can’t wait to catch the fireworks tonight! Go Dodgers!

Matt Kemp's disputed  home run was the high point for the Dodgers.

Matt Kemp’s disputed home run was the high point for the Dodgers.

One New York usher feels pretty stupid right about now. Not only didn’t he catch Matt Kemp’s first homer of the year, which literally landed in his lap, he accidentally deflected it back onto the field, so the umpires had to use instant replay to realize it was a home run. It looked like the hapless guy got reamed pretty good by security. And Matt just waited on third, smiling like he had just won the game. The two-run blast did, after all, give the Dodgers a 3-2 lead over the Mets in the sixth inning.

Unfortunately, Ted Lilly could only go five innings in his first game of the season. He did great, but the Dodgers needed to use five of their iffy relievers, and Brandon League is no one you want to count on in a one-run game. He let David Wright tie it up in the bottom of the ninth, then Josh Wall (Do you know the way to Albuquerque?) loaded the bases and served up a walk-off grand slam to pinch hitter Jordany Valdespin.

So, basically, it was a good news-terrible news kind of thing. Mattie got his first homer of the season (About time!), but so did Valdespin, and his was much much grander!

Dodgers second baseman Mark Ellis gets high-fives at the plate after a three-run homer in the seventh inning Tuesday in New York.

Dodger second baseman Mark Ellis gets high-fives at the plate after a three-run homer in the seventh inning Tuesday in New York, his second round-tripper of the game.

A couple of nights ago, my husband said to me, “You know who I really like as a baseball player? Mark Ellis. He works hard, he’s a no-nonsense, reliable player. I like that.” Now, thanks to Ellis’ power hitting, the Dodgers are inching their way back toward .500 tonight.

The second baseman hit two home runs — the first was the 100th of his career — and had 10 total bases as he went four-for-five to lead my favorite team to a second win in a row, 7-2, over the Mets.

With 12 hits — five for extra bases — everybody, except Carl Crawford, was hitting tonight, and Crawford can have one day without a hit, since he’s been carrying the Dodgers offensively this whole season so far.

Jeez, I wish they could play every day like they have the past two games! It’s so much more fun to watch them win and play well than to see them lose and then find yourself complaining about something you have no control over. Or worse to have to defend your love of a team that hasn’t won a championship in 25 years.

But hey, at least we’re not Cubs fans! Am I right? Huh? Yeah!