Archives for posts with tag: Sports

la-1487289154-y0rw70m4ft-snap-photoIt’s déjà vu all over again.

I remember the last time we picked up a relief pitcher with a crazy beard from San Francisco. If I remember correctly, it didn’t end well. I have never been so ashamed to wear my “00 Wilson” T-shirt.

Let’s hope the new guy, Sergio Romo, will be more effective than his predecessor.

Now, he claims to be a lifelong Dodgers fan, being from SoCal and all. But I don’t know how you play for the Giants if you’re True Blue. It would be like me going to work at the White House of one who will not be named, just because the job carried a hefty paycheck. I would feel like a whore.

I know, I know, baseball players go where the money is, part of the game. But some instinct impels me to not trust him. Although, he recently told the L.A. Times about how, when the Giants came to L.A., his friends and family all showed up at Dodger Stadium wearing the appropriate colors for a night at the Ravine. His Giant bosses were less than thrilled.

“It didn’t really fly well,” he said. “But now they get to bring that blue and white out. They can bring it out the closet now.”

Good for them, let’s hope he makes them proud!

yasiel-puig-mlb-san-francisco-giants-los-angeles-dodgers

I know how you feel, Yasiel.

You’re thinking, “If only we had more than one starting pitcher. If only we didn’t commit a ton of errors. If only I had gotten one clutch hit in the postseason.” (That one’s not just for you, but for so many of your teammates.)

If only, if only, if only.

Actually, the Dodgers did a lot better than they should have this year, given all the injuries and the misplaced investments in reclamation projects. They needed more than just Clayton Kershaw on the mound. They needed at least ONE other decent starter. (Sorry, Rich Hill. You had a nice game at the end there, but reliable you were not.)

It was a miracle they got as far as they did, to be honest with you. Dave Roberts did an amazing job managing a team with gumption and guts. Through unprecedented use of the disabled list, they got lucky a ton of times, and they beat the Giants, which is always satisfying.

But when you find yourself seriously wishing that Kershaw could start every single game, there isn’t much hope of going all the way.

And at the end, when Kershaw needed it most, the team didn’t pull together as it had so many times before. Everything fell apart. There were a few bad calls, but the final wound was self-inflicted. And the Cubs had an actual rotation and hitters who seemed to want it more.

I thought for a little while that this would be the season I got to use my World Series tickets.

Oh, well. Maybe next year. (If Andrew Friedman gets his head out of his Moneyball ass and gets some real aces to back up Kersh!)

Now, GO INDIANS!!!

win-for-vin

Would you believe a home run? The Dodgers have clinched the division and will celebrate on schedule.

Vin Scully, like many of us in the stadium yesterday, had been watching the other game (Giants 3, Padres 4 in the top of the 9th) as Dodger second-baseman Charlie Culberson came to the plate. There were two outs, and his team was tied with the Rockies 3-3 in the bottom of the 10th. We were bracing to go to the 11th and to clinch the National League West championship via San Francisco’s demise.

“Culberson doesn’t have any homers,” my husband lamented. “It’s time for him to get his first.”

BAM! Vin Scully got to report one last miracle in Chavez Ravine before hanging up his microphone and heading home.

For me, it was better than Kirk Gibson’s home run simply because I was there to see it with my own eyes.

I’ve witnessed many amazing moments at Dodger Stadium — Fernando’s no-hitter, Manny’s bobblehead slam, Steve Finley’s clinching homer — but they came mostly from players who were well-known to be capable of such big contributions.

No one expected anything like this from Culberson, who practically danced from third to his waiting teammates at home plate. It was a beautiful, joyful and totally surprising turn of events.

When Kershaw was injured, a postseason berth looked like a lost cause. Luckily, this scrappy team didn’t see what so many of the rest of us saw.

To a man, they came through when needed. The unlikeliest of heroes emerged game after game. With the steady leadership of manager Dave Roberts, the veterans — Adrián González, Chase Utley, Howie Kendrick and A.J. Ellis (now gone but never forgotten) — and the rest of a roster made from spare parts came together to make history.

This is a team in the truest sense of the word.