My wife and I went to the Dodgers embarrasing display at home last night.  Here’s the play-by-play.  Traffic into L.A. stunk, which I assume was due to it being Friday night.  The last game we went to was on a Tuesday and traffic was better.  There weren’t any problems a little patience couldn’t handle.  We were parked on the other side of the stadium from our seats, naturally.  No complaints there, that is probably due to my complete ignorance concerning the 10 million gates at Dodger Stadium and how to reach them.  I’m assuming there is only one entrance gate? That’s probably a bad assumption, but I have no clue.

Once inside the stadium, we found our seats, 2nd row from the very top of the 3rd tier(reserve level).  They were cheap.  The view was ok, I could still tell what was going on at the plate. Although my wife, who is blind, needed binoculars.  No matter, she spent the entire game taking pictures of Andre Ethier in the dugout, and reporting to me his activities.  I purchased the venerable Dodger Dog, of course.

Not one, but TWO guys proposed to their girlfriends on the jumbotron during the game.  I felt bad for the second chick, because the guy didn’t bail out after his idea was stolen by the first guy.  It doesn’t have much punch when someone else just proposed the exact same way, IN FRONT OF YOU, 20 minutes ago.

The stadium was pretty packed.  As is typical in L.A., half the crowd didn’t show up until the third inning, and thanks to a great showing by the Dodgers, half the crowd had left by the 7th.  But excuse me, was I at Dodgers Stadium, or the big A?  Because I thought REAL fans went to Dodger games.  This is type of thing you expect from flaky Orange County Angels fans.  I was vocal with my disappointment, but no one cared.

As is customary at Dodger games, those wearing the jerseys of the opposing team were booed and jeered ruthlessly.  If you’re one of maybe 100 people wearing a Giants shirt, of all things, amid a sea of 50,000 blue faces, you either love attention, danger, or both.  All the Giants fans in our section were booed and pelted with popcorn until a couple of the drunken defenders of Dodgerdom were booted by the evil stadium security forces.  Thusly the treacherous Giants fans were actually allowed to wallow in victory in our home.

Enough atmosphere, on to the game!  Maddux stunk, the Dodgers offense stunk, the Dodgers defense stunk, Joe Torre stunk, and the Dodgers lost 7-1.  A loss is bad enough, but Joe Torre really chapped my hide.  They’re DOWN 7-0 going into the 8th, and he pulls half the starters.  THEY GAVE UP!  Unbelievable.  Man, I didn’t pay hardly anything for those seats, but I bother to drive like 60 miles through an hour and a half of traffic, and they give up?  That burns. I was REALLY unhappy about that decision.  On top of that Pablo Ozuna hit a homer to score the Dodgers only run, just to rub it in.  For those not familiar with the Dodgers, Pablo Ozuna is the backup 2nd baseman for the Dodgers.  Not bad when you think of it that way.  However, consider that the starting 2nd baseman, Blake DeWitt, is actually the backup 2nd baseman, and former 4th-string 3rd baseman, and you get an idea of how ridiculous it was that this guy is even on the field when they’re LOSING the game during a pennant run.  I literally said to my wife “If Pablo Ozuna scores the only run of this game, I’m going to lose it”.  About a minute later, he hits a homer.  I never imagined I would ever complain about a Dodger home run, but there you have it.

Speaking of complaints.  I was reading some articles about the Dodgers. Ken Gurnick with mlb.com reports the following:

“When the inning finally ended, the sellout crowd booed its first-place
team off the field, but it was unclear whether the target was the
future Hall of Fame left fielder or the future Hall of Fame pitcher or
just normal bitterness when the Giants are in sight.”

I can say definitively, we were booing Greg Maddux for getting shelled, and Joe Torre for leaving him in long enough to give up 7 runs.  I’ve hated that acquisition since they announced it, and I know he’s played a season with L.A. before, but much like Jeff Kent, this guy is not a Dodger, and doesn’t belong on the team.  He’s a Brave, we hate the Braves.  In addition, I don’t get Joe Torre sometimes.  I know he has certain reasons for doing things, but the fans pay your salary buddy, we should be your number one concern.  You don’t leave stupid Maddux in to give up 7 runs, giving us no chance at a victory, and then twist the knife by pulling Blake and Ramirez after the 7th when you’re down by 7 runs.  Where was the white flag flying over the home team dugout?  That’s messed up.  I sat through 2 innings of subs, and didn’t get out of there until after 11pm, and I had to PAY for the experience.  Enjoy your millions, Joe!