Captain Torre, I trust you know what to do with a broom

Way back when on an old blog of mine (it definitely wasn’t last year) the LA Dodgers swept a very important series and I referred to the naval tradition of submarines lashing a broom to their mast to signify that they have returned to port having defeated every enemy vessel they encountered. (I have to agree with a blogger who feels that a sub’s completion of their first sea trials isn’t the same thing defeating enemy vessels.) I wasn’t able to find a link to the old post of mine, but I did save the image I posted with that article so I could include it in this post. (Click to see the image full size, which will open in a new tab/window.)

While nobody died in the National League Division Series (NLCS) battles between the Dodgers and the Cardinals, the Dodgers the what probably nobody, including this writer, thought was possible, especially since the Cardinals so easily won the season series against the boys from the Ravine, regardless what stadium they played in. After taking both NLDS Game 1 and Game 2 at home, which wasn’t all that surprising, Dodgers skipper Joe Torre gave the ball to Vincente Padilla to start the game. Before the Red Birds could even come to bat Manny Ramirez plated Matt Kemp with an RBI double, and Mr. Walk-off, Andre Ethier, pretty much put the game away with a two-run jack to right field in the third. Only an RBI single by Albert Pujols in the 8th avoided the shutout, and a perfect game was avoided in the bottom of the first on a single by Ryan Ludwick. When all was said and done, the Dodgers won 5-1.

Why didn’t I post after the first two wins?

I didn’t blog the last two wins for two main reason. The first is that this blog is primarily a tech blog, and Dodgers baseball doesn’t really fit that classification, although I do post from time to time about what the Boys from Chavez Ravine do. But there’s also a very good reason I didn’t get to post about the wins, namely that I flat out didn’t have the time to write the posts. As I mentioned in passing twice before, I got an iriver E100 digital media player (DMP) as a belated birthday present from my mom and thanks to the wonderful open source app iriverter I am able to convert any video I can download to enjoy on my DMP. While I can enjoy some of the games on TBS, I end up missing some pretty sweet play so I either head over to the MLB.com Media Center page and use the Highlight links from the particular game or I go to the MLB.com Video Highlights page and catch the videos from there. The beauty of the Video Highlights page is that I am able to see not only highlights from a specific game, but also video content such as their FastCast of a day’s games, the Top 5 Plays from a specific day, as well as some content from the new MLB Network. On most occasions if I can see the video in my browser I can also snag the file in MP4 format and convert it to view on my E100, which makes a subway ride more enjoyable.

I had to say “on most occasions” because Friday I discovered a clip that I can see in my browser but for some unknown reason I’m unable to get it to download. If you saw the end of Game 2 of the NLDS, or at least heard about it, the Dodgers made an incredible comeback  with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to win the game. I was able to snag a video clip that includes Vin Scully on the Dodgers radio broadcast, as well as Mike Shannon on KTRS’s St. Louis radio broadcast and Dick Stockton on TBS, all calling the bottom of the ninth from Matt Holiday lost James Loney’s line drive in the lights all the way to Mark Loretta’s walk-off single. What I can’t seem to snag, even today, is the clip of just Scully calling the last five batters. I’d kill to be able to save that particular bit of multimedia to my hard drive, but for some reason the MP4 file isn’t coming up properly for saving off the MLB.com servers, so if anyone has a link that will help me snag this much desired MP4 please post it in the comments.

As it is, I was able to get 40 or so clips from the game, which took a good bit of time to download and then convert with iriverter. Game 1 of the NLDS only had a dozen clips I wanted to put on my E100, but last night’s game has another 40 clips (including postgame coverage) for me to see what I want to put on my DMP. Luckily I can snag the 38-second clip of Scully calling the final out and the Dodgers’ sweep of the 2009 NLDS.

What about the other teams still playing?

Yesterday’s NLDS Game 3 between the Rockies and Phillies was snowed out yesterday in Denver so it will have to be played tonight with the first pitch scheduled for 10:07 pm Eastern Time. That series is tied at a game a piece, but it won’t matter that much to the Dodgers who already know that there next game, Game 1 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS), will be on Thursday, with a start time to be announced. As with the NLDS, TBS will be carrying every game of the NLCS while the ALCS will head over to FOX. FOX will also be carrying the World Series when it starts on Wednesday, 28 October. You can see the entire postseason schedule on MLB.com.

Who would I like to see the Dodgers face in the NLCS? The Dodgers lost only four games out of 18 to the Rox, and against the Phillies they went 4-out-of-7, taking one series in May in Philly and splitting their series at home in June. Of course the Dodgers also met the Phillies in last year’s NLCS, with the Phillies beating the boys in Dodger Blue four games to one enroute to beating Tampa’s Rays four games to one to win the ‘08 World Series, and this past season doesn’t mean much of anything, let alone last year’s results, so I’m going to have to go with my gut on this one. I’m hoping for a Dodgers-Phillies NLCS, followed by a Freeway Series to start three days before All Hallow’s Eve. The rest of the country may not like an All-California Series, but I’d love to see the Dodgers beat the team that is so bad at geography that they doesn’t even know what city, let alone which county they play in (another item on my old blog that I’m not able to find archived to share).

It took a week, but they got it done

[Updated Monday 5 October to include the time for the first game of the Dodgers/Cardinals series and provide a link to the MLB.com site for this year's postseason play. -Peng]

A week ago I had the pleasure of writing that the Los Angeles Dodgers had clinched their place in the postseason. For the past week Dodger fans around the world have waited for one more win by the boys in Dodger Blue or one more loss by the guys from the mountains to be able to celebrate Joe Torre’s boys being the National League West Champions for the second year in a row.

The game went way past my bedtime last night so one of the first things I did this morning was to grab my cell phone and get the results from last night. Dodgers 5, Rockies Zip.

Of course that’s not all the good news Dodgers fans get this morning, as they also have home field advantage through the National League Division Series. While we know the schedule starts Wednesday in Chavez Ravine against the Cardinals, we don’t have times yet nor which network is carrying the games.

We do know that TBS will carry the last game of the regular season with the Dodgers trying to beat the NL Wild Card team one more time before the postseason kicks off. The coverage will begin at 4 PM Eastern Time.

Update 5 October: The first game will be on Wednesday, 7 October at 9:37pm Eastern Time on TBS. You can get info on all of his year’s postseason games on Major League Baseball’s newly refreshed WorldSeries.com site. Dodger fans will also want to make sure you check out the latest Inside Dodgertown video on the Dodgers Media Network. If you haven’t been to the DMN lately there are some great videos that you’re missing.

Last year when the Dodgers clinched the NL West title on the road I posted a video of what has to be one of the favorite songs, although I see now that the video has been removed from YouTube. I found an “official” version of the video and fixed that post, and in honor of the Boys from Chavez Ravine I’m going to post it here as well because the song is so fitting on this last morning of the 2009 regular season.

I look forward to having three more rounds of good news to post as the Dodgers hopefully will go all the way to be not only the NL West champs, or even the National League champions, but the winners of the 2009 World Series.

[UPDATED] Forget scheduling a tee time for next week

[Updated 5:05pm to reflect the final score of today's game. -Peng]
[Updated 28 Sep 7:50am because I realized the Magic Number graphic was wrong before yesterday's game started. -Peng]

After waiting for over a week, let alone all season, I found one of the nicest images on the LA Dodgers website I’ve ever seen.

Granted, it’s not clinching the division championship again (yet), but after last night’s win they have a magic number of two that bit of news could come by the end of tomorrow afternoon’s game against the Pirates. That is unless the boys from Chavez Ravine win this afternoon and a loss by the Rockies in their late afternoon game against the Cardinals (who clinched their division last night).

What about the local nine? The Red Sox are six games ahead of Texas in the Wild Card, but the Yanks have already locked up the AL East so the best the Sox can do for now is to be able to keep playing when postseason play begins on Wednesday, 7 October. Of course the Bombers aren’t making things easy for the Sox with wins Friday night and last night with a sweep very much a possibility in today’s finale.

Now if there were only some way to get two items the team is giving away in the final games of the regular season, this tee and the calendar that was shot during this video that will be given out on Fan Appreciation Day. Some days I really hate being stuck on the wrong coast.

Updated 5:05pm: I was all ready to update the magic number graphic as the Dodgers were getting ready to beat the Pirates 6-2 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. Unfortunately Ox Broxton didn’t quite have his A game today. After allowing one run to score before even the first out was recorded Ox filled up the bases with Pirates as he loaded up the bases with one out at the bottom of the ninth. Ox didn’t lose the game though. Lastings Milledge smacked a fly to Andre Ethier out in right field and after a fielding error the three Pirates all crossed home plate as Milledge settles for an RBI single. The final score: Pittsburgh 6, the Dodgers 5. (The official recap is being written as I write this update, but that link should get you a link to the recap as soon as it’s written. The link has been updated to get you directly to the game recap.)

The St. Louis/Colorado game is in progress, and as of the top of the 5th inning the score is tied at 3 all. Hopefully when I get back to my comp tomorrow I’ll be have some good news to share from the Rockies game.

Updated 28 September 7:50am: Last night I was hearing that the Dodgers’ magic number was wrong on this post, and after reading this morning’s coverage of yesterday’s loss in the LA Times I saw that my boys got a boost toward clinching yesterday morning. Which just makes yesterday’s loss even worse since the Cardinals ended up losing their game. At least the series against the Bucs still has one more game to play, so maybe we’ll be celebrating by the time I sit down to dinner.

[UPDATED] [OT] The Dodgers make history

Before I post the promised links, which will hopefully come this afternoon, I had to extend my congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers who have a broken modern day record with their 13th consecutive win at home with their 10-3 win over the Nationals from Washinton, D.C. (LA Times story)

As Ken Gurnick from MLB News points out the actual Major League  record is quite a way’s off at 21 wins, but last night’s win tops the former modern day record for consecutive at home wins to start a season, a mark that was last set by the Detroit Tigers with 12 consecutive at home wins to start the 1911 season.

Granted, the now 7-18 Nats own the worst record in baseball, and the Dodgers have yet to face a team with a winning record, but hopefully we can keep winning through the games in Philadelphia and New York (Mets) next week, as well as to the at home Interleague games against the Angels right over Memorial Day weekend.

Congrats to winning pitcher Clayton Kershaw and to the rest of the team. Hopefully we’ll have a number of other milestones to celebrate as we wind our way to October and the postseason.

---

Updated 2:30 pm: Alas, the news from Chavez Ravine isn’t all good today. It turns out that Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games due to a positive test for performance enhancing drugs. Manny says it was due to a medication a doctor gave him for a “personal health issue”, although I don’t quite believe him when he says he thought it was okay to take since it wasn’t a steroid. Sorry, Manny, at this level we not only play with sleeves and caps, you’re also responsible for knowing if a medication prescribed by a doctor is okay to take.

Somehow this doesn’t surprise me, though, especially since Manny has already shown me that we can’t take his statements at face value. After all, last year he was all about loving playing in LA this season but when it came time to sign on the dotted line he had his agent make things hard on the Parking Lot Attendant and the Dodgers. He’ll be eligible to play again on 3 July. Hopefully the Dodgers will show that we have a pretty damned good team without him for the next 50 games.

HOLY CRAP!!!

A lot of you guys, and girls, know that last night the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the Cubbies from Chitown, but I can finally celebrate it as I just watched the last out on the DVR, although probably not the way ‘Dre did. Of course the crowd went wild, and I had to immediately fire up the same tune played at the game last night, although I probably played a longer version. (Before they played another tune, which I’ll have to fire up next.)

Kuroda was excellent over his six and a third innings and Broxton shut the Cubbies down completely the last four outs. And with the bats from Furcal, Martin and Loney we got the lead and never let go. (They were so scared of Manny they intentionally walked him twice, and he still got a hit and a run.)

Last night’s win was the Dodgers’ first postseason series win since 1988 and their first sweep of a postseason series in 45 years. Unfortunately this also means that the Cubs will have to wait at least 101 years before winning another pennant. Sorry about that, Chicago. Had it been against anyone else other than the Dodgers I would have pulled for you. But now we get to sit back and wait to see who wins the Phillies-Brewers series.

As Joe Torre told the fans after the game, “Just don’t go away, we’ll be back next week. ‘Cause we still have eight more games to win.” Game 1 of the NLCS will be on Thursday, 9 October. If the Phillies win their series we’ll open in the City of Brotherly Love, but if the Brewers take it they’ll head to Chavez Ravine.

Dammit! I wish I could get to LA for them.

WE LOVE IT!

Around 2:30 yesterday afternoon, the quiet around Chavez Ravine was broken with a song that is always welcome in the neighborhood.

Even though the Dodgers lost 5-7 to the Padres to close out their season at home last night they’re still the NL West champs thanks to yesterday’s Cardinals drubbing of the Snakes 12-3.

The Dodger’s opponent for the NLDS will either be Phillies or the Cubs, depending on who wins the NL Wild Card race, with the Dodgers doing the traveling. Either way, the team isn’t done playing this season, and this fan is hoping they can play for several more weeks. Out of the four teams going into the ALDS, I’m leaning toward either the Angels or (I can’t believe I’m typing this) the Red Sox. I wouldn’t mind facing the Angels in a Freeway (World) Series because then hopefully we can settle who is Los Angeles’ true team. If it were the Sox and the Dodgers, then we can see if Bill Shakin’s column on Sunday was prophetic or not.

Either way, I love this game, and I love the fact that I don’t have to cheer for some other team in the NLDS.

They did it!

It’s not 100% official yet, but I need to run and grab a subway but I wanted to a quick note before I fly. The Cardinals have kicked Arizona’s tail all over Busch Stadium (12-3 with two one outs left in the game), so what this am was an almost fact is pretty much a done deal. The Los Angeles Dodgers will be the National League West Champion for 2008, for the first time in four years.

I’ll post more in the morning, especially after the Dodgers and the padres play one more game, but bring on the Gi’nts! The Dodgers are on their way to the NLDS! I LOVE LA!

ETA: And just as I’m about to publish it out three was made. The game is over and the Dodgers are your 2008 NL West Champs!

And now I really need to run.

If you thought three was a magic number…

Those of us old enough to remember “Schoolhouse Rock!” when it first aired may remember the little ditty “Three is a Magic Number” (big thanks to the brothers Kamenetzky over at the Blue Notes blog for the trip down memory lane), and yesterday it was the truth, with the Dodgers needing a combination of three wins/losses by Arizona to clinch the National League West title for the first time since 2004. Then the Cardinals were kind enough to beat the Snakes again to drop the number to 2, and by the time the Dodgers were done with their six-run 8th inning they safely had win #83 under their belts and were able to put a very nice graphic on their home page:

I know some of you may be thinking “big woop”, especially those who aren’t sports fans let alone Dodger fans, but this is the same Dodgers team who lost starter Jason Schmidt in April of last year, who eventually had shoulder surgery and still hasn’t gotten off the DL yet. The same Dodgers that signed Juan Pierre, the outfielder who can’t throw from centerfield to the infield, to a fat, five-year contract back in November of 2006 and ended up mostly benching him because the team had five outfielders, not counting FAJ and even before Manny arrived in southern California.

The season didn’t get much help when shortstop Rafael Furcal’s back put him on the DL in early May and threatened to keep him out of the game for the remainder of the season. Closer “Sammy” Saito joined Schmidt and Furcal on the DL in July with tightness in his right elbow to make things even worse.

But in July they got Casey Blake from the Indians and at the trading deadline the Dodgers were part of a three-team deal that rescued Manny Ramierz from the Boston media and fans that hated him (I’m still not sure how much of that may have been warranted but Manny has been saying he wanted a trade from Boston for at least a couple of years) and instituted Mannywood at Chavez Ravine, even if it’s only a three month rental. Not only does Manny raise the energy level for the entire team, he gets other batters better pitches to hit, even if Jeff Kent dismisses the benefit so much he disses Dodgers announcer Vin Scully (what a maroon, Kent, not Scully).

In last night’s 14-4 win Manny hit his 17th homer as a Dodger (he has 37 homers on the season) and even Nomar got a homer. In fact even Kent, who came off the DL on Saturday, got a pinch hit single and Furcal finally came off the DL to pinch hit in the 8th and play shortstop for an inning. Furcal struck out at the plate, but both he and Kent got warm welcomes when they were brought into the game. At the end of the game the Dodgers were assured a tie for the NL West title.

Arizona and St. Louis take the field at Busch Stadium today at 2:15pm (Eastern Time) so by the time the Dodgers start their last home game of the regular season at 7:10 pm (Pacific Time, 10:10pm Eastern Time) they may have already clinched the National League West title. Greg Maddux (7-13, 4.31 ERA) will get the ball against the Padres’ Jake Peavy (9-11, 2.77), and no matter how or when the Diamondbacks/Cardinals end it’s bound to be a crazy night at Chavez Ravine as they hope to secure their place in Octoberquest 2008 while still on their home diamond.

(I know this is more of a tech blog than a sports blog, and I do have other things waiting to be blogged, but I couldn’t help getting this good news posted first. -Peng)

Bill shakin goes Hollywood on the Dodgers

Being the baseball team in Los Angeles (the Angels don’t count since they play over in Orange County) it seems the Dodgers and Hollywood will forever be linked. But Bill Shaikin over at the LA Times decided to use the combination for this week’s Sunday Baseball Report column.

Our first instinct was to ban the usual Hollywood cliche. You know: The Dodgers’ season has been so wacky that even a Hollywood screenwriter could not have dreamed this up.

Dodgers announcer Vin Scully is always playing up the Hollywood moments the team has had, with Kirk Gibson’s home run and the back to back homers in September of ‘06, not to mention Nomar’s walk-off homer in the very same game or this year’s win over the Angels without a single hit.. But Shakin went down to Paramount Studio and spoke with producer/writer/baseball fan Scott Kaufer. Kaufer agrees with the Hollywood-esque nature of the Dodgers, but says this season is more like a television show than a movie.

“It was more episodic, fits and starts,” he said. “Up became down, down became up, like the story was meant to play out in 22 episodes.”

Starting with the firing of Grady Little and hiring of Joe Torre, which Kaufer calls “stunt casting” (“It’s the oldest TV trick in the book. If the show’s not working, you bring in a new face.”), he goes through the season as if it were a series, in fact a “buddy comedy” featuring owner Frank McCourt and GM Ned Coletti. And as with so many shows, there was the “jump the shark” player (Gary Bennett, who has trouble throwing the ball back to the pitcher, a problem a certain movie catcher also had). The Dodgers also have their own “Fonzie”, as well as a player who checks the script each week only to find out he has no lines (actually because he got hurt, but that could be Karma getting back at him for dissing Scully, although he’s being reactivated as a pinch hitter).

Shakin asks for a Hollywood ending for the season, and Kaufer is happy to oblige.

He envisions a dramatic circle, with the Dodgers facing the Boston Red Sox in the same place the teams played in March — at the Coliseum, after city officials uncover seismic deficiencies at Dodger Stadium and force McCourt to find an alternate location for the World Series.The World Series returns to Boston, and Game 7 extends into extra innings. With two out in the 13th, J.D. Drew drops a fly ball, just as he dropped the Dodgers.

That brings up Ramirez, who hits a towering home run, over the Green Monster, knocking out the lights in the Citgo sign in Kenmore Square. As he circles the bases, he blows kisses to the jeering Boston fans.

Shakin takes it from there and writes a scenario that this Boston-based Dodger fan can’t help but love.

The World Series returns to Boston, and Game 7 extends into extra innings. With two out in the 13th, J.D. Drew drops a fly ball, just as he dropped the Dodgers.

That brings up Ramirez, who hits a towering home run, over the Green Monster, knocking out the lights in the Citgo sign in Kenmore Square. As he circles the bases, he blows kisses to the jeering Boston fans.

But of course that’s not the final shot, which has a joke that I refuse to spoil. For that you’ll have to head over to the Times web site and read “The Dodgers get a script doctor”. But the best part is that with seven games left in the season the Dodgers are 3 1/2 games in front of the Diamondbacks with a magic number of five, all but guaranteeing they’ll continue to play once the calendar flips into October. (I’m not saying it’s a done deal, that would be tempting fate.) The Sox, however, are 2 1/2 games behind the Rays in the AL East with eight games left to play and a magic number of seven in their quest for the AL East title. Luckily they’re 6 1/2 games ahead of the Yankees in the race for the AL Wild Card with only a pair of games needed to clinch the title.

Vin Scully commits to 60th season of Dodger baseball

Picture courtesy Major League Baseball

Vin Scully, the voice of Dodger Baseball since 1950 and a member of both the Radio and Baseball Hall of Fame, recently decided to return for his 60th season of calling the play by play for Dodger games. His current contract expires at the end of this season, and he got permission from his wife, Sandra. As he told MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick,

“When you’re on the road as much as we are, it’s the loneliness of your wife that you consider,” Scully, 80, said. “But she said, ‘It’s been such a part of my life for so long, you might as well do it if you want to do it.’ And I still enjoy it. I still feel like I’m happy to be here, I still get goosebumps with an exciting play. So, I told Frank [McCourt, club chairman] that I’ll try it for another year.”

Among the highlights of his career include

• Sandy Koufax’s four no-hitters
• Kirk Gibson’s 1988 World Series home run
• Don Larsen’s Perfect Game in the 1956 World Series
• Dodger World Championships in 1955, ‘59, ‘63, ‘65, ‘81 and ‘88

It hasn’t all been highlights, and just this season Jeff Kent said Scully “talks to much” for his comments that Kent is getting better pitches to hit ahead of new Dodger Manny Rodriguez. I was really disappointed because I thought Kent had more class than that.

Scully will continue to call all Dodger home games as well as road games as far east as Colorado, and I’m glad we have at least one more season to enjoy his calls. Of course as a Dodger fan I hope we can give him one, or even two, more World Series to call. Even if the Dodgers don’t win it all, just having Vin Scully call the games will make losses easier to take.

Thanks for sharing him with us one more time, Sandra. I’m sure the entire Dodgers team, including the people working in the front office and and folks who clean the stadium, will do all they can to make it worth your loss. No matter what Jeff Kent says about your husband.