We got to the game early in hopes of getting a baseball signed, and Joe Saunders kindly assented.  The interaction between the fans and the players was a pretty good show, like this one between Wood and a fan.

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Weaver came over to the rail and signed stuff for people for about 10 minutes before the game.  There was a guy waving a framed photo of Nick that he was trying to get every Angel to sign.  It looked like he had a lot of signatures by the time he started waving it at Weav while he was signing caps and balls for the kids.  There weren't a lot of kids at the game yet, so he may have managed to get most of them. 

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The owner of the pink hat sat beside me.  She was very cute and there with a date, so I didn't get her picture.

I regret to say that I couldn't catch the interaction between Napoli and two very attractive non-cougars (they looked about 25) who had had a little bit of  work done (amusing understatement) which amused him and the rest of the dugout; he made eye contact with the ladies, grinned and disappeared, and then one by one the entire dugout peeked out and cracked up. Naps kept popping back up for another look, grinning like mad. At one point there was the funniest combination of guilt and enjoyment on his face that made several people laugh at him and shout, "Shame on you."  I don't think he heard.  The older lady in front of us got a text message from her husband asking if the girls were in her section so if you saw the game you saw these girls.  The guy behind me, old enough to be their grandpa, described them as HOT.  My camera is big and has a big lens, so it's hard to be sneaky. 

Rivera checking out the ladies. 

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I  spared you the front view of several cougars, two of  whom looked good from a distance but when they sat right in our section they were scary, skanky females. There might not be enough beer in the world.

Napoli is Not Interested.

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 Lackey pitching to the second batter:

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The third inning was the most interesting.  

Quinlan on third, waiting for K-Mo to hit a home run.  Terry Evans had already scored on a wild pitch by Millwood.

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Which he did.

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Kendry's home run drove in Quinlan, Vladdy's up to bat. 

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After the third inning it was kind of quiet, except for Trevor Bell's adventure with the broken bat.

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Gary Matthews jr. started tossing candy or bubble gum to the kids around the 7th inning, and the kid in front of us (about 10) had collected two foul balls.  Greedy little sucker tried to muscle his way in front of the younger kids to get more.  His dad did not discourage him, although he did accuse me of being a school principal after I confiscated the second beach ball. (I got tired of getting whacked on the back of my head.)  The crowd booed me, but they didn't send any more my way.  I acknowledged them by tipping my cap.  

After the game we were treated to the Army parachute jump.

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Love the pirate flag.

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 Then we sat through the rally, parts of which were pretty good but the final impression was that it was a mediocre party.  They had Bobby Grich and Clyde Wright, but no Timmy Salmon.  Wright was funny but every time the Red Sox were mentioned the booing from the stands was so loud and long that we missed a lot of the interviews.  

These guys all clean up really nice, and I wish I had a decent picture of Mike Butcher and Gary Matthews, jr because they looked very sharp in their suits.  

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We got to see that incredible set of stats again:

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Izzy and Kendry (I think).

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Vladdy waving at the crowd.

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I was on the wrong side of the field when the team was leaving, so I had to shoot the video screen to get the rookies and I didn't get them all.  I need some help identifying them.

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For more photos, click on the link below:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowwhite/sets/72157622501527188/

Bill Shaikin's article in the Los Angeles Times tomorrow quotes  Oliver:  "I'm leaning more toward playing than retiring," Oliver said. "We'll make a decision in the off-season, hopefully after we win the World Series."

The article also mentions that we'll have to pay him a bit more for next year if he does agree to stay.  

Read about it here. 

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-angels-fyi27-2009aug27,0,1716532.story

Recently in Jerry Crowe's column in the Los Angeles Times he has mentioned several baseball-themed songs. Some are well-known such as Fogerty's "Centerfield", Sinatra's "There Used to Be a Ballpark",  and Cashman's "Willie, Mickey & the Duke" (Talkin' Baseball).  This inspired me to dig around and find some of these and other baseball songs.

I found a Detroit-themed version of the last one on YouTube:

DETROIT TIGERS Talkin' Baseball Tiger Stadium (via FieldingFowler)

 

 

Another song mentioned was one I'd never heard of, Dave Frishberg's "Van Lingle Mungo":

Sue Raney---Van Lingle Mungo (via Dandelatorre)

 

 

And then Steve Goodman's "A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request", which is great and mentions our favorite team as part of the long-suffering fan's eternal reward:

Steve Goodman: A Dying Cubs Fan's Last Request (via cubbymark)

 

 

No mention was made of Danny Kaye's recording of "The Dodger Song", a favorite from my childhood, and it's just too bad there isn't a video of him performing it but I did find a recording accompanying a mildly amusing Lego version:

The Dodgers Song! (via fuzzylogic1025)

 

 

Understandably, there was no mention of Kenny Rogers' schmaltzy song, "The Greatest", based on a cute joke your minister might use during a sermon,  but I liked this video that utilized it very nicely:

 

Kenny Rogers Baseball Song - "The Greatest" (via GinoEast)

 

 

There is this gem about Willie Mays:

Treniers - Say Hey (Willie Mays Song) (via Nocaro)

 

 

And I think this one is my favorite. It proves that there's another thing that umps can't do properly.  Well, some of them:

The Baseball Song - Matt Wessel (CFL 2007) (via MattWesselMusic)

 

Train's "Calling All Angels"  seems to work for now, but I think we need a song of our own, one just for us.  

Fairly good fan tribute to 2002, here:

  

Calling All Angels (via sportfan48)

I still get a bit teary when I hear this song, because of Nick. 

 

P.S. Thanks to Jerry Crowe's column in today's Los Angeles Times I ran across the following video.  I'm not sure if this is old news, but watch for the guy in the green jacket.  I think we all know him:

Baseball Boogie (via choorel)

 

P.P.S.  Thanks to Higz

Ultramagnetic MC's - Saga Of Dandy, The Devil, And Day Remix (via MCBucky4)

 

Here's a version of "Centerfield" made for an English class project:

Centerfield - John Fogerty - Music Video (via MyHomemadeVids)

I spent the last two weeks on the jury of a gang/drug murder and we reached a verdict yesterday.  

The trial took us pretty far into gang culture just so we could understand the case because most of us have never come this close to it before.  I think there is a tendency in all of us to look away because this is Not Our Problem, and if we are forced to look, we think, "Thank God I don't live there." 

We were forced to look and forced to think about what it means to live among gangs.

 We learned the names of several affiliated gangs in Santa Ana and their "enemies", how they dress, how they handle guns, the culture of "Traditional Mexican street gangs" as opposed to all the other types of gangs, including  biker gangs and skinheads, and we had quick course in local gang graffiti.  We found out that the characters "13" or "XIII" or "X3"  represent an affiliation with the Mexican Mafia, that the Santa Ana Lopers consider the EastSiders their enemies, and that Lopers Minnie Street is a sub-set of the Lopers gang.  I find that I can now read some gang graffiti.  Mr opiejeanne doesn't know whether he finds that alarming or amusing. 

This immersion into gang culture was depressing and I feel like I'm recovering from a really nasty case of the flu.There was so much viciousness described, so many murders and shootings and knifings, so many different drug dealers operating on top of each other, that it was like being in an airless place, underwater, suffocating, and this was only a very small taste of the despair experienced by the ordinary people who live in gang neighborhoods, the ones who are not a part of  gang culture.   During deliberations, one of the jurors asked why they didn't just move away; she was simply bewildered that anyone would stay.  Another juror who grew up in the area and in similar poverty explained very gently why moving away from the problem isn't that simple, and not just because of money. 

This case was difficult because there was no forensic evidence that put the gun in the defendant's hand; there was enough evidence to put him at the scene at the right time, no doubt about it, and we had witnesses who named him as one of two shooters.  We had to decide if we believed the witnesses and that proved difficult.

We looked at photographs of the scene, pictures of the victim taken less than an hour after death, pictures of his tattoos and wounds.  He looked a little surprised in the photo that showed his face.  The photos did not shock me at first, probably because there was almost no blood; my husband thought it was because I've been desensitized by movies and tv. There really was very little blood, even on the victim's clothing.

We watched one witness for the prosecution refuse to testify and saw another one nearly collapsing from terror after her testimony.  I have no doubt that the one who refused to testify will be dead within the next six months because the tape of his statement was played in court for us. We saw the families of the victim and defendant weeping during testimony, and we endured the glares of several young men in the gallery who may have been from either family.  I felt sympathy for both families, and I felt sorry for the jury for having to even hear what we heard.  

It was so tough to do what we had to do, that when we left on Friday evening everyone was angry with someone else on the jury, and I was mad at nearly all of them.  I had a margarita with dinner, something I rarely do and never when I'm upset.  It was a good thing that we had the weekend to really think it over because it gave us a chance to work through the most troubling bits of  testimony.  We all wished for some piece of evidence on one side or the other that would make it clear-cut, either an iron-clad alibi so we could find him not guilty or something from forensics that was so solid that we could find him guilty, and we just didn't have that luxury; instead, we had to decide who was credible and what parts of their testimony we believed.

In the end we found the defendant guilty of 1st degree murder, guilty of the enhanced charges of "street terrorism" and "use of a firearm", but it was really hard on all of us. No one took this lightly, not even the most hardline among us. The defendant is now 19, 17 at the time of the crime, and there was ample evidence that his family had tried to keep him out of trouble.   The shooting took place on New Year's eve and it grew out of an argument that escalated into a fist-fight,  cheered on by the rest of the gang.  

I got a little teary-eyed when we finished deliberating yesterday so I went and washed my face; I didn't want anyone to notice, so I don't know if I was the only one.  Our identities have been sealed for now, but we will have to petition at some point in the not-too-distant future to keep them sealed; my kids are urging me to do so. 

And what, you may ask, does all of this have to do with baseball in general, or the Angels in particular?

Continue reading this post »

“Yes, I suck.” LINK to STORY

Guillen carries a .243 average into today’s doubleheader against the Los Angeles Angels at Kauffman Stadium. He also had just nine homers and 37 RBIs in 76 games.

Just last week I was wondering where our old friend Jose Guillen was playing this year but was too lazy to look it up. I ran across this article this morning when I was checking the Kansas City Star's Sports section for a report on today's games.

WE WERE TOURISTS:

I caught a plane in Long Beach on Sunday, met cousin #1 in Sacramento and we headed East on I-80.  

The Nevada desert is surprisingly green right now, and did not resemble the surface of the moon as it has every other time I've crossed it.  We spent the first night in lovely Elko, Nevada, and arrived in Salt Lake the next morning around 10 where we met up with her sister, cousin #2.  Cousin #2 had arranged for us to stay at Little America (nice hotel!), just up the road from Spring Mobile Park.  

We had lunch and then we killed time until the Bees game by visiting Beehive House and annoying the guides by asking how many children Brigham Young had.  The answer of 57 made even the Mormon faithful gasp and giggle a little, imagining what that must have been like.   

The guides were two very nice young women on their mission and we tried not to be too annoying.  We did suggest that they read what Mark Twain said about his visit to Salt Lake City, since they kept bringing it up during the tour.  I mentioned the single whistle he brought for the 57 children to share and they laughed. 

Below: our guides and a portrait of the patriarch.

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THE PARK:

After the tour we retired to the ballpark to watch the Bees and the Tacoma Rainiers. It was still 90 degrees at game time, but we were in the shade and not too uncomfortable.  

Below: The Bee tries to warm up the crowd while the visiting team droops in the dugout.   

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Home plate is 4229 feet above sea level.  The right field wall is 315 feet from home plate, the left field wall is 345, and the center field wall is 420 feet away.  The park has picnic areas just above the right and left field fences so families can sit on the grass and watch the game, and there's a little train the runs along through that area.   The batter's eye is a slightly transparent gray screen.  You can see what's behind it but only dimly.  There is a big video screen in the outfield, something I did not expect in a minor league park but there's a lot of advertising money in Salt Lake.

If you want to sit behind home plate I recommend getting seats in the Home Plate or Box seats sections, just somewhere farther back than the Diamond seats.  We were in row 4, which is really the second row of seats and it was a bit too close and definitely too low.  There were a couple of foul balls that went nearly  straight up and then came down in our area, and they were really hard to track.  

Public parking is limited but there is a trolley that runs from downtown to the park.   I wanted to take the trolley but my cousins refused, proof that they are now officially Old.   For $5 we parked in the lot of an adjacent business.

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Above: The one and only, Brandon Wood!!!1!ZOMGPONIES! When I saw him I felt as if I was about to have a case of the fantods but my cousins gave me some water and said it was just the heat.  They are NOT TBF (True Baseball Fans). 

 

THE GAME:

We did not see any home runs that night but we did see a good game of baseball. The starting lineup had some familiar names on it such as Sean Rodriguez, Brandon Wood, Rafael Rodriguez, and Bobby Wilson.  Some of the others on both teams sound familiar to me.  I bought a Willits shirt just to wear to this game, but didn't wear it because he was called up the day I left.  

The Tacoma Rainiers lineup:

Jerry Owens, cf

Prentice Redman, rf

Jeff Clement, dh

Chris Shelton, 3b

Mike Carp, 1b

Adam Moore, c

Bryan La Hair, lf

Erick Monzon, ss

Callix Crabbe, 2b

 

 Brad Nelson came in to pinch hit for Monzon in the top of the 9th.

Their pitchers were Doug Fister, Doug Stark and Justin Thomas.  Fister went 5 innings and his replacement, Stark, had gotten one out in the bottom of the 6th when he was struck on the outside of the upper thigh by a broken bat on a single by Brad Coon.  He was replaced by Thomas.  I haven't been able to find out how badly Stark was hurt, but he couldn't walk off the field.

The Tacoma Rainiers had 11 hits including doubles by Bryan La Hair, Adam Moore, and Mike Carp. 

 

The lineup for the Bees:

Brad Coon, cf

Nate Sutton, dh

Terry Evans, rf

Sean Rodriguez, 2b

Brandon Wood, 3b

Bobby Wilson, c

Ben Johnson, 1b

Adam Pavkovich, lf

Gary Patchett, ss

Brad Salmon was the starting pitcher, followed by Mike McDonald, Rafael Rodriguez, Jeremy Hill, Daniel Davidson, and Robert Mosebach.  The last three pitched only in the 9th, each getting a single out.  The five relievers combined threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings.

For the Bees, Terry Evans, rf, hit a triple and Nate Sutton, dh, had a double, and the rest of the team had lots of singles for a total of 14 hits.  Sutton's BA is an astronomical .462, and in his 4 at bats he had 3 hits, 1 run, and 2 RBIs.  There are three pitchers with the last name of Rodriguez on the Bees and we saw Rafael pitch the 7th and 8th; his ERA is .48.   

There were several good plays, and one great catch by Brad Coon, a flyball that looked like it was way over his head, looked like it had passed him, and he managed to run back and make a diving catch.  It was hard to see from where we sat but the replay on the big screen showed us what we had missed, and my description is inadequate.

The Bees won, 5-4, and the winning pitcher was MacDonald. 

 

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Above: Pavkovich, lf, Gary Patchett, ss, Brad Salmon, p, and Sean Rodriguez, 2b.

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Above: Salmon pitching to Monzon. Brandon Wood playing 3b, Gary Patchett at short, and Bobby Wilson catching.

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Above:  Brad Coon at bat facing Justin Thomas, bottom of the 6th. He singled on a grounder to third.

 

More photos of the game here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/snowwhite/sets/72157621409986712/

 

I should have taken photos of the front entrance to the park and a couple from the top of the aisle so you can see what the park looks like as a whole.   I was distracted by the discovery that my cousins really are a pair of Old Ladies, and I don't know when that happened.  It seems like just yesterday I was 7 and cousin #2 was teaching me to play poker, which I found exciting and scandalous.  As the youngster (I'll be 60 in March)  I ran to the concession stands for them and found myself unwilling to leave them alone for very long for fear that cousin #2 might pick a fight with the loud guys in the section behind us.

No, really.  You don't know my cousin.  

One last comment:  Ashley Thompson and I were not able to meet, alas, because when I was there she was here and she didn't get my email until after the game because she was taking a break from her blog.  By the time I was heading back to Anaheim  she was on her way to Arkansas so I have failed in that assignment given to me by.... I can't remember, was it Sothball? Anyway, she didn't sound like she was afraid of me so maybe I'll get another chance later in the season.  

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