Trades I want to see. Really, these will work!

-          Draft Tommy Lasorda and trade him back to the Dodgers for Matt Kemp and Vin Scully.

-          Package Physioc and Al Davis in a trade to Kansas City for Mike Jacobs, Matt Grienke, and a really bad broadcaster to be named later...much later. Like in 2014. And I have this crazy instinct Al Davis will work his charm in KC and trade the entire city for Georgia Frontiere.

-          Sign Manute Bol and then trade him to Boston for Jason Bay. We can sell this! Imagine a guy 7'-7" patrolling the Green Monster. Can't miss...

-          Trade Matt Kemp and Jason bay to the Yankees for Alex Rodriguez. The plan is starting to work...stick with me!

-          I just realized I didn't actually have a previous trade for Al Davis. Sorry about that!

-          (Insert whatever crazy trade you want in this space).

-          Trade Jacobs BACK to KC for George Brett's infamous pine tar bat.

-          Take some practice swings with the pine tar bat against Al Davis' head. If it doesn't break (the bat that is)...the plan gets closer to the ultimate goal!

-          This is the easiest part of the whole scenario...trade Alex Rodriguez to the Dominican Republic to lure Pedro Guerrero out of retirement. This is our almost ace in the whole (or hole...whichever).

-          Matt Kemp and Jason Bay get traded to the 2001 Arizona Diamondbacks  for Luis Gonzales.

-          You should now be cognizant of this ultimate ingenious plan...

-          We now trade Matt Kemp and Jason Bay for...get this...Samuel L. Jackson!

So here's my line-up for the 2010 ALCS against the defending champs...

-          Curtis Granderson (this wasn't in my trades, but I figured I had no choice. I had to inherit this one).

-          Abreu

-          Pedro Guerrero! (He was so good in the '81 playoff's against the Yanks...can't miss!!!)

-          Samuel L. Jackson! (He was GREAT in Pulp Fiction!!)

-          Luis Gonzales! (The only guy to ever get a game winning World Series hit against Rivera!!!)

-          (Who's on first)

-          (Doesn't Matter...he'll be swinging the infamous PINE TAR BAT!!! Ha!)

-          (What's on second)

-          (Matt Grienke...just because we want to give the Yanks a fighting chance).

Pitchers??? Aw...we have Grienke. Who needs anyone else?

If this somehow doesn't work, we have Vinny to help soothe our misery, and we are FINALLY rid of the Phyz! Vinny and Huddy...what a team! Are you ready for a delicious Farmer John Hot Dog? You will be!

OK.  None of this makes sense. Is it any different than any of the other trade suggestions posted in the last 3 weeks? Maybe someone can swing another trade for Georgia Frontiere. To patrol center field. Or for batting practice.

If you trades aren't at least as ridiculous, don't bother. Please. Somehow, I doubt we'll be disappointed.

An impressive number of viewers watched ALCS game #5. From overnight Nielsen ratings;

"Fox is getting a lot better luck with the ALCS this season than they did with the NLCS last season. From 8-11p, ALCS Game 5 (Yankees v. Angels) delivered a 3.3/8 among Adults 18-49. The final ratings this afternoon are expected to make this the highest rating game of the series. It’s well ahead of last year’s NLCS Game 5 on FOX (Phillies v. Dodgers, Wednesday 10/15/08) by +27% among Adults 18-49 (3.3/9 vs. 2.6/7). The best news for Fox is that the Angels won, pushing the series to at least 6 games."

Here's a link to the TV rating scoreboard.

Hello Brewer fans. I visited Miller Park in late June along with my wife and daughter. We had tickets to see a game between the Brewers and Giants on June 25. I actually am an Angels fan. We are on a quest (spanning a few years) to visit all MLB parks.

Here is a link to my post at Halos Heaven. I originally thought I had posted this in early July. WRONG. I'm not sure if it's work stress or early Alzheimer's. Either way, here are my impressions. We had a great time, and only wish we had spent more time in Milwaukee. I hope you enjoy. Cheers.

Well, this is a little embarrassing. I thought I had posted this a couple of months ago. It took BrewAngel asking me in another comment when I was going to post this. Apparently, Alzheimer's has started a bit early for me. In any case, here is the post from our visit to Miller Park that SHOULD have posted a couple of months ago...

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So after visits to Wrigley Field and US Cellular Field, my wife, daughter traveled to Milwaukee on June 25 for a game at Miller Park. First, I didn't realize it was such a short trip from Chicago to Milwaukee. If not for construction traffic, we would have made the trip in an hour.

As you can see from this photo, Miller Park was built close to the former location of Milwaukee County Stadium (photo by others). You can also get the sense that scale of Miller Park is big...I mean REALLY big.

via www.digitalballparks.com

This photo was taken from the somewhere where the previous location of County Stadium. Just beyond the trees at the center right (below the "Miller Park" sign in this photo) is an awesome little league field. That's right...it's as though there was a little league field on the grounds of the Big A.

Here's a picture of the little league park This took us completely by surprise.

The scale isn't as noticeable until you get closer to the park. It's then you realize that everything seems to be oversized. Maybe my eye was fooled. Here's a shot from the exterior left field side back toward the clock tower (clock tower is behind home plate).

It's inside that I really got the sense of scale. My immediate sense was that I was in a very large interior space...like a cavern. Here's a 5 photo panorama from behind home plate.

Here's a close-up of the roof structure. Maybe this gives a better sense of the size of relative size. Check the size of fans versus the structure.

There was an impressive number of tailgaters. There were lots of bar-b-que's with a wide variety of items on the grille...various sausages, chicken, steak.  It all smelled so good...

So there was also a baseball game played on this day. The Brewers played the Giants. Here's a picture of a familiar figure preparing for BP.

And we had...cheerleaders? OK...I could get used to this. The only truly strange part is that during the National Anthem, they are positioned in center field and go through some motions that signify...something. Some sort of salutes to...I am not sure what. Maybe someone else from Milwaukee will read this and explain.

Um...back to the game. Here"s another guy familiar to Angel fans for his time in Oakland...

Here's the first pitch of the game.

This is one of the games where Benjie Molina was almost bowled over by a runaway sausage. Here he emerges from the dugout oblivious to the over-sized wieners on a collision course with the former Angel catcher.

My eyes were more on the out-of -town scoreboard. The Angels were doing well! One unique feature of the scoreboard is the Gameday like diamond showing runners on base.

This was the last photo we took for the night. It was getting late, and San Francisco wasn't showing much punch. We decided to leave at this time since we still had a 60-90 minute drive back to Chicago.

Impressions? Other than the outrageous cost of $25.00 to park, We really enjoyed the stadium...it's an impressive structure, and the amenities are fine. Next time, I want to join in on the tailgate experience, and I want to see how the roof operates (OK...that may be a bit weird, but I love to see how things work). I also wish we has spent more time in Milwaukee. It seems like a pleasant city with lots of friendly people.

Here's a link to lots more photos from our visit. I hope you enjoy.

The Angels played their 95th game of the year tonight. They beat the Twins 6-3 to raise their record after 95 games to 57-38.

As most HHer's know, last season was the most successful regular season in franchise history, winning 100 games for the first time ever. Any guesses on their record after 95 games last season?

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Time's up for the guessers. In 2008, the Angels played their 95th game on July 17th. Their record? 57-38...EXACTLY the same as their record this year! Surprised?

My wife, daughter and I visited US Cellular field on the south side of Chicago a couple of days after visiting Wrigley Field. There is probably no greater disparity in 2 professional sport stadiums anywhere in the US, especially in the same city. Adjectives used to describe Wrigley Field are small, quaint, traditional, original, intimate, and welcoming. Descriptions of US Cellular would need to include sleek, clean, well designed, antiseptic, and modern.

I read here that the stadium was built in 1991, and has been remodeled over the last few years. One added note. I will never complain about the cost of parking at the Big A again. The cost to park at US Cellular Field is $23.00!!! We attended the game on Tuesday, June 23, 2009. The opponents were the Dodgers. The Dodgers won the game 5-2 behind a god pitching performance by Hiroki Kuroda.

Here are some photos from the game we attended;

Here's a 5 picture panorama just inside the entrance;

There are some great seats, like these behind the RF fence. You are right at field level.

They sure like their bronze statues! Here's one of Harold Baines.

There are nice wide corridors all around the stadium. Easy in, easy out.

The one thing I REALLY disliked was the sound system. They have high quality speakers, but the volume is way too high, and they are constantly pumping music, ads, and announcements at you in high volume. I got tired of this after the first inning. Here's a picture of the speakers right behind our seats...

...over our heads...

...and a picture of the speakers around the stadium. A bit too much for me.

If you think LA Dodger fans clear out early, here's the exodus of White Sox fans in the bottom of the 8th (score was 5-1 Dodgers at this time).

My take? A nice stadium, but...how do I say this? US Cellular offers lots of great amenities. It's a great place to see a game. Perhaps I am getting too old. But, I don't need to be entertained every damn moment. I don't mind a few quiet moments between innings - or between at-bats or even between pitches - to just relax, take in the game, and think. There were precious few moments at US Cellular where there wasn't something blaring through the more than ample quantity of speakers. Maybe it's great for kids, but for me, it's over-kill. I far preferred the game at Wrigley Field. There were actual opportunities to think about the game or exchange conversation with others .

Anyway, here's a link to the balance of the photos. Enjoy!

I created a fanpost on this site 3-4 months ago titled "Future Visitor" I asked for your recommendations of places to stay, visit, and dine while in Chicago. Well, time flies, and the "Future Visitor(s)" are now a "Past Visitors".

My wife, daughter, and I attended a game at Wrigley Field on Sunday, June 21 (Father's Day). It was a great game for the Cubs, beating the Indians 6-2, and with Randy Wells getting his first victory. We thoroughly loved Wrigley Field. In fact, we took a tour the next day.

I wrote up our experience in a fanpost at Halos Heaven. There are photos accompanying the fanpost, and more photos are linked in that post. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir, but I hope you manage to keep Wrigley around for another 100 years. It's a real treasure!

Good luck to all you Cub fans for the balance of 2009!