Inside Dodger Stadium – Arty 84 Baseball Park Reviews

By Arty 84 – http://www.wheresarty.com & http://www.wickedgoodsportstalk.com

Stadium Name: Dodger Stadium

Team: LA Dodgers

League: MLB – National League West
First Date Visited: 2011
Opposing Team: LA Angels
Date Opened: 1962
Date Closed: NA
Overall Rating: (1-10) 4
Notable Award: The best views in baseball.

Built in 1962. The 3rd oldest active MLB ball park and it looks it much of it doesn’t appear to have been updates in a while. Certain parts of the stadium are unaccessable from
Other parks. Different exits and entrances. The out field setup looks exactly like the old Shea stadium. Stands in right and left with nothing but a giant blacked off area in center. Old fashion 70s style scoreboard in right field with a newer post 2000 big screen in left. Ease of keeping track of the score and inning very easy. Stadium built in the side of the hill like an amputheather. A def batters park. Deepest fence is 395 with about a 10 foot fence around the whole outfield.

Men’s room still has trorths like fenway had

A pain to get to. Traffic is terrible on a Sunday can only imaging a week day night. No sign of efficient public transportation. Very large parking lot thought

Nicest views in baseball. Great views of the Hollywood hills, downtown la and the mountains in the background. 2nd is coors field in Denver.

Fans for a Sunday not a lot considering it’s a freeway series vs the angles.

60s contemporary architecture to a minimum. Still holds the esseants of the old concrete donut designs. Very little shady areas. The hot la summer sun makes a day game difficult to sit all the way through.

Parking is 15 and can get up to 35.  Ran out of shot glasses!! Wth had to get a baseball instead. Need to order a shot glass online.

After game life? None. In a rough neighborhood on the side of a hill on a side of a freeway. Like the royals rangers and marlins stadium you show up an then you leave not much in walking distance.

Arty 84

http://www.wheresarty.com

@djarty84 on twitter

According to data from Baseball-reference.com, Greinke has averaged 3275 pitches per year the past five years.  Thus, based on this history*, the Los Angeles Dodgers expected to pay about $6,400 per pitch.  Greinke’s $6,400 3-2 pitch to Quentin ended up costing the Dodgers $6,481,000 (50 games of the 162-game season).^#  Carlos Quentin’s 8-game suspension and $3,000 fine don’t begin to equalize that damage.  Quentin’s 8-game suspension translates into $469,000 (plus the $3,000 fine) of his $9.5 million salary in 2013.

Notes

For the effect of the injury on win-above-replacement analysis, see here and here.  Analysis assumes no postseason games.  Other players are ignored, including Jerry Hairston.  Calculations involving the April 11 game missed are ignored.

* Greinke’s pitch average uses actual data and does not adjust for any games missed due to injuries or other reasons.   It does not adjust for any increased likelihood of injury or lower expected number of pitches due to a greater age.

# 50/162 * 21,000,000 = $6,481,481.

I went to my first Dodgers game of the season last night with a friend from Pittsburgh and reveled in a strong performance by Zach Greinke that resulted in a 3-0 win. When the game ended the stadium started pumping some bullshit techno song instead of the anthem for LA sports, “I Love LA”. Straight up everyone in the stadium was confused, people were just standing there waiting for the song to start and it never did.

There is one rule with LA pro sports teams, if they win you play Randy Newman’s ode to the best city in the US. As far as I’m concerned the Dodgers are now 1-2-1 because it’s not a win if that song isn’t played.

Get your shit together Dodger Stadium.

PS. I love the subtle shots to NYC and Chicago at the beginning of the song. Newman would have dumped on Philly and Boston too but they are so inconsequential he just ignored them. If you bash Boston you probably have to bash El Paso and Des Moines too.

In Baseball the Dodgers take half the Red Sox lineup in exchange for a bag of dicks and then stole Hanley Ramirez from the Marlins. In the off season they picked up a huge Asian prospect and Zach Greinke to bolster the pitching staff.  The Angels picked up Albert Pujols last season and then grabbed all-world-everything Josh Hamilton this off season.

The Lakers landed Dwight Howard and Steve Nash.

UCLA Basketball landed the number one recruit in the nation and the #1 recruiting class as well.

What did the city gain from all of the huge trades, acquisitions, hype and hoopla? Nothing. The Dodgers and Angels missed the playoffs, USC football ended the season at 7-6, UCLA gained a few wins but ended the season with three straight losses, the Lakers will either miss the playoffs or sneak in with an eight seed and UCLA basketball was upset by 20 in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

So excuse me if i’m only cautiously optimistic about the Dodgers season. Will they make the playoffs? Sure, but doesn’t everyone make the playoffs now. Getting into a one game playoff isn’t an accomplishment for the biggest payroll in the history of major league baseball.

The Dodgers need to make a run this season to really live up to their potential. It’s basically World Series or your season is a failure for this team.

PS. Over/under 90 wins? pound the shit out of the over. They’ll get 90 wins out of the Padres and Rockies alone.

With the baseball season about to begin, I felt it was only right to compile a list of my favorite  baseball references in hip-hop. After digging through the crates, my CD collection, and iTunes’s play list I figured I could even go a little deeper. Since I can remember I have always been a Dodger and hip hop fan, so I put the two together and came up with my favorite Dodger lines in rap.

*This season catch young Eazy-Uno all over dodger stadium drunk, yelling, and trying to get at your hyna.

#1 Defari-405 Friday’s (1:42)

The line:
” I wanna fly the world, like Eli
Flies, to is-rael, and like Ismael Valdez
I pitch heat, lyrically
Over rugged beats under the ground, from the mainstream”

For L.A. Hip hop heads this was truly the anthem to bump while riding around the streets in 1999. Paying homage to everything L.A., Defari spits verse after verse referencing Los Angeles athletes. From Vlade Divac to Paul Pierce, Defari lets it be known that he supports everything and everyone L.A. He demonstrates this by spitting one of the more obscure Dodger reference lines in hip hop history. He digs deep into the 1999 Dodgers pitching rotation and calls upon Mr. Ismael “the rocket” Valdez. Ismael Valdez played for the boys in blue from 1994-1999, and although he gave us a couple good years , Los Angeles fans will always remember him for the recurring blister issues he had on his pitching hand. Obscure 90′s rapper + 90′s Dodger pitcher = The best Dodger rap line ever!

#2 Jay-Z Brooklyn we Go hard (1:34)

Line:
“I father, I Brooklyn Dodger them
I Jack, I Rob, I sin
Awww man, I’m Jackie Robinson
Except when I run base, I dodge the pen
Lucky me, lucky we, they didn’t get me
Now when I bring the Nets I’m the Black Branch Ricky”

Leave it to one of the best wordsmiths in the game to masterfully break down Jackie Robinson’s name in a rap. Oh and don’t forget he goes on to call himself the black Branch Ricky! An amazing song that is now being featured in the upcoming biopic of Jackie Robinson, it still gets any Dodger Fan hype!

#3 People Under the Stairs-Los Angeles Daze(2:50)

Line:
Verse 2: Never stop,never change,like the price at dodger stadium
I blow up,rock free shows at the Palladium
Verse 3: Put it on your letter to the better,lick a stamp, send it
And mail it to Thes,L.A. legend like Fernando Valenzuela

People Under The Stairs deliver angelinos with another L.A, hip hop, back packer anthem. In the track titled “Los Angeles Daze” off there 1999 album “The next step”, Double K and Thes one, go back and forth dropping as many los angeles landmark names as possible. Not really my favorite L.A. Tribute rap song, Thes one does seem to be a Dodger fan, not only dropping one but two Dodger lines. Spitting about the always affordable ticket prices and Dodger Legend Fernando Valenzuela, I could see dodger fans falling in love with this song.
#4 Stalley(Feat)Wale-Home to you (2:05)

Line:Motherfucking Roma! Stoned up
Feeling like im in a coma,hold up
I got some money I should tend to, gotta get to it
I dont mean to Matthew Kemp you, but shit you…

Next to Phife Dawg from ATCQ, Wale probably has the best sports references in hip hop. Although most hip hop fans have a love hate relationship with Wale since “Attention Deficit”, nobody can deny he has had a strong presence in the game ever since. Much like Wale, Matt Kemp has also had a love/hate relationship with Dodger Fans. Although recently he has put up all star numbers, at the start of his career many Dodger fans felt Kemp might be more hype then actual talent. After his stint with everybodys favorite hoodrat Rihanna, Matt has focused on the goal at hand and has become a premier MLB player. It is just a matter of time before more rappers will know the name Matt Kemp, and start shouting him out in their raps!.

#5 STS- THE HEAVY (1:27)

Line:The Pun stated”aint no wins in mi casa”
I protect home motherfucking Mike Piazza

Atlanta’s Super Tongue Slim (or STS), formally a spoken word artist turned Mc recently dropped a mix-tape in which he flips known songs and gives them his own twist. Not really a huge fan of tape I did come across this Mike Piazza reference. For most Dodger fans Mike Piazza will forever be the best power hitting catcher L.A.ever had. Playing with the Dodgers from 1992-1998, he racked up over 170 home runs and 550 RBI’S. Truly one of the best players to sit behind the plate, most Dodger fans still love Mike

*Side note: Mike Piazza has said if inducted to the hall of fame he will go in as Met, and in his recent Book talked shit about Vin Scully. Put that in your pipe and spoke it…..

In the baseball world, no injury captures more attention than “Tommy John” surgery.  Named for the first player, Los Angeles Dodger pitcher Tommy John, that underwent successful surgery for repair of a torn elbow ligament in 1973, the injury and surgery result in a year of lost play.  Thankfully, for those that experience the injury, usually pitchers, most are able to return to a prior level of performance.

However, many have the misconception that the surgery will actually enhance performance and physicians have reported many instances of young athletes asking for the surgery with any sign of elbow soreness.  Dr. Thomas Ahmad, orthopedic surgeon for the New York Yankees, recently published a study in The Physician and Sports Medicine that showed 50% of the student athletes surveyed believed that Tommy John surgery should be performed in the absence of injury.

This research, along with the concerning rise of overuse arm injuries in high school aged athletes, suggests the trend that coaches and athletes have become more reckless with health, falsely believing that surgery can correct everything.  In a recent study, research by Dr. James Andrews reported that 5% of all youth baseball players will develop elbow or shoulder problems that will require surgery or force them to give up baseball, most of which are linked with the amount of pitching.

If the UCL elbow ligament ruptures and Tommy John elbow surgery is needed, an extensive rehabilitation program is needed to regain the range of motion and strength required for a return to throwing.  After 5-6 months of physical therapy, a progressive throwing program can be started.

Many of these injuries result from a combination of poor mechanics and the year-round format of many youth sports.  Physicians recommend that youth pitchers take at least 2-3 months a year off of throwing so that their tissue can recover and avoid rupture.  It is important that players, parents and coaches understand that a young athlete’s muscles and bones are growing and need to be protected from overuse.  Given the inherent risks and lack of guaranteed success, surgery should never be considered a performance enhancer but rather a means to hopefully restore the lost function of a joint.

1. Carl Crawford: Crawford is currently in the Los Angeles Dodger’s rehab facility for his elbow., where he is recovering from elbow surgery. Crawford is happy with the Dodgers, but admits how awful his two years with the Red Sox were. Crawford says “I knew with the struggles I was having, it would never get better for me. I just didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. It puts you in kind of a depression stage. You just don’t see a way out.” Crawford also said he regretted signing with the Red Sox “ a lot of times” and how he thought his career was over since he did not believe any team would take over his expensive contract. Can’t believe a team organization nearly drove a player into depression.
2. Kevin Youkilis: Mr. Red Sox is now with the New York Yankees, due to Alex Rodriquez missing half the season due to surgery. The Red Sox traded Youkilis away due to disagreements with Coach Bobby Valentine. Youkilis’ message to the Yankees fans “I’ll always be a Red Sock.” Though Youkilis met all his fellow teammates, he and Joba Chamberlain had yet to talk face-to-face due due to a previous feud in 2007 when Chamerlain threw two pitches over the head of Youkilis. Chamberlain was ejected for the first time in his career and suspended for two games. The “feud” is being overblown by the media, but Youkilis being a Yankee should make an interesting year.
3. Grant Balfour: Oakland Athletics closer had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to repair a torn meniscus. The recovery time is 4-6 weeks, meaning Balfour will just probably just miss Spring Training.
4. The Red Sox 793-game sellout streak at Fenway will likely come to an end, said the team president Larry Lucchino. No one, but Red Sox fans, take the streak seriously since the Red Sox organization would actually buy and give away free tickets just to keep the streak alive. Also, judging by the amount of empty seats at the stadium toward the end of the 2012 season, it seems as though not every game was a sell-out. Anyways, the fact that the team president believes he can’t count on Red Sox fans to attend games shows how the Red Sox will start off another “great” year.
5. Alex Rodriguez: Last week a report came out that Rodriquez was doping in Miami, just in time for spring training. Rodriquez was due to miss half the season due to hip surgery, but the allegations that he is using steroids made sure that his name will continue to be in the news. Now some baseball fans, mainly non-Yankee fans, are wondering if A-Roid is the only Yankee player using steroids.  Due to years of steroid abuse, I believe Rodriquez no longer has testicles. Quite possible that he also has man-boobs since that is also an effect of steroids. Stay away from drugs kids!

Angel Pagan salute (Photo credit: randychiu)

This does not seems to be the case. Pagan has reportedly received two four-year offers believed to be from the Philadelphia Phillies and the Giants. Knowing that Pagan is sure to be an attractive player in this year’s free agent class, the Giants have two backup options in mind.

CBS Sports. C. Trent Rosencrans reports that the Giants are also looking to possibly sign former Atlanta Brave Michael Bourn or former Los Angeles Dodger and Phillie Shane Victorino.

All three players are viable candidates for the position but are from different places on the spectrum of both skill and price. In my mind, Bourn is the most talented of the three but also the most expensive, followed by Pagan and Victorino on both lists.

Storylines for all three players can play out this week at Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings. Unless both Pagan and Bourn are swiped up by other teams I hope the Giants stay away from Victorino. He’s played for rival teams of the Giants and is the oldest of the three.

Ideally, I’d like to see the Giants bring Pagan back for another couple of years. However, they do have a bigger payroll this year after profits from winning the World Series. If they can get Bourn for a not-so-ridiculous price, then I say do it. Bourn finished fourth in the MLB with 42 stolen bases and third in defensive WAR, making him a perfect player to fit into the Giants lineup — a guy who gets on base, steals bases and plays a solid defense.

I know one of the questions Saturday morning is: what are the Red Sox getting back as far as prospects go?

It doesn’t really matter…..today.

I’m sure Webster, Sands, De la Rosa, and DeJesus can all be pretty good players for the Red Sox. Maybe they can be even better than that.

But….it doesn’t matter….today.

The Boston Red Sox freed themselves from 260-million dollars in contracts over the coming years. Repeat that. The Boston Red Sox freed themselves of 260-million dollars!

That is what this trade is all about.

It simply wasn’t working here. As each day passed this season, the players have gotten angrier and angrier. There was a disconnect with their manager from Day One that has actually gotten better. There was an anger from the fans that the players didn’t understand(and still don’t). Injuries didn’t help and many of the players under-performed.

Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez, and Carl Crawford are all very good players……just not here…..today.

Beckett has been great for this franchise. He was a huge part of the 2007 World Series title and he pitched through a lot of pain. But, he was the face of the beer-and-chicken-September collapse and was never going to be able to overcome it. Crawford just never seemed comfortable in this market and injuries took away any chance for him to live up to his mega deal. Gonzalez is a great player, but not the type that fits Boston fans. He was more of a hitting machine. And, however much he cared……it wasn’t enough to live up to his big money contract. Wade Boggs-like.

So now, the Red Sox get a chance to start over. We may now see Lavarnway, Middlebrooks, Bogaerts, Iglesias, Bradley, Kalsih, etc……..And, we will see what Ben and Baseball Ops adds/subtracts to what they have here already.

The Red Sox made one of the biggest trades in sports history this weekend. It was stunning to watch it all unfold.

Will the Sox be better now? Too early to tell. But, I give them a lot of credit for realizing they had a major problem and for taking advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in one fell swoop to change it.

Wow.

Cahill (7-7) gave up three runs and six hits and improved to 17-1 in his past 22 starts when Arizona scores three or more runs.

Trailing 2-0, Arizona scored three runs in the fifth inning. Gerardo Parra had a two-run double and then scored on Stephen Drew’s sacrifice fly. The Diamondbacks added another run in the sixth on Paul Goldschmidt’s sacrifice fly.

Chad Billingsley (4-9) lost his fifth straight start and hasn’t won since June 10 at Seattle. He allowed four runs on six hits and struck out five in six innings.

J.J. Putz pitched the ninth for his 16th save in 19 chances.

The Dodgers cut the lead to 4-3 in the seventh on A.J. Ellis’ seventh home run of the season, but Jason Kubel’s solo home run in the bottom of the eighth restored the two-run advantage.

Los Angeles took a 2-0 lead in the first on Jerry Hairston Jr.’s two-run homer. It was his fourth of the season.

Notes: Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said the first three starting pitchers after the All-Star break will be Ian Kennedy, Joe Saunders and Cahill. All-Star Wade Miley usually has his turn after Kennedy, but will be rested. … 2B Aaron Hill was honored by the club before Saturday’s game for hitting for the cycle twice in 11 days recently. He was given framed lineup cards from both games, and a bike for his daughter.. Dodgers OF Matt Kemp ended his four-game rehab stint with Class A Rancho Cucamonga Friday night and is scheduled for a pair of games with Triple-A Albuquerque over the weekend. … Manager Don Mattingly gave second baseman Mark Ellis a day off Saturday. Ellis had started the past two games only four days removed from returning from the disabled list, but is expected back in the lineup Sunday. … INF Justin Sellers, on the DL with a back injury, is at the Dodgers’ Camelback Ranch facility in nearby Glendale, Ariz., going through baseball activities as part of his rehabilitation. He isn’t expected to rejoin the club immediately after the All-Star break. … Billingsley recorded his 1,000th career strikeout when he fanned Cahill in the third inning, and became the 12th Los Angeles Dodger in history to achieve the feat.

Big Joe wants to join the billionaire boys club and become part of the bidding game for the LA Dodgers.  I can only assume that Torre will succeed in his goal to buy the team due to his departure with the MLB job committee.  Over Torre’s managing career he won six pennants and for World Series titles.  His run with the Dodgers did not go as planned but Torre will go down as one of the greatest managers ever.

The Dodgers announced bankruptcy last June and reached an agreement with the league that will allow for the sale of the team as well as their media rights.  The team must be sold by April 30, so I can only imagine big Joe to be sitting on top in LA sooner rather than later.

As a Red Sox fan I secretly was hoping to see Torre shove it to the Yankees and take the managing job in Boston.  In my opinion the Sox made an odd choice in hiring Bobby V but I am remaining optomistic.  With that roster, it’s unacceptable to miss the post season.  I think that the managing will have very little to do with the final outcome of the 2012 season.  As long as team chemistry and confidence is there, Bobby V can sit in the club house and drink 40s and eat fried chicken with the Sox staff and they should be assured a playoff spot.

Among other possible big name buyers of the LA Dodgers comes Mark Cuban, Magic Johnson, Orel Hershiser and Steve Garvey.  The team will be sold in a bankruptcy auction, similar to how the Rangers were sold last year.  It is assumed that the selling price of the Dodgers will break the record of $845 million paid for the Chicago Cubs franchise in 2009.

For visually impaired Giants fans.

Image via Wikipedia

It is the 10th month of the year, leaves are changing their color, the day is starting to get shorter and shorter, and for all intent and purposes October is my Christmas Month due to Major League Baseball Playoffs.  In the end Baseball will culminate sometime in late October or early November with a World Champion with the ending of the World Series.   

October where memories are made in the Baseballs Post Season that last a lifetime and will be talked about from the time the event happens to the end of time.  People still talk about Carlton Fisk of the Boston Red Sox Home Run in the bottom of the 12th inning of Game Six of the 1975 World Series.  People still talk about the baseball that went between Bill Buckner leg’s at first base and allowed the New York Met’s to win Game 6 of the 1986 World Series and then led to a Game 7 Win and win the World Series Championship over the Boston Red Sox.  People still talk about Kirk Gibson Home Run in the bottom of the 9th inning, with 2 outs in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, and leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a World Series Championship over the mighty Oakland A’s.  

October has also brought many memorable moments from the League Championship Series (LCS) such as 1980 National League LCS between the Houston Astros and the Philadelphia Phillies and two memorable Games 4 and 5 which will go down as on of the most memorable series ever.  How about that sad night in 1984 for Chicago Cub fan’s when Steve Garvey of the San Diago Padres hit the Game Winning Home Run in the bottom of the 9th to tie the National League LCS Series at 2 – 2.  Where in Game 5 the Padres beat the Cub’s and the misery of the North Side of Chicago still lives to this day.  

Ah October the voices who described the action on the field on the radio or televisoin late at night such as Vin Scully, Jack Buck, Joe Garagiola, Tony Kubek, Bob Costas, and John Miller to describe the action on those Magical Nights of the LCS of both the American and National League and of course the World Series.  In 1988 we the public had the best of both world’s when Kirk Gibson hit the Game Winning Home Run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.  Those who saw the game on television heard the voice of Vin Scully call the home run shot and those who heard the game on the radio heard the voice of Jack Buck of, “…I cannot belive what I just saw…” Two Hall of Fame Broadcasters calling a game and showing the world that why those two are the best at their craft of calling baseball games.  

October is my Christmas indeed where September was my Thanksgiving for the long season of 162 games was about to end with the holiday period of playoff baseball was about to start in the upcoming month. Up coming are long days and long nights watching every pitch and hit of the upcoming Baseball Playoffs and when it is all done I will go to hibernation until late February when Pitchers and Catchers report for Spring Training.  

Baseball it is indeed a special sport and is truly the National Pastime and our National Sport.  

Mario Puga  

But the passing today of the ever vibrant George Steinbrenner, a man so long the public figure of the team in the press box and the media, comes as a sudden shock to the masses of Yankee fans. He’ll be missed for his colorful shenanigans, but don’t expect me to join the throngs of those mourning the loss of a purportedly great baseball mind by crying into their pinstripe pillows.

Love him or hate him—and I suspect the latter category is the more populous outside of the tri-state area—there’s no denying his impact on the game of baseball. His fiery, cantankerous, borderline explosive presence in the game for the last three decades has forever altered the image of the owner. He’s hardly cut from the same cloth as The Judge, the fictional, mothballed owner in The Natural sitting rather innocuously in his darkened office and running his team through intermediaries and back channels.

Steinbrenner was the exact opposite: the free-wheeling, ultra-involved owner more likely to preach from the balcony (or owner’s box) than lurk in the shadows. His free spending, brash, win-at-all-costs mentality transformed the way in which baseball owners, and sports owners at large, are viewed.To the public, he’ll long be remembered as the egomaniacal free spender, the owner ready to challenge his players and managers publicly and jettison underperformers while handsomely doling out the cash for the best replacements his sizable fortune could buy. His willingness to break the bank and defy the fiscal conventions of the game, from Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson to Alex Rodriguez a quarter century later changed the landscape of the game.

It’s impossible to ignore the success he has enjoyed over the last decade and a half at the helm of the Bronx Bombers. But the younger generation of blissfully ignorant and spoiled fans—those that I happen to be friends with—weren’t privy to the decade-long stint in the second division that for many characterized the Steinbrenner years. From 1982, the season after they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series, to 1993, the Yanks averaged a pedestrian 82 wins per season, bottoming out at 67-95 in 1990. The team from the Bronx was in a rut, unable to hold onto what few young talents they managed to cultivate, while the cross town rival Mets sculpted a 1986 World Series title around young talents like Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry.

It wasn’t until the early 90s, when commissioner Fay Vincent suspended Steinbrenner for the second time—the first time was for illegal campaign contributions to Richard Nixon; this ban came for hiring a private investigator to dig up dirt on “Mr. May” David Winfield—that a new ideology, which put a premium on developing young talent like Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera for reasons other than trade bait a la Jay Buhner, finally produced results. Taking the man who had been reduced to a Seinfeld caricature out of the equation temporarily gave the Yankees a new outlook and allowed the Evil Empire to flourish. His ability to obliterate the purse strings, time after time epitomizing the worst in baseball ownership and capitalistic excess, perpetuated the dynasty, but it was always formed around the core homegrown talent that may not have flourished under the meddling hand of Steinbrenner.

There’s no doubt the latest generation of Yankee Pride owes itself to the mystique and the ego of George Steinbrenner. But the success it has enjoyed has, to some degree, come in spite of his baseball maneuvers. Nonetheless, his figure in the Bronx, and the game of baseball, will be missed.

(Oh, and P.S.- even in death, there’s only one Boss, and his name is Springsteen.)

I had the day off. … The Lakers were traveling to Los Angeles to prepare for tonight’s Game 6 of the NBA Finals. … The Dodgers were traveling to Cincinnati for a three-game series that starts tonight.

So I was able to do some things I don’t always have a chance to do…

• Maisa and I went to a nearby park and watched a husband-wife duo play tennis. That last part was Maisa’s idea — she just HAD to watch them chase that green ball around.
• Then we went on a loooonnnng stroller ride, all the way to 18th St., then down State St. and back home.
• Jill, Maisa and I went to Kohl’s and then out for ice cream. Ice Cream Night has become a weekly event for us.
• Got home and watched some of the Cards-Mariners and Angels-Brewers games on TV. Also watched some of the PBS program about Andrew Jackson.
• Started reading “Cardboard Gods,” a new autobiography by renowned baseball blogger Josh Wilker. I’m 50 pages into it, and it’s really good so far. Wilker brilliantly uses individual baseball cards from his youth as a backdrop to telling the story of his unusual childhood and life.

Here are 12 players who qualify at multiple positions you might consider drafting in 2009

1. Kevin Youkilis -Boston Red Sox

Positions Eligible – 1st, 3rd

Most Fantasy Value – 3rd

2. Alexi Ramirez -Chicago White Sox

Positions Eligible – 2nd, SS

Most Fantasy Value – 2nd

3. Chris Davis - Texas Rangers

Positions Eligible – 1st, 3rd

Most Fantasy Value – 3rd

4. Garrett Atkins - Colorado Rockies

Positions Eligible – 1st, 3rd

Most Fantasy Value – 3rd

5. Aubrey Huff - Baltimore Orioles

Positions Eligible – 1st, 3rd

Most Fantasy Value – 3rd

6. Mark DeRosa - Cleveland Indians

Positions Eligible – 2nd, 3rd, OF

Most Fantasy Value – 2nd

7. Carlos Guillen - Detroit Tigers

Positions Eligible – 1st, 3rd, OF

Most Fantasy Value – 3rd

8. Conor Jackson -Arizona Diamondbacks

Positions Eligible – 1st, OF

Most Fantasy Value – 1st

9. Brandon Inge - Detroit Tigers

Positions Eligible – C, 3rd, OF

Most Fantasy Value – C

10. Casey Blake -Los Angeles Dodgers

Positions Eligible – 1st, 3rd

Most Fantasy Value – 3rd

11. Mike Aviles - Kansas City Royals

Positions Eligible – 2nd, SS

Most Fantasy Value – 2nd

12. Hank Blalock - Texas Rangers

Positions Eligible – 1st, 3rd

Most Fantasy Value – 3rd

The Dodgers won the game.  Watch the video.