Vin Scully calls it like he sees it

June 4th, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

I think if Vin Scully narrated my daily life like the voice in that Will Ferrell movie Stranger than Fiction, I’d be OK with it. Well, actually, it would probably drive me up the wall. But the fact that I even entertained the idea of it, the very notion of my life being captioned by another man’s voice, means the dude holds some serious clout in my book. (Or at least in my blog. Because I don’t have a book.)

Case in point, Matt Kemp gets a little testy here over nothing, a brawl ensues and Scully just drops this one: “Oh, that’s too bad. It was a very good ballgame up to now.”

So calm. So reserved. So awesome. If Gus Johnson was calling this fight, I think his head would have exploded.

{Via Walkoff Walk.}

Larry Bowa got angry

April 2nd, 2008 | Posted by PostmanR

One of the signs baseball is officially here? The manager — or in this case Los Angeles Dodgers third base coach Larry Bowa — going insane in an argument with an ump. The best part of this is that it has nothing to do with a balls or strikes call or whether a player was safe or out. No: Bowa apparently got pissy because the ump gave him lip for not being in the coach’s box.

Vin Scully provides some dulcet commentary to the fun here. I could listen to that man’s voice all day.

{Via Bugs & Cranks.}

115,000 Dodger fans just as blue as you’d think

March 31st, 2008 | Posted by PostmanE

Dodger Thoughts (great Dodgers blog, btw) has this pretty incredible photo from the from the Dodgers-Red Sox game in the L.A. Coliseum Saturday. It’s hard to imagine the Chicago version of this — maybe 70,000 people crammed into Soldier Field for Sox-Cubs — but even that would fall short of this Coliseum game. That’s just … beautiful.

Thank God baseball is back.

Sanjaya should stay away from baseball games in Los Angeles

April 17th, 2007 | Posted by PostmanR

As I just noted over at the FanHouse, I’m really no fan of American Idol. (Sorry Tony!) However, I am aware of this Sanjaya character — he of ever-changing hairstyle — because the dude’s been smattered all over the Web and TV.

He’s sort of like William Hung, only less funny and more fruity. Anyways, he was at a recent Dodgers-Padres tilt in L.A. and the fans let him have it.

“He was just sitting there having a good time with his friends, just like a regular person. And when the Dodger camera noticed him, the cameraperson ran over and taped him.”

“Sanjaya’s face pops up on the big screen right away. At first he smiled, he seemed to like the attention. But then the entire crowd at the stadium started to boo and it was loud! His smile faded a bit and his eyes looked sad,” said an eyewitness who was at the Dodger stadium to watch the game.

“It’s like he was trying to keep a fake smile on, but you could tell he was crestfallen. He just kept waving and smiling for a few seconds more then his image went off the screen,” added the eyewitness.

Glad to see the eyewitness uses words like “crestfallen” in his/her daily lexicon. In any event, I’m pretty sure they weren’t actually booing the guy. It was most definitely “Boooo-Urrrns, Booo-Urrrns!”

It really couldn’t have gone down any other way in my book.

Playoffs school: The Los Angeles Dodgers

October 4th, 2006 | Posted by The Postmen

So the playoffs have already started. So what? We’re still previewing the damn thing, and we’re just self-involved enough to think that’s a good enough reason for tardiness. Next in our series of preview interview madness is Andrew Grant, who runs the best blog on the Dodgers we’ve yet seen at TrueBlueLA.com. Andrew put up with our standard questions, raved about the sublime functionality of Greg Maddux, and the Dodgers’ bright future.

The Postmen: I’m a Cubs fan, so it pains me to ask this question, but Nomar and Greg - huge boost, medium boost, small boost, or no boost at all?

Andrew Grant: Overall, I’d say somewhere between medium and huge. Nomar had one of the best first halves in baseball, but aside from a couple of key home runs, he did nothing in the second half, putting up only a .694 OPS, third worst in baseball among first baseman.

Maddux, on the other hand, has exceeded all expectations. Originally, I was happy to see him simply because it would keep the ball out of Aaron Sele’s hands. Him putting up a 3.30 ERA with the Dodgers is just gravy. Since Brad Penny has faded down the stretch, another semi-reliable starter is a huge boost.

If the Dodgers didn’t have Maddux, than Aaron Sele or Mark Hendrickson would be starting in the playoffs. That alone makes him a huge boost.

TP: On your site, you recently wrote that you had the Dodgers’ eulogy all planned out. Do you feel like your boys are playing on borrowed time?

AG: Not really, I’ve long felt that the Dodgers are the best team in the NL West, I’m just used to crushing disappointment thanks to the last 18 years of Dodger baseball. Combine this with the fact that the Phillies couldn’t lose in September, I wasn’t all that enthusiastic.

TP: What’s the biggest question surrounding this team right now?

AG: If I had to choose, I’d go with starting pitching. Derek Lowe is currently the ace, but he was terrible in June and July (5.93 ERA). Brad Penny started the All-Star game, but he’s had a 6.25 ERA in the second half and is now fighting a back injury. Greg Maddux’s success seems entirely dependent on whether or not the ground balls he allows find fielders. The guy that I have the most confidence in right now is Hong-Chih Kuo, who has five career starts. So, starting pitching is incredibly shaky.

Also, the bullpen after Jonathan Broxton and Takashi Saito is scary, but the relatively few innings they would throw in the playoffs make that hole seem far less critical.

TP: What’s this team’s most solid area?

AG: The offense. While this team has no star hitters, no one hit over 20 home runs or had an OPS over .900, the lineup has no holes. The weakest hitters in the lineup are Kenny Lofton, a centerfielder with a .360 on base percentage, and Wilson Betemit, who has a .469 slugging percentage. Because the lineup is consistent throughout, the Dodgers scored only 14 runs less than the star studded Mets lineup. This consistency lead the Dodgers to the best batting average and on base percentage in the NL. The Dodgers will occassionally have an offensive slump if a few guys stop hitting at the same time, but conversly all the hitters can click at the same time, and produce some huge run totals.

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