the 4+1 card that should have been

yesterday was the 5th anniversary of the 4+1 game.  it's hard to believe that it has been 5 years since nomar had his great comeback season, and jd drew was a dodger, and andre ethier and matt kemp weren't starters.  the game i refer to is the game in which the dodgers were trailing the first place padres by a half game in the standings and by 4 runs heading into the bottom of the 9th.  jeff kent led off the inning with a home run off of jon adkins.  jd drew followed with a dinger of his own.  the padres replaced adkins with trevor hoffman, and russell martin took him deep on his first pitch.  on the very next pitch, marlon anderson, who had homered earlier in the game off of jake peavy, tied the game with the dodgers' fourth consecutive solo blast.

the next batter was julio lugo who had a chance to be a hero.  instead he flied out to center.  the next two batters made outs, and aaron sele allowed the pads to retake the lead with a run in the top of the 10th.  in the bottom of the inning, kenny lofton walked and nomar victimized padres reliever and dodger double dipper rudy seanez (post coming soon) with a walk-off home run.  joyous mayhem ensued.

that is worthy of a card, no?  here goes - the 2007 topps card that should have been

complete with a back

i had to get nomar on the card somewhere, so i used him for the inset photo instead of a smaller version of the front image.  maybe i should have used that photo for the 2007 topps card i created for nomar a while back.  as for the almost hero julio lugo, he was long gone to the red sox by the time 2007 topps came out.  here's his card from that set

i felt the need to include lugo in the remembrance of the 4+1 game since he was front and center when the dodgers greeted nomar at home plate.  so, here's the 2007 topps julio lugo card that should have been

i love this photo.  it, or a wider version of it, was my desktop wallpaper for a couple of years.  that's lugo in the middle of the card as nomar makes his way home.  we've also got some lurkers - furcal pointing to the plate, joe beimel, russell martin, jd drew, derek lowe and others, too.  what a great memory.  too bad it didn't matter much, as the dodgers wound up in second place despite the outcome of this game, and then were swept in the nlds by the mets. 

what's my wallpaper now, you ask?  for about the past year, i've used this photo. a different kind of memory.

wreck your life and old 97

if it weren't for manny ramirez, joe beimel would hold the distinction of having the highest jersey number in dodger history.  he wore 97, not because he was a fan of the old 97s (whose album 'wreck your life' is fantastic) but because that was the year his first child was born.

beimel certainly hasn't wrecked his life (he's with the pirates now), but he did wreck his 2006 postseason while with the dodgers by cutting his hand on the eve of the nlds against the mets.  he originally claimed he cut it on a glass in his hotel room, but it was later revealed that he had been out at a bar when it happened.  the dodgers used mark hendrickson as their lefty out of the bullpen in the series instead of beimel, and he appeared in all three games.  he pitched pretty well, although he did let a couple of inherited runners score in game 2, but that was only because brett tomko loaded the bases with nobody out before hendrickson was called upon.

here is one of the very few joe beimel cards i own (and the only one made by topps as far as i know)

it comes from the 2008 topps dodger premium team set, and it celebrates beimel having appeared in more games than any other dodger lefty in a single season - he appeared in 83 games in 2007.  as you can see in the card, beimel had to cut his hair when joe torre arrived in 2008, but at least his long locks were commemorated with a bobblehead giveaway early in the season. 

i was happy to have beimel on the dodgers because he knew how to get barry bonds out.  in his career, bonds was just 1 for 16 against beimel, with 3 walks, 4 strikeouts and a solo home run, but that long ball came when beimel was a rookie in 2001 pitching for the pirates.

here's to you joe beimel (and here's to the old 97s as well)!

slette the good times roll

another fantastic box of cards arrived the other day from eric slette of the pettitte pursuit. away we go!

1981 fleer derrel thomas
this card reminds me of two things. first, it makes me want to say 'looking good, billy ray!' second, it reminds me of thomas's only home run in 1980, which came on april 18 against ken forsch and the houston astros. thomas was the catcher that day (yeager and ferguson were both banged up iirc), and i was in the stands. typical game for me - sutton and ryan pitched the day before, and welch and jr richard pitched the next day. i got goltz and forsch. but i saw dt go deep.

1993 donruss billy ashley.

being a rated rookie, you'd think billy would know that swinging the bat vertically like that is not a good idea.

1975 topps bill buckner

the two dodgers i think of when i think of the number 22 are bill buckner and brett butler. did bob bailor wear 22 also?

1982 donruss rick monday.

mo is back in wrigley. the very first draft pick ever. and scott boras wasn't his agent.

2007 upper deck joe beimel.

apparently there was some level of 'beimel-mania' out west the last couple of years. i do like the fact that joe had a dodgers' bathrobe custom made for himself.

2009 topps randy wolf.

i'm hoping against hope that wolf's start last week was an aberration, rather than a beginning of the return to mediocrity.

1984 fleer steve sax

saxy's right arm is just a blur. who knows where the ball is headed, though.

2008 upper deck juan pierre season highlight.

this particular season highlight is pierre's leading the league in singles. again.

2009 topps pee wee reese legends of the game

it looks like they couldn't get the 'b' right on the helmets back then.

2009 topps roy campanella legends of the game.

campy just looks like a stud.

2009 topps ring of honor johnny podres

here, podres is correctly shown in la gear, as this card celebrates the dodgers' second championship in california which occurred in 1963. i more closely associate podres with the 1955 championship, though. speaking of which...

2009 topps ring of honor don zimmer.

zim is representing the 1955 dodgers here, so the brooklyn era photo is correct. nice work, topps.

1994 topps stadium club chan ho park.

interesting camera angle. park made his debut in 1994, appearing in relief in 2 games early in the season. i was at jack murphy the following year for his first major league start on the final day of the season. the dodgers had clinched the west the night before, so they let park loose on the padres. he pitched well, too.

2009 upper deck goudey brad penny.

a red sock. from a yankee fan. it makes sense.

eric also sent a bunch of twins, which may come in handy this weekend at the twins autograph party. i'll let you know how that turns out!

thanks eric!