look who's coming up... [part 1]

i have been to a lot of baseball games in my lifetime. i have been to 16 different stadiums. i have seen shutouts, blowouts, extra innings, pitching duels, a one-hitter, had tickets to a no-hitter (but didn't go); i saw aaron, mccovey, stargell, rose, nomo vs. glavine on opening day 1996, hershiser vs. the mets in 1988, jim abbott's first career shutout, kerry wood's first ml victory, pedro at his peak, mcgwire and sosa in 1998, ripken during his streak, and so much more.

there are two games, though, that stand out. games so great, i can collect cards that commemorate each of them. one is shawn green's 4 hr game in milwaukee in may of 2002. a friend and i roadtripped to milwaukee to see a couple games and were lucky enough to see one of the greatest individual offensive performances ever. however, the greatest game i have ever seen in person happened 20 years ago today. game 1 of the 1988 world series. i was there.
my dad got tickets through the dodgers' postcard lottery. we watched the nlcs against the mets with great anxiety, knowing that we would be at dodger stadium if the dodgers advanced. they did, of course, so my dad picked me up in orange county and took me to chavez ravine. debbie gibson sang the national anthem. bob welch returned to the stadium. kirk gibson wasn't playing. he wouldn't be able to play.

but he did...

we have met the enemy...

the dodgers lost shane victorino to the rule v draft not once, but twice. the second time, he stuck, which has turned out to be unfortunate for the dodgers. although he has a batting average and matching obp below the mendoza line, victorino has made a good catch and some big hits in the series so far.

here he is on his 2003 topps traded card.

 this is after the padres sent him back to the dodgers, having appeared in a few games for the friars. he never did play for the dodgers, though. maybe he holds a grudge.

jayson werth is different. he played for the dodgers after being traded by toronto for jason frasor. in fact, jayson had a good nlds for the blue in 2004 with 2 home runs.

perhaps the most prominent of jim tracy's "three ja(y)sons" - repko and grabowski being the others - werth benefited from injuries to milton bradley and jd drew in 2005. no such luck in 2006 as werth was injured for the entire season, after which he was granted free agency and signed with the phillies.

here he is on his 2006 topps card, head down and goatee in place.

three to go

good game by the dodgers to turn the "momentum" in the series.



it is great to have raffy back at short. no offense to angel berroa, but this has made a huge difference in the lineup.


a great performance by kuroda. and to think he could have been pitching for the royals if he had taken the money...



how ticked off was russell martin after the high & tight pitch in the 6th? i will answer that - he was quite upset.

let's hope they saved some runs for game 4 tonight!

phillies in chavez ravine

here's hoping they don't get a very nice welcome. except for you, davey.

1990 upper deck don carman and the right field corner.

1991 fleer was a good match for dodger stadium and the phillies, apparently.

the left field pavilion and rod booker.

the scoreboard and don carman.

the left field corner and dickie thon.

future dodger randy wolf with the field seats on 2002 upper deck authentics. at least here they ripped off their own design, rather than one of topps' a la 2001 vintage.

think blue!

in a hole...

down 0-2. bummer. but i remember the '81 world series where the dodgers dropped the first 2 games at yankee stadium and won the next four to claim the title. i still have hope.

nomar's at bat to end the game was tough to watch, though.

it's [currently] sunny in philadelphia

i had hoped to post this card as a lead-in to a dodgers/brewers series, but the brew crew didn't get it done. oh well, it's a 2008 upper deck ballpark quad swatch featuring prince fielder, ben sheets, matt kemp and james loney. enjoy it anyway.



now i know you aren't here for a playoff preview, so i won't go into any detail, but let's hope that manny knocks a foul ball back in the booth and takes out tim mccarver a la roy hobbs and robert duvall's character in the natural. other than that, i hope bowa doesn't get too much thrown at him tonight, and i hope davey gets a decent response from the dodger fans in game 3.

recent additions

i picked up some 2008 singles at the local shop the other day, hard to beat 12/$1.

here's hoping lowe can continue his postseason success tomorrow against the phillies...

matt kemp is my baseball salvation.

glad to have you back, raffy.

glad to have you on the dl, andruw. i almost didn't buy this card because i hate to support colletti's worst signing (so far), but i cheer for the name on the front of the jersey, so...

glad to have you on the bench, jeff. just be sure to channel your inner gibson when the time comes.

sorry you can't be a part of this, brad.

thanks for the memories, mark.