Bill's Journal Entry #11

Dodger Stadium

Date: July 21, 2002

Location: Los Angeles, California

Opponent: San Francisco Giants

Travel companion: Matt Glover, a friend

Link to my photos: http://cards.webshots.com/cp-30848358-wRRD-album/45278935aXwGeu

Game Result: After a Reggie Sanders homer helped the visitors to a 3-0 lead, the Dodgers strung together five singles in the sixth, to take a 4-3 lead. However, it didn’t last. Sanders hit another homer in the top of the eighth to tie it at four runs apiece, and then Tom Goodwin, who was only playing because Barry Bonds was injured, hit a two-run homer in the ninth for the deciding runs. The Dodgers attempted to rally against Rob Nen in the ninth, but it fell short, and the Giants won 6-4.

Stadium Summary: Dodger Stadium, Dodgers vs. Giants, Sunday afternoon, on my birthday! Talk about a treat! Coming to this place makes you feel like you’re taking a trip back in time, to when the Dodgers had just moved in. The palm trees, the classic stadium, the endless parking lots, the view of downtown -- I don’t know how many movies I’ve seen that supposedly take place in the ‘60s in Southern California, but this feels like all of them. Coming through the gates, you expect to see not Sean Green, but Maury Wills. Once inside, you can feel the history, just oozing out of the concrete. You see the unique outfield seating roof, and can’t help but picture Kirk Gibson rounding the bases after his homer in the World Series. You look at the press box, and can’t help but hear Vin Scully calling the game. And on top of all this, you have a stadium that’s a beauty in its own right. The park has superb sight lines from pretty much every seat in the house, and the seats themselves, color-coded by level, are also quite attractive in a uniquely Dodger way. The light-blue-on-dark-blue pictures around the outfield wall of Dodger greats throughout their history ties the whole thing together nicely.

Best way to avoid having ugly ramps to the upper deck on your stadium’s exterior: Build the stadium into the side of a hill. If you have upper deck seats at Dodger Stadium, you don’t walk in endless circles up the ramps, like you do at so many Major League parks. You simply go up the hill around the outside of the stadium, to the entrance directly behind home plate, and enter there, at your level. If you have lower deck seats, you enter at the bottom of the hill, near each foul pole. There is a set of escalators and an elevator behind home plate, but in general, the hill is the way you get to the different stadium levels. And it appears to work beautifully.

Worst thing about sitting down the first base line for a late afternoon game at Dodger Stadium: Sun glare. Until the sun set behind the stadium wall, part way through the fifth inning, it was difficult for us to make out the details of things happening at home plate. The view of any of the other bases was fine, and the outfield was great, but it was difficult to make out the details of what happened on one play at home -- and because the play was close, the scoreboard never replayed it, so we first saw it later that night on SportsCenter.

Best reason for your friend to be gone from his seat for several innings: Later that night, Matt told me that the reason he was gone for a good part of the game was because he was working his way to the stadium offices, trying to convince them to wish me a happy birthday on the scoreboard. It didn’t work -- he was told that such notices have to be submitted three or more days in advance ... but the effort was greatly appreciated!

Most over-hyped stadium food: Dodger Dogs. I have been hearing how great these things are for most of my life, and couldn’t wait to finally have one for myself. Are they good? Yes, there’s no doubt about that. Far better than most of the stadium dogs I’ve had. Best in the Majors? Not sure. I haven’t yet had a Fenway Frank. And the Miller Park dogs, which you never hear about because they’re standing in the shadow of the incomparable brats, are right up there. But with the hype these things have received, I was expecting brawls among the fans standing in lines for them. And great though they may be, they’re not quite up to that level.

Second best reason to bring your glove to a game: I’ve now seen booths in several stadiums where baseball bats are made, on-site. Fans can purchase them to take with them, have them personalized, even have them shipped home. But a stand down the third base line in Dodger Stadium was the first time I had ever seen them not only making bats, but balls and gloves as well. Also, if you brought a glove to the game that was manufactured by the stand’s sponsor (I think it was Rawlings, but I’m not certain), they would refurbish it for you there while you wait. I had my glove with me to try to catch a foul ball (still the best reason to bring your glove), but unfortunately, they wouldn’t touch my Spalding.

Most obvious reason to hate Los Angeles sports fans: Late arrival. It’s a Sunday afternoon game, it’s a beautiful day, your team is playing their arch-rival, and your ticket is good for all nine innings. SO SHOW UP ON TIME ALREADY! The people in the seats next to us first showed up in the fifth inning. When we asked, they said they were late for the same reason everyone in Los Angeles is late to sporting events:  the traffic. OK, I have to ask.  You live in LA ... were you expecting there not to be traffic? What about when you go to work?  Do you show up an hour and a half late for that every day as well? If so, what do your employers have to say about this? The worst thing is that those same fans that showed up in the fifth, left during the seventh inning stretch! Unbelievable…

A trend contin…Wait a second…: After going ten-for-ten in my tour in having the home team hit a homer, I had gone from hoping that homer would happen, to anticipating it, to even assuming it. Which is why, when Rob Nen allowed a couple of Dodgers to reach base in the bottom of the ninth, I was expecting the Dodgers to win.  After all, they were still going to hit a homer! But it didn’t happen, and the streak ended. @#$%ing Dodgers…

Stadium grade: A   A truly great park. There’s a definite reason that stadiums like this and Kauffman have lasted, while so many other stadiums built in this era have been demolished.

Overall grade of my experience at the game: B+   Once the sun set, and we could see the entire game, the experience was hard to top.

-- Bill Verkuilen  biggbill@hotmail.com 

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