A Night to Remember at the Ravine

It was a beautiful night out at the Ravine.  Both of the people who read my blogs are probably tired of my same old, so I thought I’d throw out a good old fashioned photo essay.

Our seats were killer, thanks to the 48-hour sale:

Prerequisites fulfilled – (they didn’t have Bud Light Lime, but thanks for the thousands of votes) so I improvised.  Still best stadium dog anywhere.

Despite standing in crazy lines and arriving (2) hours early, the only autograph we got was Mary Hart’s.  Thanks Mary for taking the time and for a great 7th inning rendition of ‘God Bless America.’

Lefty was bringing the chedda (more on this later).

Uribe got hit (HARD) in the second, you could hear the ‘thunk.”

My boy Miles sac’d out to put us on the board.  Seriously, what’s not to love about this guy?  Fire plug, great attitude, full mullet.

I learned a lesson about not sharing your camera with adjacent seats, when this beauty got passed around from my seat mates to a bunch of surrounding Mets fans.

Whatever, he’s in there, right??  Mmmmmmm….

Collins didn’t think so and wasn’t shy about it.  Maybe he’s front leg hit, I didn’t see the replay, but OUT wasn’t the call & Collins should have been tossed.

The Spanish Assassin announced that he didn’t make the All-Star cut, but pretty sure he’ll still end up on the roster. ***Update*** Shortly after posting this it was announced Bruce Bochy did indeed select Andre Ethier to replace the injured Shane Victorino in the 2011 All-Star Game! Congrats ‘Dre.

The joint was packed out, like…well like every other year besides this year.  Maybe the $22 & $27 tickets aren’t a bad idea, you think the McCourts will keep it going?  Rhetorical, obviously, but it was nice to see all of the fans out in force for a change.

A constant theme throughout the night for (count ’em) KKKKKKKKKershaw.  Couple backwards ones in there.

Bottom 6th, Kemp doubles to left and we score two.  Took the boys to the restroom with cheers erupting behind us (don’t you hate that??!) and missed Uribe’s ground-rule double that brought in another.

But back in time to see the little guy do his magic – Add to that Navarro’s triple (dude was GASSED) & the Dawyers are up 6-0.

Kemp made a a helluva catch in the 8th, but I was too busy watching in real life so I only caught it on the jumbotron.

One of the best moments of the night for me as a Dodger fan came in the bottom of the 8th, when KKKKKKKKKershaw loaded them up.  Donny baseball walked out to the mound – we all thought he was getting the hook, but the young flamethrower said:

"“Coach, I got this.”"

And proceeded to strike out the swinging giant (not kidding this Paulino cat is friggin’ huge).

My Dawgs donned the UN-rally caps (way better than some lame butt monkey – you can translate that) when the night took a bit of a turn.

My son ran over to the aisle to see if Navarro might flip him one of Kershaw’s last strikeout balls.  With one out in the 9th, Duda fouls one right on top of us – think Space Shuttle trajectory.  I have to reach over my little guy (my wife texted me after “sometimes you gotta sacrifice” – nice babe) and the ball falls right into the seat that my 10-year old vacated (along with his glove!!) about 8 seconds before.  The mad grab happens and I come up 1-hand away from ball.  My son loses it, “best chance, why didn’t you get it, favorite team, stupid girl gets it,” etc., – we’re talking full tears.  I was trying to be a tough-love Dad and tell him to dry it up, but man, it HIT HIS SEAT!!  It was a bummer.

But hey, it was tough to put a damper on such a beautiful night.  I got the chance to hit Dodger Stadium for the first time this season on a perfect night, with the 2 best boys a Dad could hope for, watch KKKKKKKKKershaw throw some lightning bolts at some East Coast chumps (their fans were VERY loud, then VERY quiet, just like I like), witness a very rare Dodger victory…and, did I mention?  IT WAS ETHIER BOBBLEHEAD NIGHT!

See you after the break.  GO DODGERS!!!