OMG just got back from the most awesome game Dodger game ever!!! This was the biggest crowd at Dodger Stadium for an opener: 57,099.
So my day started at 8am when I was ready to go to Dodger Stadium. My dad and I got there at about 8:30 and we were fifth in line for where our car was.. well there I was so excited that I couldn’t even read my book or study for my test that I have in about a few hours LOL… well walking around seeing the tailgaters it was pretty cool. My dad and I started talking to those around us and then people started parking right next to us, which is a left turn lane, every one was annoyed (well those that were heading to work LOL) so a couple next to us ask if it was ok I told them yes they can leave their car there. Suddenly with those annoyed patrons one women hit another car while trying to make a left, it was pretty funny. Then the cops came trying to be all tough and saying that they were about to tow away the cars parked right next to us.
I had to find that couple that I told it was ok to park there luckily they were close by and went to their car to see what was up. We got to talking and well then I got a few drinks out of it.. walking into the tailgaters zone it was such a big crowd of Dodgers fans coming together and enjoying themselves and of course they were mainly Hispanics there. I couldn’t help but notice the cock fest amongst me.. I was like wow left and right just every were..ok enough bout the cocks.. then I had some girl come up to me swearing she knew me from some bar..pretty crazy I was like ya ok…I had my drinks and it was almost 10:40 I got back to the car and was ready to get in the stadium to see what was up.
There I was walking ahead of my dad to get into the stadium awwwww what a site my second home that I live sooo much I get to forget all the things that are happening to in my life. Dodger Stadium is truly the most wonderful place on earth!!!!!!!
The Dodgers were still having their batting practice as I walked in I said hello to those I already know and they were all happy to be back working and being at the stadium. The pregame ceremony was the greatest ever. The Dodgers line up actually came through the fans which was great! Manny came out and walked out from the stairs on the left field pavilion it was soo cool. Fireworks and the big American Flag held by the Navy and Marines was great I had goose bumps the whole time. There of course was a moment of silence for Nick Adenhart and those that lost their lives. Then Doves came out of boxes while the Anthem was sang by 16 year old Charice, who did a hell of a great job!
Then the moment came with Hall of Famer Vin Scully throwing out the first pitch then saying his famous words which honestly almost brought tears to my eyes “It’s time for Dodger Baseball!!!!”
awwww man the fans were going crazy and a game against the hated Giants what can be better.
Manny coming up for his first at bat almost had a home run wow would that have got us fans going crazy but the Dodgers started their scoring in the 3rd when Orlando Hudson hit a solo home run. The Giants came back, but not for long the Dodgers broke the game open in the fourth when Ethier hit a home run, then after that Furcal got a 2 run RBI, Hudson a RBI double and walking Manny Martin came up and got a 2 RBI double giving the Dodgers a 6 run 4th inning!!!
The top of the sixth was history in the making when Hudson came up and hit a triple that was announced right after that he had hit for the cycle!!! The first since Wes Parker in 1970!! Then Loney came up to get a RBI and then Ethier came up to hit his second homer of the game!!!!!!!!
The Dodgers crushed the Giants 11-1 and everyone got coupons for free mini hamburgers again! GREAT game to HUDSON!!! and the Dodgers home opener didn’t disappoint at all!
————————————-
Post submitted by Monique Muniz of the blog When I Fell In Love With Sports
yes it was a totally awesome game, great post moe, moe. I am forever a Doyers fan.
Thanks 4 tha Post…It was a Great Opening Day..Even though i couldn’t make tha game , check out my brothers pic’s..
http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa318/rhsghs/LA%20Dodgers/Opening%20Day%202009/?start=120
Grew up in Sacramento a Dodger fan, surrounded by an angry pack of Giants fans. Pops, a Giants fan, took me to a Dodger game at Dodger stadium in ’87. My dad set there speechless with his arms folded for 3 hours as I stood up, cheered, and slapped high fives with other Dodger fans around me. Pedro Guerrero hit a ground ball single to win the game. I was hoping for a classic Pedro 3rd deck home run, but hey, I’d take a Dodger victory any way I could get it. Still have the game program.
Also, you guys haven’t experienced a hostile crowd until you’ve been to a Giants/Dodger game in SF. The crowd is half blue, half orange. It gets ugly. Giants fans hate the Dodgers more than Dodger fans hate the Giants. The Giants are still yet to win a world series since moving out west. There’s an envy that’s just unmistakable.
GO Dodgers! My first Dodger game was in 1958 at the Coliseum. Ernie Banks, Mr. Cub hit a home run into left field right in front of me, I was hooked and have been my whole life, many a night I listened to Vin Scully broadcast the game on radio especially when Koufax, Drysdale, Podres were firing bullets at Mays, Cepeda, McCovey. My Son and now my Grandsons are Dodger Fans.
PS My Grandfather lived for many years in Palo Verde and many of his friends and neighbors lost their homes when they were kicked out for the Dodger Stadium site. Abuelo went to his grave hating the Dodgers.
When I go to a game I say a couple of Our Fathers and Hail Marys so Abuelo will forgive me.
I too remember when I was a kid and my abuelito would take me to Dodger Stadium, a good friend of my abuelito worked as at Dodger. I was in the locker room and on the field before and after game, it was fantastic !!!
I am forever a Dodger fan, thanks abuelito for all the great memories we shared together at Dodger stadium. The baseball given to me by my abuelito which is signed by Tommy Lasorda is still my most valued possesion.
Tommy Lasorda even picthed to me a few times, I almost it it out of the park, sorry Mr. Lasorda. hehehehe
DIE-HARD DODGER FAN RIGHT HERE!!! =)
DQ, LA Times did a good story last year about the Ravine evictions. Whoever did the article, might have been Quinonez, don’t remember, didn’t hold back. Really represented the views of the people evicted, interviewing former residents themselves. Had a photo of a lady refusing to leave. I read somewhere else that most of the ravine’s residents moved to the Maravilla projects. Is it true that most Chicanos in LA despised the Dodgers because of this, and did so until Fernando Valenzuela became a star? I recall seeing that on t.v. or reading it somewhere.
Chavez Ravine: 1949: A Los Angeles Story (Hardcover)
by Don Normark (Author) “I was looking for a high point to get a postcard view of Los Angeles…”
Rob, this a a very good book with some wonderful evocative photo’s and interviews with former residents.
Normark was hounded and branded a Commie for his honesty by the right wing stooges during the fifties.
As to your question about where the dislocated residents moved to I know that many of them ended up in and around Lincoln Hts, and the Riverside Dr. areas because it was still close to where they had lived worked and went to school.
I knew and know well the Chavez family mentioned in the book, Carlos Chavez was a great local fighter in the 50’s who was famously convicted of taking a dive in a fight. His brother (can’t remember his name) was a fighter also and I remember my Dad asking him , after the Carlos Chavez dive controversy, “hey man how much money did you make when your brother Carlos threw that fight?”, the brother a notorious jokester answered, “Are you kidding me, that fucking brother of mine didn’t say shit to me and I ended up losing a weeks wages on his ass”.
I know the three sons of Carlos Chavez who are my age and none were like their Dad or Uncle (old Pachuco vato’s) they were and are all very good surfers, last time I heard one brother “Mike” was doing very well as an oriental rug merchant in Aspen Colo.
Ry Cooder also did a very good song about Chavez Ravine for the book and documentary.
Yes that is why I love the stadium. My dad took me as a very young girl and now I have ticket plans that me and my dad can go too.
Yes and I read that article about those living on Chavez Ravine before the stadium was built and yes many of those peeple hated the Dodgers after that.. love hate the Dodgers are a team that keeps this community clsoe togther with their loyal fans that come each year.
It is a beatufil place that anyone can enjoy.. GO DODGERS
Rob, are you referring to your question about Chicano’s hating the Dodgers until Fernando came on board? If that is the question my answer is no, the Dodgers always had many Chicano fans in LA and around the nation. The Chavez Ravine fiasco was overshadowed by the popularity of the Dodgers almost immediately and especially after the Dodgers won the world series in 1959 against the White Sox. The LA Chicano has been fucked over by imminent domain projects so many times that it seems history becomes a blur and is felt by many to be “just the way things are”.
Sad but True
And as far as you saying “The Dodgers Suck” I understand your frustation, you being a Giants fan with a record of only 3 wins and 6 or 8 loss’s, never winning a world series in Frisco while we LA Dodger fans have witnessed 5 world series champions, and now with Manny Mania and a first place record of 9 wins and only 3 loss’s, well you have my utmost sympathy.
GO Dodgers!
DQ, I never said the Dodgers suck. LOL. I’m a Dodger fan. Well, Dodgers and A’s, anymore. I was a huge Dodger fan as a kid (80s), then lost interest in baseball altogether in high school (didn’t help that the Dodgers were falling apart then). Then in my twenties I started following again, but really following the A’s (more local, I’m from Sac, and it’s perfect because I hate the Giants…actually). I’ll always have a spot in my heart for the Dodgers, too. My father took me to a game. ’87. I was a kid and could have given a rat’s ass about Disneyland. It was just me, him, and my bro (parents divorced). He knew how important that game was to me. So he sat there with his arms folded and watched me party with a bunch of Chicano Dodger fans from the East Side for 3 hours. Fuck the Giants.
DQ, you know there’s people posting under the name “RobThomas” right now that aren’t me. Just a heads up. Maybe it was one of them who said “The dodgers suck”. I’ve never muttered those words. Remember how I said I was informed about this blog by someone at another blog who hates it? Well, they saw that, and now it’s payback time, I guess. Morons are trolling both screen names I normally use on the web. Things must be boring in Kansas…
Good day, DQ. And Go Dodgers!
Hi Rob,
Because you use an invalid email, we have to approve each one of your comments. If you want to stay anonymous, I would suggest you open a free email account, gmail for instance, just for this blog and that way you can post under your name w/out moderation and the program will recognize your email account.
This is the only way to make sure no one uses your name or steals your identity on this blog. It will also make less work for us because we won’t have to approve your comments every time. If you do decide to do this, we’ll know when a fake “Rob Thomas” tries to post because they’ll have a different email than you. I hope this makes sense and others who might be in the same situation take note.
Cheers,
chimatli (co-editress of la eastside)
I appreciate that, chimatli. LOL. I always use a fake email on blogs. I just type in a bunch of letters@aol.com. It’s just a habit now, something I’ve been doing for a couple of years. But I’m going to take your advice and open another yahoo email. It’s necessary these days.
Clinched the NL West…it’s about time, considering the magic number has been at 1 for like a week now. I think back to Manny’s suspension and how the team was pretty much written off. I’ve got a feeling Joe Torre’s going to be in Los Angeles for a long time.