Blog Kiosk: 5/11/2012

"Foul Ball Follies 2" from Jon SooHoo/ LA Dodgers.  Be sure to check out his post from yesterday featuring numerous photos of fans and their feeble (and sometimes successful) attempts at grabbing a Baseball souvenir.  This is no doubt the best posting of photos he has ever done.  Thank you Jon!

• This is just a reminder.  Voting for the starting lineup for 2012 All-Star Game is underway.  Go here to make your mark.  I don't want to tell you who to vote for, but if the names Kemp and Ethier pop up I strongly suggest that you give them your vote.
• "Matt Kemp Plays with a Chip on Shoulder," via Bob Knightengale of USA Today.

"I don't play this game to be mediocre," he says. "I don't want to be just all right.

"I play this game to be the best. That's not being cocky. That's just being confident."

• Ken Gurnick at MLB writes that "Kemp Underscores Dodgers' Drafting Philosophy."  

"But Kemp was not playing baseball, so it goes deeper than that. You can't have cultural bias. You need to have educated scouts. I remember one scout talked about a tattoo Kemp had, like that somehow made him a bad guy. That's stereotyping and bias, and I try to stay away from that. That's like scouts tell you redheads can't make the Major Leagues. Biases are bad, no matter what they are. If you have a bias to draft only college kids, you're walking away from high school players like Matt Kemp." 

• MLB Trade Rumors takes a look at the Dodgers 2013 contract issues.

The Dodgers have a $105MM payroll this year, and they've already committed $103MM to next year's team, not including arbitration eligible players. It's a good thing new ownership expects payroll to rise, because the Dodgers are getting expensive.

• Stacie Wheeler at Lasorda's Lair looks at "Filling the Holes in the (Dodgers) Roster."
• I'm not sure if this is a joke, or not.  Apparently, we should be expecting a Bikini Hockey League coming to your town soon.  Check it out here.
• EA Sports has been running a online vote campaign for fans of NHL13 to decide who should be on the cover.  They are down to 8 players, and one of them is Kings center Anze Kopitar.  Go here to check it out.
• I have Stanley Cup Playoff Hockey Fever, and so should you.  The Kings play the Phoenix Coyotes on Sunday in the first game of the Western Conference Championships.  If they get past this round they head to the Finals- The Stanley Cup Finals. I know that Kings Nation is excited.  In fact, we have declared with our loudest voice, "We Want the Cup!"

Video Link:
Hat Tip: Life in Hockeywood: