Blog Kiosk: 5/23/2012

This is pretty sweet.  Check out the newest cover to Sports Illustrated, above. (pic via SI)

• The Sons of Steve Garvey know why the Kings won.
• Lasorda's Lair notes that "This year's Dodgers have shades of 1988 written all over them."

Many teams these days have been crushed by injuries, and the Dodgers are no exception. The Dodgers have four regular starters on the disabled list and five position players total, yet they continue to find ways to score runs and win games. How are they doing it? Good question. Nobody really knows. It’s just Magic. Blue Magic that is. No, not the book that our good friend David Krell is writing. I am talking about real honest to goodness magic. 88’ magic. Kirk Gibson magic.

• Roberto at Vin Scully is My Homeboy had the James Loney Wedding Engagement Photos, but took them down per a request from Loney's attorney's- a Cease & Desist letter.  I'm pretty sure Loney has no standing to sue, but as Roberto indicates why get into a legal tussle over something like that.  On a side note, as a press entity (yes we bloggers would be legally protected as press) I believe you had every legal right to put those up; especially considering what TMZ does.  No worries though, the Bleacher Report has a bunch of them up, here.  I also found some of the pics on FANpeeps.  Heck, even a MLB site called Cut4 has the pics Roberto put up.
• Shawn Green... You crack me up.  Via his twitter.

(Shawn Green's twitter @shawngreen15)

• Bill Shaikin at the LA Times writes about Andre Ethier's contract extension talks.

"We'll take a look at whatever they bring to us," Ethier said. "I don't look at it any other way. I'm not going to sit here and play what-ifs and what-nots."

• Left Field Pavilion is celebrating their third blog birthday today.  Happy Birthday!!!  The Dodger-blogosphere wouldn't be the same without you.
• JJ Cooper at Baseball Prospectus wonders: "Has Limited Innings Now Gone Too Far?"
• Just how rabid and fanatic are Kings fans?  Well, check out a quote from the Game 5 hero below.  It was estimated that there were 4,000+ people there.

(via twitter @MayorNHL)

• I've gone Kings crazy!  As the team arrived home after their conference championship win against Phoenix, an estimated 4,000 fans lined up at LAX (at midnight) to greet them.  I wish I was there.  Check out this great video featuring interviews by Bonnie Prickett.

Video Link:

Green's Great Game

I love getting notices from Chris Jaffe when he highlights a Dodger historical event that I had forgotten about.  Over at the Hardball Times he reminds us that today is the 10th Anniversary of Shawn Green's incredible game at the plate against the Brewers.  On this day he belted 4 homers to go along with a single and double.  Read his story here.  Then, watch old footage of Green's efforts below.

Ten years ago today, Shawn Green had quite possibly the best game any hitter has ever had, tying or setting some rather impressive records along the way.

On May 23, 2002, Green and his Dodgers teammates were in Milwaukee to take on the Brewers. Green came up in the top of the first with one out and a runner on second, and promptly belted an RBI double off Milwaukee starting pitcher Glendon Rusch. For many, an RBI double would be a highlight. For Green, it would be one of his worst at-bats on the day. 

Video Link:

UPDATE: Eric Stephen at True Blue LA follows up with some more background and information about this game; including quotes from Green.

"The ball had been looking like a pingpong ball," Green told the Times. "Today, it probably looked like a softball. It slowed down a lot. The last six weeks, the ball seemed to be going fast, and I was having a tough time, jumping at pitches. Today, I was able to sit back and wait for it."