I suspect Viva Los Dodgers will be a rather large affair tomorrow. Not only since they just got the biggest Mexican Baseball star in the league, but because there are 3 different autograph guest slated to appear. BTW, the first 15,000 kids (14 years old or younger) into the stadium will receive a "Back to School" backpack.
The festivities begin at 11:00 AM in Parking Lot 6. Ana Tijoux and Moonlight Trio will perform live. Also, former Dodger Matt Luke will be signing free autographs from 11:10 AM to 12:10 PM.
Furthermore, a couple of boxing champions will also be signing for fans. WBC Welterweight Champion Josesito Lopez and WBC interim and NABO Champion John Molina, Jr. will be signing from 11:15 to 11:45- although they may sign til noon.
Here is a complete schedule for tomorrow afternoon.
Tomorrow, Sunday, August 26
11:10 a.m.
Viva Los Dodgers Day begins
11:10 a.m. – 12:10 p.m.
Matt Luke autograph session
11:15 a.m. – 11:45 p.m.
Josesito Lopez and John Molina Jr. autograph session
Hello Kitty once again proves its mass appeal. The September 5th Hello Kitty Tote Bag will now be given out to 50,000 Dodger fans at the game. It was originally only 30,000 bags.
Mark Saxon at ESPN puts together a great writeup on Luis Cruz called "The Power of Two Little Pigs".
Luis Cruz, the son, has been around baseball since he was 2 years old,
about the time his father, also named Luis Cruz, began teaching him how
to hit.The relationship hasn't really changed, and neither has the game,
though they're separated now by thousands of miles. The father is the
hitting coach of the Mexico City summer league team. The son has been
one of the National League's hottest hitters for the past month.
Some scouts considered Urias, whose rights were transferred from Mexico City of the Mexican League, to be one of the better pitching prospects on the market. He has touched 92 mph and shown good feel for pitching for his age.
Mayor's Manor speaks with ABC TV's Modern Family star Eric Stonestreet about the Kings and Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on Friday, and includes a video interview.
Mayor's Manor also interview Jim Fox, who was at LA Kings Night at Dodger Stadium. See the interview below.
In this day and age of instant communication, there's no better way to stay in touch with your favorite player or team then on twitter. So, let's take this moment to meet up with our newest Dodgers over there.
Josh Beckett is also on twitter, but only through his foundation. He's at @thejoshbeckett. There has yet to be any public comments, but I did discover that he runs a bowling charity event called "Beckett Bowl." So, we now know who will replace James Loney as host of the Dodgers Dream Foundation Bowling Extravaganza. UPDATE: Josh Beckett has just started a new twitter account. Go here @beck19bb.
Carl Crawford has a twitter account, but has been absent since the end of last season. He can be found here: @CarlCrawford_.
BTW, several former and current Dodgers have commented on the trade on twitter. Check them out below.
At this moment, I am still in shock that this deal was done. I had been conditioned to believe that this kind of thing doesn't happen to us. Save that short period when NewsCorp owned the franchise, we had never been a team willing to take on huge amounts of salary. Instead, we were the frugal franchise. Now.... Well, anything seems possible. For better or worse, this team has taken on a new persona, and I must admit I'm a little giddy about it.
Do we have an unlimited amount of cash to work with? Of course not. But we are a franchise that is no longer afraid to pull the trigger, and this change has got to get every Dodger fan excited, if not engaged with the team at a level we've never experienced. Instead of dreaming of getting this guy or that guy, we can now safely assume that we are in play for anyone.
Wow! Being a Dodger fan has really changed.
The trade for Adrian Gonzalez, Josh Beckett, Nick Punto and Carl Crawford has been completed.
The big prize for the Red Sox is all the freed-up payroll, but the trade
was not just a pure salary dump. Webster and De La Rosa have the
potential to be impact big leaguers and both Sands and De Jesus should
be able to carve out a niche at the Major League level. Three of four
prospects figure to see time with Boston next month, and Webster should
be in consideration for a job at some point next season.
Winners: Magic Johnson, Stan Kasten and the rest of the Dodgers' ownership group
In less than four months, these owners have managed to completely
rebrand the franchise, and, even if the Dodgers don't make the playoffs
this year, they've set themselves up for a major bounce forward in
attendance and interest and team success in 2013. The city might throw
them a parade even if they don't win the World Series because,
ding-dong, the Frank McCourt era is over.
Per the collective bargaining agreement, any payroll over $178 million
in 2013 (and over $189 million in 2014) will be taxed. First time
offenders, which the Dodgers could be, get popped at a 20 percent rate
for any amount over the threshold.
In fact, the deal looks somewhat bizarre from the Dodgers’ perspective, according to rival executives. As one asked Friday night: Why didn’t the Dodgers just do Gonzalez for Webster and De La Rosa?
That leaves us with the Dodgers. Along with officially purchasing the team back in May, the new ownership apparently also picked up a copy of How To Build A Winner by George Steinbrenner, circa 1984. The new ownership group has given the front office a seemingly blank check, and assuming they take on all future obligations to the trio from Boston, they’ll have spent approximately $420 million on player acquisition in the last three months, and they haven’t even locked up Clayton Kershaw yet.
