Dodgers Blue Heaven: Apr 5, 2013

Friday, April 05, 2013

Game 4 Game Preview: Zack Greinke's Debut

Pittsburgh Pirates at Los Angeles Dodgers

Jonathan Sanchez vs. Zack Greinke

Game Start: 7:10 p.m., April 5
TV: Prime Ticket
Radio: 570 AM (English), 1020 AM (Spanish)

After tonight’s game, everyone is invited down to the field for Friday Night Fireworks. The national anthem will be performed by the winner of Season 9 of “American Idol” Lee DeWyze.

AJ Cassavell at MLB.com writes of Greinke's Dodger debut and his elbow.

"I still don't know how it's going to react," Greinke said of pitching every fifth day. "[The elbow] should be fine, but I guess it could pop up again."

Via Austin Laymance at MLB.com, "Dodgers Hope Zack Greinke is Game Changer in NL West."

"I don't think there are guys on that staff that throw like him," (Giants reliever Jeremy) Affeldt said. "He's pretty methodical with the way he goes about his business and what he does on the mound. I think he brings just a style of pitching that there are not a lot of guys that can add and subtract with their heater like he does. I think they just wanted to add another ace, and they had the money to do it and that's what they did."

Dodgers Lineup:

(twitter link)

Pirates Lineup:

(twitter link)

Photo of Sanchez by Harry How/Getty Images

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Happy Birthday, Ebbets Field!

Dodgers historian Mark Langill tells us that today is the 100th year anniversary of the very first ballgame played at Ebbet's Field in Brooklyn. It was a exhibition match against the New York Yankees on 4/5/1913. The very first person to hit a home run that afternoon was the then Yankee outfielder and future Dodger coach Casey Stengel. It was an inside-the-park home run. BTW, the Dodgers won 3 to 2.

With this in mind, Dave Anderson of the NY Times writes of great piece commemorating the old landmarks birthday.

“Call it Ebbets Field, Charlie,” he said. “You put yourself in hock to build it, and it’s your monument.”

And so the ballpark was baptized. The cost was $750,000 for a solid concrete foundation with snazzy steel girders supporting the roof above an upper deck, a palace in that era. And a palace forever to anyone who walked there from the Prospect Park subway stop on Flatbush Avenue, crossed Empire Boulevard at the edge of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and saw Ebbets Field in white block letters high above the awning-shaded entrance to the ticket booths in, as the longtime ballpark announcer Tex Rickards often intoned, “the marble rotunda behind home plate.”

The article above also does a little walking tour of where the stadium use to be. It's a great read.

Following this, the NY Times also released some vintage photos to look at, here.

Of course, this post wouldn't be complete without a video. Below is a great description of the very first game.

Video Link:

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Blog Kiosk: 4/5/2013

Check out these incredible photo's that were tweeted out by the @Dodgers from Opening Day 1962, yesterday. If any of you'll have photo's from this far back please send them along to me. I would love to post them up.

Do you see something strange about the below receipt from a bay area restaurant? Taco Shops and Underdogs in San Francisco adds a Dodgers' fan tax. Via Reddit, shstmo.

(pic link: Reddit: shstmo)

Louie Lazar at the NY Times writes a great story featuring the oldest living Brooklyn Dodger, Mike Sandlock.

Sandlock said the modern game irks him. “Bunt, hit and run — they don’t do that anymore!” he said with a groan. “Everything is the long ball.”Sandlock added, “I mean, a guy on first and second, jeez, bunt that guy to third. Get that one run if you can!”

I hate linking to TMZ, so I'll link to Huffington Post instead. Magic Johnson has shown me that he is an awesome dad. He recently spoke about his gay son and the support he and his wife have given him.

"I told him, 'Hey, we are here to support you, man. We are gonna love you no matter who you are, what you do. We just want you to love yourself and also make sure that you have all the information,'" he told TMZ's Harvey Levin in a candid interview. "And that's what I wanted to give him. Just provide him with advice and guidance."

I want this jersey to burn so badly. Reggie Jackson's 1977 World Series jersey that he wore when he belted 5 homers; including 3 in the deciding Game 6, will be on auction with SCP. Watch Reggie talk about the jersey and auction on Bloomberg TV, here.
Left Field Pavilion makes some great homemade retro card of Greinke, Punto and Lilly.
Curbed LA shares a bunch of photos of refurbished Dodger Stadium.
"Dodger Dogs vs. Super Dodger Dogs: The Great Debate," Vic Diaz at Dodgers Nation.

And just when we thought the perfection that is the Dodger Dog couldn’t get any better, it up and did. We were introduced to the Super Dodger Dog: the all-beef, sesame-seed bun wrapped amazement that could be described as the Dodger original on steroids.

Greg Zakwin at Plaschke Thy Sweater is Argyle post up a video interview with Matt Kemp from yesterday.
Via David Brown at Big League Stew, she shares a video of Manny Ramirez's 1st home run in Taiwan. The hometown fans and announced go absolutely crazy.
I think that as a society, we are way too sensitive. Case in point, Rays Index tells us about a incident with the team mascot and a fan-made poster that apparently ruffled some gills. I thought it was funny (in a morbid kind of way) ... and probably tasteless, but still funny.

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2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Baseball - Dodgers' Base & Mini Card Variations

Are you ready for some more 2013 Topps Gypsy Queen Dodgers' cards? Well, here are the variations of Dodgers players that exist in the set. Check out my previous post covering this set here.

For a handful of players, Topps made short printed variations of their base card and their mini cards. Below are examples of all the Dodgers available. You will see both the variation along with the base card to allow you to see the difference. Click any pic to embiggen.