Tomorrows Viva Los Dodgers

Tomorrow afternoon will be the first Viva Los Dodgers event of the new season.  As always, admission is free with a ticket to the game.  There will be live entertainment and a couple of special guest.  BTW, the first 15,000 kids (14 years old or younger) into the stadium will receive a Matt Kemp replica jersey.

The festivities begin at 11:10 AM 10:40 AM in Parking Lot 6.   They will pay tribute to Dominican and Puerto Rican baseball and the 2013 World Baseball Classic champion Dominican Republic. Live music will be provided by Yari Moré y su Orquesta. At 12:00 p.m. Dodger shortstop and member of the 2013 WBC Team Dominican Republic team Hanley Ramirez will make an appearance and be joined by Dodger coach Manny Mota. Mota will sign autographs afterward.

UPDATE:

AUTO AND STADIUM GATES OPEN EARLY AT 10:40 A.M. TOMORROW
Tomorrow, the first 15,000 ticketed kids 14 and under in attendance will receive a Kids’ Matt Kemp replica jersey presented by Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream. Viva Los Dodgers presented by Chevrolet, State Farm and Time Warner Cable is also tomorrow. To help accommodate the large crowd expected, auto and stadium gates will open at 10:40 a.m., a half hour earlier than usual. The Dodger Stadium Express will be in service tomorrow starting at 11 a.m., 40 minutes earlier than usual.

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Blog Kiosk: 4/6/2013

Above is a photo tweeted out by @BIGDADDYOUU of several of our young teen prospects who were recently signed by the Dodgers.  They are all playing in the Dominican Summer League right now.  There is Dennis Santana, Rafael Gomez, Carlos Aquino and another person who was not named in the photo. (I don't believe the above list is in order)

• JP Hoornstra at Inside the Dodgers passes along some tidbits about AJ Ellis.  It's great stuff and only affirms in my mind why he is our perfect catcher.
• Tom Hoffarth at the Daily News shares an interview he had with the man who plays Branch Rickey in the move "42", Harrison Ford.

Q: Was there anyone still alive who you could draw upon to help you play Rickey?
A: There are, but I frankly depended less on that than a really good book by Jimmy Breslin written about Branch Rickey. There was a little bit of film, some recorded television appearances and speeches and a lot of audio tape. I based my representation of the character on that and also on many photographs.

• Steven Zeitchik at the LA Times, pens a great piece on Rachel Robinson (Jackie's wife) about the upcoming film.

"So many people are curious about how we were at home, thinking that we brought all the anger and chaos in there with us," Rachel Robinson, 90, said last week as she perched behind a desk at the gleaming offices of the education foundation she runs in lower Manhattan. "But we had a pledge to each other that we were going to try to keep the house a haven. Someplace safe. Someplace we didn't have to replay the mess outside."

• Via Yonhap News Agency, "Dodgers pitcher Ryu Hyun-Jin enjoys low-profile life in U.S."

The young pitcher says he is satisfied with his new life in the U.S. and likes to keep a low-profile. "I can go anywhere without having to conceal my identity," he says. "But hopefully if I score dozens of wins, more people will recognize me and come to our games."

• Via Bryan Curtis at Grantland, "The Big Dodger in the Sky: Life, death, and Tommy Lasorda"

"I had a little left-hand pitcher named Bobby O'Brien," Lasorda says. "He was on the mound. And we've got the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning. I thought, Let me go out and talk to this kid. Let me go out and make him believe he can get this guy out.

"So I ran out to the mound and I said, 'Bobby, if the heavens could come apart right now and you could hear the voice of the Big Dodger in the Sky, and he says to you, 'Bobby, this is the last hitter you're gonna face on earth. You're gonna die and come with me …'

• Via Ken Gurnick at MLB.com, "Howell Impressed by Dodger Stadium Crowd."

"I've played for Kansas City and Tampa, and the only time I've really been in a stadium this loud was Yankee Stadium, and being the opponent, they're all cheering against me," said Howell. "To have it for me, it gets the adrenaline going and it helps. The crowds here are amazing. I can get used to this."

• "Dodgers owners distance themselves from Frank McCourt charities," via Syeve Dilbeck at the LA Times.

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