Cardinals Series Starts on Friday - Scheduled Autograph Sessions, Pregame Info and Other Stuff!

The next homestand starts on Friday against the St. Louis Cardinals, and several former Dodgers are scheduled for an autograph session with fans as a part of Viva Los Dodgers.  Below are the scheduled autograph opportunities and other odds and ends for this upcoming homestand.

(pic via @2EP0L on twitter)

The St. Louis Dog will be available for this homestand only against the Cardinals at the Extreme Loaded Dog concession areas located on the field, loge and reserve levels. It features a quarter-pound, all-beef hot dog topped with smoked beef brisket, tangy BBQ sauce and crispy onions.

A BBQ cheeseburger will also be available Friday and Saturday. The Angus beef BBQ cheeseburger will be offered at the Bud and Burgers food truck in the left-field pavilion. Sunday, the food truck will be located at Viva Los Dodgers at the 76 station.

Fans can help save lives by signing up May 14-17 to donate blood during the American Red Cross’s 18th Annual Angels/Dodgers Blood Drive on June 11. From the start of the game through the sixth inning, fans can sign up on the top deck, reserve and loge sections. To schedule an appointment, donors can go to www.redcrossblood.org and enter Sponsor Code:  HOMERUN or call 1-800-GIVE LIFE (800-733-2767). All presenting donors will receive a voucher, good for two tickets to a designated Dodger or Angel home game.

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Friday, May 13 at 7:10 PM
RHP Michael Wacha vs. RHP Ross Stripling
SNLA / AM 570 (Eng.), KTNQ 1020 AM (Span.)

The Anniversary of when Steve Garvey Ended the Baseball Career of Chico Escuela

Some anniversaries are heartfelt.  Others denote an important benchmark.  This anniversary is neither of those things.  Instead, the anniversary I speak of today should hopefully tug at your funny bone.

On this date 37 years ago, Bill Murray, then an newscaster on Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update", revealed to the world that lovable and English-deficient All-Star second baseman Chico Escuela, played by Garrett Morris, would hang-them-up and end his quixotic comeback to the Major Leagues.  As we came to understand, a screamer off the bat of Dodgers first baseman Steve Garvey struck Escuela below the belt.  That batted ball had rendered him irreversibly infertile.

On that day, Baseball was not very (berry, berry) good to Chico.

Blog Kiosk: 5/12/2016 - Dodgers Links - Magic, Ryu and Kenta Maeda

It was a hard luck night for Kenta Maeda.  He pitched well, and if not for the extraordinary exploits of the Noah Syndergaard at the plate Maeda and the Dodgers would likely have walked away with a win.  Via Anthony DiComo and Ken Gurnick at MLB.com:

"The nine-hitter hit two home runs and drove in four runs. You don't see that every day," said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts.

No kidding.  The pitcher, who had hit a home run last season, recorded his first two hits of the season, and they both left the yard against the Dodgers.  Go figure!

Kenta had this to say:

"They were definitely not good pitches, the ones that he hit for home runs," said Maeda. "It ended up being a regrettable result contributing to a total of four runs."

Dave Roberts added, via Jon Weisman at Dodger Insider:

“He was using his breaking ball a lot tonight and just didn’t have that sharpness to it, working behind hitters,” Dave Roberts said. “Didn’t have the fastball command. The homer to Syndergaard, the first one, was a misfire, and the other one was a backdoor breaking ball located down and away, and he’s a strong kid.

As has been said many times, this is the kind of game you just have to move on from.  They beat us fair and square, and all you can do is tip your hat.  Photo above via @Dodgers on twitter.  Go here to check out a bunch of pics from the game by Jon SooHoo.  Below are more links to check out:

• This Day in Dodgers History: In 1956 Carl Erskine threw his second career no-hitter against the Giants at Ebbets Field.  In 2004 Alex Cora had his famous 18 pitch at-bat (including 14 consecutive fouls balls) at Dodger Stadium against Matt Clement of the Cubs that culminated in an unbelievable two-run home run.  You can watch this at-bat here.
• Happy Birthday, Adam Liberatore!