The frugal fan
Just how inexpensive can you make a trip to Dodger stadium and still sit in premium seats? I intended to find out today.
Using SeatGeek I was looking for one ticket in the Field Box and was willing to pay around $15 – 20 knowing full well that no matter where the seat was, that a Thursday day game would have plenty of empty seats. I perused the seats on Wednesday night but decided to wait until Thursday morning feeling that many tickets would go unsold and thus would suffer from pricing pressure. At 09:00 AM, I checked the tickets and found most of the tickets I had been looking at were gone. Yikes. I had to do some errands and went back to check at 10:00 AM. Lots of tickets in the reserve but the normal field box tickets in the corners were unavailable. I found a $10 loge ticket around section 150 and went for it. I brought up the seatgeek app to see if the ticket had appeared but the confirmed box was not lit up, just the order. As I got ready to leave at 11:00 it was still unconfirmed.
Do I leave without a confirmed ticket?
Yeah, what the hell, I could always find another ticket so off I went. While I was driving to the game I hit some traffic and checked the SeatGeek app and found the ticket gone. The owner had declined so I was going to have to find another ticket. I wasn’t going to pay for parking since it was a day game and parking would be available in Elysian Park. With the Scott Road gate opening back up a few years ago it had become easy to park below and walk up to Scott Road into the stadium entrance. I’m a walker, I like to walk whenever I can, but today it was about being frugal.
I still needed a ticket so brought up the SeatGeek app and still no decent seats in the Field Box or Loge that I was willing to pay for. Even the reserve had little to offer so I switched my search options to two tickets instead of one and a plethora of options were spread out before me. I purchased two Reserve tickets for $3 bucks a piece but I didn’t want to sit in the reserve today. I was hoping to meet someone in the field box and couldn’t do that with a reserved ticket.
Or could I?
I remembered going to a game last year with David Young who had reserve tickets but we entered at the field box level. He said he does it all the time and that you just have to tell the ticket folk that you have a bum knee and need to use the elevator. I’m not a fan of pretending to be something I’m not and soon enough I really will need the elevator but today seemed like a perfect day to game the system.
It worked just fine and I entered on the field level and found a sweet seat in row K Sec 27 with plenty of seats to move around if the actual owners of those tickets showed up. They never did so I got to spend the whole game in excellent seats. Because I was trying to make a point about how inexpensive taking in a game could be I didn’t buy anything. That was brutal because I really wanted a few beers. Where was Bobby and the beers he owes me? Or the myriad of other bets that no one has ever paid off?
Anyway, let’s look at the tally:
Tickets – $6
Parking – $0
Gas – $12
Grand total – $18
Watching Puig hit two absolute laser shots into the Dodger bullpen – Priceless
Weaver time
Jered Weaver is a pitcher, not a very good pitcher anymore, but nonetheless, he’s a pitcher. At one time Weaver was one of the best in the game, but that time has long past. He gets by on guile alone now, with a fastball velocity that is the lowest for any right-handed major league pitcher that does not throw a knuckleball.
He has had historical success against the LAD, particularly at Dodger Stadium where he has a career 1.98 in six starts. Even last year Weaver managed to go seven innings, though he was hit hard for ten hits and four earned runs. The fact he gets any outs is kind of magical.
Logan Forsythe, Corey Seager, and Joc Pederson have all homered off of Weaver.
On the Dodger side Brandon McCarthy hopes to shut down the young Padre hitters and prove that he does belong in the Dodger rotation. If he can’t succeed at home against the Padres…………..
Puig has started his “I’m 26 campaign” with a bang and has the highest OPS on the team.
Hill cruises, Puig goes boom
Rich Hill toyed with the young Padre offense for fifteen outs, and then let the new Dodger bullpen build the bridge to Kenley Jansen. Sergio Romo and Alex Wood got their nine outs and Jansen finished things up with a perfect ninth.
The right fielders traded home runs in the 4th, with Renfroe taking Hill deep, and Puig answering with his own shot.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s game against Jered Weaver. With no off days until next week, and a day game following a night game I’m expecting the bench to be fully utilized in the starting lineup just not sure how Dave Roberts is going to go about it.
When Alex Wood got six outs tonight it marked the first time a left handed relief pitcher for the Dodgers had gotten six outs without giving up a hit since Grant Dayton did it on Aug 31st, 2016. The LAD did it five times last year, Dayton three times, and Liberatore twice. It is easy to forget how great Liberatore was the first part of 2016.
Alex Wood has the stuff to be a dominant multi-inning setup man, and that just may be what he has to be in 2016 given the rotations options in front of him right now.
Baseball Notes 4/5/17
Mauer went hitless 27 straight times against the Royals before collecting a single in the 3rd innings against Ian Kennedy. Not long ago Mauer looked like a HOF catcher, a few concussions later, he’s now a light hitting first baseman. 1118 hits as a catcher, almost 2000 in his career (1826). Hard to believe that AJ Pierzynski has the most hits as a catcher in the 21st century with 1971.
Justin Haley Twins – Rule 5 pick pitched for the first time in majors today. His road to the majors had some wicked sharp turns. In the span of a few hours, he was drafted by the Angels in the Rule 5 draft, traded to the Padres, and then traded to the Twins. He made the Twins roster and pitched a clean 9th inning.
Matt Kemp had three doubles including the key double in the top of the 12th that plated two runs including the game winner.
How about them ex-Dodger prospects pitching for other teams:
- Jharel Cotton started against the Angels on the same night the guy he was traded for was toeing the hill for the Dodgers. Cotton gave up five runs while getting only 13 outs.
- Frankie Montas who was also part of the same trade followed Cotton to the mound and got eight outs without giving up a run. That was the major league debut for Montas.
- Chase De Jong made his major league debut and he’ll hope to forget all about it. De Jong gave up a walk-off home run in the 13th inning to George Springer. His team had taken the lead in the top of the 13th. De Jong had just been called up this week.
Texas closers should avoid April. Last year Shawn Tolleson lost his role as the Ranger closer when he imploded in his second game. Actually, he didn’t lose the gig until last May but the writing was on the wall. Is the writing on the wall for Sam Dyson? He saved 38 games for the Rangers after taking over for Tolleson but so far in 2017 he’s pitched in two games and given up three and five runs. Matt Bush is waiting in the wings.
Trading value?
David Hood at TBLA put up a post ranking the Dodger rookies/prospects by trade value. His number one option to be traded was Alex Verdugo and he gave excellent reasons for ranking him as number one.
1. Alex Verdugo: Talented offensive player that might have more hype than ceiling, a year away from reaching the major leagues, but stuck in a crowded position with the Dodgers. Verdugo might be the most qualified player for this list yet, and last’s year’s number one helped net Rich Hill and Josh Reddick. Verdugo could be a centerpiece to a splash trade at this year’s deadline if need be, with plenty of outfield talent in the system to cover his loss.
For some reason, my mind keeps imagining Lorenzo Cain in Dodger blue and Alex Verdugo in Royal blue. Cain is a free agent after 2017 and it is doubtful that he’ll end up signing an extension with the Royals this summer given he’s now 31. If he had been an FA in 2015 after his World Championship season, I expect he’d have backed up the truck.
Cain is a superb CF, who still crushes left-hand pitching. His stat line against LHP the last two years:
2016
.371 .420 .596 1.016
2015
.335 .391 .568 .959
The Dodgers may not need Cain if Gutierrez does his job or Joc starts to hit LHP, but I kind of think neither will and that Cain may start to look enticing by June.
Adrian Gonzalez can’t wait for tonight
Adrian Gonzalez has a long history of success against major league pitching but his most success might be against Trevor Cahill who will take the mound for the Padres tonight. At least in the non Homer Bailey category.
| PA | Hits | XBH | HR | RBI | BB | K | BA | OBP | Slug% | OPS |
| 30 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 8 | .400 | .457 | .800 | 1.257 |
Might be a good day for Puig to take an off day as he is just 2 for 12 against Cahill.
Per rotowire, overall the Dodgers have a .940 OPS against Cahill, so I don’t expect that scoreless string to last long.
Dodgers shut out in 2nd game
Maybe this was more about the Dodgers scoring 14 runs yesterday and coming back to earth tonight, or maybe it really was about Clayton Richard being left-handed.
I only know that this will be the best game that Clayton Richard pitches this year, and maybe the last great game of his career.
Too soon to say the Dodger woes against LHP are with us again, but after a performance like that, you can hear the whispers.
Logan Forsythe did his job, no one else did.
Is Corey Seager going to bounce every throw to 1st base this year?
Last year the Dodgers didn’t get shutout until April 27th by the infamous Justin Nicolino. Yeah, he’s left handed. It was his first start of the year and the only game in which he did not allow a run. He didn’t even make the 2017 Marlin rotation.
Just remember the LAD were putrid against LHP last year and still won 90 games.
Broadcast Notes 4/4/17
Listening to Joe Davis and Orel telling stories, so I thought it might be fun to document them for those who don’t have Spectrum.
When Ross Stripling entered the game in relief of Kenta Maeda, we learned a little more about Ross. He was a walk on at Texas A&M and only went there for the finance degree. His father convinced him to talk to the coach so he did and lo and behold they had an opening. Why? Because the Dodgers had drafted and signed Nathan Eovaldi who had committed to Texas A&M.
The Arco top tier play was an excellent running catch by Puig in RF headed toward the foul line. That was as good as it got for the Dodgers tonight.
I’m not fact checking this, but Joe Davis said that Urias is the first Dodger pitcher to wear a single digit number since Bobo Newsom. Bobo broke in with Brooklyn in 1929 so if this is true, that would mean that Urias is the only LAD starter to wear a single digit number. He wears number 7. This is more of the Eric Stephen area as he knows everything about player numbers. I know nothing about them. Except that the number 32 has been awesome in Los Angeles.
Baseball notes for 04/04/17
I just watched Stephen Piscotty have one of the more painful turns you will watch and you can pin most of the blame on Contreras. He was hit on the right elbow by a pitch from the hard throwing Jake Arrieta. He advanced to 2nd and was plunked on the left elbow on the throw from the catcher Contreras. He scored from 2nd on an infield ground ball but Contreras missed the throw as Piscotty was sliding home and it hit him square in the head. It laid him out but eventually he got up and made his way to the dugout and probably the training room.
Richie Weeks is still playing baseball. He showed up today batting cleanup for the Tampa Bay Rays. In the bottom of the 8th he came up with the bases loaded but struck out.
Maybe CC still has some life in his left arm, as he threw five shutout innings against the Rays.
Staying on the Rays, batting 5th and playing SS for them was Tim Beckham. Beckham was the overall number one pick of the 2008 draft. The Rays could have saved the world from three Giant rings by simply picking Buster Posey instead of Tim Beckham. I hope Friedman didn’t have anything to do with that pick.
Carlos Santana is the leadoff hitter for the AL Champion Indians. Santana entered the game with over 150 home runs and over 600 career walks. Grandal is basically Carlos Santana but with the ability to catch. Maybe someday Grandal will parlay his patience into a leadoff role. Carlos is one of twenty active players to have at least 150 home runs and 600 walks. Carlos is one of three active switch-hitters to have at least 150 home runs and 600 walks. The other two being Carlos Beltran and Victor Martinez.
The Rockies are on the road against the Brewers and they have two wins, and Greg Holland has two saves. That is your NL Western Division leading Rockies.
Danny Espinosa didn’t get to enjoy a walk off but his 3-run home run in the top of the 9th gave the Angels a 7 – 6 victory. Espinosa can do two things well, play great infield defense and hit home runs. Tonight he did what he was acquired to do. Has to be special when your first hit for your new team is a game-winning home run.
Tigers could really use an outfielder
Watching the Tiger/White Sox game I can’t help but feel the Dodgers have a plethora of outfielders better than what the Tigers are using in CF and LF. JD Martinez is hurt but Tiger fans must be hurt knowing that they have to turn to Mikie Mahtook as their starting RF while JD is on the mend.
Brett Eibner, Segedin, Scott Van Slyke, Trayce Thompson, and Dickson must be wondering what they did wrong to end up in such a deep organization where they are either plying their trade in AAA or on the bench. Heck, even Tyler Holt could give Mikie a run for his money.
Dodgers, Yesterday and Today 