Dodgers Thank The Fans

I'm already going through Dodger withdrawals and it's only been two days. The team ended the season on such a high note, they left me wanting more. I just have to wait six more months to get my fix. Anyway, the team put out this video thanking the fans for the 2011 season.    

Contest Time!

OK, it's contest time. Tonight's prize is a Don Mattingly bobblehead. 

The rules are simple,(1)You must be a Dodgerbobble.com follower, which means your name must be in my list of followers in the sidebar and (2) you need to be the first Dodgerbobble.com follower to answer my question correctly in the comments section of the contest post.


Here's the question:


The last time the Dodgers made the playoffs was in 2009. What was their regular season record that year?


First Dodgerbobble.com follower to answer correctly in the comments below wins the Don Mattingly bobblehead.

Don Mattingly Bobblehead Contest Tonight

Who wants to win a bobblehead? At the last Viva Los Dodgers, I picked up a couple of bobbleheads and I figured I could give them away as contest prizes. Since tonight's Dodger game is the last one of the year, let's give one of them away. I'll give Don Mattingly tonight and Hong-Chih Kuo during the offseason. 


Only two rules: (1)You must be a Dodgerbobble.com follower, which means your name must be in my list of followers in the sidebar and (2) you need to be the first Dodgerbobble.com follower to answer my question correctly in the comments section of the contest post.


The contest will be held once the Dodger game ends.

Forever Collectibles Manny Ramirez Bobblehead Only $2.97

I was shopping on MLB.com yesterday, and of course I made my way to the bobblehead page to see if anything new was added.  Nothing new there, but I did find a good deal. The price of a Forever Collectibles Los Angeles Dodgers Manny Ramirez Big Head Bobble has come down quite a bit. The original price was $18.99, and now has been reduced to $2.97! Plus, MLB.com is offering an additional 20% off select merchandise, bringing the price down a little more to $2.38. I guess they want to unload these things, huh?


Now, I'm more of an SGA bobblehead collector, but I can't pass up a good deal, especially since there won't be anymore Dodger bobbleheads handed out for a while. I lost a lot of respect for Manny since he was busted for using performance-enhancing drugs, but he's still one of my favorite Dodgers of all-time, so this bobble is a welcome addition to my collection.

To purchase one of these Manny bobbleheads, click here.

Happy Birthday Matthew Ryan Kemp

                           Happy 27th Birthday to the Bison!


Photo from Michael Eaves' Twitter page

A Complete List Of All 39 Dodger Stadium Bobbleheads

Back in April, I put out a list of all 33 bobbleheads given away at Dodger Stadium from 2001 to 2010. Since then, the Dodgers have added six more bobbleheads. Here is an updated list of all 39 bobbleheads, along with links(click name) to my posts on them. This same list will always be in my sidebar, and will be updated as the Dodgers add more SGA bobbleheads.

April 4, 2001 - Tommy Lasorda 
June 9, 2001 - Kirk Gibson 
July 29, 2001 - Fernando Valenzuela 
May 31, 2002 - Paul LoDuca 
July 18, 2002 - Shawn Green 
August 24, 2002 - Hideo Nomo 
May 2, 2003 - Eric Gagne 
July 1, 2003 - Brian Jordan 
September 12, 2003 - Fred McGriff 
April 30, 2004 - Eric Gagne(Cy Young)
July 23, 2004 - Don Newcombe 
August 20, 2004 - Don Drysdale 
June 1, 2005 - Cesar Izturis 
September 29, 2005 - Jeff Kent 
June 2, 2006 - Ron Cey 
June 23, 2006 - Fernando Valenzuela 
July 28, 2006 - Steve Garvey 
April 26, 2007 - Nomar Garciaparra 
July 6, 2007 Rafael Furcal 
August 2, 2007 - Russell Martin 
September 14, 2007 - Tommy Lasorda(HOF)
April 25, 2008 - Joe Torre 
June 5, 2008 - Takashi Saito 
July 25, 2008 - Brad Penny 
August 12, 2008 - Joe Beimel 
May 20, 2009 - Casey Blake 
July 22, 2009 - Manny Ramirez
August 19, 2009 - Matt Kemp 
September 16, 2009 - Manny Ramirez(Curtain Call)
May 18, 2010 - Andre Ethier 
June 8, 2010 - Jonathan Broxton 
July 20, 2010 - James Loney 
August 17, 2010 - Matt Kemp(The Catch)

May 17, 2011 - Clayton Kershaw

June 1, 2011 - Don Mattingly

June 14, 2011 - Hong-Chih Kuo

July 7, 2011 - Andre Ethier Brooklyn Throwback

July 26, 2011 - Fernandomania

August 9, 2011 - Duke Snider

Kershaw Wins His 20th Game

Photo Credit  Alex Gallardo / AP

Congrats to Clayton Kershaw on his 20th Win of the season. He becomes the first Dodger pitcher to win 20 games since Ramon Martinez did it in 1990. Kersh, who faced two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum, went 7.1 innings tonight, struck out 6 and allowed only one run while lowering his ERA to 2.27 on the year. This was his fourth time beating Lincecum this season. It was also his fifth victory against the Giants in 2011.

Kershaw leads the league in strikeouts(242), ERA(2.27), opponents batting average and is tied for the league lead in wins with Arizona's Ian Kennedy. That Cy Young Award is within his reach. 


Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to make one more start this season.

La Gran Fiesta Viva Los Dodgers 2011

The Dodgers held their annual Hispanic heritage celebration La Gran Fiesta Viva Los Dodgers yesterday. There were many different musical acts performing, and swag was handed out, but I was there for the autographs. 


When I arrived, I noticed all the booths that were set up had tons of swag on the tables. Mostly Don Mattingly and Hong-Chih Kuo bobbleheads. There were thousands of them, which didn't surprise me considering no one attended those games. I could have taken as many as I wanted, but I didn't want to get greedy, so I took one of each, and I won one. I'll be giving those three bobbleheads away sometime in the future.


Like I said earlier, I was there for the autographs, so I got into the signing right away. All the lines were reasonably short, they ran smoothly and all the signers were friendly. The only line that got a little messy was Fernando Valenzuela, and that should come as no surprise to anyone, as he's always the most popular player at these events.


Here's who I got:

Al "The Bull" Ferrara

Manny Mota

That's Javy Guerra, I swear

Sweet Lou Johnson

Tommy Davis

Ramon Troncoso

Kenny Landreaux

My pic with Derrel came out blurry. Here's his auto.

Bill Russell

Steve Yeager

Fernando

Hall of Famer Jaime Jarrin

 I had a great time at Viva Los Dodgers yesterday, and I can't wait to do it again next year. I ran into quite a few people I know yesterday, and I met a few new people as well. It was nice seeing you all! Oh, I want to give a quick shoutout to Alex for taking the pics yesterday. Thanks!

Player Appearance: Wally Moon

Former Dodger Wally Moon made an appearance today at Brent's Deli in Northridge. He was making one of many promotional appearances for his new book "Moon Shots" today.

When I found out Moon was signing in Northridge I was pretty excited. I work less than ten minutes from Brent's Deli, so I knew I could get this done on my lunch break. When I arrived, there was just one other person there, so I only waited a couple of minutes.

I started chatting with Mr. Moon as soon as I got there, and he was really friendly. He told me he lived in Encino when he played for the Dodgers, so he was very familiar with the Valley. Since he attended Texas A&M, I also talked to him a little bit about the Aggies, the Big 12 and the SEC. He was very down to earth and signed whatever was put in front of him.

He signed "Moon Shots" for me

1961 Dodger Family Playbill

'61 Topps

Two W's. I forgot to hand him my good Sharpie.

I did purchase a book, and he signed it to me. I also got a 1961 Topps card signed along with a 1961 Dodgers playbill with Moon on the cover. Thanks to Wally Moon and Brent's Deli for today's book signing. Also, thanks to Vin Scully Is My Homeboy for event information. I want to give a shoutout to Brian, it was very nice seeing you today!

I Needed To See Kershaw Pitch One More Time. Oh, And I Got Some Autographs Too

I made it up to Dodger Stadium tonight to see Clayton Kershaw pitch one last time this season and also to pick up a few autographs. The wife and I got there right as the gates opened, and we went straight to the field. We got lucky, running into Matt Kemp before he headed into the clubhouse. I thanked him for the pizza a couple weeks ago, and he signed two cards for us. Then we waited, and a couple of the guys came by, including Trent Oeltjen and Josh Linblom, but it was pretty dead otherwise.

Matt Kemp is the man! Thank you Bison.

We waited for a little bit longer when Steve Lyons strolled by. He was his usual "Psycho" self, joking around and making fun of the picture on his 1990 baseball card. We waited a bit longer, with no success, then headed over to get some autos from the guys in the bullpen.

Psycho signing

The relief pitchers didn't sign very long, but we did manage to get Javy Guerra, Nathan Eovaldi and a few others. It's been dead at the stadium all year long, giving many autograph-seekers some great opportunities to pick up sigs.

Who are these two studs? Javy and DB!

I like this Nathan Eovaldi kid.  I think he'll be around for a while.

Honeycutt smudge

Psycho, John Ely, Trent Oeltjen and Ramon Troncoso

Oh yeah, Clayton pitched a nice game, until he got thrown out in the sixth inning for beaning Gerardo Parra. Of course we all saw the retaliation coming after Parra's homerun admiration the night before, and Clayton letting him know how he felt about it. But it wasn't something Clayton should have been ejected for, especially without any warnings from the umpire. He did end up with the win though, and even lowered his era to 2.30,  bringing him one step closer to a Cy Young Award. I'm glad I got to see him pitch again before the season ends.

Only Three Dates Left For A Coca-Cola Bobblehead Value Pack

There are just three more chances to take advantage of the Coca-Cola Bobblehead Value Packs the Dodgers are offering on select Wednesdays and Sundays in September. These value packs include four tickets, four Dodger Dogs, four Coca-Colas and four Don Mattingly bobbleheads.  Packages start at $20 per ticket and are available for 4 to 29 tickets.


This is the same promotion the Dodgers started running in August, although they were giving away Clayton Kershaw bobbleheads at the time. If anyone missed out on the Don Mattingly bobblehead giveaway in June, this is a good opportunity to pick one up before the season ends. I know there are quite a few Dodger fans that didn't make it to the stadium for a Mattingly bobblehead on June 1. That was the emptiest I had ever seen Dodger Stadium on a bobblehead night. You can see my recap of that game here.


The three dates remaining for the Coca-Cola Bobblehead Value Pack are Wednesday, September 14,  Sunday, September 18, and Wednesday, September 21. Like I said before, I don't want to support Frank McCourt in any way, but this seems like a very good deal, especially if you're missing this bobblehead in your collection.

Never Forget

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since our country was attacked. I think we all remember where we were and what we were doing when it happened. My younger sister was living in New York City at the time attending NYU, just minutes from Ground Zero. After the attacks, the cell phone network in NYC was overloaded with people calling, so we couldn't get a hold of her. It was a very stressful time for my family not knowing where she was. When we finally got in touch with her, it was a huge relief. 

As I watch footage of the events that took place ten years ago, I still get goosebumps. I still get angry. My heart goes out to all the families that lost love ones that day. I hope everyone has a chance to reflect today and remember those people. 

Discount At Bobbles Galore For Dodgerbobble Readers

The last time I mentioned Bobbles Galore, the world's largest SGA bobblehead reseller, we were holding the Duke Snider bobblehead contest back in August. Since then, they've added many more bobbleheads to their site, including a few new Dodger bobbleheads. 

And now they're offering a a nice discount for dodgerbobble.com readers. If you use the promo code bobblesgalore10 when checking out, you will receive 10% off your purchase. It's a pretty good deal, especially if your picking up a few new nodders.