Merry Christmas

I want to wish everyone out there a Merry Christmas. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful day.

Here are some Christmas Dodger links:

Kershaw and new wife head to Africa. Dodgers' Ace, Clayton Kershaw, and his new bride, Ellen, will be going to Zambia in January. The two will be a on a mission spreading the good word and spending time with orphans in this poor African nation, where two-thirds of the population lives below the national poverty line.

Casey Blake, philanthropist. Blake, who lives in the small town of Indianola, Iowa, donated $1 million to the Indianola school district back in February and challenged the community to match it. The Beard is active in fund-raisers to help the community match his $1-million donation.

Dodger Christmas trees. Vin Scully Is My Homeboy has been getting pics from some Dodger fans of their Christmas trees. It's some cool stuff check it out.

Seasons Greeting from the Dodgers. This greeting card is showing off the new Dodgers' rotation. Click the pic below.

Dodgers Win Four Straight And Other News

Dodgers win four in a row. Clayton Kershaw pitched another gem. He outdueled Cy Young candidate Ubaldo Jimenez, going 6 innings, while giving up one run on 5 hits and two walks and striking out six. His only blemish was a second inning homerun he gave up to Todd Helton. Kershaw finally had his first 1-2-3 first inning of the year.

The Dodgers offense keeps rolling as they scored six runs tonight. That's four games in a row now that the Dodgers have scored five or more runs. The offensive hero tonight was the Beard, Casey Blake, who hit his fifth career grand slam tonight off of Colorado reliever Matt Belisle. That gave the Dodgers a 5-1 lead, and they wouldn't look back. Matt Kemp knocked in one more run in the ninth inning as the Dodgers went on to win 6-2.

In other Dodgers news:

The Chicago White Sox file a waiver claim on Manny Ramirez.
Ted Lilly is the latest Dodgers player to be placed on waivers.
Frank McCourt gives 40,000 Dodgers tickets to LAPD officers.
The Dodgers will celebrate team photographer Jon Soo Hoo for 25 years of service.
Joe Torre's wearing an "In Beard We Trust" shirt from theLFP.com. You can order a shirt here.

Bison Bobblehead Night

Click here to purchase

Tonight was the final bobblehead night of 2010. The first 50,000 fans in attendance received Home-Run Saving Matt Kemp bobbleheads. Presented by San Manuel Indian Bingo & Casino, this bobble was made by P Squared Promos.

From all the pictures I had seen of this bobblehead, I knew it was gonna be a good one. After finally getting my hands on it and taking a good look, it really lived up to my expectations. This is the coolest Dodger bobblehead yet.

The Dodgers won 6-0, which made the whole night that  much better. Clayton Kershaw pitched a gem, going seven innings, allowing only five hits while striking out six Rockies. Kersh earned his 11th win on the season. He got that win because the offense actually showed up tonight scoring SIX runs. Doubles from Scott Podsednik and James Loney gave the Dodgers a 4-0 lead in the fifth inning. Casey Blake singled in one more to put the Dodgers up 5-0. The crowd went crazy with the Dodgers offensive explosion. It was nice to see the bats come alive.


The Dodgers added a run in the eighth inning when Colorado reliever Randy Flores picked up a weak Ronnie Belliard tapper and overthrew it to first base. Jonathan Broxton made an appearance in the ninth inning to lock down the Dodger victory. Matt Kemp went 0 for 3 with a walk on his bobblehead night.  Kemp did come up  in the fourth inning with the bases loaded and two outs. He had an opportunity to do something special, but ended up flying out.
 
 Some pics from tonight:
 
 

 

All gone

Dodger News And Notes

The Dodgers pulled off a nice victory last night. This last week has been stressful for Dodger fans, but the boys in blue finally got their first win in the second half of the season. I slept much better last night than I did the night before.

Let's see what's going on with the Dodgers.

Casey Blake Bobblehead Giveaway. Dodger third baseman Casey Blake is getting another bobblehead.  It's not from the Dodgers, but the Iowa Cubs, AAA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The first 1,500 fans at tonight's Iowa Cubs game will receive a free bobblehead of Iowa-native and Indianola High School alum Casey Blake. I posted pictures of this bobblehead earlier this year.

Joe Torre is uncertain of his future in Los Angeles. I hope he doesn't come back to LA next year. He can go to Chicago for all I care.

Dodgers call up a reliever, option a catcher. The Dodger have called up Jack Taschner from Triple-A Albuquerque.  To make room for him on the roster, they've optioned back-up catcher AJ Ellis to AAA. They may also call up Jay Gibbons, who is currently batting .327 with 17 homeruns and 70 RBI down in Albuquerque.

Dodgers Media Network honored with two Silver Telly Awards. The Dodgers Media Network was recently recognized with two Silver Telly Awards,the highest honor at the 31st Annual Telly Awards. The Dodgers' entries were among nearly 11,000 entries from all 50 states and numerous countries with less than 10 percent of entries taking highest honors, the Silver Telly. The Dodgers Media Network took Silver in the Online Video Sports category for "Inside Dodgertown: Randy Wolf Philly Cheese Steak" feature and in the Entertainment category for the "Dodgers Blue Carpet: 'The Office' Set Tour" feature.

The Losing Streak Finally Ends

Finally, a win. It's been eight days since the All-Star Game was played, and the Dodgers finally get a second-half victory, beating the Giants 2-0. One night after playing in one of the worst games all year, the Dodgers turn around and play one of their best games of the year.

Tonight's starter, Chad Billingsley pitched his first complete game of the season, giving up only five hits. He threw 125 pitches, striking out three Giants while only walking two. An impressive outing for Bills at a time when the bullpen really needs some rest.

Casey Blake drove in both Dodger runs, homering  in the second inning and knocking in a huge insurance run in the eighth.

We found out today that manager Joe Torre, bench coach Bob Schaefer and Clayton Kershaw will be suspended for their actions in yesterday's game. Joe Torre served his suspension tonight, so Don Mattingly served as acting manager one night after his debacle at the pitchers mound.

It was a very frustrating time for Dodger fans this last week. Now that they have this victory under their belts, I'm hoping the Dodgers will get back to their winning ways.

Autograph Day

Casey Blake was signing autographs in Pasadena today. John Ely was signing in Culver City. And Jonathan Broxton in Pomona. Jacksonville Jaguars Running Back Maurice Jones Drew was also signing in El Segundo. My goal was to get to at least two of these events. I decided that the trip to Pomona to see Broxton was out of the way. So, my plan was to go to Pasadena first, then Culver City, and if there was time, El Segundo.



I went with my buddy Tom. The event was to start at 12:00. We got to Pasadena at 10:30 and there must have been a 500 or 600 people in line already. Luckily, we ran into our buddys Albert and Chris who were at the front of the line. Albert was wearing an "In Beard We Trust" t-shirt from thelfp.com. I've been meaning to order one of those shirts. I'll get around to it soon. Anyways, there were others walking around with the same shirts.We saw Dodger photographer Jon Soo Hoo there. People were very excited to meet "The Beard".




Wrist bands were handed out at around 11:30. Security told us that Casey didn't want any pictures taken, and that he would only sign one item. That was kind of a bummer. But, I understand why, there must have been 2,000 people there by 12:00. And that's when they started letting people in. Things moved pretty fast from there. The Verizon employees entertained us in line with games and prizes.

It was very hot outside, so once we got indoors, it was very relieving. They rushed us through. I got Casey to sign my bobblehead(what else would I have him sign?). Albert and Tom got baseballs signed. Chris had him sign a picture. Albert got him to sign the baseball "Casey The Beard Blake".



We all rushed out of there. It was 12:30. Tom and I thought we'd try to get to Culver City to meet Ely before 1:00, when the event was supposed to end. A half an hour to get to Culver City from Pasadena? No problem, right? WRONG. It took 40 minutes just to get to the National exit on the 10 freeway. So, we missed that opportunity. Let's try going to El Segundo for MJD. It took another 30 minutes from there. We got to Dick's Sporting Goods at 12:40, twenty minutes before the event ended. We stood in line for those twenty minutes. There were about 100 people in front of us. MJD stopped signing at 2:00 on the dot. Everyone standing in line was handed a picture of the Jaguars running back and sent on their way. That was a waste of time.

In the end, we went 1 for 3 in autograph attempts. In baseball, that would be a good day. For us, it was terrible. Plus, I have a sunburn.

First Look: Casey Blake Indianola Bobblehead

On July 22, the Iowa Cubs, AAA affiliate of the Chicago Cubs, will be giving away Casey Blake bobbleheads. Earlier this year I listed some notable AAA stadium giveaways and this bobblehead was one of them. I asked if Casey would be sporting the beard or not. And the answer is...no. This bobblehead depicts a young Casey in his Indianola High School Indians uniform.





I'd like to thank Iowa Cubs Media Relations Manager, Andrea Breen for all her help and the great pictures of this bobblehead. I can't wait to get my hands on this one.

Bobblehead of the Day: Casey Blake

Click here to purchase

What a crazy week. The Dodgers have won their last three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks in their final at bat. It started Monday night with Casey Blake's balk-off in the bottom of the ninth inning. On Tuesday, Matt Kemp hit a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the 10th inning. And today, Garret Anderson got a walk-off hit in the bottom of the 14th inning.

Since these three guys have come up big for the Dodgers, it seems like a good time to take a look at their bobbleheads. I'll start tonight with Casey Blake and move on to Matt Kemp tomorrow, followed by GA on Friday.

On Wednesday, May 20, 2009 the Dodgers gave away Casey Blake bobbleheads to the first 50,000 fans in attendance. Presented by Carl's Jr, this bobblehead was made by P Squared Promos. This was the first of three scheduled bobbleheads for the year, Manny Ramirez(July 22) and Matt Kemp(August 19) were the other two. Of course, a fourth bobblehead was later added to the schedule, the Manny BobbleSlam bobblehead(September 16).

The Dodgers played the New York Mets that day and won 2-1. Jeff Weaver started the game for the Dodgers, Livan Hernandez for the Mets. Brent Leach was the winning pitcher. Jonathan Broxton got the save.

Let's take a look at The Beard's bobblehead















A look at the box







I was a little surprised the Dodgers made Casey Blake the first bobblehead of 2009. He hadn't been in blue too long, but I guess the hard working bearded third baseman was popular enough with fans that the Dodgers decided to give him one.

The features seem to be dead on. Of course the first thing to check is the beard, and they got it right. The skin tone is good. They even got the large chin right. Overall, I'd say this is a good looking bobblehead.

Up Next: