June 2010
Better late than never (Billingsley signing)
Okay, this is a bit late (a lot late) but like the title says, better late than never.
I’m at a friend’s house and using their internet so hopefully while I’m here I can catch up on a few posts.
I was a little more tired the morning I got up for Billz signing than I was for Ely’s. So, I had my alarm ready so I could leave the house by 4. I didn’t get up and leave until around 5:30. I got there a little before six and there were a bunch of people there already. Probably around 12-15. The funny thing was, one of the ladies in line kinda gave me a dirty look as I pulled up and got in line. I didn’t know anyone in line. Most of the people I knew or met the week before said they were going to Jonathan Broxton’s signing.
Erez showed up and took a look at the line. Not too long after that, the rest of the KABC crew showed up. We gave Jeffrey a hard time about driving one of the vehicles. They were able to set up their tables and tents this time, unlike the week before at the Ely signing.
Bob’s Big Boy is right next door. So, they sent Bob out to hand out fliers and for photo ops.
Billz showed up almost exactly at 11:30. He got to go in through the main entrance. The rest of us were going in through the side entrance. The AT&T store didn’t want us to go in through the front entrance. They only wanted customers to come in through the front entrance.
They let us in a few people at a time. My group was just me and Pat at first. But the guys in front of us wanted me to take their picture for them. If you guys are reading this, e-mail me for the originals! I haven’t heard from them yet. No, I didn’t get my picture taken with Chad. I have one from two years ago and I don’t need another one. He signed my scrapbook and a baseball card. He didn’t talk much.
And, we got tickets to the Saturday, Aug 7th game against the Nationals. Any chance Strasburg will start that one?
This is only the second time I’ve gotten Billingsley’s autograph. I set myself up for all this work with my scrapbooks, photos, and now this year’s team ball. I’ve said a few times now that I probably won’t do a team ball after this year. A friend asked me, “don’t you have enough autographs?” When is enough, enough?
Andy Stadium was also at the signing and happened to catch me in the background.
Jim Thome joins exclusive list
I’m surprised no one mentioned this during yesterday’s recap on MLB Network. When Jim Thome hit his career 570 homerun in the 9th inning of yesterday’s Twins/Phillies game, he became the 12th active, 33rd overall player to hit a homerun against all 30 clubs. A month ago, I posted an entry about which active players have hit home runs against all 30 clubs. It’s almost been exactly a month since Vladimir Guerrero became the 11th active. There was a ton of hoopla over Vladdy joining the list. Yet, there was ONE line about Thome.
I thought this was interesting because Thome is 2nd in active home run leaders. A-Rod is first.
Offline
Hey guys (the handful of people who read this blog),
My internet at home isn’t working right now. So, my sporadic blogging is temporarily… nonexistent. I will get internet back soon and will write about the Billz signing and probably the Dodgers/Angels game. Just as I was getting in the habit of posting relatively regularly … no internet.
Now I know what Steve Lyons means when he’s like, “so you’re the one person who listens to my podcast.”
Pictures of the day 6-8-10
A bobblehead of Dodgers’ closer Jonathan Broxton was given away on Tuesday, June 8, 2010.
Dodgers’ owner, Frank McCourt, smiles before an interview before the Dodgers play the Cardinals on Tues, Jun 8, 2010.
Pictures of the day 6-7-10
Catcher Russell Martin holds up the line after the National Anthem before the Dodgers play the Cardinals on Monday, June 7, 2010. Starting pitchers John Ely (middle) and Chad Billingsley stack up behind Martin.
“Deuce is in the house”
Fantastic autograph signing event – John Ely
And yes, those were his words!
“We had a fantastic time at the signing today. And, uh, go Dodgers.”
As with most autograph signings, you never know what to expect. You can never guess what time the first person will show up or how many people. KABC was hoping for at least 400. That’s how many tickets they brought to hand out. Not tickets to the game. Tickets to give each person to admit them in for the autograph. They did bring tickets to the game for that night. Plenty of tickets.
So, what time did I show up? Before the sun came up. And guess what? I wasn’t even the first person in line! Christoph, the first person in line showed up at 3:30. I arrived about an hour later (less than that). I left my house at 4 and it took me 15 minutes to get there. So, you do the math. I first parked my car in front of the store but then was asked to move. Yes, there was someone there at 4:30 AM to ask me to move my car. They were repainting the lines for the spots in front of the store.
We talked for about the first hour or so. He talked mostly about politics and medical marijuana, a subject he was quite knowledgeable and passionate about … seeing as he uses medical marijuana. I forgot what term he used. After he took his medication, he mellowed out and we didn’t talk for about two hours. I read my book, he read his. 
Then around 6:30 we were asked to move so some workers could clean the sidewalk. That’s when the rest of the fans started showing up. About five or six cars pulled in. We took the line and started forming it in the parking lot while they were cleaning the sidewalk. Alex came by and dropped off his dad, and Ronnie came. I talked with Ronnie for a while. Once they finished cleaning, we went back and reformed our line. Five hours to go till the signing started.
Lots of people wonder, how in the world do we wait for hours and hours just to get a few minutes with a ball player. Well, we spend hours talking to other fans in line and getting to know each other. I met Ronnie at both the Dodger Caravans earlier this year. The most memorable conversation was between Ronnie and another fan Edward. They were discussing/debating trading Ely for the Astros’ Roy Oswalt. Edward said he’d take it. Ronnie said he wouldn’t. He said Ely was gold and Oswalt was feathers. Edward laughed and said Ely was fool’s gold then. It was great. I wish I had recorded it and taken pictures to put in my slide-show. Guess my photo-journalistic skills weren’t sharp, as a result of less than 2 hours of sleep and being up before 4.
Surprisingly, John Ely showed up early! He was schedule to sign from 11:30 – 1.
He showed up a few minutes before 11.
My friend Pat was taking some pictures of Ely as he was walking up. Her sister behind her told her, “don’t get in front of Linda! She takes good pictures.”
It took about another 15 minutes before they started letting us in.
knows this little guy! He was one of the last, if not the last person to get an autograph.
You’ll never believe who was warming up
In the bullpen on Saturday night’s Dodger game against the Braves in the 8th and 9th inning with the Dodgers trailing the Braves 9 – 2 (Dodgers scored one run in the bottom of the 9th to finish the game 9 – 3). I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw action in the bullpen. I figured Kuo wasn’t an option, Broxton and Weaver weren’t options… so who was left since Troncoso imploded, Belisario was done, and Haeger was mopping up.
Can you see the name on the back of the jersey? LOL yes I know you have to click on the picture to make it bigger.
How about now? If you can’t see the name, you can at least see the number.
Who wears #17 on the Dodgers?
No, not Jason Repko. He gone.
Got it yet?
…
Andrew James Ellis.
It was confirmed on Dodger Talk when I stumped Ken Levine and Josh Suchon. They thought I didn’t know, but I surprised them. They were surprised. They were flabberghasted. They got excited over the possibility that AJ Ellis might have had a chance to pitch. If they archive the Dodger Talk, I’ll post the link and tell you at which point I come on. It was probably one of the better calls of the night, if I do say so myself. Josh sounded giddy at the prospect of asking Joe Torre about it tomorrow. Since I won’t get to hear the response, I hope someone out there will and post a reply so I can find out. Maybe it’ll be in the paper. But Ken and Josh said that their vantage point from the Press Box doesn’t always give them a great view of who is warming up in the bullpen. Basically when I said it was AJ, Josh was like “FROM THE MOUND?” I was like, yup. Wind up and everything. Josh got real excited about the possibility that had Charlie Haeger imploded and if the Dodgers deficit became greater … that Andrew James Ellis could possibly have relieved Charlie Haeger in the 8th or 9th inning.
You heard it here. You see for yourself.
I personally would have loved to have seen AJ pitch, even if it meant the Dodgers were losing more than they were. Hello, the score was already 9 – 2 at the time in the Braves favor.
Pepsi All Star Bottle
My mom asked me to go to Vons to pick up a few things for her. I don’t like going to the one on Alvarado, so my two choices were in Glendale or Eagle Rock. I decided to go to the one in Eagle Rock and go to Target while I was there. As soon as I walked in, the display caught my eye. Sorry, I didn’t take a picture of the display. But here’s a picture of what I bought.
Yup. It’s a Pepsi Bottle… with 6 players on it.
The players include…
Albert Pujols, Cardinals
Our very own MLB Pepsi Clutch Performer of the year….
Andre Ethier!!!
Who are the other four? Guess you’ll have to scope out your nearest Vons and find out for yourself. Or wait for me to post the other four pictures.
fallingleaves02
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