By now, many of you have heard about how we almost got smoked out at the Dodger game on Saturday. It was a long game to boot too! You know when Kuroda’s pitching, it isn’t going to be a quick game. At least I got a ball from Jon Garland before the game and he signed it (and personalized it) for me. He asked us, “where are the dogs?” We told him out in the pavilion, as Saturday was the “Bark in the Park” event.

I had heard on the radio the night before that Jim Wolf was the umpire at third base. Now, I’m probably the only fan in the world who gets excited about seeing an umpire. I packed my Wolf hat and scrapbook just in case I got a chance to see Jim before the game and talk to him. While I was waiting to talk to Jim, I did get to meet Andre’s agent and talk to his dad. After that, I looked up and notice the umpire numbers. There was no 78 up there. I figured, oh, maybe Jim got the rest of the series off. It happens sometimes.

The umpire comes out and I notice one of them looks like he could be Jim. By now, I’m back at my seat in the baseline boxes. I am kicking myself for not sticking around longer to make sure that Jim wasn’t going to be there. Sure enough. When they announce the evening’s umpires, Jim is at 2nd base wearing the #28. I guess he snatched up the number after the previous wearer retired or something.

One of the funniest things I saw during the game was a pink balloon had drifted into the stadium. First it hovered in the air over left field, between third and left. James Loney was batting and I was hoping to see him get a hit off the balloon. Jim Wolf must have thought the same thing because he had an eye on the balloon too. The balloon kept drifting down, but didn’t touch the field, and then drift up again. Wolfie had his eye on it. I was waiting to see if he would call time. He never did. The balloon almost touched down, but then it just started to drift towards the foul line. In fact, it drifted straight to Chico, the ball boy. He didn’t even have to get up and chase it. It went straight to him!

When I was in the Baseline Club on Saturday, I was smiling at something on the TV. One of the cooks happened to be out there and commented on what a pretty smile I have. Normally, had it been anyone else, I probably would’ve found it creepy and try to get away. But, since I kinda know him, I just took it as a much needed compliment.

After Saturday’s loss, I was 0-4 in games attended since I started my new job. When I mentioned this to SooHoo on Monday, he gave me the “toss” signal. It was funny to see. He just tossed me, like an umpire would toss a player. Well, fortunately for me, the Dodgers won on Monday, evening my 2011 record up to 7-7 and breaking my 4 game losing streak since I started my new job.

Jamey Carroll’s kids were at the game. They’re so adorable. They came down to the field while dad was stretching. He motioned for them to come down and they did. They had some other kids (maybe more family members or friends) with them and they all posed for a group photo. Jamey picked up his little boy, Cole, for the photo. Then Cole would point to a player who was stretching and Jamey would say who Cole was pointing to.

I knew the players were going to wear special caps for Memorial Day. But I didn’t know there were two kinds. The Dodgers wore the dark blue with white while the Rockies wore a red with white. Interesting. I think this was the first time the two teams wore different caps for the Patriotic themed caps. Well, first time I’ve seen it anyway. On Saturday, during the National Anthem, everyone had their caps removed except for Tim Wallach. He had his batting helmet off but not the cap. We speculated maybe he thought the cap was in the helmet and he didn’t realize it didn’t come off with the helmet. Not quite sure.

One of the funnier things I’ve seen lately happened during Jamey Carroll’s triple. As he was running to third, Tim Wallach was getting in position to tell Jamey whether slide, come in standing, or dive. Well, the third base umpire was trying to get in position so he could see the play as well. So, he had to give Wallach a friendly little nudge which he probably apologized for after the play. Still, it was funny to see in person.

The next homestand is going to be a long one! I think I might actually get 4 or 5 games during that homestand. For sure, two of the Saturday games and two of the mid-week day games. The only game I’m not sure about is the Sunday game against the Angels. It’ll depend on my church schedule.