I only found out about the Maury Wills signing less than twelve hours before the event. At the time, I didn't intend on going. Until my cousin, Jenny, called me at ten this morning. I had called her the night before about the event. She was on her way to the bus stop (she lives two blocks away from where the event was going to be) and told me she didn't see anyone there. It was a little before ten I think and the event was supposed to start any minute. So, I called the Smart and Final Extra to verify about the signing. It was supposed to start any moment. So, I hopped in the shower and then got my things together for the signing. Jenny met me there and there were four or five other guys in line already. No one else was there really. Maury showed up and then more people starting looking to see what was going on. In fact, when one lady found out Maury Wills was signing autographs and they had 8x10s of him available for him to sign, she almost cut in front of us! Apparently, she didn't see the line of six or seven (maybe more by then) people waiting for Maury Wills to sign their items. Maury signed my scrapbook from last year.

I asked him to take a photo with me. He said, "sure, you want to come around the table?" I got next to him ... and right before Jenny took the photo, he said, "let me fix your jersey." I guess the top was open a little and he fixed it. Jenny actually got a photo of both him fixing my jersey and the photo of the two of us together. After the photo, he complimented the jersey, saying what a nice jersey it was. Then he asked me whose number was on the back. After that, it was Jenny's turn. I gave her a picture of Maury Wills from the Dodgers/Phillies games earlier this year that honored him and he went out and "stole" second base. He looked at the picture and was trying to figure out what it was.
Since Jenny was on her way to LACC when she came back for me,  I said I'd take her. I took her to LACC, got Wendy's, and then came back. I had texted Nina (and several others) about the event and Nina said her dad would have loved to meet him. I told her they should go! There wasn't a lot of people there and they had 8x10s that they were giving away to get signed. So, they met me back there. There were about ten people in line. Nina came with her parents (Jack and Sol).

Jack was hilarious! He told Maury that he watched Maury play for the Dodgers when Jack was in high school. Maury asked him, "was I good then?" Jack told him he was great. Then it was Sol's turn and she was getting a photo signed for Jack's cousin, who's also a long-time Dodger fan. After that, Sol asked Jack if he wanted a photo with Maury. Maury told him to come around the table. Jack knelt down in front of it. Maury told him again to come around. Jack went around to the left of Maury, where there was guy sitting and he wasn't going to get around that way. Maury told him to come the other way. Jack finally got next to Maury, and Sol got in the photo.

While watching the game at JoAnna's on Saturday, we were talking about how many of our players are playing in their first post season in one way or another. For example, our starters each started in their first postseason start. Clayton Kershaw was the only one of the three starters that actually had post season experience, albeit as a reliever.

Randy Wolf spent 8 years with the Phillies, 1 with the Dodgers, and 1 between the Padres and the Astros. No post season appearances in any of his 10 years in the majors. Now in his 11th year in the majors, he finally made it to the post season. As I have mentioned before, Wolf just missed the playoffs with three of the four teams he played with.

Vicente Padilla spent a year with the D-backs before being traded to the Phillies. He was with the Phillies for five years before going to the Rangers for three years before coming to the Dodgers.

As promised, here is that video of the two guys getting carried out of the pavilion.

The first man was already pushed down the pavilion steps when I started recording. You see the other man get carried out (watch for him grabbing the railing) and then the other man is carried out after him.

Link to YouTube (the embed didn't work)

On ESPN.com

MIAMI -- A Florida girl who grabbed a historic home run ball hit by Philadelphia Phillies slugger Ryan Howard has her prize back after suing the team for its return.

The July home run against the Florida Marlins was Howard's 200th. He achieved that milestone in the fewest games in major league history.

After 12-year-old Jennifer Valdivia scooped up the ball, she was escorted to the Phillies clubhouse and then exchanged it for an autographed ball.

The girl's mother filed a lawsuit Monday seeking the home run ball's return. Attorney Norm Kent says the Phillies agreed and now Jennifer has the ball back.

The Phillies declined comment on Wednesday.

Update: 10/8/09

Here's another updated article with more details:

Were the Phillies big league bullies over a ball?

By Gordon Edes, Yahoo! Sports

PHILADELPHIA - It's a storyline that could have been lifted straight from a promotional script for Major League Baseball. Jennifer Valdivia, a 12-year-old girl taken to her very first baseball game by her Cuban-born grandfather, is sitting in the right-field stands in Miami's Land Shark Stadium when one of the game's top young sluggers, Ryan Howard(notes) of the defending World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies, hits a home run that lands in the row behind her and bounces into her hands, instead of to her envious 15-year-old brother. The ball is not just any home run. It is the 200th of Howard's career, making him the fastest Major League player to reach that number.

Not only does Jennifer have a souvenir to treasure, but she is whisked away to the Phillies' clubhouse with a promise, she says, that she'll get to meet the great slugger himself after the game

I'm not posting the whole second article.

Tonight was the first play off game for me as well as my friends Chris and Chelsea ... and our starting pitcher, Randy Wolf!
Love this picture!! He came out through the bullpen. You never know with Randy. He either comes out to warm up from the bullpen or from the dug out. You can never guess.

Like I said, I have lots of pictures from the celebration. I skipped the pictures from the games and went straight to the pictures from the celebration. I'll probably do two or three more posts with pictures from the celebration. The rest will just have to go up on Flickr. I have over 800 (almost 900) photos from Saturday night. Not all of them will make it up, but I'll edit the good ones and put those up. Eventually. It's going to be a busy week with the playoffs starting on Wednesday. It's going to be a cold night!!!

As promised ... here are some more photos!








Picture #1 The Dodgers celebrate on the field after Ethier makes the last out.
Picture #2 You see the group hug start to disperse ... especially with Russell Martin up front and center.
Picture #3 Time to pass out the shirts and the caps.

Last week when I thought the Dodgers were going to clinch in Pittsburgh, I went out and bought two bottles of apple cider to celebrate. The Dodgers lost on Sunday night, so the apple cider got to sit. Well, one of them. I drank the other one anyway. Guess you could say there was one to drown my sorrows. And the other one to celebrate.

Well, the one bottle of apple cider that I was saving sure got real cold by the time I opened it. Since they clinched on Saturday night and it was midnight by the time I got home, I didn't open it. When I got home tonight, after the final game of the regular season ... I popped that baby open!

I set up a little photo shoot for the celebration bottle. Can it really be considered a celebration when it's just me celebrating?

Two years in a row have the Dodgers clinched the National League Western Division Champion title ... and both years I was at the game when they clinched!

Starting off, I called Nina to see if she was going to the game with me. I was going to take Jason, but he backed out. And Nina was originally going to go to the game with me. She was at the L.A. Country Fair with her family. But, she wanted to go. So, I dropped the ticket off at her house and left her some money to pay for parking. My cousin Jenny dropped me off at the gate and I went in. Tonight was calendar night and the first 50,000 fans received the "2009 Team Calendar" ... except for one thing. They've done this both years I have gone to Team Calendar night. They don't hand out the calendars till the end of the game. But, instead, I did get to see the Star Wars: Clone Wars characters walking by. Snapped a few quick picks.























Did you see the one guy who saw me taking pictures? LOL. Sorry if some of them aren't in focus. I was taking them too quickly.
I got Brad Ausmus to sign Julia's birthday ball. He was one of the handful of players she named she wanted. Her list was Andre Ethier, Russell Martin, Randy Wolf, and Brad A-use-mus. That's how she said his name the first time she tried to say it. And it stuck in our heads. Well, she is nine you know. She turns ten in less than two weeks. Manny might've been one of the names on the list too, but I was like ... fat chance me getting Manny's autograph. I got Randy's before the game started. I was talking with an usher (one I hadn't talked to before too!) when I noticed Randy was signing autographs.

He was standing on the top step of the dugout and signing autographs for the kids in the dugout club. Okay, so I know I was in the field level and no way was I getting in the dugout club. But, there is a wall that separates the dugout club from the field level. I went to the very first row that was directly behind Randy. I pulled out the ball and my Wolf mask. I grabbed it at the last second when I was leaving the house . You never know when it'll come in handy.  Like tonight. I noticed Randy already had something he was signing wit h. Good. There was no way I was going to be able to throw a pen that far. As it was, it was hard enough to throw the ball that far.

Okay, not really that hard.  I didn't give it m 100% effort. I didn't want the ball to end up on the field. Ask anyone who's played catch or softball with me... or even volleyball!  They'll tell you. Anyway, so I waited for the right moment to get Randy's attention. Didn't take me very long. I called out his name, held up the ball and the Wolf hat (so he'd remember who I was). He looked right at me and pointed to me (okay, so the picture is of Brad Ausmus pointing. And no, Brad wasn't pointing at me). I threw the ball to him. It was a soft toss so it landed just a little short. Remember. I didn't want to embarrass myself by throwing the ball onto the field. He signed it and threw it back to me.
I was a little surprised that I was able to get something signed.
The players usually don't sign for people in the field level, just the dugout club. Well, not that I've seen anyway. The throw back was a little high and a little over my head. I was afraid of not catching it (again) or it bouncing to someone else or into the dugout club. Well, I jumped up and it tried to catch it. Just got my hands on it. The ball hit my right hand pretty much in the same spot where it got hit last time. I didn't close my hands on it ... but it landed in my purse!

Good thing it didn't land in the dugout club! And sure enough, after I got my ball, all these other kids showed up trying to get an autograph. I didn't see any players sign for anyone in the field level. Just the kids behind the dugout. There was one kid next to me who asked me if that was Lamar Odom in the dugout. I had no idea. Probably not. But the kid kept calling him anyway. He also asked me who was the guy with the award (Juan Pierre) and what the award (Roy Campenella Award) was for. And then when it was time for the National Anthem, he got all excited because the players were lining up. I told him to quiet down because it was time for the National Anthem. And to take off his cap.


This was one of the funniest things I happen to see, hanging behind the dugout. Well, I was in the field seats behind the wall that separates the field level from the dugout level. Wonder who's hands those are... I was looking for a fourth hand, but I didn't see it.

So, tonight's game started off with a very fast 1-2-3 first inning. How fast? Kershaw struck out the first three batters. Of course, I didn't see any of this because I was waiting for the elevator to go to the Top Deck. But what did I see? Ron Cey (he went in the opposite direction or you know I would've gotten an autograph. No picture, I had the wrong lenses on). Steve Lyons (he went straight into the Press Box, but he did say hi and ask me how I was doing). And Vic the Brick (I think that's how you spell it). After the first three struck out, Kershaw struck out two more to make it five consecutive strike outs before he allowed Chris Ianetta to fly out to Juan Pierre. That's okay, because in the next inning he struck out Brad Hawpe and Jorge DeLaRosa with a ground out in between. Oh, and the Dodgers' bench coach Bob Schaefer got thrown out of the game in the bottom of the third inning.

After they showed Tommy Lasorda on the screen, the guy sitting next to Nina asked me if I knew when did Tommy Lasorda retired. I told him I didn't know. I guessed in the 90's, mid-90's. I told him I've only been a fan for 3 years. That wasn't the funny part. The funny part was when he asked me, he and the four or five guys sitting with him were all looking at me for the answer. Nina thought it was hilarious too because they all expected me to know the answer. Quite funny to see six guys in a row all leaning over to find out the answer. One head right after the other. Not sure how to describe the picture, but imagine six heads right on top of each other lined up on a doorway and that's close to what it was.

There were a lot of close calls last night. Me getting to the game and getting a ticket. A couple close pitches to Kemp. The close call at first that the umpire called out and everyone else was sure it was safe. The close game. It was a really long game for such a low-scoring, low hitting game. Then again, maybe having almost twenty strike outs combined might have something to do with it. Or the guy who sang the "National Anthem". That had to be the LONGEST rendition I've ever heard. There was another girl earlier who took a long time too... but man... I think this guy takes the cake! I was talking to a security guard after the game ... we talked about how it was such a long game for such a low-scoring game. I told him, "It's the guy who sang the National Anthem. It's his fault. He set the tone."

Okay, so all week I've been contemplating whether or not to get a ticket to tonight's game. I wanted to go because a) Randy Wolf is pitching and b) if they win, they clinch the division. But I couldn't go because a) I have church on Friday nights and b) I didn't get a ticket (read previous entry about my interactions with sellers). A little after four o'clock, I get a text message.There is no church tonight. So the main reason why I wasn't going to the game ... well... now there wasn't a reason why I wasn't going to the game. Before I knew it, I was driving down Academy ... and finding out that where I usually park before the game ... not an option. If I wasn't in such a hurry, I would've taken photos. But I only had about 20 minutes to hunt down a ticket. Took about five. The guy sold two tickets to the reserve level to these two guys for $20. He was trying to sell the same ticket to me for $40 and said he wouldn't go lower than $30. I told him I would have bought one for $20. He ended up selling me a lower reserve ticket for $25. I wonder if it was because I'm a girl that he wouldn't sell it to me for $20. Then again, the ticket he sold me was for lower reserve and the other guys was in reserve. Because my usual parking was not an option, I had to pay for parking. The Golden State Gate was already jam packed. So I headed towards the Academy Gate. And I realized, I only had $11 on me. Thankfully, I keep lots of quarters in my car (for newspapers, meters... and parking!). I paid the rest of my parking fee in quarters!

Got into the Stadium and met up with Cat. The Dodgers weren't on the field very long. I was only able to take pictures of Kershaw's backside ... and George Sherrill (this one's for you, Cari, Stacey... and all the Georgie lovers out there)


I saw some of my other friends show up and went over to say hi to them. One of the security guards told me I was on the Dodger Vision. He was asking me why I was leaving. I told him I was running away. Also, I saw on the Dodger Vision a guy in the Center Field area with a "Vin Scully Is My Homeboy" shirt. Had to get a photo of that for Vin Scully Is My Homeboy. Always exciting to spot one of his shirts. Turns out, I don't think it was one of his shirts. The guy had his own made. But he did buy one of VSIMH's shirts.

Before the game started tonight, Tommy Lasorda was being honored for his sixty years with the Dodgers. They handed out little replicas of his Hall of Fame plaque, as well as having the real one displayed out in Autograph Alley. Sorry, no picture of the real one. I didn't stop in Autograph Alley. I rarely do, actually. Anyway, former players were gathered on the field to take part of the celebration.  Tommy came out with his wife, Jo. For the ceremonial first pitch, Brad Ausmus got to catch another knuckleballer, Charlie Hough.

So, Chemgod on Bad Wax often lists some examples of Craigslist Idiots ... where he finds someone on Craigslist who is selling baseball cards at some ridiculous price. Chemgod contacts the seller through e-mails and then publishes the ensuing interactions on his website. I don't usually have bad experiences with buying tickets from other people. I rarely buy it from a third party. However, I had to to resort to this when I was trying to find tickets to tonight's game.

First, I contacted a seller on Craigslist. I was wary of buying tickets online from Craigslist and have heard stories from other people who had bad experiences with it. I've only used Craigslist once to buy something and it was a textbook for school where I picked it up in Long Beach. So, I contacted this seller who had two different tickets for sale. I contacted him about purchasing one of them. I told him I was interested in either of them. When I told him I was willing to drive out to meet him to buy the ticket. I was wary of paying for it online. One of my friends paid for his ticket from a Craigslist seller and never got his ticket. After I told him I would meet him to buy the ticket, he sold both of them. Guess I can't blame him. He didn't know what a serious fan I am and that I wasn't going to back out of it.

And then there was this auction. I won't say where I saw it ...

Me: Why is the ending bid right before 5:00 on Friday? I would bid on your item, but I leave for the game at 4:00/4:30... therefore because your bid ends by the time I'm at the park, there is no way I can pay for the item and print out the tickets. But I'm just curious because I see so many bids that end right before 5 on gameday.

Seller: ibid with confidence!!! tickets will be send out immediately after auctioen ends

Me: That still doesn't answer my question. Yes, I'm sure you will send the tickets immediately after the auction ends ... but what good will that do me if I'm at Dodger Stadium and unable to a)pay for my tickets if I win the bid and b) am unable to print the tickets because I am at Dodger Stadium.

S: sorry I WILL NOT END AUCTION EARLY! If you feel that you cant make the game on time please dont bid on my tickets! If you are the winner you are responsible for paying or else i will report you to ebay.

ME: I apologize if you thought I was asking you to end your bid early. My initial question was never answered and that was all I was asking for. Again, I apologize if there was any confusion. And I assure you, I always pay for my bids. Especially when it comes to tickets to Dodger games. I was just trying to get an answer to my first question.

I still don't understand why the bid ended right before the cut off time for e-mailing tickets anyway. I've bought tickets from someone before and because it was after the cut-off time for e-mailing tickets, the seller had to refund my money. Anyone out there have an explanation? And where in my first response did I ask the seller to end their auction early? I wasn't going to respond after the last one ... but I wanted an answer to my first question. Why does the auction end right before the cut off time? And I've seen plenty of auctions just like this one. If the seller even replies to my last response, I wonder how rude is the seller going to be.