Observations from the Left Coast

Tonight's the rubber match of the three game set with the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. I'm on day four of a nine day trip in L.A. Last night, I did a game blog of the Dodgers 2-1 win over the Rockies for the MLB on XM blog. I had planned to do one for Baseball Beat: the Blog tonight, but decided to wait until Friday's game when the reigning two-time National League West division champion San Diego Padres come to town. Remember it was the Padres that the Dodgers hit four consecutive home runs against in the bottom of the ninth inning last year. I figured if you read last night's game blog, you could probably use a day off from another game blog. Of course, it might just be me who needs the break. I'm still sleeping on east coast hours in a west coast bed. In its place, I'm doing a "Observations from the Left Coast." I'd like to dedicate this to loyal reader and Baseball Beat intern iMax.

As I was typing Brad Penny just made a diving catch off the mound for the final out in the top of the second inning. He landed slightly awkward, but we'll see next inning. Last night in the clubhouse, Penny seemed to be in quite a jovial mood. Speaking of jovial, "Samantha , will you marry me?" was just posted on the right field scoreboard. When the camera panned on the couple, the future groom was on one knee as the future bride had the "this is how he's proposing" look on her face. Once she nodded yes, the camera panned to the reason she was quick to accept. He put quite a rock on her finger.

It's another chilly night in Los Angeles. If I'm back home in Washington D.C., we'd call this heaven. In L.A., its just called cold.

Its now the bottom of the third inning. Nomar Garciapara just knocked in two runs with a two out single to left field. Its spine-tingling to hear over 40,000 fans cheer. The press box at Dodger Stadium is in the middle between the upper and lower teer facing behind home plate. Perfect vantage point to view a game and feel the complete roar of the crowd. I'm enjoying this crowd. Jeff Kent just knocked a single to right field scoring Nomar, who had advanced to second on a balk by Rockies pitcher Jared Hirsh.

I have to give it to Dodgers starter Brad Penny tonight. While I'm not usually a fan, he's been quite impressive tonight. He just made a barehanded catch and threw out the runner at first. In case your curious, I'm eating peach cobbler and drinking a Coca-Cola. I never thought Arkansas and Los Angeles had so much in common. This is like after dinner treats I'd get a local Western Sizzlin in my home state of Arkansas.

Let's set the scene. Dodger Stadium has been here since 1962. Its a park that transcends eras with its outfield fascade. There are bleachers in right and left field with awning above it that looks like a paper fan unfolded. In left field is a big square scoreboard with rounded edge and a color screen. In right field is the six sided scoreboard shaped like the Chevy logo. The shape is unique, but the screen in the middle is just rectangular with the scoreboard and then separate displays with the time on the top half and umpires and numbers on the lower half. There are Palm trees in near the outside of the stadium in the left and right field corners. The upper deck is a aqua blue type colored seats with different shades of yellow seats in the lower levels. The outfield walls are painted Dodger Blue with "LA" logos throughout along with billboards and two small scoreboard tickers. At 9:38 p.m. (pacific), the sky is dark and cloudless with no moon in sight. Takashi Saito just made the job from the left field bullpen for the final three outs of the night.

Saito is wrapping up the game right now. While this was a posting of rambling, I didn't want to use "Ramblings" in respect to Jayson Stark's work column on ESPN.com. This concludes the first observations from the left coast.