The Trolley Dodger

Ready for the game: water, nachos, Coke, Dodger Dog, and notebook.

Manager Dave Collins chats before the game.

Girls softball players accompanied the 66ers onto the field — here’s Randy Wolf, with Bernie helping out.

Randy Wolf throwing a warmup pitch.

Gave up a homerun to the first batter — Wolf struggled in the first inning.

Wolf considers his next pitch.

Channel 2/9 sent out a crew to capture video.

Bernie the 66ers mascot exhorts the crowd.

Appropriately, it was Bring Your Dog day at the park. The little poodle was very sweet and spent most of the game sleeping on either owner’s lap — made me miss my standard poodle. The huge dog behind the poodle was either a ginormous dog of some sort, or the owners thought it was Bring Your Bear day.

LHP Marlon Arias.

The lineups are posted in the concorse, and you’ll see the guys scoring the game there beforehand, preparing their sheets. As I was taking this picture, a young man was teaching his girlfriend how to fill out theirs.

After the win, the 66ers file into the dugout. Wolf was long gone by this time.

In “Citizen Announces the Dodger Blue Line Light Rail”, LAist pointed to one guy’s wishful dream, a subway connecting…

…many popular attractions, notably: Dodger Stadium, Sunset Strip, West Hollywood, Hollywood, L.A. Live, Staples Center, Convention Center, Union Station, Silver Lake, Echo Park, The Grove. It would supplement the future Wilshire Blvd. “Purple Line” and Exposition “Blue Line.” I’ve also thrown in a few extensions (some planned/proposed, some conceptual) on the other existing lines, here and there.

The Dodger Blue Line can be viewed via Google Maps.

Previously, LAist covered a real-life alternate method of getting to the Stadium, “Go Metro To A Dodgers Game”.

I happened across this special story about an event during the All-Star events in San Francisco.

While I’m not certain of the malady the author’s son Kevin is suffering from, it sounds like a particularly awful cancer:

The past three months have been filled with some great moments and many struggles for Kevin. This past week has not disappointed. What an experience… We got through this one with only a minor complication. Kevin did fantastic otherwise. Next week, Stem Cell Transplant (Rescue) For those of you that have had a chance to read the article about the High Dose MIBG treatment..Well, you really have to see it to believe it !! Lead walls, gieger counters, and even a radioactive boy…My radioactive boy !! This room was so notorious in that Hospital that even some Doctors were apprehensive about entering.

Sitting in the hotel lobby of their SF hotel, the family (and Kevin’s bald head) drew the attention of an anonymous benefactor.

When up walks a man from out of nowhere and drops four tickets on our table and says “Here are four tickets to the All Star game, have some fun”..

A few minutes later, they were at the All-Star Game! That would have been special enough, but the next day the magic kept happening.

Cade and I were sitting at the breakfast counter at a 50’s diner and we began to talk with a very nice man over breakfast. I won’t bore you with the details but the man happenned to be Russell Martin’s father. Yes Russel Martin, the ALL STAR catcher for the DODGERS !! He was there to see his son play in the game and the following series with the Giant’s….

I won’t repost the entire rest of the story, but suffice to say both Russell Sr. and Jr. did good, going out of their way to help.

I made it to the 66ers game tonight to watch Randy Wolf pitch. He had his customary rough first inning (including giving up a homer to the very first batter), but here was his pitch breakdown (accurate to +/- 5 pitches):

• 1st: 19
• 2nd: 8 (27)
• 3rd: 16 (43)
• 4th: 10 (53)

53 pitches, 4 IP, 3 R, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 HR, 4 K, 1 BB

Randy looked in pretty good shape, albeit perhaps not going all out (from this not expert eye). No obvious difficulty or pain. The 66ers post-game news item seems to suggest there might be more rehab — “Making the first of what could be a limited few Minor League rehabilitation starts, former All-Star Randy Wolf took the mound for the 66ers.”

Mario Alvarez took over in the 5th and went the rest of the way and took the win. The 66ers won the slugfest 11-5. Adam Godwin in left field made two Web Gem-quality defensive plays (and almost made a third) in the later innings, drawing cheers and standing ovations.

Heard about Derek Lowe from a couple of guys sitting behind me. Such a bummer.

I should have a few pictures up soon.

On the Daily News website, I stumbled across a small gallery of four pictures featuring Dodgers manager Grady Little and his new motorcycle, tooling around Pasadena. Nice ride!

UPDATE — the Press-Telegram has an article today on Grady and his bike: “Little time for rest”

He loves the sweet aroma of flowers and freshly cut grass. He basks in the wind dancing on his face but is protected by a shield so bugs don’t do the same. He zooms below the shade of overhanging trees and around beautiful, old homes. There are no traffic jams in these parts. Frequent speed bumps are the only minor irritation.

Unless he has breakfast scheduled with general manager Ned Colletti or another meeting, he usually cruises the streets of Pasadena every morning during a Dodgers homestand.