The Trolley Dodger

LA Kings Derek Armstrong tossed out the first pitch a few days ago at Dodger Stadium, and here’s the video from the Kings website:

And while we’re on the subject, the Kings announced that coach Marc Crawford is not coming back next season.

Andre Ethier has posted the first review at his “Dining with ‘Dre” blog, on “Shabu Hachi”, a Japanese restaurant in Santa Monica (website). I was happily surprised to find a full-blown review with photos that would do any blogger proud. ;) And the ultimate test for any food blog — does it make me hungry? — succeeded.

I have a hard time imagining Dodgers back in the day writing restaurant reviews for the Times.

This part was very funny:

As I sat and looked at all these great vegetables being cooked, I was thinking to myself that this alone could be a great meal. (If you didn’t just catch the sarcasm, now you have. I am a true meat eater and crave a heaping helping of it for almost every meal. I pretty much do not consider it a meal unless there is meat involved).

The Daily Mirror blog has yet another cool historical Dodgers moment, today from June 1st, 1968 (a mere 40 years ago). Don Drysdale was going for an NL record five shutouts in a row, and to add to the fun it was against the Giants:

The Giants loaded the bases with no outs. Drysdale hit Dick Dietz with a 2-2 fastball, seemingly the end of the shutout streak. But umpire Harry Wendlestedt said Dietz didn’t try to get out of the way and called the pitch a ball. After Manager Herman Franks was thrown out in the ensuing and inevitable argument, Dietz hit a shot fly to left and the runners held….

As usual, Keith Thursby included a shot of the original Times sports page with the whole story. I love that headline at the top: “Franks Disputes Record, Calls Umpire Gutless”.