Especial thanks to all my fellow Dodger bloggers, as enumerated in Jon Weisman’s recent “A history of Dodger blogging, 2000-2009 – the rough draft”. You guys rock! :)

As we did on December 31st last year, here are some blog highlights for 2009. See you in 2010!

1/12/09: “1969 Dodgers”

As I’m observing my 40th birthday this week, I thought I’d have a look see at the 1969 Dodgers season.

1/16/09: “Very first pitch at Ebbets Field”

From 1913, here’s the first pitch ever at Ebbets Field, thrown out by Miss Genevieve Ebbets, daughter of Charley Ebbets.

1/28/09: “Would you bring Gagne back to the Dodgers?”

If you’re Ned Colletti, do you bring Gagne back as a middle reliever?

2/6/09: “Blogosphere shifting”

You blink in the world of blogging, and everything changes. :)

3/4/09: “Vote for Pedro!”

Still, you can never have too much pitching depth. With that in mind, I’d like to echo others’ suggestion for one more Dodger pre-season move — let us undo the great wrong perpetrated upon us and sign Pedro Martinez.

3/23/09: “Dodging Trolleys”

Friday in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle was this article by Phoebe Neidl, “The Trolleys We Didn’t Dodge”, covering some of the dangerous history of those famous trolleys.

4/12/09: “66ers Opening Night 2009″

Made it out for the Inland Empire 66ers opening night this past Thursday. The park and food improvements made since the team re-affiliated with the Dodgers a few years back continue, and despite a small increase in various prices ($4 parking, versus $3; $10 for best seats, versus $9) still represents a fairly good value if you’re looking for cheap entertainment. Food prices are steep, but that’s true of anywhere sports or movie related, I suppose.

4/13/09: “Spot the lead”

Opening Day versus the Giants at Dodger Stadium. Spot the lead story.

4/17/09: “Separation Anxiety”

Having been on the receiving end of a separated shoulder myself, I can definitely sympathize with Doug Mientkiewicz’s injury last night. It’s painful as hell.

4/19/09: “At the Bluetopia Premiere”

It’s tough sometimes to describe to those who aren’t sports fans why grown men playing a game generates such passions. Aren’t there more important things in life?

As a baseball fan, though, the game becomes so ingrained with those important things that it becomes inseparable from them. Bluetopia, the new Dodgers DVD, puts a spotlight on that relationship by following a range of fans throughout the 2008 season.

The team was good enough to invite a few Dodger bloggers to the premiere in Hollywood last night, so I got the chance to rub elbows with a big crowd of folks either directly or indirectly related to the team. As Jon Weisman terms it, “While you’ll find all these people at different parts of Dodger Stadium at any given game, you’ll rarely find them assimilated as one cohesive group.”

4/29/09: “Classless Yankees”

There is a certain myth perpetrated about how “classy” the Yankee organization is. Derek Jeter is the poster child for this.

Of course, the organization tends to behave in the “Chandelier Galaxy” sense of the word…

5/1/09: “Daily Blues”

Awful news about Tony Jackson, Dodgers beat writer, getting laid off by the Daily News. It’s difficult to comprehend there only being two beat writers covering the team now.

Like Diamond Leung, also let go recently, Tony is too talented not to get a gig somewhere. He did some TV work on ESPN last year, so maybe he can parlay that somehow.

5/7/09: “Oy gevalt”

A couple of years ago, when there was speculation that the Dodgers might look at free agent Barry Bonds to solve their anemic outfield power production, I wrote something to the effect that, “The day the Dodgers sign Barry Bonds is the day I stop being a Dodger fan.”

Fast forward to this morning, when I was anticipating a pleasurable write up of last night’s blogger get-together at Dodger Stadium, and here’s a news story out of left field: Manny Ramirez suspended 50 games.

5/7/09: “It could be worse. Way worse.”

At least we’re not Angels fans.

Yes, that’s Bill MacDonald and Rex Hudler. It’s apparently GAHH!!! Night at Angel Stadium of Anaheim this evening.

5/9/09: “Bill Plaschke has gone off the deep end”

Eric Stults pitches a beauty of a complete game today, a mere four hits away from a perfect game. Juan Pierre steps in and offers some hope for left field. Matt Kemp continues to show the faith in his future abilities is both well founded and no longer in the future.

All that, and what does Bill Plaschke carriage-return about today?

He uses his page-one pulpit to complain about Dodgers fan getting on with life sans Manny.

He berates them for being supportive of a beloved player who made a stupid mistake, one for which he is paying both a literal and figurative price.

He insults an entire fanbase, millions of people, for choosing sanity not insanity.

I mean, there aren’t very many worse insults than to say Los Angeles citizens are sullen San Francisco denizens, that supporting Manny is the moral equivalent of cheering Barry Bonds. Or kicking puppies.

5/13/09: “Trolley Dodger in USA Today” and 5/17/09: “Trolley Dodger on KABC Dodger Talk”

5/19/09: “Are PEDs really not that big of a deal?”

Thank goodness Bill Plaschke has been distracted by the Lakers playoffs this past week. Let’s hope the Lakers go all the way, if for no other reason than to keep him preoccupied and away from Dodger Stadium.

For those just tuning in, Plaschke submitted a diatribe 10 days ago, in which he lambasted Dodger fans for getting on with their lives without Manny Ramirez, calling them no better than San Francisco Giants followers. Them’s fightin’ words.

6/1/09: “Well, that explains a lot. ;)”

6/4/09: Trolley Dodger and the Dodger Stadium press pass

• “Live blogging from press row”
• “Photos from the press box night”
• “Talking to Joe Torre”

6/11/09: “66ers lineup, 2007/07/25″

On July 25, 2007, I attended an Inland Empire 66ers game versus the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, in San Bernardino. It was a rehab start for Randy Wolf, who was attempting to recover from shoulder issues at the time.

I came across a picture I took of the lineup board from that day (click to embiggen):

Out of curiosity, I decided to find out what has become of these players, not quite two years later, as a cross-section of Dodger minor-leaguers.

6/12/09: “Dodgers and Rangers”

While I’m not a big fan of interleague play, I am excited to see the Dodgers play the Rangers this weekend. And it’s not just because they share the -gers suffix. ;)

My early post “Back in the day” talks about my love for baseball over the years, stretching back into early childhood. I am told we were Athletics fans when I was a baby, but as a military brat who moved around a bit before alighting in Texas, I wound up a childhood fan of the Rangers.

6/25/09: “I’m on the 15-day blogger DL”

I’m on the 15-day blogger DL: right knee has small tear in the medial meniscus, MCL sprain, and femoral bone bruise.

6/29/09: “At the Manny 66ers game”

Yesterday, we headed out to the Inland Empire 66ers ballpark for Manny Ramirez’s San Bernardino debut. It wound up being an awesomely surreal party atmosphere.

7/20/09: “Manny didn’t acknowledge his crowd?”

Hey, Plaschke — remember when you were saying that Manny didn’t deign to acknowledge his fans on his first game back in Dodger Stadium? You wrote a big article about it, “Manny Ramirez shows little gratitude to his fans”, on July 17th.

7/27/09: “We already have two aces”

Let’s say you’re the GM of the non-existent MLB franchise Poughkeepsie Pachyderms. In this alternate universe, you have a 24-year-old Roy Halladay and a 21-year-old Cliff Lee at the top of your pitching rotation, with three serviceable pitchers in the other spots. The Pachyderms have these two aces under contract for five years at cheap prices. They are already good, and they will only improve. Virtually everyone who has scouted the pair raves about where they are at for their ages, not to mention their amazing potential.

Why in the name of all that is holy would you trade either of these young guns to get a 31-year-old pitcher who will cost you over $10 million a year? Oh, and he’s only yours for one full season and part of another, with no guarantees he’ll stick around after that.

8/5/09: “The Bigs, too”

If you find the pitch-protection tradition infantile, I’m afraid you’re too grownup for baseball itself.

Trying to intimidate the other team by charging their locker room after the game, on the other hand, is pretty bush league.

8/20/09: “In a Pinch Running”

It is often said that the 162-game baseball season is a marathon. By most measures, it would appear that the formerly fleet-footed Dodgers have hit the proverbial runner’s Wall. After their 121st game last night, another loss in the recent 4-6 slide, the metaphorical glycogen has been depleted something fierce.

8/31/09: “Ebbets Field Trolley”

Found browsing though my pictures directory recently — a great Ebbets Field shot with trolley in foreground. And there are even some Brooklynites dodging it! ;)

8/31/09: “Wait wait don’t Thome*”

* Bad NPR pun best I could do on short notice. ;)

10/2/09: “The Patients of Jobe”

As readers might recall from earlier in the summer, I injured my right knee in a fall on our back steps, spraining my MCL, getting a bone bruise on my femur, and partially tearing my medial meniscus. The first two items have healed in the interim, but I’ve been awaiting surgery for some months to repair the last item. Finally had that surgery yesterday, and it all went well — a partial meniscectomy removed the errant bits, and now I’m into the process of healing. It was all done arthroscopically, so that’ll make it much quicker to heal.

The doctor who performed the surgery was Dr. Christopher Jobe, a renown orthopedic surgeon in his own right, working at Loma Linda University Medical Center. But it turns out he is also the son of Dr. Frank Jobe, known to all Dodger and baseball fans as the inventor of Tommy John surgery!

10/6/09: “How to generate hits in these troubled times” and 10/14/09: “With crocodile tears and a pocketful of tissues”

I would expect more out of Steve Lopez. Unfortunately, he decided to take the easy way out. Loafing his way across the outfield, as it were.

10/17/09: “Trolley Dodger at Philippe’s”

Thanks to Larry Harnisch of the LA Times and The Daily Mirror blog for hosting lunch this afternoon at the always-tasty Philippe’s restaurant. We had a great time talking Los Angeles history, including our various theories on the true origins of the French Dip sandwich.

10/19/09: “Vey iz mir”

No offense to the Phillies, but they didn’t beat us. We beat ourselves.

10/20/09: “Feeling Blue”

After last night’s ninth-inning derailment, I was just about ready to give up on baseball.

Well, not really, but it felt like it for a few minutes. That was a gut punch if ever there was one, or indeed a heartbreak. Funny how dealing with such big emotional swings requires being described by things visceral.

10/22/09: “Wait til next year!”

Until 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers had gone through a long series of near-misses at World Series glory, coming close but not close enough. It became a running theme and spawned a team slogan: “Wait ’til next year!” Next year finally did show up, but it was a long wait.

12/15/09: “Beast Mode to South Side”

One of the most polarizing Dodgers since Gary Sheffield has been traded to the Chicago White Sox for a couple of Players to Be Named Later (reportedly two minor league pitchers). The Juan Pierre Era in LA has come to a close.

This picture of a dapper Vin Scully (accompanied by someone who I assume is either a stage assistant or perhaps contestant) on It Takes Two is from the uber-cool photo blog If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats. View the original post here.

The problem with Juan was pretty simple: despite constant early arrivals for practice, an inspirational work ethic, and a speedy set of legs, his offensive output and defensive liabilities made the amount of money the Dodgers were paying for him unfathomable.

With the arrival of Manny Ramirez, Juan was left out in the cold, and despite a stellar month and a half of substitution last season, he still wasn’t worth how much the Dodgers were paying.

You can be a totally nice guy, a team player, and a paragon of community involvement … and still be totally overpayed during a stretch of financial inflexibility.

So, what more can we say than thanks for the help and good luck?

Not much else.

Maybe Jason Repko will finally get another chance at being the Dodgers’ 4th outfielder. He has (along with a couple of other players) the skills to equal or surpass Juan Pierre’s contribution, at several million fewer dollars. Just keep him away from Rafael Furcal. ;)

“Ethier, Kemp claim Silver Slugger honors”

Outfielders Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier received honors Thursday as the best hitters at their positions, the first year since 1995 (Mike Piazza and Eric Karros) that the Dodgers had a pair of winners and the first time they’ve had two outfielders selected in the same season. It was the first such honor for each player.

Kemp’s mantle is getting crowded, as he also won his first Gold Glove Award on Wednesday. Catcher Russell Martin pulled off that double in 2007.

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers and Rawlings today announced that center fielder Matt Kemp and second baseman Orlando Hudson were awarded the National League Rawlings Gold Glove for their respective positions. Kemp becomes a Rawlings Gold Glove winner for the first time in his career while Hudson captures his fourth award. Hudson has now won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award in four of the last five seasons, after winning one in three consecutive seasons from 2005-07.

Congratulations to the New York Yankees on their 27th world championship. Nice job inaugurating the new stadium.

And while I can’t say I was too sad by the looks of disappointment on the Phillies’ faces ;) congrats to them as well for a hard-fought battle and a great year.

Now the off season can commence. Not that there’s anything going on in LA this time around. Should be real quiet in the Dodger world. Yep. Real quiet.

Until 1955, the Brooklyn Dodgers had gone through a long series of near-misses at World Series glory, coming close but not close enough. It became a running theme and spawned a team slogan: “Wait ’til next year!” Next year finally did show up, but it was a long wait.

The Yankees were the Dodgers’ perennial opponents when they made it to the series back then, so the Bombers losing it in 1955 to the Bums made it even sweeter. Putting it in video-game terms for the younger set, they were the final boss that it took forever to beat. This was one of the reasons I was hoping for a Yankee-Dodger World Series this year.

Apart from the wrenching disappointment the past week, and a few issues here and there, the 2009 season has been more of a joy to follow than not. On a personal level, having the opportunity to attend the Bluetopia premiere, the annual Dodger Blogger Night (the night before the Manny revelation), and particularly getting to cover the game as a member of the press are memories I’ll never lose.

Thanks to the Dodgers organization and team for a great year and for continuing to reach out to the online fan community. Thanks to my fellow Dodger bloggers for lots of entertaining and thoughtful commentary this season — especial thanks and kudos to Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts, the sundry Sons of Steve Garvey, the intrepid lads of True Blue LA, the aptly named Blue Heaven, Ken Steinhorn of isportsweb, and Larry and Keith over at the always-fascinating Daily Mirror.

Congratulations to the Phillies on the NL Pennant, and while I don’t see myself exactly cheering you on the next few weeks, please destroy the Yankees if you get the opportunity. Pretty please? ;)

Finally, thanks to everybody for reading Trolley Dodger in 2009. The site’s third anniversary is coming up next week. Can’t believe it’s been three years!

I expect to be posting here during the off season, as there will be the inevitable melodrama, speculation, and other craziness, but I’m guessing a short break will do a body good. So we won’t have to wait ’til next year to solve the myriad problems of the baseball universe, thanks to 24-hour sports news and the Internet, but we will have to wait ’til then for more Dodger baseball.

See ya!

After last night’s ninth-inning derailment, I was just about ready to give up on baseball.

Well, not really, but it felt like it for a few minutes. That was a gut punch if ever there was one, or indeed a heartbreak. Funny how dealing with such big emotional swings requires being described by things visceral.

Some hours of sleep later, I am no longer ready to jump off a metaphorical fandom bridge. Being a Dodger fan, Feeling Blue is like yin-yang: it encompasses both the positive and the negative, the high and the low. One Feels Blue being a Dodger fan. To achieve enlightenment, one must accept both sides.

This bit of rationalization didn’t occur to me until I happened to come back to my computer earlier this afternoon and replaced my earphones on my head. Organ music was playing, and you could hear a crowd waiting expectantly for a game to start. It was a sound file in my iTunes library that I recorded the night I sat in the press box back in June. It was before the game, and Nancy Bea was playing her organ between PA announcements. A moment of zen-like bliss. One of the best nights of my life, and there it was flowing into my brain again.

The Dodgers lost that night, but it did nothing to dim the glow I had walking around for the next week.

As the philosopher said, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.

Whatever happens in tomorrow night’s Game 5, there will always be another spring training. It’s the circle of life, and no single loss, no matter how visceral, will change that.

I’m sure I’ll be able to manage some sort of reasoned, well-thought-out response tomorrow. But right now, one word pretty much covers it:

Heartbreak.

Thanks to Larry Harnisch of the LA Times and The Daily Mirror blog for hosting lunch this afternoon at the always-tasty Philippe’s restaurant. We had a great time talking Los Angeles history, including our various theories on the true origins of the French Dip sandwich.

Also there and very entertaining was Ed Fuentes, Arts & Culture Editor at Blog Downtown, who writes view from a loft as well.

I’ll look forward to seeing you all again next time.

And thanks to Alex of Ravens in Hollywood for the lift.

“Dear Manny,” wrote Richard MacPhee, “I am a firefighter for the USFS, I make $16 an hour. It’s hot, dirty, dangerous, with long hours. My body hurts all the time. It takes four years to make $170,000. My bonus, somebody telling me ‘Thanks for the hard work.’ You should try it some time.”

No offense to Mr. MacPhee, and thanks to him for his service, but I’ll bet Lopez makes quite a bit more than $16 an hour for doing less physically taxing labor than a member of the Dodger marketing department, much less Manny Ramirez, and whose greatest claim to fame is writing and selling somebody else’s story. As Jon Weisman pointed out,

Ramirez might well loaf from time to time, but overall his work ethic is pretty legendary. I’m not saying that to whitewash the mistakes he has made. But there is no shortage of stories about the effort he has put into the game. He did not float to the top of the baseball echelon. He’s no firefighter, but if Ramirez doesn’t work as hard as MacPhee, he still has worked plenty hard.

Barring some unlikely direct reply from Lopez, I’m letting this go for now — I’m looking forward to Game 1 tomorrow and would rather concentrate on the positives of this entire team and their amazing season. Something I wish Lopez had done himself.

It may have taken some time for the 21-year-old [Conor Powell] to break his duct, but he has become such a notable regular in the starting eleven that supporters would be forgiven for thinking that he already had a few goals under his belt.

From a quick Google, it looks to be a typo for “break his duck,” as in duck’s egg, as in nought or zero — what we’d refer to as a goose egg.

It’s originally a 19th-century cricket term, e.g. “break his duck’s egg” meaning to score at last. Michael Quinion says:

It’s not as cruel as it sounds. It’s not the duck that’s being broken, but a duck’s egg. These days the expression can be used in almost any game that involves a score of some sort but originally — back in Victorian times — it related solely to cricket. It seems to have been English public-school slang of the 1850s to call a score of nought against a player’s name a duck’s egg — presumably a duck rather than a chicken because a duck’s egg is bigger and more prominent.

A player who had scored, who had moved off that accusing zero on the scoreboard, was said to have broken his duck’s egg. It began to appear in print in the early 1860s and soon people shortened it just to duck. The first known example of that form appeared in the Daily News in August 1868: “You see … that his fear of a ‘duck’ — as by a pardonable contraction from duck-egg a nought is called in cricket-play — outweighs all other earthly considerations.” A batsman who was dismissed without scoring was said to be out for a duck.

We’re excited here at Trolley Dodger HQ, but it is as subdued as the on-field celebration at Busch Stadium just now. This is only step one.

I would expect more out of Steve Lopez. Unfortunately, he decided to take the easy way out. Loafing his way across the outfield, as it were.

Maybe it’s the vicodin talking, but this whole scheme strikes me as insincere. If you felt that bad about buying those tickets (and somehow calculating you were supporting Manny by doing so), how about donating those tainted tickets to be auctioned off for charity? You could even make it a steroid-awareness organization if you felt like making a real statement.

Think about how much of a bigger splash you could have made by doing things that way. You’d get all kinds of press online and in the real world. Plus you’d be making a difference about a cause that you apparently care a lot about. And getting even more of those precious hits and links.

Something to mull over in the next columnist meeting.