The Trolley Dodger

Jon Weisman tweeted last night,

@dodgerthoughts Matt Kemp just hit the Dodgers’ second homer in their most recent 10 games at Dodger Stadium.

Oy.

And then a little while later,

@dodgerthoughts The Dodgers’ past four victories have each been accompanied by news of an ailing pitcher http://es.pn/mBnOg4

Vey iz mir.

Mexican Wave by wonker, on Flickr

A short article in the science section of The Guardian, “Nature’s own Mexican wave”, makes connections between The Wave (as often performed in Dodger Stadium) and giant Asian honeybees, then continues with studies looking at the minimum number of people you need to start a Wave, its speed, and whether clockwise or counterclockwise movement was more prevalent.

No word on how to stop one once it’s gotten started, however. ;)

On the front page of Metro.net:

Put Metro’s Dodger Stadium Express in your Line-Up

Take advantage of a winning combination to reach Dodger Stadium this season. Just Go Metro to Union Station and connect with the Dodger Stadium Express. You won’t have to fight traffic and you’ll help reduce air pollution. Best of all, your Dodger ticket is good for the fare!

Union Station is served by Metrolink, Amtrak and many Metro and municipal bus lines, plus Metro Rail’s Red, Purple and Gold lines. So it’s easy to leave your car at home and connect with the Dodger Stadium Express.

Read more…

(Via Streetsblog LA.)

This takes Trolley Dodging to a whole new level! ;)

Via @MetroLibrary, a post on The Eastsider LA gives details on the the possibilities of putting the CA high-speed train through a tunnel: “State bullet train might take a detour under Dodger Stadium”.

[...] after several years of lobbying federal officials and state railway builders, engineers involved in with the California High-Speed Rail Authority Line are looking at possibly shifting the rail line away from the river. Instead, after leaving Union Station, the train, under one scenario, would travel through a tunnel underneath the state parking now taking shape near Chinatown, Dodger Stadium and Elysian Park before emerging on the other side of the river [...]

One wonders if you could hear the trains go by during games, a la Seattle’s Safeco Field. ;)

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.

Let me refresh your memory:

The citizens showed up early in hopes that the mayor would come out early to greet them.

He didn’t.

The citizens began cheering as he ran out for the start of the game in hopes that the mayor would acknowledge them.

He wouldn’t.

The citizens chanted his name as he finished his first warm-up tosses in hopes that the mayor would at least throw them the ball.

He threw it in the left-field stands instead.

After blowing off honesty, accountability and one-third of the season, Manny Ramirez did something more egregious in his return to Dodger Stadium on Thursday.

He blew off Mannywood.

In the first inning of his first appearance in a left-field corner adorned with the “Mannywood 99″ banner and filled with hundreds of loving fans who paid a premium for their proximity, Ramirez acted as if none of it existed.

Talk about splitting hairs. Of course, you don’t have a bias about this story, do you, Bill?

No, of course you don’t.

Trying to spin his first appearance back in left field like he blew off his fans (the “official” Mannywood or not) is just wrong.

Stick with the mascots, Bill. I think you found your calling in Lake Elsinore.

Update: I missed Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness catching this on Friday. I enjoyed their post title: “Bill Plaschke Lies to You and Hates Dodger Stadium”. :)