The Trolley Dodger

On September 18th this year, it will be the 5th anniversary of the famous 4+1 game, in which the Dodgers tied the score with four consecutive home runs, then beat the Padres in extra innings with a walk-off homer.

With Russell Martin no longer with the Dodgers, that means the five players (six if you count Kenny Lofton’s walk that represented one of the two runs in the 10th) involved in the 4+1 are gone.

1. Jeff Kent
2. JD Drew
3. Russell Martin
4. Marlon Anderson

and then Nomar Garciaparra. In fact, looking at the boxscore for that night, only Rafael Furcal, Jonathan Broxton, and Andre Ethier are still on the team.

Starting catcher for the Padres? Mike Piazza.

That bright light outdoors must mean that Spring has officially sprung and the sounds of baseball are in the air.

Yes, this is not news to most online fans, those who have been religiously following and commenting on every last organizational wiggle since the end of the 2009 season. Having been one of those bloggers and one of those fans in off-seasons past, I had to take a step back this time around. A sort of palate cleansing, if you will.

After the McCourts’ implosion news threatened to turn the 2010 baseball season into a year-long episode of Divorce Court, I took a mental step back from MLB and turned my attention to the Lakers’ title defense, the Kings’ rebuilding plan coming to fruition, World Cup 2010 preparations, and Landon Donovan’s successful run with Everton FC.

Which is not to say I haven’t been keeping up on Dodger developments.

Storylines I’m especially curious about at the moment:

• The Eric Gagné Experiment, now moved to the minor league camp.
• Just how awesomely lethal the Kemp-Ethier combo could be this year.
• Just how awesomely lethal the Kershaw-Billingsley combo could be this year.
• Whether Furcal is as revitalized as he thinks he is.
• Where James McDonald winds up pitching, and whether he’s starting or relieving.
• Is Ramon Ortiz for real?
• What’s the severity of Kuo’s current elbow injury?
• Whither Belisario?
• What’s up with Russell Martin?
• Will the revised Union Station -> Dodger Stadium shuttle stick this time around?
• What does Garrett Anderson have in the tank?

So, with my baseball batteries recharged, I can finally relax a bit, look forward to the Spring’s first hot dog at the first ball game, and feel excited about the Dodgers again. :)

Congrats!

Belated congratulations to Jon Weisman and Tony Jackson for their respective moves to ESPN Los Angeles. Not to mention blogger Bob Timmermann joining LA Observed. Much success to them all!

Finally, an especial congratulations and thanks to Trolley-favorite Nomar Garciaparra, who recently announced his retirement. Thanks for the classiness, the carne asada, and the memories.

Just spent some time reliving one of the happiest nights of my life.

Woke up early this morning and found I’d fallen asleep with the MLB Network going last night. This probably explains why random Dodgers started showing up in my dreams just before I woke up to find the network was replaying the glorious 9/18/2006 Dodgers comeback against the Padres, also known as the “4+1″ game.

We were lucky enough to be there that night, and I wrote about it the next day: “11-10″.

The replay is up to the bottom of the 10th. Kenny Lofton is coming up. Nomar is on deck.

The Dodgers’ seven homeruns and the 11-10 final score is quite a contrast to last night’s Dodgers-Padres game and Russell Martin’s walk-off walk. It was also awesome to see all the “kids” celebrating who are now starting and excelling.

I miss Nomar. I hope he’ll have a role with the team once he decides to retire.

Hopefully “Gnomar” ;) will bring our garden as much luck as he did for the Dodgers last year. The team had one of these hanging out in the dugout for a while last season:

(From PE.com blog.)

Jon over at Dodger Thoughts posted a handy guide to the Dodgers’ pitching situation 2004-2009, showing that the current staff is not as iffy as it might seem.

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.

And with our long national nightmare at last at an end, just think of the Pedro/Manny reunion!

Unfortunately, it looks like Nomar won’t be in on the fun. More on this later.

* What’s up with re-signing Joe Beimel?