Stats Trending to 4 of 4

Okay, so it was not a sweep. LA did start the season at 2-0, dropped to 2-1 and then took it to 3-1 in yesterday's game. Although not erasing the sweep they suffered in the last series last year, there was one small victory that to my knowledge was overlooked by the major press on Saturday.

One trustworthy fan source (me) has it that the poor concession service may not be something to cry over. In front of me in line was an orange clad fan for the opposing team who tried to purchase additional beer. Lack of fashion sense aside, when he got carded he could only produce a dog-eared CDL. So the manager was asked to come over and inspect the card and, well, sorry to say it just didn't pass muster - no service. Now I have to say, just before this I remarked to my friend that we had spend nearly an inning and a half in line waiting to get beer and hot dogs and we'd noted our lack or progress against the other lines and how it was due to the guy serving our line. After this, I remarked what a fine citizen this was and how we were happy to be in his line to witness such fine civic virtue. [nodding to Blazing Saddles] I just wish my son had been there to witness this.

Anyway, to make a long story short. When it got to be my turn in line I prefaced the order by expressing my pleasure at seeing that sort of care taken and feeling it my duty to reward such behavior I gave the guy a nice cash advance. And I should say, he was very quick about filling it.

I've become a loyal patron of the slowest line in the row 30 field level.

Inching to 100

According to the cognisenti (blogger, actually) this is post 84. I dont think that includes the one that attracted so much spam that I deleted it.

Linsecum Pitches Well But Takes The Loss

Aaaah, opening Day. The Dodgers looks a little rusty, but it was basically a nicely solid game. And the Gints lost.

Sandoval looked good at third, by the way. But Loney's go ahead run was off a missed ball at third. Didn't think it at the time, as the focus on tv was the miss (and the kid was kicking up a fuss in a back room after his bath). The Hardball Times picks up:

Buster Posey may be the great test case for whether people only accuse minority ballplayers of lackadaisical, addle-minded play. The run which broke the 0-0 tie was the result of Posey's poor decision and poor throw trying to pick Matt Kemp off third. Yet, when it happened, the ESPN crew actually blamed the bad play on Pablo Sandoval, saying that he asked for the throw and didn't do a great job trying to catch it. Maybe he did ask for it, but Posey is the catcher and he's in charge out there. He should have thought better of it. And sorry, there was no way Sandoval could have gotten to that throw. Then, in the ninth, Posey hit a little roller to first base that James Loney at first misplayed but then recovered and shoveled to Jonathan Broxton for the out. The ESPN crew lauded Loney for the play -- which they should have, because it was a good recovery -- but they made no mention of the fact that Posey was shuffling down the line with all the urgency of a condemned prisoner walking the green mile.

The booth walked back their comments regarding the pickoff throw after the commercial break, but both there and in the ninth the impulse to absolve Posey of his baseball sins seemed irresistible. All I could think was how different the reaction may have been had it been B.J. Upton or Hanley Ramirez making those decisions and not running out that roller.

I read this less as a test case for soft bigotry and more of a pass given to guys with reasonably cool names like Buster. Nothing against Mantle's greatness, but a share of his cool certainly must have been the fortunate choice of the name Mickey.