Excellent! You got to see Shohei hit three HRs, including two long-distance bangs, and pitch a superb six innings of baseball. Congrats. Not many people get to see such a special baseball game that might be remembered for a very long time.
Thanks, but I was home writing this Substack on Friday while Ohtani had his historic game. I saw him on Thursday get a weird triple by flicking his bat at a near-perfect pitch, ground out ,and strike out twice.
It's an artificial mesa. I'm guessing they pushed ridgelines into the ravine to get a level playing field. It's like what they were doing at Dean Martin's Beverly Hills Country Club in the late 1960s to get land level enough for a golf ball to finally stop rolling when the burghers of Beverly Hills decided they didn't need a mobbed-up golf club and enlisted in the Ecology Movement.
For a year or so starting in the fall of 1988 I lived at the corner of Franklin and Gower in Hollywood. So this reminds me of that and also of the games I attended at Dodger Stadium, which was and I'm sure remains lovely.
The only thing I can compare this to is Reggie Jackson in 1977 hitting 3 home runs on 3 consecutive pitches to win the World Series, in the very packed and very wild Yankee Stadium of the Bronx Zoo years.
> the Dodgers still claim an official capacity of 56,000, while the real capacity is a secret
This year on Sunday Night* Baseball the first Sunday in June the Dodgers drew 54,031 to watch the locals attempt to sweep the Yankees in a World Series rematch. The Yankees were able to salvage the game 7-3. The two stars (Ohtani and Judge) each went 0-for-4 but Ben Rice was the hero with his 2-run HR in the third off of Yamamoto. This was a higher attendance than any Dodger postseason game this year so far
> Alabama Crimson Tide football game
Two Rose Bowls ago Alabama lost to Michigan 27-20 in overtime in the national semifinals. This was also Nick Saban's last game as coach
> Pitchers throw so hard these days that it’s almost unfair to hitters to play late afternoon games with weird shadows
It is unclear why MLB doesn't order the lights turned on earlier for postseason games; perhaps it's because a literal reading of the rulebook says the lights should be turned on when "darkness makes further play in daylight hazardous". I suppose not being able to hit well isn't a hazard per se
In most cities, downtown is in a really obvious place, such as where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan. Downtown L.A. is about 18 miles from the coast because that was the only place with running water in 1770. After the aqueduct arrived in 1915, there was no particular reason to stay there, so development moved in other directions. So Chavez Ravine was something of a favela.
I was hoping for Mariners-Brewers, which would be Seattle vs. Seattle World Series (a "ferry series" instead of a "subway series"). The Brewers were the Seattle Pilots in 1969, their inaugural season. The Pilots are best known for incredibly ugly hats and Jim Bouton's "Ball Four."
I presume the mention of Belgrade was random. It is the only European city I’ve ever seen that had shantytowns. ‘Course that was back in 2010. Things can have changed. On English Wikipedia you might look up Cardboard City and Deponija. The former was supposedly cleared in 2009 and the latter I would probably have missed coming in on the train from Ljubljana. But this may not be an exhaustive list! Anyway, and as I think I’ve already said on these pages but it bears repeating, next time I go, I’m looking for the Chinese embassy! Just a wild guess, but if there’s a building with the glyph for “basically fine” on it, and it’s not a restaurant, then it must be the embassy.
Regarding commuter-suitable cablecars, I was a bit miffed on my visit to Guatemala City in 2022 to find that it did not have such a thing. Wikipedia (English or Spanish) said it was going to! But Wikipedia also said the city was going to build light rail and the map showed a right angle in the tracks. I visited some of the points identifiable on the map, and there was plainly nothing new-infrastructural going on. Certainly not a roundhouse for pointing trains in different directions. But the fare card I bought for the bus system boasted it was multimodal, and had an icon of a cablecar. ‘Course it also had an icon of a bicycle, but there was no place, indeed no room, on any mass-transit vehicle to stow such a thing.
Anyway, glad you’re well, and glad you enjoyed the ballgame!
Buy your wife a dishwasher, move out of your bedroom closet and get yourself a freaking STUDY, and have your wife pick your clothing you big dork.
Think of the noir detective mystery movies about murders on the gondola that could be made.
Excellent! You got to see Shohei hit three HRs, including two long-distance bangs, and pitch a superb six innings of baseball. Congrats. Not many people get to see such a special baseball game that might be remembered for a very long time.
Thanks, but I was home writing this Substack on Friday while Ohtani had his historic game. I saw him on Thursday get a weird triple by flicking his bat at a near-perfect pitch, ground out ,and strike out twice.
Having been on this earth for almost a half-century, I will never understand the Chavez Ravine nomenclature.
"Dodger Stadium is on top of a hill about a mile from Downtown Los Angeles. It is surrounded by 130 acres of parking lots."
The first thought I had when I went to Dodger Stadium for the first time: "Chavez Mesa."
It's an artificial mesa. I'm guessing they pushed ridgelines into the ravine to get a level playing field. It's like what they were doing at Dean Martin's Beverly Hills Country Club in the late 1960s to get land level enough for a golf ball to finally stop rolling when the burghers of Beverly Hills decided they didn't need a mobbed-up golf club and enlisted in the Ecology Movement.
For a year or so starting in the fall of 1988 I lived at the corner of Franklin and Gower in Hollywood. So this reminds me of that and also of the games I attended at Dodger Stadium, which was and I'm sure remains lovely.
Anyway, the other thing this reminds me of is the late Warren Zevon's magnificent "Desperados Under the Eaves," which I highly recommend: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXCly4X3cqw&pp=ygUaZGVzcGVyYWRvcyB1bmRlciB0aGUgZWF2ZXM%3D
The only thing I can compare this to is Reggie Jackson in 1977 hitting 3 home runs on 3 consecutive pitches to win the World Series, in the very packed and very wild Yankee Stadium of the Bronx Zoo years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDMYVtzHGuI
But Reggie didn't throw smoke for 6 like Ohtani. That slider is a beast.
The Dodgers win the Pennant.
Times like these, it's a shame that Vin Scully isn't still around to call the games, much less literally around. But maybe he is, in spirit.
> the Dodgers still claim an official capacity of 56,000, while the real capacity is a secret
This year on Sunday Night* Baseball the first Sunday in June the Dodgers drew 54,031 to watch the locals attempt to sweep the Yankees in a World Series rematch. The Yankees were able to salvage the game 7-3. The two stars (Ohtani and Judge) each went 0-for-4 but Ben Rice was the hero with his 2-run HR in the third off of Yamamoto. This was a higher attendance than any Dodger postseason game this year so far
> Alabama Crimson Tide football game
Two Rose Bowls ago Alabama lost to Michigan 27-20 in overtime in the national semifinals. This was also Nick Saban's last game as coach
> Pitchers throw so hard these days that it’s almost unfair to hitters to play late afternoon games with weird shadows
It is unclear why MLB doesn't order the lights turned on earlier for postseason games; perhaps it's because a literal reading of the rulebook says the lights should be turned on when "darkness makes further play in daylight hazardous". I suppose not being able to hit well isn't a hazard per se
* Called this even though first pitch was at 4:10
It's weird they would devote so much land so close to downtown to occasional parking. Why did they build skyscrapers--vanity?
We could see Mt Baldy from my schoolyard in Los Alamitos when there was no smog. Not often in the late 60s.
In most cities, downtown is in a really obvious place, such as where the Chicago River meets Lake Michigan. Downtown L.A. is about 18 miles from the coast because that was the only place with running water in 1770. After the aqueduct arrived in 1915, there was no particular reason to stay there, so development moved in other directions. So Chavez Ravine was something of a favela.
Just got back from Game 4. Maybe the most exciting Dodger game I've ever been to. A gem.
I’m glad you had a good time in primo seats. Good on that subscriber for offering you his seat.
Baseball desperately needs a salary cap. The Dodgers have so much talent they’re not allowing Dave Roberts a chance to mis-manage games.
Like against the Astros?
I quit watching baseball during the ‘94 strike, but I still don’t like the Brewers being in the National League.
Only thing that’s wilder to me than Dodger stadium being the third oldest ballpark in MLB is that Coors Field is third oldest in the NL!
I was hoping for Mariners-Brewers, which would be Seattle vs. Seattle World Series (a "ferry series" instead of a "subway series"). The Brewers were the Seattle Pilots in 1969, their inaugural season. The Pilots are best known for incredibly ugly hats and Jim Bouton's "Ball Four."
I presume the mention of Belgrade was random. It is the only European city I’ve ever seen that had shantytowns. ‘Course that was back in 2010. Things can have changed. On English Wikipedia you might look up Cardboard City and Deponija. The former was supposedly cleared in 2009 and the latter I would probably have missed coming in on the train from Ljubljana. But this may not be an exhaustive list! Anyway, and as I think I’ve already said on these pages but it bears repeating, next time I go, I’m looking for the Chinese embassy! Just a wild guess, but if there’s a building with the glyph for “basically fine” on it, and it’s not a restaurant, then it must be the embassy.
Regarding commuter-suitable cablecars, I was a bit miffed on my visit to Guatemala City in 2022 to find that it did not have such a thing. Wikipedia (English or Spanish) said it was going to! But Wikipedia also said the city was going to build light rail and the map showed a right angle in the tracks. I visited some of the points identifiable on the map, and there was plainly nothing new-infrastructural going on. Certainly not a roundhouse for pointing trains in different directions. But the fare card I bought for the bus system boasted it was multimodal, and had an icon of a cablecar. ‘Course it also had an icon of a bicycle, but there was no place, indeed no room, on any mass-transit vehicle to stow such a thing.
Anyway, glad you’re well, and glad you enjoyed the ballgame!