Dodger Blue - Up Close and Personal

Wow, I have people begging for this blog post!  Not only through me, but through Dave.  So by popular demand here you go...

For those that live under a rock or don't have Facebook, we were in LA this past weekend.  Mostly to visit Dave's Parents (Tata and Abuela), but also to catch a Dodger game.   Ironically we made it to the same game (Fan Photo day that is) last year... if you missed it here is the post.  This year we planned to go to the game this final weekend in June because it fit into the schedule and Dodgers were in town.  It was by chance that it fell on Fan Photo day.

Being the experienced "fans" we are (have no fear - I am still a Twins fan, but must go Dodger Blue in order to stay married) we knew when we had to be there, where to park to get closer to the front of the line etc.  Of course it helps that my Dodger fanatic husband has Dodger Stadium programmed into his phone and he called to get the scoop. I mean what MLB fan doesn't program their favorite stadium's phone number into their phone just in case they need to call for fan information?  (Insert the eye-roll I gave him when I found the "contact" in his phone this weekend)

So once we entered the stadium, we ran -not quite literally- to our "spot" near the first base line. 

Not long after we made "camp" our first ballplayer surprised us from the left side rather than the right side - where all the other players were starting.  Ted Lilly - who is a starting pitcher (not that day) but has also played with the Cubs, Yankee and A's organizations.

Player number two - Jamey Carroll, the Shortstop. 

If you couldn't tell - behind the fence, the players were standing behind a rope, so they don't always get too close to the fans.  That will change shortly as you'll see.

Third it was a former classmate of mine from my days at Antioch High - Aaron Miles, the Dodger 3rd baseman.  He graduated a year after me, and why I didn't think to name drop is beyond me.  We did chat for a few minutes though.

And then for the highlight of the day, the All-Star player Matt Kemp (who later got thrown out of the game).

Notice how he closed right in on Drew?  He wasn't doing that with anyone - in fact he was covered with bodyguards/security and he kept his distance, much to the dismay of the 7 or 8 year old who came in next to us trying to get Kemp's attention.   Rather than chatting with that little boy he swooped right in for Drew!

Those were the only players that came right up to us, but from a distance we saw several other including Casey Blake - a 3rd baseman (and the reason Dave's favorite player can't have his old number 23 on his jersey).

They announced at 12:04 that they were shutting the field down at 12:10 and Dave's favorite former player and current Dodger Manager was never going to make it to our little area - so instead we tried to go to him.  We had to settle for a few far away shots of Don Mattingly.

After that we had to have Drew catch a "ball" against the center field wall.

And since he did so well we went to our seats - which were fantastic and thankfully in the shade - and grubbed!

I believe it was in the 9th inning that Daddy and Drew tried to rally the Dodgers to get some runs - they were trailing the Angels 6-1 - by wearing their Rally caps.  They changed the cap every time it stopped working

(Ethier at bat)

Unfortunately it didn't work out to our advantage - Dodgers ended up losing.  Despite it being a loss, it was a a great game for the family.  Dave now wants to try and make it to all the Fan Photo days for our "annual" Dodger Game in SoCal.

Yesterday morning on our way to school, Drew asked me if I was taking him back to Dodger Stadium.  When I said no, he asked "Well are we going to LA then?".  Sorry buddy - you're stuck here in the real world with the rest of us.