Wow. Watching ESPN sucks compared to watching the Angel game on the local channel. The minute I changed the channel and heard familiar voices it seemed way better. No wonder I wasn't enjoying the earlier games as much as usual. Way better with the locals.

Watching Urias close it out reminded me of my old golf buddy Larry Sherry. He was 1959 world series mvp for the Dodgers. A lefty, he won 2 games and finished 2 games before they were called saves. I played quite a bit of golf with him starting in mid 70s. I loved the 60's Dodgers stories. Cool guy. He passed in 06.

HS golf teammate became a NL umpire in 80s. We played golf sometimes with a former Dodger pitcher from late 50s and 60s. I was blown away with some of their talk. Former Dodger pitcher would talk about the rampant use of stimulants among some of the players way back then. These guys seemed to be ok with cheating in many respects. Umpire wanted to catch them.

The ump told us that every ball Mike Scott threw had a couple scratches on it. He said league office said to the umpires that if they couldn't catch him cheating in the regular season, to not insert themselves in the playoffs without catching him red handed. Anyone remember the Mets in the dugout passing around the foul balls he threw, looking at the scratches. There seemed to be some form of respect that they couldn't catch him.

Difference of course was how these Astros cheated. I played competitive golf. Honesty is everything. Johnny Miller offered my friend a full scholarship to BYU (great golf program) because he called a penalty on himself in a playoff for Junior World and lost. Baseball just has a different culture, and this newer form of cheating got way out of hand.

Go Dodgers.

I was in SF when a friend called and said our umpire friend would be drinking after the game at this particular bar. He ended up getting me seats behind home plate as he called balls and strikes the next day. After a few innings of me heckling him, he walked toward me between innings and yelled, "alright, enough Jimmy". He walked back and I yelled, "thanks for tickets". He told me he laughed, as well as everyone who heard us.

"Philosophical differences". Management apparently didn't like winning streak? From a distance, this seems weird. I bet up close too.

On a different note. A golfing buddy of mine, Garry Templeton, jokingly told me he was partly responsible for the Cardinals winning so much in the 80s. He apparently flipped off and yelled something back to a fan. The Cardinals immediately traded him to the Padres for Ozzie Smith. Weird thing is that Gary has only been kind, polite, and respectful around me. He would call my best friend and set up games and bring guys like Rupert Jones and Vince Coleman. Vince wasn't known for his honesty on the course according to his own buddies.

What a game so far...

Shitty way to end the game/season. I'm a Dodger fan.

Lately I've thought they need to utilize technology and let umpires read the instantaneous results for balls and strikes. And allow more situations reviewed in the playoffs. I think you still need to let umpires be the entertainers they think they are, just stop letting their opinions get in the way of facts.

As a Dodger fan I think your right about the Dodgers getting the best of the calls prior to that horrible last call. I'm also an Angel fan and watched Dave Henderson hit a ridiculously unlikely home run with 2 strikes, 2 outs in 9th. Angels were 1 strike away from reaching World Series for first time.

This batter was like 0 for 17 or something against Sherzer, but that victory seemed diminished by the umpire. Giants were too good of a team. They deserved better. I would have much rather seen him actually get him out.

Played golf yesterday with a Dodger scout. I asked if he agreed with my opinion that Mike Trout is the best ballplayer I've ever seen. He is just a better player than Bonds was in Pittsburgh before he blew up on steroids. He agreed that in our generation Trout is the best all around ballplayer.

And then I asked where do you put Shohei Ohtani after last year. Best season I've ever seen. He agreed. He claimed he hasn't rated anyone near as high as where he rated Shohei when he was in Japan. There is nothing like this guy.

He said the Dodgers are following Barcelona's (soccer) lead and are seriously scouting athletes in Africa. Not a joke. I just met him, as I had been injured and not been a member the last few years. But he's been playing with my buddies when in town and they all said he was serious. Supposedly some great athletes in an area like the area in the Dominican Republic that has produced great baseball players.

Also their development of players who were basically discarded and turned into all stars like Max Muncy, Justin Turner, and Chris Taylor. The Dodgers are well run organization nowadays.

Pretty sure my new golfing buddy signed Mookie in Boston. And now he's a top Dodgers executive from his prior success. And he, like most every sober baseball executive believe Trout is a once in a generation player. Dodgers are my favorite team. It would be incredible to see him in Dodger blue.

My brother was recently diagnosed with dementia. He played football on some good UCLA teams of mid 60's. Was practicing law almost until the diagnosis. We have been to a few football games, but only one epic Angel's game during their championship playoff run.

The fun of taking him to a Dodger game at their stadium was incredible. He's 76, I'm 62. Watching the game with him was awesome. I think I will take him to see the Dodgers play the Giants on Sunday day game. I spend a day or two a week riding bikes and doing things we never did due to our age difference. And nothing has been more special than going to the ballpark with him.

I got baked once and learned. There's a Dodger website that you can check your tickets to see if they are in the shade that day. But thanks, it can be seriously brutal for someone with my issues.

Lorenzen was impressive. Trout being Trout.

The pitcher struck him out and Trout acknowledged the pitcher's success. Almost looked like he was implying for him to try it again according to former pitcher Mark Gubiza the local tv analyst. Next at bat, same pitch, gone.

Trout has such a viscous short swing that it would seem to me to be able to repeat it more often and time it better than the prettier, longer swings. And easier to get out of slump as a result.

Dodgers and Giants played in a playoff type atmosphere yesterday. Home team Giants pitcher couldn't hear the signals because so many Dodgers fans in SF. Preview of what will happen in playoff games.

Exciting game. Giants batter tries to check his swing at a pitch, missed, it hits him, runner scores and the home plate umpire makes the call that he swung. That it didn't hit him, and that it can't be reviewed. The announcers seemed completely confused. Seems like an easy change to make regarding replay. Its a strike, which he called, but the ball is dead because it hit him. Can't review it. Cost the Dodgers at least the opportunity to go the bottom of the 9th. Middle of June and you would have thought it was a playoff game. Exciting times for our division in baseball with Padres also playing well.

Shohei Ohtani hits his second 3 run Homer in the 9th to tie the game last night. He ends up with 8 RBI in a losing effort.

Tonight he has 12 strikeouts in 7 innings. Wow. I will never witness an 8 RBI game and the next night the guy strikes out at least 12. Pitching a shutout thru 7. Insane.

Dodgers salary for 2022 is closer to 265,600,000. Your figure includes over 35 million that wasn't paid to a suspended pitcher. Their total team salary is about 4 million more than the Mets.

The Dodgers just posted the best 162 game stretch in modern baseball history.

The Mets are good again. The Orioles are playing great baseball and the damn Astros could possibly have the best post season team.
I'm looking forward to the post season.

699 for Albert Pujols. MLB channel showing one of their analysts calling Albert to hit no. 700 off Clayton Kershaw on this Friday night on April 13. Kershaw is pitching tomorrow so if he hits it tonight or tomorrow it's one of the greatest predictions I've ever heard of.

And Shohei is having a better season than last year. He has 34 hrs, and has struck out over 200 batters. Has the highest OPS batting with runners in scoring position. ERA of 2.47 after tonight. He's 14 - 8 on a shitty team after tonight. He's an all star pitcher. And one of the best hitters in baseball. It's hard to quantify Shohei's talent because we've never seen anything like him.

And then Albert hits another. 700. WOW. If you watch the play he runs to Adrian Beltre in the stands behind home plate for a high 5 before he runs to his teammates to celebrate.

What a fukn prediction by that guy to call the exact day on April 13.

Shohei Ohtani has a 17 game hitting streak right now. He's 15 - 8 on a shitty team (4th most wins). He's 3rd in strikeouts (213), and 4th in ERA (2.35) Great season as a pitcher with 1 more start to come. Had a no hitter with 2 outs in 8th when he gave up hit in last outing.

His batting average is 276. 94 RBI's and he's been stuck on 34 home runs for awhile. Shohei has the highest OPS with batters in scoring position. He's having a better season than last year. This guy continues to amaze me.

"I think everybody could probably sit down in their seats and watch the ballgame now".

What a great guy. Class act. He handled himself like a stud during his homer chase.

Baseball sure seems to have a couple of superstars in Judge and Ohtani who seem to be great people as well. Nice breath of fresh air as I seem to hear an abundance of bad behavior news from athletes.

Gary Templeton and Joe Buck Sr. Gary said he didn't want to go the all star game if he wasn't starting and Joe Buck then said, "So if your not starting, your not departing".

Gary is one of my favorite guys to play golf with and he feels the same about my buddy and I. He's seriously funny if you get to know him. He told me the whole story why he was traded from the Cardinals and laughs when he says he's partly responsible for a couple of their world series wins as he was traded for Ozzie Smith.

My buddy's at our golf club told me about our Dodger executive friends' world series ring. Came with a rotating pedestal for the ball with a video being played on the screen behind. It's insane. I showed him my brothers 1966 Rose Bowl ring and asked him if he would show me a picture of the Dodgers ring.

He then asked me, "Do you want to see the others"? Holy shit. 1997 Marlins. He was one of 5 employees that John Henry was allowed to take to the Boston Red Sox. 2004, 2007, 2014. Red Sox. 5 rings. He's a really cool guy to play golf with so I told him on hole no.5 when he showed me the rings that I was seriously in awe. And wouldn't insult him again about his golf game until the back 9.
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Probably as much as All teams. Stealing signs is part of baseball. The teams that used electronic means to further these efforts were wrong. Period.

But it's 2022 and I'm way more concerned about tonight's game, than something that transpired 5 years ago. I'm also thankful that Fernando Tatis isn't in their lineup tonight. I'm heading down to San Diego County where my golf club is located. Pretty sure I'm gonna hear about 0 for 19 or whatever with runners in scoring position.

I'm more upset about the USA 1972 basketball team getting screwed than the 2017 Dodgers.

I'm a huge UCLA fan as brother played football there. Most people know Sam Gilbert was the godfather who took care of players on Wooden's teams. Pretty sure most people except Bobby Knight accepts UCLA's wins.

Question going around our golf club, which is in San Diego County. Too early? We sign up 10 days or so in advance to play golf with a couple different groups at our club. Our Dodger executive buddy signed up for all 3 days next week for one group. Is it too early to pile on that he's available?

I said yes. A subtle jab to be utilized at the right moment is more satisfying to me. And I'm a Dodger fan. So far no one has made a comment on line.

My opinion. Dodgers didn't have a no.1 starter available, or a closer. Their pitchers seem throw 5 or 6 innings at most in the playoffs. They had 3 stud hitters at the top of their lineup and depth. Great for the regular season.

The Astros and Padres both have traditional championship teams to me. Real starting pitching and great bullpens along with studs who can hit.

J Smoltz mentioned my old golfing buddy (deceased) Larry Sherry as one of two rookie World Series MVPs. My hs golf teammate became a national league ump and was discussing Cy Young winner Mike Scott and how every ball was cut in the same spot. The umps couldn't catch him doing it. The ump said something about cheating when Larry said something to the effect that he played with his hall of fame friend Don (Drysdale) and pitched against hall of fame rival Gaylord Perry. He kinda mocked the umpires cheating comment.

I think the only thing out of line for most ballplayers is the electronic cheating.