BFF

Los Angeles, California

My frister, Lydia (on these pages aka LOL), took me to a Dodger game on Monday night. Dodgers went into the game about three games ahead of San Francisco. We were playing the San Diego Padres; Clayton Kershaw pitching.

Lydia and I usually go to a game or two each season, and it is late in the season for us to finally get to our first game together. I had to kinda suggest, which is probably not appropriate since they are her tickets. But it is an annual ritual that I didn't want to miss. She owns a third of a full season package; two seats, loge level just under the reserve deck overhang. Perfect.

The season is winding down, and some of the concessions were closed. We went in search of nachos for Lyd and draft Stella Artois beer for me, which took us first to club level then to reserve. Then we settled down to watch the game. It was my third game this season, second Kershaw outing, the first one with Lydia, and my first win. And it was a stellar game where the Dodgers got nine runs, and, perhaps (as I haven't looked this up) an unprecedented three-error play where the ball got thrown away not once, not twice, but thrice. The fans were in stunned silence when this happened. I murmured, unbelievable. Lydia said: That was nasty.

But a win is a win. Kershaw stayed in through the eighth, and we hung in through the ninth. Lydia is now a lady of leisure, having retired from LA Unified about a week ago. She is busy plotting out what this next part of her life will be about, and this will be interesting to see. Also, it is never too soon to start thinking about life after baseball which will commence in about six weeks.

Meanwhile the Dodgers do their usual dance. In first place for much of the season, they are hanging on by 2.5 games tonight as they prepare for a three-day series with their nemesis (nemeses?), the Giants.

And, a word about Time Warner cable...they have diabolically set the bar too high for any of the other providers to contract and offer the new Dodger network to their subscribers. So, Dodgers games are only available to Time Warner subscribers, which is a small percentage of SoCal households. At the beginning of the season, it was reported that Vin Scully could not watch the away games at home when he was not traveling with the team. I watch the games through MLBTV streaming them to my TV through Google Chromecast. It works some of the time. Other times it is akin to using orange juice cans and string to replicate the telephone.

So, no surprise, being at the stadium is still the best way to watch the game. Not to mention the win. And Kershaw, who is the best pitcher on the planet. And the nachos. And the Stella beer. And sitting next to my BFF who knows both how to keep score and the answers to all of my baseball questions. All in all, it was a beautiful night at the ballpark. Go Dodgers...And thank you for reading my blog.