Jeff Weaver

I know some people hold their breaths when Weaver goes to the mound, but I fully support him.

I have to.

When I was at spring training, I managed to have my picture taken with him. And, well, you see, I think I'm a curse. It seems that any player I have ever met instantly has some sort of bad luck. Career-wise, game-wise.

Most often they are traded.

I stay away from buying t-shirts and jerseys with my favorite players names on them solely because I know what that means. They will be traded.

I have a history.

So, I kind of felt bad when Weaver posed for the picture and by the end of spring training he did not have a spot in the rotation.

Sigh.

So, I cheer for him. I'm happy every time he gets a start because, in my mind, it means that maybe, just maybe, the curse has worn off.

It has, after all, been five months. Plenty of time....

 

Three and a Half!?!?

It's been awhile since I've written about the Dodgers. I didn't want to create some dramatic rant about how every time I'm at Dodger Stadium since the All-Star Break, I'm nervously jiggling my foot, holding my breath when anyone gets up in the bullpen or otherwise going into some sort of rant against some situation that I have deemed ridiculous as that particular moment.

My spring mantra of "who am I" to question Joe Torre was replaced with a 15-minute discussion with Tanaya about how Torre needs a Twitter account so we can helpfully point out all of the things he's missing during the game.

My desire to not to engage in any scoreboard watching has been replaced with a midafternoon check of the Giants and Rockies score and a nightly reading of the box scores.

My steadfast belief that we "should just see if we can win with this team" has resulted in my quite literally banging my head on my desk when the Dodgers let John Smoltz end up with the Cardinals.

I've watched the offense struggle. I've watched Manny's lackluster defense in front of millions of adoring fans. I've watched pitcher after pitcher not make it through the 5th inning.

Right after the Break, we sat in the stadium in some sort of nailbiter, and I clearly remember saying, "This is not good. It's only July."

We both looked at each other and pretty much realized that we're going to be nervous wrecks through the end of the season. Forget the playoffs, my blood pressure is going to rise and fall with the numbers in the W-L column for the next six weeks.

And I love it.

I absolutely love it.

Yes, it would have been nice to cruise into September with a 15-game lead, all but obliterating the hope of Giants fans for the NL West title. Yes, it would have been nice to sit here knowing that Kershaw had finally worked through the issues I witnessed firsthand in the spring and that he was consistently overpowering hitters for 8 and 9 innings. Yes, it would have been nice to be able to name all five guys in the rotation with confidence.

But baseball happens. It happens this way as a sort of slow torture that is designed to keep me coming back. After all, when have I ever liked anything easy?

And my nerves? And rants? And screaming?

Love. All love.

And I take that love, along with a clenched jaw and a tapping foot, with me for the next few weeks.

Until I can progress to nervous pacing in October.

Coming in Midway

It feels strange to start this blog right now. After all, the Dodgers are in the middle of a pennant race in August.

My journey with them started in March. Yup. We packed up a random assortment of stuff and headed out to Phoenix for a 48-hour turnaround to watch 2 spring training games at the new Camelback Park.

The night we spent there, I knew this was going to be bad. We had purchased a partial season ticket package a few weeks prior. 27 games. We planned for 29. Now, here on August 20, I've already been to 19 in LA and taken a journey down to San Diego. Yup, it's bad.

It was bad for me 14 years ago, but then I only had my little transistor radio. Now, I have a car. And a job. And I live minutes for Dodger Stadium.

If it wasn't for the $15 parking fee, I'm sure I'd live there.

So, I blogged extensively for the first month of the season on my personal blog, and quickly realized that it was it's own job. Plus, I don't have a press pass, so that kills anything breaking that I could find it. It was merely commentary.

Now, I'm itching to find a place to insert more commentary. I'm sure anything that appears here will also appear in my other blog, but who knows. This could be an excellent outlet for my baseball energy for now through the end of the season.

So, welcome.