Game #5 – Dodger Stadium – LA Dodgers vs. SF Giants

We had our first “good” problem when we were in Los Angeles. First, we would like to thank the San Diego Padres for donating tickets to the Biking for Baseball organization! We were fortunate enough to have 60 tickets to go to the Padres v. our hometown Rockies on Monday, May 7th with matches from Big Brothers and Big Sisters of San Diego! 

The “problem” was, we also had 55 tickets donated to our organization to attend with matches from the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles for the Dodgers game the exact same day; Monday, May 7th. So we had tickets to go to baseball games in two separate cities 125 miles apart. What a nice problem to have!

Needless to say, we could only attend one game on that Monday night. But fear not! We had a workable solution.

Due to our relationship with the San Diego BBBS, we were able to offer ALL 60 tickets to their agency and their matches. High-five numero uno!

Then, we had 55 tickets to attend the Dodgers game in LA. We offered 50 tickets to the BBBS of Greater LA to watch the formidable match-up between the Dodgers and the very much disliked San Francisco Giants with the Biking for Baseball team. We were bummed we couldn’t be in two places at once, but we were lucky and fortunate enough to be able to offer tickets to two agencies to allow matches to attend MLB games on Monday, May 7th! High-five numero dos!

We stayed in LA for the night and were very excited and a bit, nervous, for the Dodgers v. Giants rivalry. We’d always heard about the bad blood between the fans of each team and now we were going to see it up close and personal.

Because of some unfortunate incidents with a very small minority of Dodgers fans, the stadium had a reputation for being dangerous. It’s extremely sad that a few people can’t handle themselves in public and, especially, take it to the level that they took it. Inside of the outliers of stupid fans (every team has stupid fans), Dodgers fans were really into the game and were great. The stadium is HUGE and was half-full (the optimist). The fans made it loud with support for the home team and provided a great atmosphere for the game.

Of course, there were “Giants suck” cheers and booing at the game. Each time a fan dressed in orange and black (especially a middle-aged man) was walking through the aisles, strong “BOOOOOOOOOS!” were directed towards the Giants fan. They actually were not hateful or angry at all, just a formality among fans. And actually, I like that among fans. Respectful boos. Boo them because they are coming into your house and trying to steal a victory from your park. Don’t take it the next level, but let them know that they are not welcome. Great job Dodgers fans!

Because the team had been on such a long road trip, we didn’t realize that the purchase of the team by a group of businessmen including Magic Johnson happened when the team was away from LA. We had no clue that the game we were attending was the first home game under new management. Awesome! Jackie Robinson’s wife Rachel Robinson was honored before the game and Brooklyn Dodger great Don Newcombe threw the first pitch with Vin Scully introducing them. Bonus!

Additionally, one of the first things they did was drop parking from $15 to $10. That was a good thing because all the cash we had was $10.

Overall, Dodger stadium had an awesome retro vibe which made me feel like I should be watching Sandy Koufax pitch. It was very cool how the stadium was built basically into the side of a huge hill. If you enter the stadium from ground level behind home plate, you are in the upper deck and if you enter from ground level in the outfield, you are at field level.

The hills beyond the outfield are very picturesque and enjoyable to look at, and the stadium had very clean lines which go perfectly with the Dodgers crisp all white uniforms. This was a real baseball game.

Shout out to Jessica Rosales and the Dodger on Demand crew who hung out with us and the matches for part of the game.They did a story on Biking for Baseball as well and we are excited to see the result! They were very cool and we can’t wait to come back to Dodger Stadium and see them again!

Gm 1– 4/13 @ Safeco Field – Oakland A’s @ Seattle Mariners
    Oakland wins 4-0 (WP – Colon, LP – Hernandez)

Gm 2 – 4/24 @ O.Co Stadium – Chicago White Sox @ Oakland A’s
    Oakland wins 2-0 (WP – Milone, LP – Floyd, SV – Balfour)

Gm 3 – 4/27 @ AT&T Park – San Diego Padres @ San Francisco Giants
    San Diego wins 5-3 (WP – Luebke, LP – Hacker, SV – Street)

Gm 4 – 5/3 @ Angels Stadium – Toronto Blue Jays @ LA Angels of Anaheim
    Toronto wins 5-0 (WP – Morrow, LP – Haren)

Gm 5 – 5/7 @ Dodger Stadium – SF Giants @ Los Angeles Dodgers
    Dodgers win 9-1 (WP – Lilly, LP – Zito)

B4B ON!