Recap of a Day with @baseballpro and Special Guest Vin Scully (w/ videos!)

Former Dodgers GM Dan Evans and Special Guest Vin Scully

Let me sum up the event in three simple words: What a day.

I left my place in Long Beach, gave myself plenty of time to get to Dodger Stadium… well actually, to park outside of the stadium for free like I normally do. So I get there, and I’m one of two cars parked on Lilac Terrace off of Stadium Way. Step outside the car, and the weight of the dry heat pushes me down, but I persist. In my brown button up shirt already a little sweaty, I make the trip uphill to Parking Lot D on my own, thinking about things like #want, the Anaheim event I went to, and would I get to talk to any of these celebrities that would be showing up.

But let’s be honest, you came to watch the videos, and I know you will find better quality videos elsewhere, so let me apologize: my phone overheated due to the temperature of the table it was resting on, and thus shut down during recording. The video quality is that of an iPhone 4, so you have been fairly warned. However, Vin Scully was absolutely amazing. My words cannot do his work justice. Here are the three videos I took. Hopefully you will come across the complete speech in better quality elsewhere.

He continues that story, down to part 2, but I am unable to get the full story due to the heat:

Then my phone really got pissed at me and wouldn’t do anything for a good number of minutes. Here’s the last 11 mintues of golden Vin:

You’ll notice around 6:00 in, Scully says he probably will not go to Yankee Stadium next year due to the scheduling of the Dodgers. But, perhaps something can be worked out for the Hall of Famer.

I talked to my wife of how much we’d pay to sit with Vin Scully at a dinner table or something. She was unable to really come up with a number, but I said hundreds of dollars. This experience was a little over $50, and worth every penny for an up close seat with Vin Scully alone.

We got to listen to the Assistant GM Logan White for the Dodgers, as well as Steve Garvey, who both provided incredible insight to the scouting aspect of the game, as well as the effects of the new CBA on the MLB Draft, and how past Drafts went; and then from Garvey how the game was played then versus how it is now. He seemed to be pretty passionate about the issue of taking days off during a season, as he played nearly 1,300 consecutive games in his day, as well as getting a feel for the game at the major league level. Like I said, both very interesting, and very awesome to listen to.

I had a great time saying hellos to some of the BP staff that made my Anaheim experience so memorable, and thanks to Jason Martinez of mlbdepthcharts.com for keeping me company and chatting it up with me before and during the event.

The game itself was another experience, particularly because it’s been a while since I’ve watched a game from left field. It was pretty difficult to judge ground balls, and line drives, and basically everything. I never got used to finding the pitch count of the pitchers, or what kind of pitch they threw, or just taking in the general strategy of the game. This tells me I will have to take in more games from all around a stadium, so unfortunately I will have to see more baseball games. A horrible punishment, indeed!

I was joined by Craig Minami of TrueBlueLA who, despite me being a loner in Loge section 167, put some stock in me and decided to talk me up, and we talked Dodgers, Giants, and baseball while the game was going on. Really, what more could you ask for when you’re at a baseball game? The game went by pretty quick due to all that talking, and the frozen Cool-A-Coo I was trying to eat was all of a sudden melting the wrapper so I had to knock that thing out. Ruling on the dessert: it was good, but nothing I’d go out of my way for, unless I was dying due to lack of ice cream, cinnamon, and chocolate.

Chocolatey outside, yums. $6.

Despite a Joe Blanton and Jaime Garcia game, it wasn’t the big scoring game I thought it’d be. Instead, it was 2-2 for roughly two-thirds of the game before the Cardinals made it 3-2, and then the bottom of the ninth happened. 2 outs, Andre Ethier singles, then Dee Gordon steals second, avenging an earlier loss to Yadier Molina and his golden gun of an arm. Then Luis Cruz makes the stadium rock like a California earthquake with his game-tying double. He gets replaced by Elian Herrera at 2nd, which I thought was a pretty risky move if the game went extra innings. Then, Juan Rivera of all people lines it and just hits off of Daniel Descalso’s glove like a 63-yard David Akers FG into the OF not far away from double-D and the throw to Molina is just too late, sending Chavez Ravine into a partyoric atmosphere that left me stunned. That comeback win came quickly despite their backs being placed firmly against the wall. Instead of being 2 back of St. Louis, and 8.5 back of the Giants in the West, they are tied with the Cardinals for the Wild Card, and remain 7.5 back of the NL West leading Giants.

2 outs, bottom of the 9th, down by 1 run, the Dodgers complete a come-from-behind victory in three batters. That’s pretty impressive. How often do you get to see that sort of thing at a baseball game? Man. What. A. Day.