Carpool Lane: Trip to Dodgers vs. Padres

About the Carpool Lane

Much of the day fan services representatives for the Los Angeles Dodgers were showered with questions regarding the status of Friday night’s home game against the San Diego Padres.

“Is the game still scheduled tonight?” “What is the likelihood of a rainout?” “How sure are you that is going to rain?”

They are pros out there at fan services and received them with a smile and a professional answer, but they had to be thinking

–Listen buddy. . .I don’t know. I am not a meteorologist. My name is not Dallas Raines. AND I’m in an office with no windows. Make a decision

I don’t know the final message those fans who were asking got, but on a night when there was heavy rain, thunder, and lightning, throughout the day there frankly were not that many fans in attendance. Fans were clumped together with rows and rows between groups, like splotches of paint on a canvas. Officially there were 31601 fans in attendance, but in reality there were many less there. But they witnessed some memorable performances by the Dodgers.

Aaron Harang in his second start with the Dodgers to start the game struck out 9 of his former teammates in a row. No Dodger had ever struck out 9 in a row. Harang struck out 13 overall in his 6.1 innings. Matt Kemp in his quest for 50-50 hit a home run to the opposite field on a cold cold night where the ball hardly carried. The Dodgers gave up leads of 4-0, and 8-4, before 4 consecutive walks to Mark Ellis, Kemp, Rivera, and Ethier (on 4 pitches) with two outs on the board to win the game.

The fans that were in attendance were attentive. Throughout the game, the familiar chants in Los Angeles rained down, except they weren’t aimed at number 24, but rather number 27. After hitting his third home run of the season, the crowd chanted “MVP!MVP!” in as much as an affirmation of his deserving MVP season last year and current quest for the award. The stadium hummed every time he stepped to the plate.

But other than that, there wasn’t much humming but the windy conditions. How can a stadium 1/3 full be raucous? Walking around the stadium looked more like walking through the halls of your high school between periods. If it wasn’t between innings then there was no one obstructing your way, waiting for the bathrooms, or complaining to fan services.

New for me were the scoreboards built into the outfield wall in left and right field that have taken over the stat reporting duties. The large jumbotron no longer only displays roster photos with current batting avg., home runs and RBI’s. Those stats along with who is pitching, pitch count, and mph are all on the electronic outfield wall scoreboards.

The main jumbotron has a few stats now, the games, videos, gimmicks between innings, and is now a running advertisement board for the Dodgers. Like watching the Disney channel (we’ve all been there), the commercials for the Disney channel are advertisements only for other Disney channels shows.

The screen said, tomorrow night is dodger stadium replica night. Or Jackie Robinson Day is Sunday afternoon. And Tonight is Friday night Fireworks: fans are not permitted on the field for tonight’s fireworks. Fans in the pavilion are asked to exit and re-enter the stadium in the loge level.

Back to fan services

“Why can’t we go on the field.”

–With the rain today, the field is going to be slick and we don’t want anybody to slip and hurt themselves
“Really? And would it damage the field”
–Yeah it could damage the field too

Scoreboard says: Because of the threat of a rainout, in appreciation of your attendance for tonight’s game all fans tonight can exchange their tickets for a FREE reserve level ticket May 15th or 31st. They are not available today, but exchange your tickets starting tomorrow in Lot P

“Really? A free ticket, sick. I have never heard of giving a free ticket. How do I get it?”
–Well you might be able to get it today. (Talking thru walkie talkie. Silence) You probably won’t be able to exchange them until tomorrow, but Lot P is still open. . . you could at least ask there.

“The Padres just hit a two run home run to tie the game at eight. Anything fan services can do about that.”
–Unlikely, but if you fill out this form I’d be happy to file this complaint with the bullpen with the organization

I really don’t think my complaints and inquiries in the less than packed stadium helped the Dodgers chances. Superstitiously it might have hurt them, as the Padres mounted their comeback as I made myself a nuisance at the desk tucked into the back of the Loge level. Neither did fan services have any impact on the outcome of the game, but they are there, ready, and waiting to field your (possible) complaints about your experience at Dodger Stadium. With McCourt more or less gone and the Dodgers only losing one game thus far, its easy going for fan services at Dodger Stadium.