Take Me Out To The Ballgame

Hopefully all of you have someone like the Olivas in your life. The Olivas are G Slim's older-brother's in-laws and two of the hugest Dodger/Laker/SC/UCLA fans I have ever met in my life. On any given day I probably get between 8 to 10 emails from the Olivas and the Sniders discussing everything from the Dodgers to Tiger Woods, all of which either spark some kind of controversy or encourage some good natured ribbing.

Judging by all of the back-and-forth emails you might assume that we are all good friends and see each other regularly. And you'd be half-right. I have met los hermanos de Oliva one time in my life, at an Oscar de la Hoya fight (against Felix Trinidad?) at their place in LA which must have been in either 1997 or 1998 because I remember Greg and I driving down from the dorms at UCSB to take in the fight. Sports obviously has a way of bringing us all together, even when we aren't.

Cesar took his kids to their first ever Dodger game Friday evening and had the pleasure of seeing Hideki Kuroda's dominance of the Cubs and he had this to share with us afterwards-

Just to let all of you know, we took the kids to the game last night.
Not only did the Azul win, but Little Marty Mars boy Kuroda-son went Cy Young on the Cubbies and made them look like J Snides Church softball team. That was a nice way to break my kids into Dodger Baseball. A 4 hit, 11 strike out complete game shutout.

We went to the top of the park store and bought the twins their first Dodger hats and took in the view of the field from the top deck. What a gem! That has to be one of Los Angeles most beautiful postcard snap shots.
I know the kids won't remember this, but my wife and I sure will.
Awesome night, just plain awesome.

The email and the pics got me thinking--did I remember my first game? I called my dad who told me he took me to a few games when I was a baby but those obviously never registered. The first game I can recall was a thriller against the Cardinals in either '86 or '87 and I remember the Dodgers winning either 8-7 or 7-6 thanks to some heroic pitching by Matt Young in the 9th but the details escape me. Thankfully, nothing escapes the good folks over at retrosheet.org and with a few clicks most of the details came back to me, look at this 9th inning mastery, with Young clinging to a one-run lead:

CARDINALS 9TH:
Ozzie Smith singled to center
    Pendleton singled to shortstop, Smith to third
    Clark struck out; McGee struck out; Pagnozzi struck out
    Final Score: Cardinals 6, Dodgers 7.

What retrosheet failed to record was the ecstatic eight year old boy jumping up and down into his dad's arms, a fan forever, for better or for worse.

Way to start them young, Cesar. I'll expect an email Monday morning.