A Fan's Appreciation Weekend

Trust me.  I'm not on the bullpen phone calling for Jonathan Broxton.

Tonight starts the last home stand of the season for the 2010 Los Angeles Dodgers. A dreary season as the team managed to hit only five out of six cylinders on any given day. There was something always amiss and that's not how you make it to the playoffs for the third consecutive postseason.

I think back to opening day.  I was sitting in my new deluxe and recently upgraded Loge seats with a wonderful view that almost duplicates the image I used to enjoy from my Shea Stadium Section 7 seats.  Back in April, I thought how great it would be to sit in these seats late into October.  I'd have better ones than some of the Fox TV stars that the network always drags out for the World Series.  Take that, Hugh Laurie!  I've got better seats and I'm probably a better actor to boot, you hack.

Alas.  I'll be home on the couch around October 26.  Perhaps watching the World Series on TV.  Definitely not watching House on Monday nights.

For now, there are three more Dodger games in the season.  Two games I will attend myself tonight and Sunday afternoon.  Scorebook in lap,  Stadium Club meal in my stomach, and hope in my heart.

There are some baseball scenarios to play out, even with the Dodgers who will be sadly idle as soon as October 4 comes around.  These contests might be the last three games Joe Torre ever manages as he is planning to "retire."  We use the term loosely as nobody knows just what Joe is thinking at any particular moment.  Tonight, he will continue on with his annual final weekend tradition of letting a player manage the team with others acting as coaches.  Catcher Russell Martin, who's been disabled since early August, will helm the team and he just recently came off crutches.  Too bad.  It would have been fun to watch a manager walk out to the mound in a recreation of the opening credits from "Double Indemnity."

Catcher Brad Ausmus is also retiring and he will be in the starting lineup for the last time ever on Sunday.  Moreover, the final game will mark the official transfer of power from Torre to Don Mattingly as the era of "Donnie Baseball Management" begins.  It would have great symbolism if, instead of handing off a baton, Joe simply presents Don with reliever Ramon Troncoso holding his arm in a sling.

It's officially Fan Appreciation Weekend and, boy, do us fans need it.  Fireworks on Friday night.  And, as Vin Scully has been hawking on the air, 15,000 prize giveaways on Sunday.  Longtime Dodger fans tell me that the previous owners, the O'Malleys, went all out on this day.  Paraded out on the field would be cars, cabin cruisers, and yachts for the fans to win.  Under Frank McCourt, let's see how far those 25 dollar Best Buy gift cards go.

This year, I've been at Dodger Stadium just as it opens for the pre-game buffet at the Stadium Club and as it closes when I was hanging with the guys for post-game Dodger Talk.  The life of a ballpark is so much more than the three hours you spend watching 30 or so guys in the home dugout.  No, there is much more to it.  There is the energy and lifeblood that happens as stadium and team staff work hard to make that three hours as enjoyable as possible.

So, on Fan Appreciation Weekend, here is one fan's appreciation of what makes Dodger Stadium tick.

---The concession stand workers who toil in un-air-conditioned surroundings.  The same woman has served me a Super All-Beef Dodger Dog for the past two years.  There is always a hello, a smile, and a thank you.   For these folks, I always round up with my change.  If I get a quarter back, I slip it in her hand.  If it's 75 cents back, she gets three quarters.  This is the least we can do.

---The same kid has been working the pedestrian stop sign outside my designated parking lot.  Again, there is always a hello, a smile, and a thank you.  Meanwhile, he is trying to get you to safely cross in front of traffic that is always going way too fast.  Sometimes, the Dodger parking lots can resemble one of those Whack-A-Mole games at the arcade.  Well, at least, outside Lot K, there is order and civility.

---There are two waiters in the Stadium Club that are courteous and always willing to answer my many questions.  Usually, one of them is "why don't they keep the restaurant open all winter?"  The food is that good.  Meanwhile, these folks are always more than happy to tell me how the chicken is prepared.  The only misstep this season was the exclusion of bread pudding from the dessert menu.  It was to die for.

---The ushers in the stand are a special bunch.  They know the season ticket holders by name and are incredibly helpful.  Back in the spring, the arthritis in my right knee had flared badly.  Naturally, I still showed up for my regular game and hobbled into the ballpark with a cane.  Their assistance to me that night was invaluable.  They have accorded the same wonderful treatment to other friends of mine who need help.  Above and beyond the call of duty.

---Usherwise, there's Sid, the gatekeeper of my section.  82 years young and he still goes after a beach ball like a New York Jet lineman would dive for a fumble.  He sort of looks like Mr. Burns on the Simpsons, but I give the dude credit for going up and down stairs as often as he does.

---And you see in the photo above Richard, the usher in my old section but who still shepherds enough of the loge that he's always good for at least one visit a game.   He actually looks better with the straw hat than with the baseball cap they made the ushers wear this season.  A prince of a man who naturally takes a lot of good natured abuse from me.  And he gives it back.  Meanwhile, one of my friends is so fond of him that she painted a portrait of him from this photo.  Depicting parts of his image as vegetables.  I took about ten or fifteen shots at him just on the cauliflower alone.

---How about some love for longtime Dodger organist Nancy Bea Hefley?  She doesn't play as much as she should, but when she does, I love trying to figure out her theme for the night.  Once, I noticed she was playing all Jerry Herman songs from Broadway shows.  Another night, it was the themes from nighttime soap operas.  But, still, one of my most favorite moments in life is the seventh inning stretch where she leads the crowd on Diamondvision in an always glorious rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game."  Even if she is forced to sit in front of a neon Mega Millions Lottery sign that makes it appear like she's working the counter in a liquor store.

---I've yakked here before about Dodger Talk hosts Ken Levine and Josh Suchon when they gave me a highlight reel of an evening in the press box.  These two do the most even-keeled, intelligent, and frequently hilariously baseball talk show in the majors.  Here's hoping Ken and Josh are back for another year.  I may just be waiting for them again one night next summer.

---I have no clue who the guy is, but whoever makes those warm chocolate chip cookies in the press box needs to be canonized.

---Last but not least, I can never not appreciate Vin Scully.  My nightly guide to the most entertaining baseball coverage in broadcasting.  A wordsmith who would give Shakespeare a run for his British pound.  With Vin, there is always the right amount of ado about something.  We are blessed to have him again on the air one more season.

You see, it's not all about the players.  Oh, sure, during this past year, we saw the coming greatness of Clayton Kershaw, the return to professionalism by Chad Billingsley, the grittiness of Jamie Carroll, and the unflagging determination of Hong Chi-Kuo.   Thanks for all you do.

But no baseball franchise can survive without the people behind the scenes.  And the smile that always arrives on cue with the same question.

"Can I help you?"

Dinner last night:  Waffles and eggs (breakfast for dinner) at Barney's Beanery in Westwood.