The betting here is that the playing of “Don’t Stop Believin'” in the middle of the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium will disappear, now that former Dodger exec Dr. Charles Steinberg is no longer around to champion it. Maybe it would have disappeared even if Steinberg had stayed. It wasn’t getting any fresher over time. (Sorry, Eric.)
If the Dodgers decide to replace the Journey anthem with another song, what would you like it to be?
My default answer on questions like these is Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to (Score a Game-Winning) Run” or Sam Cooke’s “Shake,” but I don’t think too hard about such things. I’m really quite satisfied with “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” in the seventh. But I am interested in your ideas …
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Great find by the Sons of Steve Garvey: It’s their dad in the make-you-squirm early’-80s television series, Masquerade.
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James McDonald wants to be in the Dodger starting rotation – for real, writes Ken Gurnick at MLB.com.
“I want to be a starter,” McDonald said. “Last year, I didn’t even know. This year I’m coming in with a different mindset, and starting is all I’m thinking about.” …
McDonald said he grew up as a pitcher with a stint this winter in the Dominican Republic.
“It was a great learning process,” he said. “You’re facing a lot of older Latin guys down there and they know how to hit so you have to learn how to pitch. I came out of it a way better pitcher.” …
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Dan Evans gets due praise from at Dodgers Blog from Steve Dilbeck, who chats with him.
Evans was hired as the Dodgers’ general manager in 2001 at a time the team seemed mired in mediocrity and the farm system had lost its way.
Most publications ranked the team’s minor league system near the absolute bottom in baseball, but in three short years it was ranked in the top 10.
Evans rebuilt the front office and brought in good people like Kim Ng, vice president and assistant general manager, and Logan White, assistant general manager of scouting. And then they went to work.
They drafted Matt Kemp, James Loney, Russell Martin, Chad Billingsley and Jonathan Broxton, players the team is now built around, as well as Jason Repko and James McDonald.
“I’m really proud of the fact that these guys panned out,” Evans said. “I was really lucky. I had a terrific staff. I feel good about what we did there.”
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Phillies Nation took a look at the Dodgers using Wins Above Replacement.
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