4:09- Vin Scully is on my TV. Yes!
4:12- Clayton Kershaw delivers the first pitch of the season for the Dodgers. A fastball is fouled off by Wil Myers.
4:13- Kershaw hits Myers on an 0-2 pitch. Nuts.
4:14- Kershaw throws his first curveball of the season for strike 2 to Derek Norris. That's a beautiful pitch.
4:15- Kershaw gets strike 3 on a curve. Matt Kemp is coming up. He gets a nice hand from the crowd. He should have been the MVP in 2011.
4:17- Myers steals second. A good throw would have had him. I'm a little surprised the Dodgers aren't challenging this one. Kendrick hit Myers on the leg, but it might have been with the arm, not the glove.
4:18- Kemp goes the other way against the shift. It's a weak ground ball that goes for a hit and an RBI.
4:20- The Good Upton strikes out looking to end the inning. I know there are two Uptons. One of them is good and one of them is bad. I don't know which one is which and now they're on the same team again.
4:21- Don Newcombe, Fernando Valenzuela, and Eric Gagne threw out the Opening Day first pitch. I definitely would not have had Gagne in there. Newcombe and Fernando are cool, but two years ago it was Sandy Koufax and last year it was Vin Scully.
4:22- Juan Uribe fields the grounder and throws to Howie Kendrick for a force to end the inning.
4:24- I'm joined by Sam Adams Summer Ale. Jimmy Rollins is leading off for the Dodgers.
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| Baseball and Summer Ale, it doesn't get much better. |
4:25- Rollins reaches with a sharply hit grounder past the second baseman.
4:26- Vin Scully mentions Lorenzo Bundy for the first time. I love that name. And I love it even more when Vin Scully says it.
4:28- Yasiel Puig goes down on strikes. Then Adrian Gonzalez goes the other way against the shift, but it's a hard line drive right at Middlebrooks.
4:30- Howie Kendrick comes in with a .538 average against James Shields.
4:35- Vin Scully says Clint Barmes tripped while carrying deer meat and broke his collarbone. That sounds made up. Kershaw finishes off an easy inning.
4:37- Vin Scully is allowed to call me his friend. Jim Nantz is not.
4:39- Carl Crawford's broken bat hits both the catcher and the umpire.
4:41- Joc Pederson is coming up. Hopefully he'll win Rookie of the Year.
4:43- Pederson goes down on strikes on a good changeup. Shields is looking good.
4:46- I check on the White Sox and Royals. Jeff Samardzija just gave up an RBI double.
4:48- Derek Norris hits a two-out double.
4:50- Kemp grounds out to Uribe to end the inning.
4:52- The Padres are the only team without a no-hitter. They have never had a cycle either, which is surprising because Petco Park is a good place for triples.
4:56- Rollins laid down a bunt that looked really nice, but it eventually went foul.
4:58- Rollins draws a walk. Same result as a bunt single.
5:00- Rollins steals second.
5:07- Good Upton strikes out on a curveball in the dirt. It took a good throw from A.J. Ellis to get him at first.
5:10- Crawford makes a nice sliding catch on a line drive.
5:12- Jedd Gyorko hits a double down the right field line.
5:14- Kershaw strikes out Yonder Alonso to end the inning.
5:17- Adrian Gonzalez ties the game with a home run.
5:18- Kendrick triples to deep center.
5:20- Crawford doubles in Kendrick.
5:22- Uribe grounds out the other way to move Kendrick over.
5:24- Pederson pops out.
5:25- The Padres intentionally walk Ellis with two outs and a man on third to face Kershaw. Mistake.
5:27- Vin noted that Kershaw was 5 for 15 last year with runners in scoring position, but he strikes out to end the inning.
5:30- Barmes doubles off Kershaw on an 0-2 pitch.
5:31- Vin says that the foul poles were in foul territory when the stadium opened in 1962. He explains how nobody noticed it until after the season. He's the best.
5:32- Shields strikes out. I'm taking a break for dinner.
6:00- I'm back. The Padres lead 3-2 after Matt Kemp hit a two-run double after Norris beat out an infield single to keep the inning alive. That's probably a play Uribe should have made.
6:05- Kershaw strikes out Barmes on a nice curve to end the top of the sixth.. He's probably done. He wasn't great today, but with a little help from Ellis and Uribe, none of those runs would have scored.
6:09- Joc Pederson doubles. He also made a really nice catch during my break.
6:11- Pederson steals third without a throw.
6:12- Ellis strikes out. Justin Turner is coming up for Kershaw. He was the man last year.
6:14- Turner goes down on strikes. The Dodgers are 1 for 9 with runners in scoring position.
6:17- Yimi Garcia is now pitching for the Dodgers.
6:23- 1-2-3 inning for Yimi.
6:26- Nationals Park is getting the 2018 All Star Game. That will be the fourth straight All Star Game in an NL Park and none of them are Dodger Stadium. Maybe in 2020 to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1980 All Star Game at Dodger Stadium.
6:31- Gonzalez hits a two-out double.
6:32- Howie Kendrick hits an RBI double to tie the game and get Kershaw off the hook.
6:36- Scott Van Smash is pinch hitting for Crawford after the Padres brought in a lefty.
6:37- They walk Van Smash intentionally after the count got to 2-0. The Padres go to the bullpen again.
6:40- Uribe grounds out on a bad swing.
6:42- Joel Peralta is in for the Dodgers.
6:48- 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. It was nicely turned by Kendrick.
6:52- Pederson leads off with a walk.
6:53- Ellis pops out on a bunt. Alonso caught it and took an elbow in the face from Shawn Kelley.
6:54- Andre Ethier is pinch hitting for Peralta.
6:57- Ethier reaches as Alonso has trouble fielding the grounder and then Kelley misses first when Alonso flips it to him. It's scored an error on Kelley. They really should get a half error each.
6:59- Rollins has a hit in 11 straight Opening Days. Ted Williams never went hitless on Opening Day.
7:03- Jimmy Rollins! He hits a three-run homer on a 3-2 pitch. The Dodgers lead 6-3. By the way, Jimmy Rollins is shorter than me. It's crazy that he can hit a ball that far.
7:05- Vin says that left-handers like the ball down. That's often said in baseball. Why would lefties be more likely to be good low ball hitters than righties?
7:08- Puig steals second. His slides are atrocious. The Padres have challenged.
7:09- He's out. Nuts. Somebody needs to teach him how to slide. I can't think of a player that I've ever seen that's worse at sliding than he is.
7:11- The Mets won. Thanks for beating the Nationals, the team that's supposed to be the Dodgers' competition for the best team in the league.
7:13- Chris Hatcher is in to close. He hits Gyorko.
7:15- The Dodgers turn a 6-4-3 double play.
7:17- Hatcher gets a strikeout to end the game. The bullpen was good. Hopefully that's a sign of good things to come. Crank up the Randy Newman! I'm taking a break until the basketball game.
9:18- I'm switching to red because I'm rooting for Wisconsin. I hate the Big 10, but I now consider Duke a rival. And former Lou Holtz assistant Barry Alvarez is their athletic director. Wisconsin goes mantaman! Cook scores for Duke.
9:19- Kaminsky for three. Is there any basketball player with a less basketball playerish-sounding name than Frank Kaminsky?
9:24- It's 6-5 Duke at the first TV timeout.
9:26- Indians-Astros is the only game on right now. This seems like a good time to remind you of my plan to fix Opening Day.
9:27- Both teams have bad uniforms. Why do they have to wear different uniforms for the conference tournament and NCAA tournament from what they wore for the rest of the season? The answer, of course, is Adidas and Nike. It was particularly ridiculous in the Big 10 Tournament when Wisconsin and Michigan played each other wearing the same exact uniform, just with different colors. And Duke's uniform looks exactly like Kentucky's (the shorts might be different, but still). I'm so happy Notre Dame is an Under Armor school now.
9:29- We have a foul on whatever Plumlee is playing for Duke now. How many of them are there?
9:31- Okafor with the jam. It's 12-11 Wisconsin.
9:36- During a commercial, I see the Rangers tie the Blue Jackets with 27.5 seconds left. Derek Stepan scored the goal.
9:37- Bill Simmons tweets about Bill Raftery. It is nice to have him doing this game. I have nothing against Grant Hill, but is he necessary?
9:44- Duke is up 4 at a TV timeout.
9:46- Derek Stepan scores again. Rangers win!
9:50- Kaminsky's three-point play gives Wisconsin the lead. That's two fouls on Okafor.
9:56- There have only been two team fouls on Wisconsin. That's surprising.
9:57- Wisconsin is up 2 at the last TV timeout of the first half. One of those Buffalo Wild Wings commercials is on. The white guy's brother is a priest that's a year older than me. I took religion classes that he took for work. He was really funny.
10:02- Wisconsin misses at the buzzer. We're tied at 31. I'll be back after halftime.
10:33- I'm back a little late because I was planning another trip. More on that in a future post. It's 42-37 Wisconsin.
10:39- Three for Wisconsin, they lead by 7.
10:41- Kaminsky scores. It's 48-39. Timeout Duke.
10:44- Duke is getting back into it. It's 48-45 after a three-point play, but Hayes hits a three for Wisconsin to make it 51-45.
10:48- Coach K is ten months older than Bo Ryan? It doesn't look that way.
10:50- Timeout Wisconsin as Duke has cut the lead to two.
10:51- The Giants took a 1-0 lead against the Diamondbacks. I hate both of these teams. But I hate the Giants more. That reminds me of perhaps the greatest Chris "Mad Dog" Russo rant ever. Russo has now had three times. Can't I get just one?
10:54- Kaminsky scores and draws the fourth foul on Okafor. He completes the three-point play. Then Winslow elbows a guy in the chest on a drive to the basket. Of course, Winslow is shooting foul shots because he plays for Duke.
10:57- Duke draws an offensive foul with a flop. Wisconsin leads by 2 at the TV timeout.
10:59- Mark Trumbo triples high off the wall to tie the game in Arizona.
11:01- Tyus Jones ties it at 54 with a jumper.
11:03- Duke takes their first lead of the half, but Wisconsin quickly ties it.
11:04- Wisconsin retakes the lead, but Duke hits a three to take it back.
11:07- Last TV timeout. Duke leads 59-58.
11:08- Hanley Ramirez hit a home run today. Whatever. I'm not going to miss him.
11:10- Grayson Allen has 16 for Duke. I had never heard of this dude before tonight.
11:11- Okafor gets the basket and the foul. Winslow was out of bounds before getting the ball to Okafor, but the refs missed it.
11:12- We have a shot clock violation for Wisconsin. It might be slipping away.
11:13- Duke has the ball with 1:51 left. They're reviewing an out of bounds call.
11:15- They stay with the call. After many replays and some zooming in by CBS, I disagree. It looked like Winslow's finger bent as he touched the ball.
11:16- Kaminsky answers a Duke three with one of his own.
11:18- Hayes with the jam with 50.1 left. Duke leads by 3.
11:20- Tyus Jones makes two foul shots.
11:21- Duke gives a foul. Wisconsin was taking way too long. Then they take a bad shot.
11:23- Duke wins 68-63. Nuts. This is the third time in the last five years that Notre Dame was the last team to beat the eventual champs (Connecticut in 2011 and Louisville in 2013). We went 2-1 against Duke. Hopefully we'll beat them two more times next year.
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