(Saito: Disgraced on his own bobble-head night)
Got out to Chavez Ravine for the opening night of the Cubs-Dodgers set-to last night, and I pretty much got to see the 2008 Cubs offer themselves up as advertised: a hitting, decent rotation, weak relief, multi-player contributing, two innings worth of closer ball club. It was Saito bobble-head night, and apparently Cub fans snapping off Saito heads a la voo doo dolls did the trick, since Saito pegged Aramis Ramirez and Fukodome knocked in the run the that put the Cubs ahead for the final, 5-4. Saito’s shaky season makes you wonder what’s going on with him. Is it mental, a lack of HGH, or does seeing his old Japan Central League foes really throw him that bad? Saito v Fukodome was like a scene from Seven Samurai, or at least Godzilla v. Mecha-Godzilla, and like last week at Wrigley, Fokudome won. Cub fans chanting “Fuk-o-do-me” were drowned out by Dodger fans chanting back “fuck-in’ dum-my!” Having finally seen the 2008 Cubs up close, the biggest impression I got confirms Piniella’s decision to keep Wood as his closer. Not because Wood won me over, but because no way could Wood do Marmol’s job. Marmol took over for Ryan Dempster in the 7th, got two crucial outs to close the inning with Dodgers left on base (a situation Bob Howry remedied by allowing the Dodgers to tie in the 8th). Wood opened the 9th, one run ahead, and allowed the first batter to double before loading the bases. I’m impressed watching Wood throw 98-mph heat, but Marmol’s 96s are over the plate. Wood also hit another batter (his 4th in 9th inning appearances?). Keeping control of the game until Wood arrives is what Marmol’s job has to be. Note to Mets Fan Andrew: As to asshole Cub fans I witnessed, there was the guy sitting two rows behind the net at home plate who jumped a row (one row!) to sit in the first row and argued with ushers about it until a security guard was called, as he had displaced an elderly lady who had to hike all the way up to the next level to remove the doofus.
(Ramirez, after Saito tagged him, just before skeptical LA fans roundly booed him for bad acting, no matter how many Get Smart promos they saw)
And finally, the Dodgers need to calm down a bit on having Chin-lung Hu aboard. Last time I visited the Stadium, they nicknamed him “Hu You Gonna Call?”, last night he was intro’d with “Who Let the Dogs Out,” and Vin Scully relishes getting to announce the play, “Hu’s on First!”
Was he also wearing a Horry Kow t-shirt while verbally abusing young Dodger fans?
You’ll have to stop bringing up the Horry Kow shirt as soon as the Dodgers bring out Hu as “Hu Flung Poo” or Ozzie Guillen gets pissed off at an Asian player with a live mic around.
Ramirez, after Saito tagged him, just before skeptical LA fans roundly booed him for bad acting, no matter how many Get Smart promos they saw
Seriously, I don’t understand why CG lets you post on here. As far as Japanese players facing each other in the MLB, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. It’s been done many times, mate. C’mon, pull a good post out of your ass. It’s been a while.
Maybe cause you keep calling him “CG?”
Gotta disagree, Rog, the Fukodome/Saito and Fukodome/Huroda match-ups were great moments in those games. Maybe it’s just the Dodgers organization which made it something, tho, which has successfully marketed ethnic interest in baseball from Jackie Robinson to Fernandomania to Whittier-native Nomar Gariciaparra walking on to “Low Rider” to all the puns on Hu’s name — next to Vince McMahon’s management of the Mamalukes, nobody does it better. The Dodgers pretty much use players race and background the same way a 1950s fight night would to draw heat.
As for putting you to sleep, Mrs Rog can post her thank-you to CSTB’s comment section any time.
Woah, there cowboy, I don’t think they ‘used’ Jackie Robinson’s race. They signed a black player when nobody else would; Nomar’s tastes in music have nothing to do with the organization, though if he has a 2nd/3rd generation Hispanic identity in an area notoriously hostile towards his race (you’ve got to trust me on that one) then why shouldn’t he express his heritage in some way? Maybe he should change his walk on music to something white and boring such as Celine Dion; Fernando was marketed as a really great pitcher, especially as a rookie phenom. In the mid 90’s they had all of those consecutive ROY winners and they marketed the living daylights out of that but I don’t remember their races being a focal point. The puns on Asian names are narrow-minded indeed. We can agree on that. Back when Nomo was a rookie, I don’t remember anything of that sort happening, though I think if nothing more the Dodgers organization is always willing to bask in the pr after being the first to do something. It’s a tight line they’re walking but I feel that their history of inclusion has been mostly positive even if the original goal is to expose the team to new ethnic markets. I think that the sports landscape has way too many instances of black/hispanic coaches not being able to rise high enough to get a managers/head coaching job. You can’t have it both ways. Inclusion is a good thing, even if it brings with it the inevitable critique from hypersensitive pc types. Bottom line: who wants to see a whole team made up of one homogenous race? I don’t.
If anything, I have a problem with MLB itself when they haul out the Jackie Robinson ceremonies every 5 years (everyone wearing #42, etc.) because it feels like they’re patting themselves on the back for being trailblazers when in actuality they completely take the power and meaning away from the breaking of the color barrier.
BTW, I don’t think it’s wrong for white bloggers to bring these issues up. Obviously, I enjoy discussing them.
What I said was not a complaint about the Dodgers, just pointing out how they market to a town as multi-cultural as LA. The Dodgers past and present deserve all the credit in the world for what they have done for inclusion. And they love letting you know it. It’s as much a part of their team history as the Yankees and Babe Ruth, and they have every right to point it out.
But you were saying that the Asian player match-ups were old news, and I say not in LA. Saito enters with the two Japanese characters of his name on the Dodgervision screen to “Bad to The Bone” and Cub fans chant “Fuk-u-dom-ey” en masse in their Japanese style headbands with rising suns on them. They loved it two weeks ago in Chicago, too.
Representation is a good thing, and Nomar — when he can physically lift a bat — is the coolest presence I’ve ever seen at Chavez. Ethnicity is a definite plus to Dodger fans. Their “LA” logo hats are everywhere as both an LA city ID for Latinos as much as being a Dodger fan. At Chavez, you can buy all sorts of Latino style shirts, done up in low rider styles and lettering. Dodger Stadium is (sadly) one of the few truly diverse crowds I’m a part of in LA (the other being El Cholo on Western and Olympic).
And I still say the All-Star Game should be renamed for Robinson and he should be remember there annually, rather than tax day.