FSTIGT-08 -- Mets 'n Pale Hose in Memphis

[Guest KC]

Nice start time for the final spring training game and a good location.

Got a Memphis vs. Kansas final on one of my brackets so I'll take all the
Memphis I can get.

Who the hell is gonna pitch if we rounded out with our two #5's yesterday
and our #1 is going in two days for real?

[Frayed Knot]

I like the unis

[Guest themetfairy]

Not exactly a sellout, sadly.

[Guest KC]

Didn't watch as much as I thought I was gonna, but it rained all day and
rained a little at the beginning of the game.

Coulda been sold out and maybe a lotta no shows? It was an exhibition and
every time I was able to watch it was about Joe Morgan and/or Joe Morgan.

Half joking about Morgan. Not.

[metirish]

I watched it all, they mentioned that the rain kept most of the people away from the game, best part was Willie talking about what it meant to not just him but the club to visit The National Civil Rights Museum , they showed them getting a tour.

Frank Robinson was on and looked great, Morgan was in mid-season form.

[Guest themetfairy]

I didn't know about the rain. Much of what I saw of the game was at a restaurant, and without sound.

[Frayed Knot]

Another off-location exhibition game played yesterday was the Dodgers-Red Sox duel at the LA Coliseum. Meant as an acknowlegement that it's now been 50 years since Brooklyn sluck off to LA, the Dodgers played in their first few years prior to the current stadium being built.

The kicker is that it's a football/Olympic stadium so totally ill-suited for baseball that it was said to have room for 100,000+ fans but only 2 outfielders. Torre did, in fact, play Andruw Jones as a 5th infielder for at least parts of the game. The 60-foot screen built to stand above the barely 200-ft away left field wall (both yesterday and back in the day) was designed to reduce both cheap HRs and expensive medical emergencies from spectators not sufficiently trained in handling hot liners off the bats of strong RH hitters.

I heard that Wally Moon - the former Dodger OFer who turns 78 this week - was going to be taking batting practice before the game but I don't know if that came off. Moon was the lefty-swinger who learned to slice cheap fly balls over the netting to the point where 38 of his 50 HRs over a 3-year span were hit during home games.

[Guest OlerudOwned]

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-coliseum30mar30-pg,1,2792744.photogallery?index=7

Wowee.

[A Boy Named Seo]

It was pretty crazy. Andruw Jones actually had a put-out on a caught stealing and for the last half of the game, Torre didn't even bother with a left fielder, he just played 5 infielders. If there was a pop-up that wasn't going to be a homer, the left fielder would have time to get back anyway, I guess. The stadium is so awkward for baseball, there was no good place to put the cameras, so you got some weird shots and angles on the home broadcast, which made it fun.

115,300 people. "World Baseball Record" for attendance set. So many bad, bad seats.

The local broadcast even did an inning in black and white, which was lame and cool at the same time. Scully had a million stories about the Dodgers time in the Coliseum.

Arena baseball:

[MFS62]

Frayed Knot wrote: I heard that Wally Moon - the former Dodger OFer who turns 78 this week - was going to be taking batting practice before the game but I don't know if that came off. Moon was the lefty-swinger who learned to slice cheap fly balls over the netting to the point where 38 of his 50 HRs over a 3-year span were hit during home games.

The reporters quickly named them "Moon Shots".
(true)

Later

[Guest themetfairy]

A Boy Named Seo wrote: The local broadcast even did an inning in black and white, which was lame and cool at the same time. Scully had a million stories about the Dodgers time in the Coliseum.

I love listening to Scully - he's a national treasure.