Dodger Stadium

New York Mets @ Los Angeles Dodgers
June 7, 2006

Mets 9, Dodgers 7

W: Tom Glavine
L: Odalis Perez
S: Billy Wagner
HR: Lastings Milledge (NYM), Jose Cruz (LAD), Rafael Furcal 2 (LAD)
Attendance: 44,230
Time of Game: 2 hours, 48 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Los Angeles, CA
First Game: April 10, 1962
Capacity: 56,000
Type: Open
Surface: Grass

Following a couple days in the Bay Area, I decided to take the scenic route to Southern California. I drove along the Pacific Ocean on Highway 1. It was easily the most scenic drive I've ever made. Since I had a day off between games, I was in no rush. After spending Tuesday night in Santa Barbara, I drove to Los Angeles on Wednesday for my first visit to the nation's second largest city. After a little exploration, I found me way to Dodger Stadium for a Wednesday night game between the Dodgers and the Mets.

Dodger Stadium is located just north of downtown Los Angeles. It is situated in an extremely hilly area with the San Gabriel mountains providing a scenic backdrop to the stadium. The elevation of the stadium is quite a bit higher than downtown LA, because you can look down on the city from the area outside the park behind home plate. Palm trees also enhance the scenery around the stadium.

The ballpark was basically built into the side of a hill. If you walk into the stadium from the gates behind home plate, you are actually entering the top level of the stadium. From there, you can walk down several sets of steps to get to the gates that access the lower levels. However, the parking lots are beyond the outfield seats, so the gates nearest the lots are at ground level. Unlike most ballparks at or near major downtown areas, there is quite a bit of parking at Dodger Stadium. You better plan on it taking some time to get out of the lots after the game though.

Dodger Stadium is now the third oldest stadium in Major League Baseball (well behind Wrigley and Fenway), however it is well maintained and I doubt the Dodgers will be looking to replace it anytime soon. It is one of the largest baseball only facilities. There are three large seating levels in foul territory, plus a fourth level at the top of the stadium behind home plate. The second (loge) level is as large as you will see anywhere. I sat in the loge level down the first base line. The outfield features bleacher seating which is somewhat isolated from the rest of the stadium. The two outfield scoreboards are somewhat dated, but provide all the necessary information and are easily visible from all of the non-outfield seats.

This is another one of the great pitching parks. Although the wall is only 395 feet away to dead center, the distances to the gaps and down the lines are among the deepest in the league. The field is perfectly symmetrical too, so it does not provide an advantage to hitters from either side of the plate.

I don't normally like to talk about the local fans in these write-ups, because I don't think it is fair to judge a fan base on a single night. However, I feel compelled to mention that the behavior of Dodgers fans at this particular game was as bad as I've ever seen at a MLB game. It was especially odd considering this was a Wednesday night. There were at least three people escorted out of my section, including one who probably spent the night in jail after shoving a security guard. The woman sitting next to me had something stolen from her too. On top of all that, there were countless beach balls batted around and a wave started up with the Dodgers batting in a close game. I hate the wave to begin with, but it is completely inexplicable in a tight game when the home team is batting. But I digress...

The Mets and Dodgers squared up in the premiere matchup of this trip. The Mets were in first place in the NL East and the Dodgers were a close second in the NL West. Future Hall-of-Famer Tom Glavine was the starting pitcher for the visiting Mets. The veteran lefty was in the midst of the last outstanding season of his career, already compiling eight wins at this point in early June. On the other side, the Dodgers went with their own lefty, Odalis Perez, who was having a tough season. His troubles continued in this one as his ERA ballooned over 7.

The Mets tagged Perez right from the start. In the top of the first, they scored four runs, highlighted by a Jose Valentin double and a triple by rookie outfielder Lastings Milledge. Milledge's knock was the fifth straight hit for the Mets following a two out, nobody on situation. The Dodgers wasted no time scoring themselves. Rafael Furcal hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first to make it 4-1. The Mets got that run back in the second though. Carlos Beltan got an RBI single, knocking in Glavine who had walked to lead off the inning.

Glavine gave it all back in the bottom of the second. The Dodgers tied the game up with four runs, including a three run home run by Furcal, his second home run in as many innings. Furcal had already doubled his season home run total to four. Perez capped off his miserable night in the fourth by surrendering four consecutive singles and two more runs. In total, he was tagged for seven runs in just 3 2/3 innings. The Mets had a 7-5 lead when he departed. Glavine was not much better though. He gave up another leadoff home run in the bottom of the fourth to Jose Cruz Jr. to cut the Mets lead to one.

The scoring finally slowed down for a few innings. Milledge hit his second career home run in the top of the seventh. The two run shot extended the Mets lead to 9-6. The Dodgers had one more push in them in the eight. Nomar Garciaparra led off with a single, but was thrown out by Milledge trying to stretch it to a double. That wound up being costly because a walk and then a double by Andre Either only drew one run for the Dodgers as the headed to the ninth down 9-7. Billy Wagner came in to pitch for the Mets in the ninth and retired the Dodgers in order to pick up the save. Despite the shaky outing, Glavine picked up his ninth win of the season, which led the league at that point.

This was a very exciting game between two good teams. The Mets wound up winning their division with 97 wins while the Dodgers claimed the NL Wild Card in 2006. These two teams met in the Division Series, where the Mets swept the Dodgers prior to losing to the Cardinals in the NLCS.

Dodger Stadium is a great place to see a game. Despite being one of the oldest parks in baseball, I don't see any reason why the Dodgers would bother building a new stadium anytime soon. Although it was a rough night in the stands, Dodger fans have certainly supported their team well through the years, as they are always near the top of the league in attendance. Hopefully what I saw this night is not the norm for Dodger fans.

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Next stadium: Angel Stadium of Anaheim, Anaheim