Not one to toot my own horn (who else is going to toot it then?) but I’m feeling a little props for Hunter Renfroe’s grand salami on the same day he’s the lede in OPS Leaguers Unite!, right? I really like him and still think you should add him, but c’mon, a couple hours after post goes up he crushes a homer and I watched it live on TV; that’s just cool to me. So anyway it was a good Sunday even before spending the day at the beach. Day before that I was at Dodger Stadium to see the Cubs continue to suck it up. First off I have to thank commentor PublicEnemy#1 for the excellent parking advice a few weeks back; worked like a charm. As this was my first time there I have some observations so buckle up.
My buddy and I walked into the entrance that felt like it was at the tippy top of the hill. With seats in left field, we were directed to take the stairs down, and down, and down. Five levels and however many stairs later we reach the ground floor and proceed to the bleachers. Loved the old school wood outfield bleacher seats with backs, which is huge. We got to our seats before the first pitch and, until we went to explore more of the stadium in the 3rd inning, there was no one around us. People do arrive late here in LA, and as a newer resident I like when this stereotype is exhibited because it’s a true one. When we returned to the seats a couple innings later the left field bleachers were pretty packed but I figured that was more Cubs fans than Dodger ones; it was harder to tell with both teams having the same colors and with the Memorial Day uniforms on top of it was really hard to tell.
Definitely appreciated the standing room only counters on the outer edges of the seats. Standing and watching the game isn’t terrible at all when you have a place to put your food and drinks. Wouldn’t want to do it for more than an inning or two, but it was a nice break while perusing the stadium. Didn’t get a chance to catch any homers though wouldn’t you know it the next night (with Kershaw on the mound no less) there were three hit to left field, two close to where we were sitting the night prior.
Ate a Dodger Dog, though it wasn’t very good and possibly the worst baseball hot dog I’ve had (with a soggy bun). I’ll give it another try when I’m there next but I was disappointed as eating a hot dog is a staple of attending a baseball game. I’ve also never seen the same menu design/font/color scheme used at every eatery in a stadium before. Made it difficult to differentiate between them thus not picking up on the slight differences in the menus. These along with a team store on every level combined to make it all look the same, taking away from the experience.
Leaving the stadium we took the elevator to the top level, which I highly recommend for the view alone. It was at least one level higher than where we entered, which is why I thought it was the top originally; alas no, we had to descend another level just to get nearer to where we came in. What a crazy huge stadium, seemingly the largest I’ve ever been in (and I’ve been to about half the MLB stadiums). Highly recommend catching a game here fo’ sho’. Now if you’ve read this far then maybe you’ll read a little farther to gain some OPS insights.
Top OPS past 14 days (min 30 ABs as of this writing):
Jose Bautista has come around in full leading the league with a 1.401 OPS. He’s not really a trade target for me, but I did draft him in some leagues so lets keep it going Joey Bats. Mike Trout (sadly) is number two followed by Kansas City’s Whit Merrifield, owner of a 1.190 OPS, three homers and four steals. If you need a second baseman make the add; I’m holding Adam Frazier (.936 OPS) at second base (in Yahoo! leagues) for now. Justin Bour continues his hot hitting with a 1.171 OPS (fourth in the league) along with five homers and he should be owned in all competitive leagues at this point.
With a 1.162 OPS, good for fifth overall, is Mr. Steven Souza Jr. If other teams in your league got off the Souza train I suggest hopping back on (although by the time you read this the train may be packed and you have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with people you would never want to associate with outside the train, i.e. fantasy baseball managers). Souza is available in 35% of Yahoo! and ESPN leagues; he’s walking (19% walk rate), hitting for average (.277 on the season), crushing the ball…why is he still out there in your league, eh?
Souza did have a thumb injury about a month ago but appears fully healed now. This week his Rays go to Seattle and then return back to lovely Tampa to face the White Sox. I knew it wasn’t the first time I wrote about Souza so I used the search thingie on the interwebs and back last September he was featured in an OPS Leagues Unite! along with a couple other favorites of mine, which means now it’s time for:
Weekly Josh Bell & Ryon Healy update:
As Bell was up last week Healy is up this one; since I own them in multiple leagues I’m riding them the whole season and will take their stats, good and bad. Healy has an .889 OPS the past two weeks, with two homers and four multi-hit games in his past eight. Bell has been quieter but fortunes should change this week as his Pirates travel to New York to face the Mets, then onto Baltimore for a couple before returning home to play the Marlins; Healy and the A’s are at home against the Nationals and the Blue Jays.
Lastly: Hunter Strickland only getting six games and Harper getting four is silly (knowing they’ll probably get reduced by one). Throwing a helmet isn’t worth extra games if you don’t connect; though I don’t think Harper was trying to miss, it’s just hard to throw a helmet, right? Furthermore throwing at a guy for hitting two homers off you two years ago is ridiculous. Stop throwing at guys, it’s freaking pointless. What, is Harper not going to try to hit homers and talk smack anymore? Nope, so it accomplishes nothing…unless Strickland feels better, because outside of that, what was the point? Now that I’m worked up I’m going to go work out and then work in some dinner and drinks and work on treating the evening right. Enjoy your weekend Razzballers and Razzballettes!
