Dodgers Zoom Party III

On monday, the 18th of May, the fourth Dodgers Zoom party took place. It was my third and as with the earlier parties it was a blast, although a bit short (around 43 minutes).

In attendance were Justin turner, Alex Wood, David Price, Cody Bellinger, Austin Barnes, Clayton Kershaw, Dave Roberts and Andre Ethier. There was a surprise appearance by comedian Jo Koy.

Unlike earlier Zoom Parties this time Alanna and Joe tried to ask everybody the same questions so much of the time we would go around the board to get answers. That was a fun idea because it gave the party a different vibe than the previous ones.

One of the questions asked was who the players were starstruck by. Barnes, Turner and Belli all had the same answer: Kobe Bryant, Wood by former presidents George Bush and Bush Jr., Kershaw by Justin Timberlake and Price by Obama before he became president.

All agreed that it will be hard to encourage each other when there is no high fiving, slapping butts and hugs, but they will find some innovative way that’s corona proof.

How they spend their time during the coronacrisis? All of them work out, some take long walks or play video games. Roberts told Barnes that word on the street is that he’s not very good at gaming. Austin concurs. He adds that Gavin is probably the best in the clubhouse with Belli a close second.

There is some discussion about comparing athletes. Jordan vs. LeBron comparison it not possible said Kershaw. It’s two different players from two different times. JT jokingly told Kersh he thinks he’s better than Koufax.

There were some personal questions from fans as well. David Price was asked if he had other jersey numbers in mind before he chose 33. He revealed he wanted number 18 but didn’t want fans to think it would be a reference to 2018. Which is sweet. He was also looking forward to hitting but with the possible add of the DH in the NL he might not hit very soon.

A fan asked when the pitchers started throwing curveballs. Wood, Price and Kersh all started throwing them at age 11-12.

Dave Roberts, this time actually showing his wine bottle, was asked who dropped the most F-bombs last season. His top four: Rich Hill, Walker Buehler, Austin Barnes and then Dave himself.

A cute fan question was: if you had a puppy after which athlete would you name it? Some of the best: Mo (after Mariano Riviera) for Clayton, Wood would call it Barney after Astin Barnes, Price would go for Yogi and Roberts already has a dog called Maury (after Wills).

Great to see the guys again. They really wanna go to work!

If you missed it or want to try to join again, the next Zoom Party is on Monday the 25th of May.

Dodgers Zoom Party II

With the murmur of the possibility of baseball in July, our blue bleeding hearts start to beat faster again. What helps is seeing our boys in blue live during one of the zoom parties. Last week (party #2) was awesome. Go HERE to read my blogpost.

This week I got the chance to join once again. It had that same friendly vibe even with a lot of different faces joining the party.

Alanna Rizzo and Joe Davis hosted and moderated again and were joined by Walker Buehler, Matt Beaty, Dave Roberts, Mookie Betts, Justin Turner, Eric Gagne Max Muncy and Gavin Lux. There were surprise appearances by the one and only Billy Jean King and doctor turned comedian Ken Jeong.

Some of the highlights…

Everybody had been keeping busy. Buehler worked on a deck at his home in Kentucky, Beaty had been cycling on his stationary bike and felt good enough to compete in next year’s Tour de France. Mookie did some fishing and bonded a lot with his 18 month old daughter, who, by the way, was a surprise appearance during the Zoom Party. Gavin played a lot of online games. When asked who his go to guy was for an online Call of Duty encounter he answered that Belli was his guy. Austin Barnes not so much.

Billy Jean King had been doing loads of fundraising and interviews for the Dodgers Foundation. She also mentioned she could not imagine being in this lockdown without the modern technology to keep in touch with everybody.

Ken Jeong Joined and was flattered that Justin used a picture of them together as a background. He wanted the rest of the boys to leave so he could have a 1 on 1 with Turner. Which was funny. He got serious as well. Talking about the importance of staying in touch during these difficult times. But he turned funny again when he told everyone if they needed a teamdoctor, he would do it, and he had loads of ointments. He proudly told about his flag waving antics before game 7 of the 2017 World Series. He and Rob Lowe paraded around on the Asstros dugout and Carlos Correa splashed him with water.

Eric Gagne was serious. He looked back on his career. How he would get scared in the 7th inning. But that being unpredictable on the mound was how he became the great pitcher he was.

Dave Roberts only had good words about his guys. They are all stars! But they are even better off the field. Roberts also downed a good amount of red wine. I presume it was product placement of Red Stitch Wine from Cardiff, California. ;)

Mookie couldn’t wait to put on his Dodger uniform for real. Now, you can say something like that but his face showed us he really wanted to get out on the field and show what he can do. Which is exactly what the fans want to hear!

All in all, as it was last week, it was loads of fun seeing the boys. They looked relaxed but ready to get back to work. Let’s hope they can, soon!

Dodgers Zoom Party

Spring training had started and suddenly was cancelled. All the players went home and stayed there. Being with their families, working out on their own. Opening day was postponed, the All Star Game will probably be cancelled. No concrete news on how and if, when the regular season will start. Corona is a bitch and I thought I would not see my boys in Blue live in any capacity this year.

Then the Dodgers organization came up with the idea of a Zoom Party. Active and former Dodgers just chatting away from home, with the occasional celebrity added in the mix (Cedric the Entertainer in this case). Now that sounded sweet, so I tried to get an access code. No such luck the first time, but lo and behold, I got access to the second Zoom Party. Okay, so did more than 11-thousand other fans, but who’s counting? It felt special.

Fifteen minutes before the Zoom Party started I got my login information. And on May 5th 2020, at 3am (yes, it was an early morning for me here over in the Netherlands) Alanna Rizzo and Joe Davis came online to welcome the fans. They were surrounded by so many great names. Lucky for me there were a lot of personal favorites among them.

Rizzo and Davis were accompanied by: Orel Hershiser, Adrian Gonzalez, Steve Garvey, Justin Turner, Ross Stripling, Kike Hernandez, Kenley Jansen, Cody Bellinger, Clayton Kershaw and André Ethier. Now, that’s a lineup!

Alanna and Joe moderated the party and the banter started from the get go. Joe asked Jansen about him playing basketball when Kenley’s feed froze so Belli told him: ‘Kenley, you’re rich, get better wifi’. Watch that clip! Ethier, who was in full gear, including the pants, told his kids were streaming Youtube videos all day (on four iPads and six tv’s).

But it wasn’t all fun and games. Some serious topics came up. Private issues like homeschooling the kids. But also baseball related stuff like the chance that Orel’s consecutive scoreless innings record could be broken. Watch the clip!

It was fun, good to see how they had a blast together. It shows on the field but it was good to see it still works in these weird times. It felt good to see them. If you haven’t had a chance yet, try to get into the next Dodgers Zoom Party on Monday the 11th at 6pm, pacific.