Dodger Blues

Red ink at Chavez Ravine:

The Dodgers currently do not have enough cash to meet payroll through this month, potentially accelerating a showdown between owner Frank McCourt and Major League Baseball. The cash shortage was confirmed Tuesday by two people familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the possibility of McCourt filing suit against MLB. McCourt received a $30-million loan from Fox last month, which provided funding for the Dodgers' two April payrolls and is expected to carry them through the first May payroll. The second May payroll, due at month's end, is the one that appears problematic at this time. If McCourt were to fail to meet payroll, the league would cover the expenses and would have the option to seize the Dodgers from him, according to one of the people familiar with the situation.

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Take Him Out Of The Ballgame

Donald Sterling isn't the only asshole who owns a sports team in Los Angeles. Frank McCourt (officially) lost control of the Dodgers today:

Major League Baseball has moved to seize control of the Dodgers, a famed franchise that fans and much of the baseball world had come to see as crippled by an owner who does not appear to have enough money to operate the team. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced Wednesday that he plans to appoint a trustee in the next few days to oversee "all business and day-to-day operations" of the ballclub. The move was prompted by a number of issues surrounding the Dodgers, including owner Frank McCourt's recent receipt of $30-million personal loan to meet payroll and the parking-lot attack at Dodger Stadium on March 31 that left a San Francisco Giants fan in a coma, according to a league source.

McCourt and his ex-wife Jamie blew into town as relative unknowns; now they are largely viewed as grifters:

Public opinion of the Dodgers' ownership — lukewarm in the best of times — turned chilly when court documents from the McCourts' divorce proceedings revealed that the Dodgers had been charging themselves millions in rent each year, with some of that money going toward the couple's personal expenses. The couple had made numerous real estate purchases, including side-by-side homes in Holmby Hills and Malibu, and paid Russian physicist Vladimir Shpunt to channel positive thoughts toward the team. As of 2009, court records showed, the team had accumulated more than $430 million in long-term debt. More recently, McCourt tried to arrange a $200-million loan from Fox, using the team's cable-television broadcast rights as collateral. Selig rejected the proposal.

Memo to Major League Baseball: next time, don't let a highly-leveraged parking lot owner buy one of your prized assets, and please--please--don't do anything to piss off Vin Scully.

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'Donnie Baseball' Loves L.A.

One of my favorite baseball players of all-time will get his place in the sun.
Former Yankee great Don Mattingly will replace former Yankee manager and current Los Angeles Dodger skipper Joe Torre in 2011. 
Torre said today that he won't return next year.
Readers of this blog may remember a time when the Yankees ruled in this space. Then they treated Joe Torre like shit and built that fake Yankee Stadium with tons of public money and I remembered the lyrics to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame":


"Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don't win it's a shame.
For it's one, two, three strikes, you're out,
At the old ball game."


Cheers to Donnie Baseball and best wishes to Joe. Both survived the Boss and lived to tell about it; now Joe rides off into a SoCal sunset while Donnie gets to ride out the wacky carnival that is the McCourt divorce. 

And it's all still just a game...

Get Well Soon, Vin.

From the L.A. Times:

Longtime Dodgers play-by-play announcer Vin Scully was admitted to a hospital Thursday night after falling out of bed and hitting his head, said Josh Rawitch, the Dodgers' vice president of communications.
Scully was taken from his Hidden Hills home to West Hills Hospital and Medical Center for precautionary reasons and will stay overnight for observation.
Rawitch said the Dodgers expect him to re-join the team in Glendale, Ariz., at Camelback Ranch this weekend for Sunday's telecast between the Dodgers and Cleveland Indians.
Scully is entering his 61st season as the Dodgers’ broadcaster. He is scheduled to broadcast all of the Dodgers’ home games, as well as their road games against National League West and American League West opponents.

UPDATE: Vin's OK, and there's a nice piece here.

Tastes Great, Less Filling.

From Fanhouse.com:

Manny being Manny. Rarely have three small words ever so perfectly captured the essence of a man as that phrase captures Manny Ramirez.
Going to the bathroom during an inning? Manny being Manny. Testing positive for female hormone drugs? Manny being Manny. Hitting a baseball like a god and living the rest of your life like a man without a brain? Manny being Manny.
Add endorsing an energy drink with a name that's sure to have third graders across the country snorting chocolate milk out of their noses to the list. According to Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times, Manny will be endorsing a product called, ahem, Sum Poosie. If by some chance you don't get it, just go back and re-read it a couple of times.

Is that Manny on third base?