According to the Boston Globe, the Dodgers sold more than 115,000 tickets to the exhibition game against the Red Sox, which was played at the L.A. Coliseum. It was part of the celebration of the Dodgers' 50 years in L.A. and featured a left field fence 201 feet from home plate. The right field foul pole was 440 feet away.
The Red Sox won the game 7-4. Here is a link to the Boston Globe's photo array from the game. The L.A. Times photos are here.
The Coliseum is a football, track and Olympic facility. The attendance was impressive, but the stadium was not designed for baseball. And it was clear from the odd-ball configuration of the field that this idea should remain a novelty used during spring training. Unfortunately it doesn't work as well as playing a hockey game outside at a football stadium.
The MLB season opens on American soil in about an hour (its 7 p.m. in Fort Wayne). Here's to the games counting and the beginning of the 7-month marathon. The White Sox open Monday along with just about everyone else. They begin a 3-game series against the Cleveland Indians, followed by a 3-game series against the Detroit Tigers. Unfortunately, the Sox may end up starting 2-4 or worse, 0-6. Is April too early to be counted out of the pennant race?
1 comment:
I tivo'd the NESN broadcast, and it was great. The Dodgers played with 5 infielders, moving Andruw Jones or Matt Kemp in (depending on the situation) and having the OFers patrol center and right. Balls hit to left were handled by the SS and 3Bman.
It was interesting. Hope they do it again sometime to end spring training.
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