A Fond Farewell to 2010

We've reached the end of the season for the Dodgers and although it's been a year filled with frustration, I do enter the offseason with a tinge of sadness. You see for me, this day -- not Labor Day, not the first day of school, not the start of college football season -- every year marks the unofficial end to summer.

It's one reason I've never attended a season finale at Dodger Stadium. Well, there was one time in the mid-80s. I was just a kid at a baseball game but I remember dour thoughts popping into my head throughout such as: how I was watching the last batting practice of the year, the last national anthem of the year, the last seventh-inning stretch of the year, and then the last out of the year. The finality of a season finale, I discovered that day, was just too much for me to bear.

Add to it the fact that when you are younger, your perception of time is different. Months and years seem to fly by now, but when you are 12, the prospect of waiting out a baseball offseason can be overwhelming.

It's not so bad now. Family, work, and other interests (gasp!) all serve as vital water stations in the marathon I call offseason. So I pace myself and settle into a rhythm. The finish line will get here soon enough.

And so I wax nostalgic today.

Goodbye to the 2010 Dodger baseball season, to the brilliance of Clayton Kershaw and Hong-Chih Kuo, to the volatility of Matt Kemp, to the disaster that was the Dodger bullpen. Farewell to Vin Scully (for now) and to Joe Torre (for good).

This blog, however, isn't going anywhere during the offseason.

So stick around, will ya?

Together, we'll survive the 179 days between now and Opening Day 2011.

As I Was Saying Before I Was So Rudely Interrupted...

I've been under the weather the past several days, out of commission and out of sight, prompting a few colleagues of mine to wonder aloud upon my return to work today whether in reality I had taken time off to exchange my Herman Miller cubicle chair for a front-row seat at the McCourt trial.

Sadly, that wasn't the case.

Instead, I've been sidelined with a malady that's been as ellusive for my doctor to pin down as the cause of Dodger hitting woes has been for Don Mattingly. In times like these, it seems rest is the best remedy -- one week's worth for me and an offseason's worth for the Dodgers.

On the bright side, my bedrest has afforded me the opportunity to read, if not write, about the goings on related to the Dodgers and I'd like to pass along to you a few pieces I particularly enjoyed.

Joe Posnanski captures in a fine article for si.com how radios broadcasting Vin Scully's play by play call have served as virtual gathering points over the years for people living in a city that's often characterized as lacking a center.

The New York Times published an interesting piece on Josh Fisher, the 24-year-old Dodger fan and current law student whose blog, DodgerDivorce.com has become the go-to source for legal analysis of the McCourt divorce trial.

Finally, the Los Angeles Times explores the heady possibility of me and you -- or anyone else willing to pony up $500 to $1,000 per share -- being among the next future owners of the Los Angeles Dodgers.