I LOVE L.A. (EXHIBITION BASEBALL)

Perhaps it's the whole idea of baseball getting underway in March, but I can't quite convince my body that baseball will count in just a couple of days. I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that there have already been 2 games that have counted, actually. But I think this weekend I'm most excited about a game that doesn't count.

The Red Sox are back in the United States, and they continue their long road trip with a west coast swing before heading back east. They're playing a few games in Los Angeles against the Dodgers before going to Oakland to finish up with the A's, then they go to Toronto before coming back to Boston. The game Saturday night against the Dodgers, though, will be special - as part of the Dodgers commemorating 50 years in Los Angeles, they will host the Red Sox in an exhibition game at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
I think what intrigues me most is the quirkiness of the park. (You see the old games at the left, and the stadium being set up for Saturday below.) The Coliseum is a football stadium. But it hosted baseball for four years before the Dodgers moved into Dodger Stadium in 1962. As a football stadium primarily, it has weird dimensions - a very short left-field fence, to be specific. The fence for Saturday night's game will be about 192 feet away in left, shorter than what they had in 1958.

What bums me out is that they're installing a tall net (about 40 feet, I think) above the wall, to prevent balls from flying out of the park. Who cares? It's exhibition. Get players to do something other than fly to left - and if they get one up in the air in left field, it will be exciting. I'm going to try to watch, net or not. There are also going to be more than 100,000 people in attendance. That should be quite a spectacle. If it's a spectacle, and it's in a Coliseum - I'll be watching. I'm glad NESN is airing the game.