Pedro Alvarez of the Pittsburgh Pirates looks at strike three from Javy Guerra of the Los Angeles Dodgers (4/12/12)

The odds are a bit better than 50/50 right now that this matchup of the Dodgers and Pirates, which I witnessed early in 2012 at Dodger Stadium, will also take place this 2013 postseason. Javy Guerra was the closer for the Dodgers at the time. Pedro Alvarez, the Pittsburgh batter who struck out on this pitch, has hit over 30 home runs this season (currently leading the National League) after hitting 30 last year.

Posted on September 15th, 2013 under Other. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, baseball, los angeles, nikon d7000. Comments Off on Dodgers vs. Pirates?

Gyudon (牛丼) is one of my favorite Japanese dishes. Sure it’s cheap Japanese fast food, but I still love it. I tried this bowl in the Los Angeles area as you can’t find Japanese style beef bowls anywhere near my normal neck of the woods in Southern Oregon. It wasn’t quite the same as the many I have consumed in Japan. Maybe it was the styrofoam bowl? Perhaps that was part of it, but something still seemed a bit off in the recipe.

I’m looking forward to consuming the real thing in Japan this summer as well as many bowls of bulgogi (불고기) in Korea.

Posted on April 13th, 2013 under Japan. Tags: food, los angeles, Nikon 35mm f/1.8 lens, nikon d7000. Comments: 2

At the Dodgers-Pirates game I went to earlier this season at Dodger Stadium, Bear Grylls, sticking to his “wild man” image, lit the baseball on fire before throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. I wasn’t far behind home plate at the time.

Posted on September 15th, 2012 under Other. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, baseball, los angeles, nikon d7000. Comments Off on Bear Grylls lights ball on fire before throwing out first pitch

Andrew McCutchen rips one off of Chris Capuano

Andrew McCutchen has had an incredible first half of the season to lead the Pirates to first place in their division at the All-Star Break. If he does the same in the second half, it is fairly safe to say that the Pirates will be in the playoffs for the first time in forever and McCutchen will be holding the NL MVP award. If you double his first half stats they come out to be 116 runs, 224 hits, 36 home runs, 120 RBIs, 28 SBs, and a .362 batting average. Wow! Can he do it?

McCutchen didn’t do so great in the Home Run Derby last night, but he did better than Cano.

Today’s photo is from my April trip to Dodger Stadium.

Posted on July 10th, 2012 under Other. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, baseball, los angeles, nikon d7000, Nikon TC-17E II 1.7x Teleconverter. Comments Off on Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates leads the National League in the All-Star Game tonight

Yesterday, Albert Pujols hit is first home run (after the longest drought in his superstar career) as a member of the Los Angeles Angels.

I thought I saw him hit is first home run a few weeks ago when I was in Anaheim.

But this swing that looked so promising …

… ended up with the ball being caught by Josh Reddick just before the warning track.

Posted on May 7th, 2012 under Other. Tags: AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II, baseball, los angeles, Nikon TC-17E II 1.7x Teleconverter. Comments: 1