As the Dodger Stadium renovations near completion, Kevin Sparkuhl (aka: TrueBlue Idaho) has posted some YouTube videos over on the ThinkBlueLA forum that are well worth seeing.

As much as I thought that Dodger Stadium couldn’t look better, I was dead wrong. The ball park looks beautiful and ready for an exciting season.

With a fresh cut “LA” insignia in centerfield grass, Dodger Stadium patrons will enjoy a new sound system, new concessions, better field level site lines, new restrooms, improved seating for the disabled and eventually (within a few home stands) cell phone service soon followed up by state-of-the-art WiFi service.

The flower beds that are situated in front of the outfield pavilion’s front rows were an unexpected feature. I know flowers about as well as my familiarity with my wife’s knitting and crocheting skills, but the YouTube poster claims that those are petunias planted in the newly installed pavilion flower beds.

How apropos – “Petunias in the Pavilion” or “Pavilionaire Petunias.” That has a nice ring to it. When Yasiel arrives to play left field we can call them “Puig’s Pavilion Petunias.” I can see the T-shirts now. Heck, I might want to copyright the idea. Gotta place a call to my lawyer and register that idea. I sure hope that those flowers will flourish and bloom when beer is poured into the beds to nourish them.

The Left Field Pavilion (or “LFP”, as Dodger Stadium regulars call it) has had its fair share of nicknames over the years, depending on who was hanging out in the outfield over the years.

During Jimmy Wynn’s years as a Dodger (1974-75), the Toy Cannon roamed centerfield and fans in the left center field called it “Cannon Country” as Wynn used to launch those high pop fly homers that would carry into the pavilion.

A few years later, when Dusty Baker covered left field for the Dodgers, fans there called it “Baker’s Acres.”

So now it’s time for the LFP guys to come up with a new moniker. Perhaps some of the players can develop “petunia power” and reach the flower beds. That’s not monster power, but it’s enough for a dinger and it sure beats warning track power. Do you think Punto has Petunia Power?

The petunia angle just may be something that catches on. Now if someone identifies the flowers as carnations or daffodils… or worse – “Poseys”, they will have to go – that’s for sure!