So here’s something fun: Twitter friend “JustOneMiss” comes through with an excellent find, of what what appears to a rudimentary scoreboard inside the Dodger bullpen area under the left field bleachers, taken during a stadium tour in late January.

(click to embiggen)

It’s fascinating, really, even though I have no idea what they’re tracking. It can’t be wins or saves; the first entry is for Ramon Troncoso on April 8, but he pitched a scoreless 7th inning in a 10-2 Dodger win. It can’t even just be for good performances, since April 16 shows Russ Ortiz, yet he gave up four earned runs over 1.2 innings.

But it does appear to have some correlation to in-game activity, since each of the names pitched that night. It also appears to have some connection to games the team won, since the April dates noted are all Dodger victories. So it seems that if the team loses, no one in the bullpen wins. Yet why, after Carlos “Monty” Monasterios gets noted for April 21, did no one pop up for the next eight days? The Dodgers did win on April 24 in Washington, an extra-inning affair in which Monasterios pitched 2.2 scoreless innings to get the win. Despite that omission, it’s clearly got something to do with Dodger victories, since you can see how long the May list is – it seems like forever ago now, but the Dodgers did go 20-8 that month.

If you look closely, the July 21 entry reads “Borzy/Flip”, clearly referencing bullpen catchers Mike Borzello and Rob Flippo. I suppose you can infer they earned some extra credit for Chad Billingsley‘s complete-game shutout of the Giants that night. There’s also a special notation of “Weaver #100″ on May 7, and that indeed is the day Jeff Weaver picked up his 100th career MLB victory – though apparently not enough to give him the nod over Ramon Troncoso in the bullpen olympics that night.

What I find most interesting here is that it’s not, as you might think, just a way to pass the time while at Dodger Stadium, because these are not all home games. Right off the bat, the April 8 game was in Pittsburgh, so they’re keeping score and on the road and bringing it back home.

It’s also an interesting way to see the progression of the bullpen as the season wore on. Mainstays Jonathan Broxton, Hong-Chih Kuo, and Ronald Belisario are listed the most, but every now and then you’ll see a Justin Miller, a Jon Link, a Travis Schlichting. We probably forget too often that relievers actually do have lives during the 23.75 hours a day they’re not actually in the ballgame, and seeing the winners from April who didn’t last with the team must be a stark reminder of the human element of baseball, staring at you on this board months later.

So have at it, MSTI I-Team. What are we looking at here? What did you have to do during a Dodger victory to earn enshrinement in the Sharpie Hall of Fame here? Tossing sunflower seeds into a hat? Who can get the most digits from girls in the bleachers? Pin the tail on the Ortiz?

Okay, here’s something that’s actually pretty cool. For six weekday home games this year, the Dodgers will be wearing throwback Brooklyn jerseys. But there’s a twist, because these aren’t the standard Jackie Robinson/Duke Snider-era jerseys that we’ve seen in the past, which are essentially the same as the current version.

No, these are jerseys which I’m guessing that 99% of Dodger fans never knew existed. (I consider baseball uniforms and jerseys another dorky hobby of mine, which is why I follow UniWatch religiously). The Brooklyn Dodgers of 1911, 1931, and the 1940s looked quite different than the Dodgers you know today, and starting on February 7th, fans are able to choose from one of these three options:

Look carefully at the description of the third choice, because while the image above makes it look like it’s powder-blue in the same way that the Royals used to wear, it’s actually something a lot different.

No, really, a lot different:

Yes, that is a shiny, shiny satin. The idea at the time (remember, this was just a few seasons after the first night baseball game) was that it’d be easier for fans to see under the low-quality lights in use at the time.

I can’t imagine they’d really put players in shiny satin (especially during day games), though the press release does say “”The throwback uniforms worn in 2011 will be made of the same material and maintain the same feel as those worn by the Dodgers throughout the season,” which does seem to rule out actually wearing satin. If they don’t, that does sort of defeat the purpose. The first uniform does nothing for me – and the idea of the Dodgers in pinstripes is weird – and if it’s not satin, then I don’t need to see the Dodgers looking like the Royals. I do kind of dig the understated middle one, and if I can’t vote for the outright spectacle of a shiny satin jersey, then that’s without question my choice. Then again, I’m the only guy who wouldn’t mind seeing a solid blue alternate jersey every now and the, so what do I know.

Anyway, the vote is up to you. Voting starts on the 7th at dodgers.com/throwback.

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Speaking of uniforms, I received a tip a while back from a devoted reader (thanks, devoted reader!) that the team is possibly considering going back to having “Dodgers” on the road uniforms rather than “Los Angeles”, as they did for many years. I have absolutely no proof to back this up at all, so don’t put too much stock into it. How would you feel about that?