The SoCal Report -- May 13, 2012

Josh and Matt take a look around the Southern California sports scene in the latest Out of Ink podcast. Topics on the table are Matt Kemp's latest bold statement, Mike Trout's future, the Padres competition with Josh Hamilton, the countdown to USC's football season, and the Kings' growing fan base.

LA Story

In the latest Out of Ink podcast, Josh and Matt discuss whether this is the Golden Age in sports in Los Angeles. After all, the Lakers, Clippers and Kings are in the playoffs, the Dodgers are in first place, the Angels signed Albert Pujols and USC football is being talked about as a national title contender.

The LA-SF rivalry -- Chapter 11

-- by Josh Suchon

The Giants and Dodgers wrap up their first three-game series of the 2012 season tonight in Los Angeles. Fittingly, the series is tied after two games, because as we look into the future, this rivalry has never been more even.

Chapter Eleven – A magical new era (2012-current)

Chapter 11 of the Dodgers-Giants rivalry starts when Frank McCourt’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy ends. Guggenheim Baseball paid $2.15 billion to buy the Dodgers from McCourt, and the group still must pay $14 million annually in rent for the parking lots.

From a Dodgers fan standpoint, all that matters is McCourt is gone. The face of the new ownership group, and a small minority partner, is LA icon Magic Johnson. The excitement for fans and players was evident from the time Guggenheim bought the team and palpable in their first home games this week.

The first thing the new ownership group did was lower parking from $15 to $10. The second thing (and third and fourth and so on) will be fascinating. They’ve talked a big game about improving Dodger Stadium, re-building the farm system, making the Dodgers an international force again, and going after the best free agent talent available.

A few days after Guggenheim bought the team, the Giants re-signed pitcher Matt Cain to a six-year contract extension. The Giants insisted it had nothing to do with deep pocketed owners taking over their biggest rival, and potentially signing Cain when he became a free agent this winter, but the timing sure was interesting.

It appears the Dodgers will spend plenty of money, and thereby force the Giants to spend more money to keep up.

As we’ve reviewed this rivalry’s history this week, one team usually enjoyed the advantage. Other than a few years, like 1962 and 1971, the Dodgers dominated this rivalry from the time these teams arrived in California until the late 1980s.

The Giants took over the lead from 1993 to 2004 with the signing of Barry Bonds, the selling of the Dodgers from the O’Malley family to NewsCorp, the opening of a downtown ballpark in San Francisco, and the Giants consistent playoff appearances.

The Dodgers regained the advantage from 2004-2009, but lost it in a costly divorce. The Giants ruled the last two years and won their first World Series. Now, the rivalry is about as even as it’s ever been.

Some key injuries have the Giants hurting right now. But through the historical big-picture lens, all the signs are pointed for this rivalry to be better than it’s ever been.

Both teams have stability with ownership. The Giants are on a third managing partner in the last half dozen years in Larry Baer, but he’s been with the team since 1993, and the overall ownership group is solid. The Dodgers new owners will enjoy their honeymoon period with fans.

The new Dodgers owners will upgrade Chavez Ravine, but even though it's showing its age at 50, it's hard to beat those views of the San Gabriel Mountains. AT&T Park remains arguably the best ballpark in America.

Both teams have talented young pitching. The Giants locked up Cain and Madison Bumgarner to long-term contracts, although Tim Lincecum’s struggles make a decision on him more difficult. Clayton Kershaw has two more years before hitting free agency, and it’s unfathomable the new owners won’t re-sign him. The Dodgers need to keep developing others behind Kershaw.

Both teams have position player stars. McCourt’s parting gift to Dodgers fans was signing Matt Kemp to an eight-year contract. Signing Andre Ethier should be the new owners’ first priority. The Giants have catcher Buster Posey and Pablo Sandoval to anchor the middle of their lineup, but their overall lack of offense will continue to drive their fans crazy.

Right now, the Giants are hurting with injuries to key players like Sandoval and closer Brian Wilson. But when looking historically at a rivalry, it’s all about the bigger picture.

The next step for this rivalry is meeting in the playoffs. The chances increase since Baseball added a second wild card team.

Whether it’s a winner-take-all, one-game playoff between these teams as wild card entries, or better yet, a best-of-7 series in the playoffs, the possibility is strong that it will happen.

In fact, don’t be surprised if it happens this October.

Chapters 9 and 10 are here.

Chapters 7 and 8 are here.

Chapters 5 and 6 are here.

Chapters 1-2-3-4 are here.

Dodgers-Giants: First Memories

– By Matt Hurst 

October 3, 1993 is a date that shouldn’t register high with anyone, unless it was your birthday or anniversary or incarceration.

Really, in the scope of baseball, it wasn’t a memorable date. In the scope of the Dodgers and Giants rivalry, it barely registers a blip on the radar. Truth be told, I had to look it up online, so the date doesn’t really mean much to me.

Except that it does. It means a ton.

This date and this meaningless game, the last of the 1993 season, is the first Dodgers-Giants memory I have. It’s the best rivalry for us West Coasters and as it resumes this week, it’s always fun to throw out names and events like Juan Marichal, Johnny Roseboro, Bobby Thomson, Steve Finley and Brian Johnson.

The finale of a lost season meant that the Dodgers didn’t have much to play for – at least from their end. That’s how my dad was able to procure fifth-row seats just over the Dodgers’ third base dugout in a game that suddenly meant everything.

Everything enough that all but 1,600 seats were filled in 56,000-seat Dodger Stadium on that wonderful Sunday afternoon.

A win meant the Dodgers finished at .500. But more than that, a win meant that the 103-win Giants would miss the playoffs. It was payback in the best form. It was rivals battling on the last day of the season. We win, you’re out. You win, you rub it in our face and get to the postseason.


All the chips were pushed to the middle of the table.

If the Dodgers were playing, say, the Houston Astros on that day and the Astros were battling the Braves for the division title and a berth in the playoffs, who knows if Mike Piazza plays. Who knows if the team cares that much? Who knows if Kevin Gross can somehow pitch a complete game, six-hitter? Who knows if the Dodgers care at all?

But, against the Giants? Damn right Piazza is playing. Damn right Eric Karros is ready for his four at-bats. Damn right they care.

So it is that game 162 means a lot for an 80-81 team. And I’m in the building. Not only that, but I’m close enough that my chants and cheers can actually be heard by the team. This is a big deal for a pre-high school kid who doesn’t know any better.

The place was buzzing with electricity. I remember that. I remember hearing that some rookie named Salomon Torres is starting for the Giants and all the talk and the radio chatter is about “Why is Dusty Baker throwing this schmuck who is clearly not ready for this situation?” The fans and pundits knew better than Dusty. Which is funny to think about, especially how Game 6 of the 2002 World Series panned out.

Ladies and gentlemen: your 1993 Dodgers!

 But, I also remember thinking this is a team that has won 103 games and they have Barry Bonds, who is the best player in the game and although the Dodgers have Piazza and Karros and Raul Mondesi, we also have guys like Dave Hansen and Henry Rodriguez and Jody Reed and Cory Snyder in our starting lineup. No wonder we were average.

Well, Piazza homers twice. Cory Snyder goes yard. As does Mondesi. Torres is out of the game in the fourth inning and everyone hits. And scores. And the place is going nuts.

It’s 3-0. Then 6-1. Then 7-1. Then the coup de grace. The Dodgers score five runs in their final at-bat of the 1993 season. Final: 12-1. And it’s not even that close.

The 54,340 are going berzerk. Pandemonium. Everyone in blue is elated. We are celebrating like it’s 1988 all over again. Those in orange and black are hiding their faces. They are whimpering.

The Dodgers took the Giants behind the woodshed that day and beat the bloody hell out of them. You aren’t celebrating a National League West title on our field.

(This is before the Raiders crowd overtook Dodger Stadium and turned the bleachers into gangland. It’s safe. But there is a lot of taunting. No fights. But you don’t want to be a Giants fan there.)

My dad’s friend nudges me and points to a guy in a “Bonds 25″ jersey replica T-shirt. “Too cheap to buy the real thing,” he gloats.

Everytime an Atlanta Braves score is flashed on DiamondVision, the place goes mad. The Braves are winning. The Giants are losing and we are making them lose! The Dodgers are knocking the Giants out of the playoffs.

This is our playoff game. The Dodgers players are so ebullient that Brett Butler throws his hat into the stands at the end of the game. The entire team takes a curtain call. They stick around and wave to the fans. They smile, they cheer us.

This is not what a .500 ballclub does. Sure, in the final homegame of the season teams usually make a point of recognizing the fans, but not like this. This is Game 7, championship recognition. This is “we love you” recognition. The players enjoy this as much as the fans. Maybe more.

Our team finishes 81-81. It’s a hopeless season.

But, it’s a helluva lot better than finishing 103-59 and being left out of the playoffs.

Matt Hurst, of "We Are Out of Ink" is the editor and founder of Throwback Attack. Read more memories from the past at throwbackattack.net.

Is 'welcoming' a phenom really old school?

 -- by Josh Suchon

Cole Hamels admitted to intentionally hitting Bryce Harper on Sunday night. In his explanation, Hamels told reporters:

“I'm just trying to continue old baseball, because I think some people get away from it. I remember when I was a rookie, the strike zone was really, really small and you didn't say anything, because that's the way baseball is. But I think unfortunately sometimes the league is protecting certain players and making it not as that kind of old school, prestigious way of baseball."

Apparently, Hamels thinks that hitting a young phenom is old school, or a way of “welcoming” somebody to the big leagues.

Alright, let’s see how Harper’s first hit batsman compares to others. Harper was hit in his eight game, or 29th plate appearance.

In 2003, when Hamels was a 19 year old kid in the minors, Miguel Cabrera was a 20-year-old rookie. Cabrera was hit for the first time in the 62nd game of his career. Of course, Expos reliever Rocky Bibble also hit the previous batter, it was the seventh inning, his team was down 3-2, and those two hit batters led to two more runs.

In 1989, Ken Griffey Jr. was a 19-year-old rookie playing for the Mariners. In his first at-bat, he doubled off a pitcher known for his death stare and intimidation, Dave Stewart. In his second at-bat, Stewart didn’t hit him. Stewart didn’t hit him all game. Griffey’s first hit by pitch came in the 87th game of his career by Toronto’s John Cerutti.

Rick Monday was first overall pick of the first-ever draft in 1966. He made his debut the same year, at age 20, and wasn’t hit in 47 plate appearances. The next year, in the 54th game of his career, Monday was hit by Washington pitcher Phil Ortega.

Mickey Mantle’s debut came in 1951 at age 19. The first time he was hit by a pitch was opening day of 1955. It was Mantle’s fifth year in the majors and the 2,202nd plate appearance of his career. Was Washington pitcher Mickey McDermott trying to preserve an old-school way, five years late? Was he sending a message to Mantle, after he homered off him 19 months earlier?

In 1905, a hot-headed rookie named Ty Cobb made his debut at age 18. In 164 plate appearances, not a single pitcher felt the need to “welcome him to the majors” by plunking him. He was hit three times the next year, but Play-by-play doesn’t exist for which game it was.

Admittedly, this is a small sample size. It doesn’t account for “brush-back” pitches because, while Retrosheet and Baseball-Reference are great, they aren’t that great. It’s hard to tell intent decades later, but there’s little evidence that any of these first career HBP’s were done intentionally.

Hamels thought he was bringing “old school” back to baseball. But like most things in history, the facts don’t match the perception.

The LA-SF rivalry -- Chapters 9-10

-- by Josh Suchon 

The Dodgers and Giants renewed their historic rivalry last night in Los Angeles. New owner Magic Johnson escorted the widow of Jackie Robinson onto the field for a special ceremonial first pitch, and a new chapter in this rivalry was definitely underway.

Continuing our five-part series, here's a look back at Chapters 9 and 10 in this rivalry.

Chapter Nine – Return of the Dodgers (2004-2009)

Plenty of questions remained when Frank and Jamie McCourt purchased the Dodgers from Fox Entertainment in 2004. As his lawyer would later note, Frank didn’t spend a penny of his own money. It was such a highly leveraged purchase, it led to immediate questions on whether McCourt had the funds to afford the game’s top players.

Still, the McCourt era got off to a rousing start in 2004. Fox was out. A family owned the Dodgers once again. The team drew just under 3.5 million fans, their more since 1982.

The season culminated with yet another final weekend between the Giants and Dodgers, this time at Dodger Stadium. In the 161^stgame of the season, the Giants took a 3-0 lead into the ninth inning. If they could get three more outs, they would play the final game of the season the next day, with a chance to tie for the division.

Rookie shortstop Cody Ransom, inserted for defense, booted a groundball that opened the floodgates. The Dodgers tied the score at 3-all, then Steve Finley hit a grand slam walkoff to touch off a wild celebration in Los Angeles.

All was right in Los Angeles again. Frank and Jamie McCourt were happy, dancing on the field, as their team reached the playoffs. They lost in the first round, again, but at least won their first playoff game since 1988 as Jose Lima pitched a spine-chilling masterpiece in Los Angeles.

That offseason, the BALCO probe deepened, and The San Francisco Chronicle published the grand jury testimony of Barry Bonds. Steroid suspicion had followed Bonds for half a decade, but now the public learned about “the clear” and “the cream” that Bonds was using.

In 2005, Bonds’ body broke down. He missed all but 14 games, due to two knee surgeries, and the Giants dropped back under .500 again. In 2006 and 2007, Bonds’ final two seasons, the only story was Bonds’ asterisk-discussed pursuit of Hank Aaron’s all-time home run record.

General manager Brian Sabean’s strategy of year-to-year fixes, signing veterans and neglecting the farm system, finally caught up. The Giants finished 11 ½ games back of the first-place Dodgers in 2006, and 19 games back of Colorado in 2007.

In 2005, the latest SF-to-LA player switch occurred when the Dodgers signed Jeff Kent, after his two-year stopover in Houston. Now the Giants fans had their newest target to jeer, and Kent was the perfect heel.

Plenty of players had switched uniforms. A few recent managers switched sides in the rivalry. Next, it was time for the leader of baseball operations to switched sides.

McCourt fired Paul DePodesta after the 2005 team collapsed, and his pursuit of a new General Manager ended with Ned Colletti, formerly the asst. GM of the Giants. Brian Sabean and Colletti were together for a decade in San Francisco, and as close as brothers. Now, their friendship would be put on hold.

It was tough for fans to warm-up to Colletti because of his Giants background. It helped that Colletti’s moves led the Dodgers back to the playoffs in 2006, albeit a fourth straight first-round playoff exit. It didn’t help that Colletti signed former Giants ace Jason Schmidt to a three-year, $47 million and Schmidt spent virtually the entire contract on the disabled list.

Colletti hired legendary manager Joe Torre for the 2008 season, then Manny Ramirez fall into his lap at the trading deadline in late July.

The next 2 ½ months were extraordinary. Mannywood was the biggest phenomenon since Fernando-mania – except this took place every night, not every five days. Ramirez tortured every team, and his two homers at home against the Giants in a 10-7 win on Sept. 20 gave the Dodgers a 3-½ game lead with seven left.

The bubbly popped four days later, and just in time. The final three games were in San Francisco. But since the Dodgers already clinched, the Giants couldn’t ruin their party this year.

The Dodgers broke their playoff drought by sweeping the Cubs, then lost to the Phillies in five games in the NLCS.

In 2009, the Dodgers followed the same script: win the division title, sweep the division series opponent (this time the Cardinals), and lose to the Phillies in five games in the NLCS.

But for purposes of the Giants-Dodgers rivalry, 2009 was the year when steroid-enhanced performance came full circle, and the rivalry was evened again. It was also a reminder to be careful of what you mock your rivals over, because the same thing might happen to your team.

Dodgers fans delighted in jeering Bonds, chanting “steir-oids” at him, holding up asterisks signs, and claiming all his accomplishments were tainted.

Then on May 7, 2009 – two months after signing a two-year, $45 million contract -- Ramirez was suspended 50 games for testing positive for HCG, a female fertility drug commonly used as a masking agent for steroid use.

The tables were turned. Now it was the Giants fans calling the other teams’ star a cheat, and it was Dodgers fans who tried to moralize cheering for a drug user.

Meanwhile, with Bonds retired, the Giants re-built a farm system and the results were showing. Tim Lincecum won the Cy Young award in 2008 and 2009, and he was surrounded by plenty more quality young pitching. If the Giants could just get a little offense, they’d be dangerous.

Chapter Ten – Divorce and a drought ends (2010-11)

This chapter probably started the day Frank and Jamie McCourt announced they were getting divorced. It was October 2009, right smack in the middle of a second straight NLCS loss to the Phillies. The day after the playoffs ended, Frank fired Jamie, and accused her of adultery.

While the Dodgers insisted nothing would change and it was business as usual, that was false bravado.

The next two years, as brilliantly reported by Bill Shaikin of The Los Angeles Times, would be filled with one story after another detailing how the McCourts used the Dodgers to fund their extravagant lifestyle. The fear that existed when the couple bought the team in 2004 was now laid out in court filings.

In mid-summer of 2010, with lawyers trading blows with court filings, the Giants took advantage on the field.

If you want a specific turning point, look at the ninth inning of the July 19 game at Dodger Stadium. At the time, the Giants were 50-42, in third place, 4 ½ games behind San Diego. The Dodgers had lost five straight coming out of the all-star break, including the series opener, and were 5 ½ games back.

The backdrop was in the sixth inning, when a pitch came inside to Russell Martin, and bench coach Bob Schaefer yelled that Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum should be ejected. Schaefer’s yelling got him ejected. The next inning, Clayton Kershaw plunked Aaron Roward. He was ejected, and so was manager Joe Torre.

Don Mattingly, then the hitting coach, took over the managerial reigns. In the ninth inning, with the bases loaded and one out, Mattingly visited the mound to set his defense. He walked off the mound, then first baseman James Loney asked him another question, and Mattingly walked back onto the mound to answer.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy spotted this immediately, and reminded the umpires this counts as a second trip to the mound (via rule 8.06). The umpires agreed it was a second trip, but botched the ruling. Closer Jonathan Broxton, who was about a month into his own meltdown, should have pitched to one batter and then get removed.

Instead, he was forced out immediately. Struggling setup man George Sherrill entered the game. Crew chief Tim McClelland told him he could get as many warmup pitches as necessary, but home plate umpire Adrian Johnson stopped him after eight. Sherrill didn’t protest, and Mattingly didn’t realize it (until I told him after the game).

A cold Sherrill immediately gave up a two-run double, and the Giants tacked on another run in a 7-5 victory. Broxton took the loss. It was one of three losses the Giants would pin on Broxton that year. The Dodgers never recovered.

Manny Ramirez was gone a little over a month later. The Dodgers placed him on waivers, the White Sox claimed him, and the Dodgers let him go … for nothing in return. The White Sox owed about one-sixth of his $10 million salary for 2010, but the Dodgers still owed Ramirez $25 in deferred payments.

On August 30, the same day Mannywood ended, Frank and Jamie McCourt arrived in divorce court. The Giants were still five games behind the first-place Padres, but those Padres were halfway into a 10-game losing streak.

The Giants caught the Padres on Sept. 10, and clinched the division on the final day of the regular season. Then they did what no other San Francisco Giants team could do, beating the Braves, Phillies and Rangers en route to their first World Series since moving to California.

 

The euphoria in San Francisco was historic. The silence in Los Angeles was deafening.

The Dodgers still had more World Series titles, but the Giants were on the board. What’s more, the Giants had become a model franchise, and the Dodgers were the epitome of what’s wrong with professional sports.

In 2011, the Giants sold out every game. Merchandise sales went through the roof. The Giants fan base was basking in the superiority their team was enjoying over their long-time rivals. The Giants had dominant young pitching, a rising young superstar in Buster Posey, and players with charisma and character that made for an entertaining reality show on Showtime.

The Dodgers payroll kept shrinking, and so did attendance at the ballpark. The fans just couldn’t take it anymore. A silent boycott made Dodger Stadium look old, sound quiet, and was downright dangerous at times. It all came to a head on opening day 2011 when Giants fan Bryan Stow was savagely beaten in the parking lot by two Dodgers fan.

Players make an on-field plea for peace in the stands.

Eight years earlier, Giants fan Mark Allen Antenorcruz was shot twice in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium after a man he was arguing with pulled a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun from his SUV. The argument was over the Giants-Dodger rivalry. For reasons still hard to explain, that tragedy faded away from the news fairly soon.

But the beating of Stow, a firefighter and father, struck a nerve in San Francisco and Los Angeles and nation-wide. McCourt was being blamed for everything, and the lack of security would be cited in this beating. More lawsuits would follow.

  

McCourt couldn’t even make payroll without taking out a $30 million loan from Fox. In late April 2011, baseball commissioner Bud Selig appointed Tom Schieffer to oversee the Dodgers business operations. Any expenditure over $50,000 needed to be approved by Schieffer.

In June, McCourt filed for bankruptcy and kicked Schieffer out of his office at the stadium.

On the field, infielder Juan Uribe would replace Schmidt as the overpaid ex-Giant who was a bust for the Dodgers. The bright spots were a runner-up MVP finish by Matt Kemp and a Cy Young award for Clayton Kershaw.

The duels between Kershaw and Lincecum in 2011 were like the duels of Juan Marichal and Sandy Koufax in the 1960s. They went head-to-head four times. Kershaw won all four games. The final scores were 2-1, 1-0, 2-1, and 2-1 again for Kershaw’s 20^th win.

Those four games would prove critical. An injury to Posey, and the lack of hitting, caught up to the Giants as Arizona pulled away with the division. The Giants didn’t return to the playoffs, but their dominant young pitching and sold-out ballpark makes them an annual threat.

Finally, on Nov. 1, after two years of insisting he would never sell the Dodgers, Frank McCourt agreed to sell the team. For Dodgers fans, there was finally light at the end of the tunnel.

Wednesday: a look to the future as Chapter 11 begins.

Baseball Chatter

In the inaugural "Out of Ink" podcast, Matt & Josh chat about a sport they know a little something about. As two former Major League Baseball beat writers, the duo break down the latest happenings and trends across the nation.