A Blast on Both Sides of Fence

I think we can all agree, that was the best Dodger-Angel game ever.

Wow, what a World Series Game 7 this would have made. Just picture a jam-packed Dodger Stadium, going crazy as Corky Guerrero scored from second base on a Troy Percival wild pitch, then watching Todd Zeile park a pitch over the left-field fence to make it Dodgers 4, Angels 3. We would talk about such a game for the next 100 years.

Well, my team defeated my team Tuesday night.

I was so delighted to see my adorable Dodgers beat those dirty Angels that it made me frown. How dare those miserable Dodgers beat my beloved Angels that way? I think this (stinks/is so sweet). I bet the Dodgers (kick their butts/play like bums) tonight. I hope Hideo Nomo (sends them back to Anaheim/goes back to Japan).

Most of us who attended the Dodger-Angel inaugural ball had a helluva good time. We saw a little history made. We saw a decent game. An OK-but-not-SRO crowd of 41,428 came out. Rosey Grier threw out the first ball. (Rosey Grier???) Nancy Bea Hefley, at the organ, played the theme from the Broadway show “City of Angels,” which was never more appropriate, although I personally would have preferred to hear Randy Newman’s little-known “I Love Anaheim.”

In short, it was a perfect/perfectly awful night.

(And you can quote me.)

The fans were well-behaved. (I would like to say too well-behaved, but this could be misinterpreted.) Most of the night, Dodger Stadium looked and sounded like it does on most any other night. There was more tension at the Three Tenors concert. But then, a nutty ninth inning broke out. Angel fan, Dodger fan or baseball fan, you shoulda been there.

For an older generation that fondly remembers Steve Bilko, and for a younger generation that thinks Bilko is a sergeant in the Army, this was quite a night. A list of 65 men who played for both the Dodgers and Angels was handed out. They ran the gamut from Aase to Zahn.

Jerry Reuss was in the park. He even made the Trivia Question on the scoreboard. “Q.: Name the three former Dodger-Angel pitchers who won more than 200 games. A.: Don Sutton, Tommy John, Jerry Reuss.” (Personal note to Bert Blyleven: If you had been a Dodger for even a lousy 24 hours, you could be a Trivia Answer too.)

We got to see a few things we hadn’t seen before.

For one, we got to see an Angel pitcher bat and run the bases, and he didn’t run the wrong way, either. Matter of fact, he looked pretty good, for a beginner. I feared for Chuck Finley that he might lay down a bunt and then break for third base, instead of first. No way. He looked just like Carl Lewis, coming around a curve. Either that, or Secretariat.

Third inning: Finley steps on deck. Guys in the Angel dugout are calling things up to him. Chuck grabs a rosin bag, powders the bat. He picks up a bat donut. Then he limbers up with the ol’ lumber. I am not sure whose model bat it is--my hunch is, not a Chuck Finley model--but there stands 34-year-old Chuck, about to have his first at-bat since college, whirlin’ and a-twirlin’ that stick in the Dodger Stadium on-deck circle like the second coming of Tommy or Willie Davis.

Go get ‘em, Chuck, I say to myself. (Silently cheering for the Dodgers as well.)

Alas, a runner gets on base ahead of him, so all Finley needs do is bunt. I waited 36 years for an Angel pitcher to come here to do this? Oh, well. That’s baseball, even for an American League team. (Occasionally.) Finley attempts to sacrifice, fails, forces his teammate at second. Tough luck, Chuck.

Ah, but that’s when Tony Phillips slices an excuse-me single over the third baseman’s head. And here comes Finley! Speeding from first to third . . . on a single to left. I love it. Finley slides into third. Jim Edmonds drives him home. Finley returns to the bench, catches his breath, counts on his fingers how many years remain until his retirement.

(Trivia Question: Who scored the first run of first Dodger-Angel game? Answer: Chuck Finley.)

Too bad he isn’t there for the end.

Guerrero singles off Percival, but forgets to run. Get going, Corky, I shout. Finally he does. Brett Butler bunts him up a base. Roger Cedeno fans. It sure looks bad for those wonderful/miserable Dodgers.

But all of a sudden, Percival uncorks a wild pitch. Guerrero scores from second, then Zeile homers to win the game. Man, these crazy Dodger-Angel games, you never know what’ll happen next.