It’s a beautiful day in San Francisco. A sunny morning, with projected temperatures of 71 degrees. I look out my window and realize this is such perfect day for baseball. The trees aren’t even swaying with the wind as they normally do. The Dodgers are in town, and there is no buzz about it at all. I sold my tickets about a week ago, not because I didn’t want to go, but I had a work assignment that was supposed to send me out of town, (that has since been postponed).
But the buzz about the Dodgers being in town is gone. We aren’t even an afterthought anymore. The Dodgers are viewed as a joke, well let me re-state that, they have always been viewed with disdain, but never as a team that wasn’t a threat.
Now, they’re the laughing stock of the National League and Giant fans are loving it. There is not even a word on the radio about the upcoming series. Nobody gets excited about a series with the Dodgers. KNBR, the Giants flagship is talking about the women’s world cup final this morning. There isn’t ANY conversation about this three game set.
“How bout them Dodgers?!” blurted out Rod Brooks, noontime co-host on the sportstalk radio show, the day it was announced that some Dodger employee checks had bounced. He concluded his rant with, “Let me just say though, about the Dodgers going bankrupt. It couldn’t happen to a nicer group of people.”
I used to arrive to work on a day when a Giant-Dodger series was to begin and get a ribbing from everyone. Now they just barely mention it. I’m fairly certain that if I mentioned the series to someone I would hear, “the Dodgers are in town?”
Now, if the Dodgers are discussed, it isn’t about the team, it is about the financial troubles, the low attendance, the Brian Stow incident, the bankruptcy, MLB taking over control. I’d even welcome talk with them about what they proposed on the radio here a few weeks back, an Ethier for Jeremy Afeldt trade. As ridiculous as that is, at least they are talking baseball.
Giant fans are oblivious to the fact that Matt Kemp is having a monster year. “Matt who?” says a co-worker. We’ve got Andres Torres, I’ll go with him. He won a World Series.”
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| Giant outfielder Andres Torres |
“Okay then,” I think to myself. “I guess they can have Torres and his stat line of .239, 3 HR, 17 RBI, .372 SLG., .699 OPS. Maybe we can pawn off Uribe on them if they like anemic stats.” Then reality hits me in smack the face.
San Francisco 55-41
Los Angeles 42-53 12.5 Games behind
Ouch! Even a sweep doesn't put them in reach. This season is an embarrassment. At least we have Kemp and Kershaw to root for.
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