Dodgers Diaries

There were Dodger Dogs. There were marching bands. There were beach balls in the stands, and for a moment, on the field. There was the execrable wave. And there was baseball at Dodger Stadium in February on a glorious 70-degree Sunday afternoon.

No, not the major leaguers, or even the world’s best from 20 nations like there was in 2009. This was a four-team college tournament, featuring USC, UCLA, and, as they said on the Gilligan’s Island intro theme, the rest. Vanderbilt and Oklahoma State played a 10 a.m. game to round out the foursome, but USC v. UCLA was the main event.

More than 14,000 people showed up for the event, filling the first deck, and causing stadium management to open the pavilion to house the overflow. Tickets were $10, which seemed like a deal if you got to sit in the seats normally reserved for Frank and Tommy and Kobe and Alyssa, not so much if you’re in the bleachers, hearing the ping of the bat for almost the same price as a major league game. The entire loge, meanwhile, sat empty save for a few photographers. Don’t know why the Dodgers couldn’t have opened that section instead.

The team also half-assed the concessions, opening only about 2/3 of the stands on the main level. Canter’s was not among them. And I counted only one lone vendor roaming the aisles. That meant every fan who wanted something to eat or drink had to stand on line for it, and the lines were so horrendous that they prevented people from walking the concourses. It never ceases to amaze me how the Dodgers throw money away by not having enough concession staff to satisfy the thousands who want to be parted from their money $8 at a time for beer and $4 for dogs.

Parking was free, but lanes to get in were closed, meaning more traffic on Sunset. And only the field level entrance was open, so you had to walk all the way around. The Dodgers turned on the scoreboard in center field, but refused to turn on the ones overhanging the loge, so you couldn’t tell the count if you were sitting in seats without a view of center field.

Oh, and there was a game. With a college rivalry and bands in the stands, you might have expected an animated crowd, but the biggest gasps were reserved for videos of football players tackling each other and Olympic hockey results: a cheer when the U.S. tied it in the third, and a deflated sigh when the final was posted. The game was kind of a dud, with both teams stranding runners through the first four innings, then pushing across single runs in the fifth. UCLA blew it open in the eighth to win 6-1. Niko Gallego, son of Mike, hit a homer. Jordan Hershiser, son of Orel, did not pitch, but looked imposing at 6-8, 245 in the dugout.

Another observation: So few black players. None on the field for either USC or UCLA. I counted three in the USC dugout, and none in UCLA’s, though they do appear to have Adrian Williams on the bench.

Still, it was baseball in February, and that is better than nothing.

-- JOHN ROSENTHAL