Dodgers sell out fans with local TV deal

The Dodgers, enriched by their $8.35 billion television deal with Time-Warner Cable, have shut out more than half of their local market. It's time for the Dodgers to stand with their fans and push to put their games on more Los Angeles television sets.

Dodgers fans will hold a rally on June 1 (3 p.m.) at the Short Stop Bar, located at 1455 West Sunset Boulevard.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles


Of all the professional sports franchises throughout American history, none has stood for the ordinary man like the Dodgers, none has promoted diversity as a national ideal and practice so aggressively or successfully as the Dodgers, and, long before Magic Johnson brought Show Time to the Lakers, it was the Dodgers who gave Los Angeles a common champion and a unifying athletic theme.

If only it were that simple. Because there's always been a dark side. That's the baseball business, with its money uber alles ethos and the political play that comes with it.

Case in point: The Dodgers' television deal with Time Warner Cable (TWC), which gets 25 years of the club's local TV rights in exchange for $8.35 billion, nearly four times the $2.15 billion Guggenheim Baseball Management paid to acquire the club, its stadium, its entire history and half of its parking lots from the reviled former owner, Frank McCourt. All of Los Angeles celebrated the new ownership, featuring Magic, whose personal brand is so powerful locally that it actually raised the Dodgers from the state of discredit that had been wrought by McCourt's ownership.

The new ownership came out strong, pursuing better players, improving Dodger Stadium, restoring the public's good faith and producing a team that came within two wins of appearing in the World Series last season. The city had its baseball team again.

And now, it kind of doesn't.

The Dodgers are in business to make money. We all know that and support it. We want the Dodgers to succeed. But we want the success of the Dodgers to be a part of our success, to be a part of our daily lives, to be a light in our dark struggle ... and the Dodgers have decided to leave us out simply because there's a big pot of gold in it for the Dodgers to leave us out.

Simply put, the Dodgers sold out their fans. The money was just too good to pass up. Maybe, when TWC puts $8.35 billion on the table, you sign that piece of paper before the cable company comes to its senses. Maybe you don't ask too many questions or make too many demands. Maybe you take the money and run.

So, the Dodgers have the money. And they have a moral mess on their hands, because the Dodgers now are inaccessible to 70 percent of the Los Angeles television market. If you don't get TWC, you don't get any Dodgers games on your television. If you live in an area that's not even wired for TWC – and there are several – then you can't watch the Dodgers on your television at any price.

That isn't quite right, of course. There's always a price. But the price is outrageous. The bidding war between TWC and Fox Sports for the Dodgers television rights escalated the price to well beyond the established local market level of $3 billion over 20 years, which the Angels and Fox Sports agreed upon two years earlier. Obviously, TWC seeks to recoup some of those costs by asking for enormous redistribution fees from direct competitors, reportedly as high as $5 per household per month. Just as obviously, direct competitors such as DirecTV, Charter Communications, Dish Network and others would much rather watch TWC choke on a bad business deal than bail out TWC by over-paying  for the Dodgers games.

The Dodgers knew when they signed this television deal that they were shutting out their fans. They knew. They knew because they are deep in this business and they're not stupid. They knew. They knew that TWC isn't in more than half of the local TV market. They knew that no one drives a tougher bargain than TWC when it's on the other side of the table, negotiating with entities such as the NFL for distribution of the NFL Network on its cable system. It took TWC nine years to reach agreement with the NFL. Nine years. The Dodgers knew that other pay TV providers would balk at the subscription fees TWC would demand to defray the costs of this deal. The Dodgers aren't innocent. They knew. They don't even have to tell us. We know the Dodgers knew because we know the Dodgers aren't stupid.

The Dodgers have been somewhat short of heroic throughout this episode. On the rare occasions when team President Stan Kasten has deigned to address the people of Los Angeles about this matter, through the media or otherwise, he has either taken the TWC negotiating line, made diffident avowals that the problem will somehow be resolved or offered some kind of unconvincing testimony about how this bothers him every day.

But how badly can he really be bothered by this? He made a deal for $8.35 billion, four times the purchase price of the team, which already was half-and-again the $1.4 billion for which McCourt was asking, and that already was thought to be a ridiculously high demand. Sadly, in exchange for $8.35 billion, there is precious little evidence that the Dodgers have ever pressed TWC for guarantees that Dodgers games would be made widely available, either during the negotiations or since.

It's a good business deal. Probably a bit too good. The Dodgers are paying for it with a considerable loss of good will. They have, indeed, now placed a good share of their good will into the hands of TWC negotiators, and you don't have to hang around too many American households before realizing that you really don't want TWC to be the executor of your good will.

Long ago, the Dodgers were the working class heroes of Brooklyn. Then, they brought in Jackie Robinson, then more African-American stars, and they became Black America's team. But the Dodgers couldn't agree with New York City officials about a new stadium, so the club's owner, Walter O'Malley, yanked the franchise from its Brooklyn roots and moved it to Los Angeles, breaking generations of hearts on the East Coast. To build Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles officials displaced an entire Mexican neighborhood in Chavez Ravine, breaking generations of hearts on the West Coast.

It's been ugly sometimes. But times change, time heals, and the Dodgers have always gotten back to the common folk. During their first 31 years in Los Angeles, the Dodgers went to the World Series nine times, winning five of them, at once joining the local glitzerati and salving the common man with compensatory heroes. They even won over the Mexicans when the chubby left-hander from the Sonoran outback came along and stoked Fernandomania.

Flyover America badly misunderstands Los Angeles. It's not bright lights, glamorous evenings and easy living. It's overwhelmingly hard-working people of limited means getting up early in the morning and fighting through life. The fight is scarcely to be endured, let alone won, without common passions and daily amusements.

The guy who lives and works up and down Western Avenue, the middle class family in Burbank, and even rich people in the hills – they count on the Dodgers, not even necessarily to win, but to at least be there when they need the Dodgers, to at least be there when they get a chance to put their feet up, let go of real life for a moment, and drift imaginatively to a parallel world where they aren't themselves so much as they are, in some sense, the Dodgers.

Life would go on without the Dodgers, but it goes on much better with them. It goes on much better with Vin Scully narrating the summer evening – and doesn’t it ache to think we’re probably missing our last summer with him because the Dodgers priced us out of it? It goes on much better with that Clayton Kershaw curve ball beaming into your living room, with the sight of that Dodgers game on your head right before bed time. All of that now is lost to the majority of Angelinos who want it. The Dodgers made too good of a deal. They short-changed their fans.

Sometimes, then, the Dodgers get away from the common folk. This is one of those times. So, it's time for the Dodgers to figure out what time it is, take a look in the mirror and ask themselves what they stand for and who they stand with. Do they stand with the people of Los Angeles? Or do they stand for the highest possible dollar? Ideally, they can stand for both. Ideally, they can press much harder to make their televised games available to their fans. In reality, maybe not.

Surprise! Matty tabs Kershaw for Game 4

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is making a bid to close out the Atlanta Braves before the home folks in Game 4 of the National League Division Series Monday night, shifting to Clayton Kershaw as his pitcher. But if the Dodgers can get it done, they shouldn't celebrate too much.

The Dodgers are setting the table for a big night at Dodger Stadium Monday, calling on Clayton Kershaw as their starting pitcher in Game 4 (Keith Allison/Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

A sports writer's memory is filled with remarkable events. As the Los Angeles Dodgers close in on winning their National League Division Series (NLDS) against the Atlanta Braves, a memory from 1995 presents itself.

The Cincinnati Reds had just defeated the Dodgers in the NLDS, marking the first year of expanded playoffs. Reds players celebrated, whooping, popping bottles and pouring stuff all over each other, really letting loose in their clubhouse.

The Reds owner, the late Marge Schott, often is vilified for certain badly aimed remarks. But as she surveyed the scene around the Riverfront Stadium while players and fans savored the victory, a moment of brilliance flashed before her and she asked, "What did I win?"

Answer: Nothing. The Reds went on to lose the National League Division Series (NLDS) to the Atlanta Braves in four games.

The Dodgers might end up celebrating Monday night at Dodger Stadium, where they hold a 2-1 lead in their NLDS with the Braves heading into Game 4. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly is trying to make sure of it, making a last-second announcement Monday afternoon that his man on the hill will be the best there is, left-hander Clayton Kershaw. All along, the plan has been right-hander Ricky Nolasco for Game 4. But Nolasco has allowed 17 runs in his last three starts, and Kershaw fanned 12 Braves in a 6-1 Game 1 victory.

The move comes with some risk, though not much. Kershaw hasn't pitched with three days of rest all season. There is no guarantee that it will work. But this guy is such a tough nut and such an old soul, and this moment has enough largeness to bring it out of him. And even if it fails, the Dodgers will bring back Zack Greinke in Atlanta for Game 5. Is Greinke large enough for that moment? The Dodgers will hope they don't have to find out.

Dodger Stadium is the "Magic Castle" again this season. There seems to be some controversy as to when that name was coined. No one disputes that it belongs to the great Dodgers broadcaster, Vin Scully. But some accounts say it goes back to 1973, when that great crop led by Davey Lopes, Ron Cey and Steve Garvey first became contenders, and others pin it to 1988, when the Dodgers last won the World Series.

It's not exactly World Series or bust this year for the Dodgers, but they also can't possibly be satisfied with winning an NLDS against an opponent that half-armed itself. It's true that the Dodgers already have made remarkable progress this year under new ownership that has dedicated itself to bringing back the Magic Castle. But winning this NLDS wouldn't take them any further.

This team is feeling it right now. Sunday night, they hammered out 14 hits in a 13-6 win against the Braves to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-three series. The Dodgers put 18 runners on base and left only five, going seven-for-15 with runners in scoring position. Their starting pitcher, Hyun-jin Ryu, produced a terrible night, and their batters took it out on the Atlanta starter, Julio Teheran.

Hanley Ramirez, the first shot in the new ownership's player procurement salvo last summer, has six hits in the series, tied for the most ever by a player in the NLDS. But everyone around Ramirez is hitting, too, or at least reaching base. And this moment is right for the Dodgers.

The Braves will attempt to stay alive behind right-hander Freddy Garcia, who has started three games for the Braves since they acquired him from the Baltimore Orioles on Aug. 23, and all three have been quality. But two of those lineups were the Miami Marlins and the Milwaukee Brewers. The other was the Washington Nationals. None of those lineups can fire like the Dodgers.

In a worst case scenario for the Dodgers, they lose Game 4 and go to Atlanta with Greinke in Game 5. Which is to say that the Dodgers simultaneously face a can't lose situation and a no-win situation. The Dodgers surely can't lose the series at this point. If they do, the Dodgers and their fans will be more than disappointed. And even if they win, it shouldn't be that big of a deal. They will not have won anything.

That's life at the top. It's where the Dodgers want to be.

Where's Magic? He's out of the way, like a smart owner

Since his group's much trumpeted purchase of the Dodgers, Magic Johnson has been sighted at only a handful of Dodger games. It would appear he has had some other commitments. What is his commitment to the Dodgers? Maybe staying out of the way is a good one.


By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The Los Angeles Times raised a provocative question this morning: Where's Magic? The answer, of course, is that Magic is in our hearts.

But seriously, Magic Johnson has been conspicuous by his absence from Dodger Stadium, though no more so than the Dodgers hitters.

Magic said at sale time that he would be in the office every day, pounding the rock, working hard to bring a World Champion to the people of Los Angeles. Instead, the Times puts Magic's appearances at Dodgers games around "maybe a half-dozen." That's in two months since his Guggenheim Baseball Management group purchased the team.

As the Times audits Magic's activities since the sale, he launched a television network, Aspire, as well as his own prepaid credit card, the Magic card. Magic also appeared on the NBA Finals coverage for ESPN and ABC. After the NBA Finals, Magic went on vacation to Morocco and St. Tropez.

Sounds like Magic had some previous commitments as the sale closed. He might be more stunned than any of us. Guggenheim came in quickly with its extraordinary bid of $2.15 billion. Suddenly, the flagging Dodgers were associated with a winner, Magic, and he was supposed to electrify the Dodgers with his passion. So, he becomes the figurehead right as the Dodgers are in first place and he smiles for the cameras, sits through a couple games, the Dodgers win and everything's good.

Now, the Dodgers are 12-22 since May 27 and Magic is nowhere to be seen because, you know, he's Magic and he's busy. But he said he was going to be in the office every day. What gives? Fair question.

And it raises a deeper question, which we did not ask at the time of the sale because the answer seemed so obvious, and maybe it still should be so obvious: What would, or should, Magic's ownership role actually amount to? What, specifically, was going to be the cause and effect relationship between Magic rolling up his sleeves and the Dodgers making progress as a baseball franchise?

We didn't ask that question because news of the ownership group included some other names, like the Guggenheims, who know something about money, and Stan Kasten, who built the Atlanta Braves and Washington Nationals from different kinds of rubble. Thus, the more obvious question was: Why should Magic roll up his sleeves at all?

Around sale time, one of the principals in the new group said that Magic's title was going to be "Owner." Owning something isn't the same as producing it. The smart way to own something like this is by turning it over to people who know how to produce it, then you make money for owning it. That's how capitalism works: You own the means of production but lack the expertise or muscle, so you hire the expertise and muscle, then profit or lose on the difference between your costs and your revenues. What you don't do is hover, micromanage beyond your depth or expertise and cripple your producers.

We knew Magic wasn't going to suit up and throw assist passes at the rim to Matt Kemp and Elian Herrera. We knew he came into this with absolutely no roots in baseball. We didn't expect him to move into Dodger Stadium, sleep on a cot in the situation room like Dick Vermeil and mastermind the 2012 World Championship. We knew he wasn’t going to tell Kasten how to run the baseball business or the Guggenheims how to work the money. We wouldn't want that.

We all know horror stories about the wealthy novice who buys a baseball team, starts playing around with his favorite toy and winds up with a disaster on his hands. Ted Turner was one of those guys when he first purchased the Atlanta Braves in 1976. He put on a jock strap and managed a game one night. The Braves couldn't escape from his shadow.

Finally, Turner realized that baseball is a different kind of business that he didn't understand and, in 1986, he turned it over to experts -- Bobby Cox on the baseball side and Kasten on the business side. The Braves won 14 straight divisions and they have always since been competitive.

By the accounts, Magic has succeeded in numerous businesses -- movie theaters, restaurants, health clubs, commercial real estate -- having little or nothing to do with his expertise in basketball or sports. How is this possible?

Knowing nothing about Magic's method of operation except for what we've seen of him with the Dodgers, we might see something like this: Among the people alive today, Magic Johnson qualifies as a prestigious eminence with the whole winning image as a cheerful competitor, an athletic champion, a crusader against disease and a success in business. Being prestigious, Magic lends his prestige to anything he wants to do. That attracts money, because Magic's prestige is a leg up on profitability. And the money that Magic's prestige attracts then attracts, in turn, expertise, because experts like to be paid. And all of this stuff somehow coalesces around Magic, who signs the documents to put the operation in motion, then leaves it alone to send him checks and status updates while he moves on to the next deal having something to do with pizza or coffee, or the NBA Finals, or Dodger Stadium, or his vacation in St. Tropez.

Perhaps the long and short of Magic's business acumen, and his business contribution to the Dodgers, is his ability to attract money and expertise, then put them together so that the expertise spends the money profitably. He can be selective, and he apparently selects well. There might be a little whip cracking here and there, but he's not in the day-to-day operation, because he doesn't know the restaurant business, or the movie theater business, or the commercial real estate business, or the baseball business. Stan Kasten knows that stuff. The guy at the Burger King knows that stuff. The investment banker knows that stuff. So, Magic leaves his people alone, says, "Send me the checks," and moves on to the next deal. And if that's all there is to it, that's still a lot, because there is a lot of talent and expertise out there without capital, and there is a lot of capital in the hands of clowns.

Magic's job is "owner," which isn't really a job, but he seems to have done it pretty well at other stops. His job is to be Magic, which isn't really a job, and he seems to have done that pretty well, too. When news broke that Magic was buying the Dodgers, the whole town was giddy because his name strikes the air with a glorious sense that he will not fail. That's what he brings to his ownership stake in the Dodgers, who were wounded when he found them.

He's not going to be a mascot at Dodger Stadium for three hours every night, laughing and high fivin' in his box seat, though we can count on plenty enough of those TV shots when the Dodgers are in some meaningful games. He will make contributions as an owner, the kind that only he can make, maybe putting the Dodgers over the top with a big free agent here and there.

Perhaps Magic's ownership role, his relationship with the Dodgers, might be described, in today's ugly parlance, as "co-branding." Making no mistake about it, the Dodgers brand received a much higher kick than did the Magic brand from the news of their blissful union. Now, what’s good for the Magic brand is good for the Dodgers brand, and vice versa. But they are separate brands, and they must pursue their ends separately.

That's why we ask, "Where's Magic?" while, at the same time, we say, "Kind of glad he isn't here," even though he said he would be. Magic has helped put the group together, given it profile and credibility and helped it through the sale. The top people are in place and Magic has nothing to add right now.

So, it's fine for Magic to be Magic, track his other enterprises and do the jet-setting global superstar thing, taking the Dodgers with him that way wherever he goes. The baseball people don't need him watching. Kasten is on the case. They're trying to improve the club. They were willing to spring $8 million for Carlos Lee. They'll get something done.

One might even credit Magic for restraint. We might like to see him more at the ballpark, but his absence is a small price to pay if the alternative is Magic wandering around the Dodgers offices thinking he's Branch Rickey, getting into everyone's business and causing people to make emotional decisions.

In this corner, we like hands-off owners who let baseball people do their jobs. Give them the budget, set the expectations and review it at the end of the year. Until then, stay out of the way. That's how we see Magic right now. We kind of like not seeing him.

Saying all that, Magic, c'mon out to a game at Dodger Stadium some night, anyway, brother. It would be good to see you, and the parking is only $10.

Scioscia pays for thin bullpen on Scioscia Night

Between traffic and their own play, Mike Scioscia Bobblehead night Tuesday was shaping up as a fiasco for the Dodgers. But Scioscia's Angels entered the game with a depleted bullpen and paid for it when Angels outcast Juan Rivera belted a three-run homer in the eighth, sending Dodger Stadium into an eruption. Wednesday night, the Dodgers will aim for their first series win at home against the Angels since 2008.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

The ending to Mike Scioscia Bobblehead Night at Dodger Stadium Tuesday had one wondering if it weren't also bubblehead night for the Angels manager, who left his starter in for two pitches too long and thereby brought about a 5-2 loss to the Dodgers.

Such an awful way to lose on your own bobblehead night, especially the way Scioscia has dominated this Freeway Series. After catching more games than anyone else in Dodgers history, Scioscia set up his own shop in the burbs and won while the Dodgers tried. The Angels are up, 21-11, in the Freeway Series since 2006.

But Whitey Herzog said the manager is only as good as his bullpen, so Scioscia didn't start the night in good shape. Ernesto Frieri had worked three straight days. After the game, Scioscia told reporters that his other closer, left hander Scott Downs, couldn't go because of pains in his left side.

Thus, Scioscia had neither of the pitchers who have taken him through the late innings. He knew going in that he had a problem.

So, Downs didn't pitch to left-handed Andre Ethier with two out in the eighth as the Dodgers had runners on first and second while the Angels held a 2-1 lead. Scioscia apparently didn't consider left hander Hisanori Takahashi after the reliever threw 30 pitches Monday night.

Angels starter Jerome Williams pitched well Tuesday, though he was starting to falter with two walks in the eighth. But if you're Scioscia, which right hander do you bring from your bullpen to face Ethier? So, Scioscia took a chance on Williams and paid for it.

Ethier hit a sharp single to right, driving in Dee Gordon and moving A.J. Ellis to third, tying the game at 2-2. And on the very next pitch, a high fastball, Juan Rivera blew up Dodger Stadium with a deep home run to left field, giving the Dodgers a 5-2 lead and almost certain victory.

The eruption in Dodger Stadium was a night of frustration for Dodgers fans brought to thrilling resolution with one big swing of the bat. The crowd in honor of Scioscia was announced at 55,279. Many, of course, arrived late. At 8:30 p.m., the gates to the parking lot at Dodger Stadium were still thick with cars trying to crawl in for a bobblehead as the sixth inning approached. Those who were lucky enough to be in the stadium all night were treated to a dreadful performance for seven innings by the Dodgers, who let in two runs with two remarkable infield errors.

About 9:30 p.m., the whole vibe changed as Rivera rounded the bases. Whether you caught an hour or sat through the whole thing, the night was vindicated. Certainly, though, in that traffic, some people missed all of it. For those who caught the end, not even the long crawl out of the parking lot could ruin it.

In a world where no one is wronged, the story of the game is Aaron Harang, the backbone of this Dodger victory. We would be talking about his seven (or more) shutout innings, albeit a little bit labored with six hits and four walks. Harang put hitters on, but his infielders weren't helping. When that became clear, Harang dialed up two big outs to minimize the damage.

In the third inning, the Angels had the bases loaded and two out when Kendrys Morales hit a bouncer towards second baseman Adam Kennedy. As we see a lot now, the Dodgers had their second baseman positioned in short right field towards first base against the left-handed pull hitter. The new positioning puts the second baseman right in front of the ground ball and saves a hit to right field.

But it also gives the second baseman two new calculations to make. First, he has to deal with a grass hop following a dirt hop. Second, the infield has to decide if the best two-out play on that grounder with a runner on first is the force at second or the batter at first. Both of those puzzled Dodgers infielders Tuesday night.

On the ground ball by Morales, Kennedy just didn't play the hop, which isn't a common hop for a second baseman. Dirt hops following grass hops happen all the time. Grass hops following dirt hops are new with playing the second baseman in the outfield. The ball hit by Morales appeared to hit the edge of the grass off the infield dirt. It just ate Kennedy up. A run scored, the bases remained loaded, and the Angels led, 1-0.

In the sixth, with the bases loaded and two out, Williams hit a ground ball to Kennedy, who fielded it cleanly from a standard position and went to second for the force. But the shortstop, Gordon, had a long run to the bag, which isn't a problem for him, anyway. For whatever reason, then, Gordon apparently believed Kennedy's play was at first base, and was thereafter unable to hold a throw from Kennedy that hit him squarely in his glove. A run scored, the bases remained loaded, and the Angels led, 2-1.

Right off the first misplay, Harang had to deal with Mark Trumbo, a very dangerous power hitter, and got him to hit a standard power hitter's fly out to right, ending the inning.

Right off the miscue in the sixth, Harang faced Mike Trout, the hottest player on the field. Right before the miscue in the sixth, Angels catcher Hank Conger reached when Harang and Rivera couldn't work out the arrangement on a slow grounder towards first. The way the Dodgers were botching their infield, a lot was riding on whether Trout merely put the ball in play. But Harang got Trout swinging at a 3-2 slider, another lid on another disaster.

The Dodgers are 40-23. Imagine the Dodgers going a month without Matt Kemp and hitting 40-23. It's because of pitching such as Harang tossed Tuesday night.

The Angels are accustomed to similar pitching  from left hander C.J. Wilson (7-4, 2.39), their starter Wednesday night. The Dodgers counter with right hander Nathan Eovaldi (0-2, 1.93), who has produced three solid starts since replacing injured Ted Lilly in the rotation.

The series, tied 1-1, ends with this game. The Dodgers haven’t won a series with the Angels since taking two of three games in Anaheim June 19-21, 2009. The last time the Dodgers did it at Dodger Stadium was June 27-29, 2008, when they won two of three.

Rookies take two paths to Angels win

Two Angels rookies were on display Monday night in the opener of their Freeway Series with the Dodgers. Mike Trout made all the plays that turned a 3-2 Angels win. But pitcher Garrett Richards, making his fifth major league start, equally won this game by handling failure.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

It would be wrong to say that Mike Trout became some kind of a star or presence in town Monday night, because that's what he does all the time. Then again, when the Angels are playing the Dodgers, every big league fan in town is watching.

Unless the Kings are winning their first Stanley Cup in 45 years of history Monday night.

It's safe to say there was more celebrating than ball viewing happening as Trout changed a game that no one else could budge, a 3-2 Angels win against the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Trout played a central role in every Angels run, which would be the one that put them on the board, the one that tied the game and the one that won the game.

For those still watching as a four-hour game wound down at the end of a long Monday night, Trout was dessert, an exquisite individual performance topping off a great team championship. Two for four, a homer, two stolen bases, a walk and two RBI. Trout set the table for Albert Pujols to be a hero in the ninth inning, waiting out Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen for an eight-pitch walk with one out, then immediately stealing second base. With red-hot Torii Hunter and Pujols coming up, the Angels had two good chances to get him in.

Jansen struck out Hunter, but Pujols broke his bat on a high 3-1 fastball and dropped a floater into left field, driving in the speedy Trout. Angels reliever Ernesto Frieri closed out the Dodgers in the ninth.

To the extent that one believes baseball is based in failure, Monday night's game made a good deal of sense. The game obviously did not turn on scoring and lead changes so much as chances denied. One never knew how some scoring chance would end, be it a double play, a pick-off or a base runner being hit by a batted ball. Both starting pitchers -- Dodger veteran lefty Chris Capuano and Angels rookie right hander Garrett Richards -- struggled all night. But each was able to find a strikeout pitch or a ground ball when necessary and they turned over a 2-2 game to the bullpens.

The Dodgers were only one-for-11 batting with runners in scoring position. The Angels were only one-for-10 likewise when Pujols batted in the ninth. This futile game would have remained tied in more ways than one if Pujols didn't deliver. Later, Pujols told a TV interviewer that he felt thankful he didn't hit a long fly ball. Albert's a little bit lucky these days. Two for 11. Angels win.

Trout, in command of the game, is quite an electric and impressive rookie, now batting .354 with a .977 OPS. In his way, Richards, the Angels rookie pitcher, was equally impressive in failure.

Making his fifth big league start, Richards couldn't even throw his fastball for strikes, he made a throwing error to open up a two-run first inning for the Dodgers, and he got himself picked off right before Trout homered in the fourth, costing the Angels a run. He had absolutely nothing working. But he held himself together, and he held the game together, too. He made good pitches when he absolutely had to take down National League RBI leader Andre Ethier and veteran producer Bobby Abreu (Dodgers manager Don Mattingly praised the “demeanor” of Abreu’s at bats in Tuesday’s LA Times). When it was time for Richards to go after five innings and 102 pitchers, the game still was in reach for the Angels.

Capuano has been around for eight years and he’s been fighting games like this for his whole career. You know your starting pitcher just isn’t going to have it about one-third of the time. When he doesn’t have it, what does he have? A little bit of luck, maybe, but is that all? Capuano and Richards both displayed it Monday night. For whatever reasons, the hitters failed equally.

Richards owned the Seattle Mariners last week in his first major league start of the year, striking out eight, giving up four hits and walking two in seven innings. Angels won, 6-1. This time, Richards couldn’t throw his fastballs for consistent strikes. According to these findings, he threw strikes with only 33 of 65 fastballs. He was always behind. The bases were always littered. Bottom line, the Dodgers didn’t score after the first inning.

The pitching matchup for Tuesday night isn't exactly about glamour, but it tells us a lot about why these two teams are in very hot contention. The Angels' Jerome Williams (6-3, 4.02) and the Dodgers' Aaron Harang (5-3, 3.95) both are No. 5 starters, and they're both well better than what a lot of clubs have at No. 5.

It isn't box office enough to distract fans from the Kings. But the Kings already have finished their work. Now, the Dodgers and Angels will continue about theirs.

A brief comparison of the Dodgers and Angels

The Angels and Dodgers finally meet Monday through Wednesday at Dodger Stadium. Both clubs are hot and in the hunt. They also have common opponents and circumstances, enough so that we can all-but-directly compare them a bit before they step on the same field.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

In this corner, it's harder to live with interleague play between the two leagues than with the designated hitter within one. But we must live with interleague play, so you shall here witness one man's desperate effort to make a virtue of a necessity.

The Angels and Dodgers will meet for three this week at Dodger Stadium and three more next week at Angel Stadium with a real question before us right now about which club is better. Both are in the tie on top of the major leagues at 19-11 in their last 30 games. The Dodgers have maintained the best record in baseball without Matt Kemp. The Angels are actually hotter than that, 14-4 as they've surged to within three games of the Texas Rangers in the American League West.

These games should draw considerable interest across the baseball world, as they involve two of the game's sharpest clubs. We could just argue about which one is better, but now we'll have them play a few games first, then pick up the argument later.

Entering the series, due to the interleague play that makes it possible, we already have an interesting basis for comparing the two clubs, because they have played two of the same opponents under similar conditions in the last ten days. Both have played the Seattle Mariners with the designated hitter in pitchers parks, while both have played the Colorado Rockies without the designated hitter in the ultimate hitter's park, Coors Field.

We present, then, a few tables, just for the purpose of momentary compare and contrast, maybe to give us some clues about what to expect when the Dodgers and Angels meet. There's nothing of an evergreen nature to be learned here. They're just snapshots of the two teams in pretty nearly the same conditions at the same time.

The Dodgers played in Colorado June 1-3. The Angels played Seattle at Angel Stadium June 4-6. Then, June 8-10, the Angels played three in Colorado and the Dodgers played three at Seattle. The Angels have a slight advantage in playing Seattle at home. Checking the park factors, where 100 is average and the higher number favors hitters, Safeco Field's multi-year number for pitchers is 93, Angel Stadium's number for pitchers is 95, and Colorado's number for hitters is 117.

The uncommon opponents in the last ten days: The Angels played three at home against Texas June 1-3, while the Dodgers played four in Philadelphia June 4-7. Both teams were successful in those endeavors. The Angels won two of three to push their case with the Rangers, and the Dodgers swept the depleted Phillies.

So, just taking together the six games the Angels and Dodgers each played against Seattle and Colorado, here is how they hit.

Team	AB	R	H	HR	BB	SO	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	LOB
Angels	218	46	75	12	21	43	3	7	7	.344	.402	.569	.971	44
Dodgers	199	27	48	4	24	39	8	9	2	.241	.320	.367	.687	38

Doesn't seem to be much of a contest. The Angels are bashing the ball and the Dodgers are struggling offensively. Note the walk and strikeout totals. The Dodgers are supposed to be the club working the approach of Joe Torre's Yankees, taking the deep count and the walk get into the bullpen, while the Angels are supposed to be about working the good count to put the ball in play and making the game move. But, here, the Angels are close to the Dodgers in both of those categories, walks and strikeouts, and look at what they are doing offensively.

Cleveland leads the major leagues in walks per game at 3.81, followed by the New York Mets (3.68), Tampa Bay (3.62), Arizona (3.58) and the Dodgers (3.52). Pittsburgh (2.22) is the worst walking team, followed by Philadelphia (2.38), the Chicago White Sox (2.52), Kansas City (2.57), and the Angels (2.69). But here we see the Angels walking about like the Dodgers for the last week, and hitting better than the Dodgers have hit all year.

Breaking it down a tiny bit further, here is how both clubs hit against the Mariners in pitchers parks. Bear in mind that Safeco Field (multi-year park factor of 95 for pitchers) is, like Angel Stadium, a pitchers park.

Team and opponent	AB	R	H	HR	BB	SO	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	LOB
Angels vs. Mariners	102	18	33	6	11	21	4	1	1	.324	.385	.569	.953	22
Dodgers vs. Mariners	98	16	25	2	10	20	6	4	2	.255	.321	.357	.678	13

Clearly, the Angels hit much more in their games with the Mariners. Mix in a futile night for the Dodgers, who were no-hit by six Seattle pitchers on June 8. Yet, for the three games in total for each team against the Mariners, the Angels scored only two more runs. The Angels did not score as much as they could have for as much as they hit. Though they hit six homers in the three games, they only scored 18 and left 22 on base. The Dodgers homered only twice, but they scored 16 and left 13. The Dodgers' two homers were early daggers -- Andre Ethier's second inning grand slam on Sunday, and Jerry's Hairston's three-run blast in the first inning the day before then. For all that general advantage in hitting, the Angels lost two of their three to Seattle, against which the Dodgers won two of their three.

Perhaps how both of these teams batted at Coors Field gives us some idea of where these teams are at offensively. Or maybe not.

Team and opponent	AB	R	H	HR	BB	SO	GDP	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	LOB
Angels at Colorado	116	28	42	6	10	22	3	6	2	.362	.419	.569	.988	22
Dodgers at Colorado	101	11	23	2	14	19	2	5	0	.228	.319	.376	.695	25

Has anyone ever heard of a club going into Coors Field and stinking up the place offensively like the Dodgers in that series? That is embarrassing. Two home runs in three games at Coors Field? The Dodgers did a fine job of walking and not striking out, but they hit so little that they only scored 11 and left 25 stranded. The Dodgers were on such an emotional low, having just been swept four at home by Milwaukee, losing the cushion they built during a well-played run at home and learning that Kemp was going back on the disabled list. Not even Coors Field could cure their hitters. Just 11 runs in three games. And they still won one of them.

The Angels are just killing the ball, slugging .569 wherever they go. Torii Hunter might want to consider Colorado as his free agency destination this winter. He finished his Coors Field engagement nine for 15 (.600) with eight runs, three homers and nine RBI. Subtracting his homers so they aren't counted twice, Hunter scored or drove in more runs (14) in his three games at Coors Field than the Dodgers (11). By that measure, also, Hunter was half of the Angels offense in the Colorado series, a three-game sweep for the Angels concluded on Sunday.

So, that's the hitting in these six common games for each team. The Dodgers won three of theirs despite not hitting a lick, while the Angels lost two of theirs despite hitting like a lineup of Hall of Famers. Maybe the pitching has something to do with those outcomes. So, here is the composite pitching for both teams in the six common games.

Team	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	IR	IS	SB	CS	GDP
Angels	54.0	60	32	30	18	43	10	5.00	6	33%	2	1	3
Dodgers	51	44	24	19	25	51	5	3.35	10	10%	5	2	3

That line for the Angels looks like it belong to a pitching staff that just did six of six games at Coors Field, rather than three of six. The pitching line for the Dodgers looks like it belongs to a staff that just did zero of six games at Coors Field, rather than three of six. What's funny about it is that these two pitching staffs did nearly the same at Coors Field.

Team and opponent	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	IR	IS	SB	CS	GDP
Angels at Colorado	27.0	33	15	15	5	23	7	5.00	1	0%	1	0	3
Dodgers at Colorado	25.0	27	18	13	14	18	3	4.68	6	17%	4	1	3

For all major league teams this year, the combined earned run average at Coors Field is 5.79, nearly two runs higher than the era of 3.98 for all big league games at all parks. So, that 4.68 for the Dodgers is looking pretty good, and that 5.00 for the Angels isn't bad, either. Of course, both clubs have better than average pitching. The Dodgers stayed away from throwing the home run ball pretty well, apparently by staying away from throwing strikes. The Dodgers gave away an awful lot in their series at Coors Field. We already saw it with the hitting, and now we see it in their pitching and defense -- four stolen bases, just less than five walks per game and five unearned runs in the three games, of which they lost two.

Perhaps more than any other factor entering this week's games between the Angels and Dodgers, we look to the Angels pitching staff, which has been in a blue funk for the last week, ever since they completed their series with the Rangers. One might look at these Coors Field numbers for the Angels and say, "Well, that's Coors Field." However, just as the Dodgers and Angels have very similar pitching numbers at Coors Field this month, the Angels have very similar pitching numbers at Coors Field and their own home park this week. Here are the pitching numbers for the Angels and Dodgers during the last week against Seattle. The Angels played these games at home, while the Dodgers played them in Seattle.

Team and opponent	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA	IR	IS	SB	CS	GDP
Angels vs. Seattle	27.0	27	17	15	13	20	3	5.00	5	40%	1	1	0
Dodgers vs. Seattle	26.0	17	6	6	11	33	2	2.08	4	0%	1	1	0

Such a peculiar week it's been for the Dodgers. They began their road trip looking dead in Colorado because they didn't hit. But their pitching there, on the whole, was very effective. Then, the Dodgers received, perhaps, exactly what they needed. It seems like they've been playing the same teams and in the same places for two months. Suddenly, they fly across the country to Philadelphia and sweep four games, taking three of them by one run and allowing a total of 12 runs in the series. Next, they fly back across the country to Seattle and play the very next day. So, the Mariners threw a no-hitter at them. But the Angels, who had just played Seattle, beat into the Mariners bullpen a little bit. When the Mariners needed five relievers to protect a 1-0 win in the no-hitter, their pen had little left for the next two games against the Dodgers, who scored eight runs in each of them. In the first of those games, the Dodgers smashed left hander Jason Vargas for five runs in six innings using a lineup that alternated left- and right-handed hitters throughout. The same general lineup enabled the Dodgers to chase Philadelphia lefty Cole Hamels in an 8-3 win two days earlier. So, in the midst of their travels, the Dodgers might have discovered a lineup mix that can solve their troubles against left handers.

Meanwhile, pitching at home against a fairly light hitting Seattle club in a pitchers park, the Angels racked up a 5.00 ERA as they lost two of three to the last-place team in their own division. When the Angels were going badly, we were able to credit their pitching for keeping them in games. Now that they're going well, though, their hitting is terrific and their pitching takes them out of games. In this mix of Seattle games, the Angels got one dreadful start from Ervin Santana and a bad start from Jerome Williams. Despite scoring 21 runs in the three games, the Angels lost two of them.

Playing Monday through Wednesday at pitcher-friendly Dodger Stadium, the Angels do not have hot pitching, but the Dodgers do. However, the Angels have hot hitting and the Dodgers don't. They say that good pitching beats good hitting. How does hot pitching do against hot hitting? Maybe, we're about to find out.

Through Act One, Dodgers set up nicely

Right at about one-fifth into the 2012 season, the Dodgers are right where they want to be, leading the NL West. Whether they stay there will depend quite a lot on the next three weeks, which will be played almost entirely at Dodger Stadium.

Matt Kemp, who hit this game-winning homer against the Washington Nationals, is the main reason the Dodgers are set up well through one-third of the season (photo courtesy of Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers).

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

By this old baseball reporter's reckoning, the pennant race begins when every club across the major leagues has reached double figures in wins and losses. That's when the baseball standings really look, for the first time, like baseball standings. It generally happens about 20 percent into the season, which is very near the point to which we have arrived in 2012.

Up to that point, the season is like the time trials at the Indy 500, in which teams fight for starting position. We might also think of the season up to this point as the first act of a three-act drama. In the first act, we are introduced to the characters. In the long second act, which begins about now, we see the conflicts and tensions of the plot thickening. In the third act, the September playoff races, the tensions resolve into the outcome.

We haven't quite reached that second act, yet, because there's still one club straggling to reach double figures in victories. The Minnesota Twins have only eight wins. Largely, that's because the Angels have been fattening up on the Twins, beating them in five of six meetings since April 29.

To be perfectly official and precise about all this, we probably should wait until the Twins have reached 10 wins before declaring the first act (or the time trials) complete. However, the American League standings show that its teams are so spaced apart right now that they wouldn't look any different if the Twins had two more wins. Nor do we expect that the standings will look any different when the Twins reach ten wins. When that happens, they still will be in last place.

On top of all that, the Angels and Dodgers both are off until Friday evening, which makes the next couple days as good as any for saying that we comfortably know who these teams are. So, we might say, as they will say on Memorial Day in Indianapolis, "Gentlemen, start your engines."

We’ll take the better news first, which means we're talking about the Dodgers right now. We'll get to the Angels on Friday or Saturday. By then, the Twins might be up to nine victories. As of the moment, the National League standings are in order.

All of the leading indicators for the Dodgers right now are good. Not great. Good. They are tied with St. Louis for the National League's best record at 20-11 and they hold a five-game lead over San Francisco in the NL West, which is the largest lead for any division leader.

The Dodgers have been in every game this year except for a 12-0 blowout loss at Houston on April 22. Though half of the Dodgers games are one-run games, they have not been especially reliant on winning them. They are 9-6 in one-run games, meaning they are 11-5 in games decided by more than one run. Good sign. They are putting up a nice share of solid victories. A team that lives too much off winning one-run games is in permanent danger of losing them. It is, of course, dangerous merely to be in so many one-run games. However, it's better to be in a lot of 3-2 games, like the Dodgers, than to be in a lot of 6-5 games because it's easier to improve a batting lineup than to improve a pitching staff. The Dodgers have a lot of players on hand already who can, and should, hit better than they are.

One might think the Dodgers should have beefed up their offensive numbers in their last nine games, during which they played in home run parks Coors Field and Wrigley Field, then played the error prone San Francisco Giants. But the Dodgers are going to have games when they don't swing the bat well no matter whom or where they play. So, in those nine games, they scored 42 runs, which isn't all that great, everything considered. They scored three runs or fewer in three of them, all of which they lost.

All together this year, the Dodgers are scoring 4.23 runs per game, fifth in the NL. They are an outstanding 15-4 when they score four or more runs and a very impressive 5-7 when they score three runs or fewer. This club always gives itself a chance to win.

The pitching staff did take some beatings at Coors and Wrigley. During one four-game stretch at those parks, the Dodgers allowed 25 runs. However, in their last five games, one trip through the rotation, the Dodgers allowed only ten runs. They still lost two of those five games.

That's the Dodgers. They are so reliant on two hitters -- Matt Kemp (12/27/.385/.469/.780) and Andre Ethier (6/30/.284/.534/.888) -- that when those two guys don't hit, they will usually struggle to win no matter how good their pitching is. At the same time, their pitching and defense are so solid that they still have a chance in those games.

Kemp and Ethier are third and first, respectively, in the National League RBI race, even though the three hitters coming up before them include the pitcher and a leadoff hitter (Dee Gordon) with a .268 on-base percentage. But the No. 2 hitter, Mark Ellis, pitches in with a .377 on-base percentage, 16th in the NL. With Kemp and Ethier immediately following, Ellis is as likely as not to score when he reaches base. He has done so 21 out of 43 times.

Here's an indication of how weak the Dodgers have been in the bottom half of their order. Their No. 8 hitter, catcher A.J. Ellis, has 25 starts with a .303 batting average and a .927 OPS. He's batting .348 with runners in scoring position. And he still has only 11 RBI. Philadelphia second baseman Freddy Galvis has a .577 OPS and he has 11 RBI batting eighth in that lineup.

We shouldn't be too surprised to see Ellis move up in the order, placing him closer to the mix with more productive bats. The only problem is that it's great to have a No. 8 hitter who knows how to reach base with two outs and get the pitcher out of the way so the next inning can start with the top of the order. With two out and the bases empty this year, according to baseball-reference.com, Ellis has a .467 on-base percentage in 15 plate appearances. About as often as not, he keeps a dead inning alive for long to spare the next one.

As far as starting pitching goes, the Dodgers are strong, but Washington, St. Louis, Miami, Philadelphia and San Francisco are as good or better. The Dodgers are third in starting pitcher ERA across the NL at 2.95, behind the Nationals (2.26) and the Cardinals (2.82). The Dodgers' overall staff ERA is 3.27, tied with Cincinnati for fourth in the NL.

The three Dodger left-handed starters -- Clayton Kershaw, Ted Lilly and Chris Capuano -- have been just about everything you would want. However, the home run ball is hurting Kershaw. During his Cy Young 2011 season, Kershaw allowed 15 homers in 233.1 innings. At his present 2012 rate, he would allow 25 homers in those same innings.

Right hander Chad Billingsley has been good more often than not, and righty Aaron Harang eeks out an acceptable start about half the time (We use "acceptable" rather than "quality" start.).

Wednesday night, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly pinch hit for Billingsley in the fourth inning, and it wasn't just because the bases were loaded and the Dodgers trailed, 2-1. Billingsley couldn't find the plate and threw 85 pitches through four innings. As Mattingly told reporters, Billingsley had only one inning left, anyway, so, "It was a no-brainer." Pinch hitter Tony Gwynn made it an act of genius, tripling to right field and clearing the bases to charge a 6-2 win against the Giants at Dodger Stadium.

We talked about the bullpen a bit a couple days ago. It remains to be seen if Kenley Jansen will make it as a closer. One concern is that the Dodgers don't have a left-handed reliever who can be counted upon to enter in the seventh or eighth inning and retire a tough left-handed hitter. The only lefty in their pen, Scott Elbert, isn't doing the job. Left-handed batters are seven-for-16 (.438) with a homer and a 1.214 OPS against him this year.

Defensively, this is a pretty nice ball club. Gordon is a bit of a circus at shortstop, for good and ill, and that's about the worst that can be said about the whole operation. It seems as though James Loney will never again hit like when he came up in 2006 and 2007, but his glove work at first base is so strong that you love seeing him out there. And wherever you put Jerry Hairston, he makes a really sharp play. He might be the team's best defender.

Behind the plate, A.J. Ellis is death to opposing runners, throwing out 10 of 22 attempting base stealers (45.5 percent), fourth in the league. Ellis has allowed more passed balls (four) than any other catcher in the NL. But adding together offense and defense, Ellis is right with Philadelphia's Carlos Ruiz as the NL's best catcher at this moment.

The Dodgers have made 17 errors, tied for second fewest in the NL with Philadelphia and Cincinnati and trailing only St. Louis, which has 14. The Dodgers have the fourth best unearned run average across the NL at 0.21 per game, behind St. Louis (0.12), Milwaukee (0.18) and Atlanta (0.19). The league average is 0.36. So, when the Dodger fielders do kick the ball, the pitchers are picking them up. In defensive efficiency, the Dodgers are third in the NL at .713, behind only Washington (.724) and Chicago (.722). The league average is .693. The Dodgers are doing a lot right defensively.

It's a little harder to say that about their base running. The derring-do that made so many thrills during the first ten games of the season turned into outs when the Dodgers started playing against better clubs. Once those dashes for the extra base became outs, the Dodgers dialed it back a bit, Now it seems sometimes like they don't run enough, and sometimes it seems like too much. A lot of that's in the results.

The Dodgers have been caught stealing 14 times, the most in the league, and they have only 20 steals, which is one less than the league average. The percentages say you need a 75-percent success rate to make base stealing worthwhile. The Dodgers lag well behind at 58.8 percent. Gordon has taken half of the club's base stealing attempts, succeeding 12 of 17 times.

The bench is not bad, but it could be better. Juan Rivera began the year as the regular left fielder, but Mattingly has since taken to platooning him a bit at first base, which puts his bat in the lineup against lefties while removing Loney’s bat against them. Now, left field is something of a catch-all for rotating various reserves into the lineup once or twice per week to keep them sharp. Not a bad idea.

Gwynn has taken a lot of starts there lately, but Bobby Abreu, acquired recently from the Angels, seems to have a new lease on life at Dodger Stadium, where he has made a couple starts in left field this week. The Dodgers have two 36-year-old benchers, catcher Matt Treanor and infielder Adam Kennedy, who struggle offensively.

Hairston also is 36 and he has not struggled offensively (.315/.403/.463). Plus, you can put a glove on him and send him anywhere. You probably don’t want to see him more than about 80 times per year because, the record shows, his best offensive seasons are about that long. But managers across baseball have been running him out there about 125 times per year for the last three seasons, likely because he brings so much presence of mind to the game that they just want to squeeze a little more out of him. Very nice player.

The Dodgers aren’t going to finish this season at their present .633 winning percentage, which would come to 102 or 103 wins. They just don’t have the depth going through their lineup or pitching staff. If all goes very well, they can approach 95 wins, and the guess here is that they would end around 92 or 93 wins. Obviously, they need to maintain their strong performance against the NL West. The Dodgers are 9-4 within the division, having played all those teams except the defending champions, the Arizona Diamondbacks. They play 59 of their remaining 131 games against division foes.

But they also need to remain good right now, while the getting is good. With their three games earlier this week against the Giants, the Dodgers began the most favorable stretch of their schedule. Through the end of May, they make only two road trips, and they are the shortest trips – two games at San Diego and three at Arizona. The rest of their games through May are at Dodger Stadium, where they are the best home team in the NL right now at 12-3. They are on all but a three-week home stand. Going through these next 20 games, it would behoove the Dodgers to win at least 14 of them and build a little bit of a cushion for a rainy day, because the schedule will become tougher.

Along with what we’ve seen already, though, there is other good news. First, no one else in the NL West is ten feet tall. The pitching that served Arizona so well last year has faltered. The Giants have to fight through injuries to Pablo Sandoval, Freddy Sanchez and Brian Wilson. The Rockies are flawed, and so are the Padres. The division is out there to be won. Also, the new owners make fans confident that the Dodgers can add a piece at the trade deadline, if they must.

Probably, they will have to. The players on hand are doing what they must, so far, to make that bold move a compelling possibility. And the possibilities don't end there. They might even include a pennant.

For new owners to matter, old bats must produce

The path to contention for the Dodgers is very simple. All they need is for Andre Ethier, James Loney and Juan Uribe to produce as they have in the past.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in LA

If Angelinos are so excited about the Magic Johnson group purchasing the Dodgers from Frank McCourt, it certainly wasn't obvious from the tiny crowds viewing the club's homecoming this week.

In exhibition performances Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers unveiled their new club, which is the same as their old club, while the Angels unveiled their old club plus Albert Pujols. A total of 36,999 attended the two exhibition games. In fairness, the whole sporting public of Los Angeles spent the two days obsessing over the true city rivalry of the moment, the Lakers and the Clippers at Staples Center Wednesday night for first place in the NBA's Pacific Division.

No one is obsessing about the Dodgers being in a division title fight this year unless at least two changes take place on the field.

First, the Arizona Diamondbacks pitching staff has to snap out of this dream. Last year, three kids -- Ian Kennedy, Daniel Hudson and Josh Collmenter -- came from just about nowhere and all threw strikes for the Diamondbacks. Arizona opponents scored only 662 runs in 2011, down from 836 in 2010. Thus, the Diamondbacks improved from 65 wins to 94 wins to take the National League West. Are these Arizona pitchers really that good?

Second, the Dodgers need for Andre Ethier, James Loney and Juan Uribe to be what the bubblegum card says they can be. If they can just hit to their career rates per 162 games, the Dodgers are dramatically improved.

For Ethier, that's 21 homers, 85 RBI, .291 average, .843 OPS. Last year, Ethier's numbers were 11-62-.291-.789.

For Loney, the 162-game average is 14-87-.288-.778. Last year, his numbers were 12-65-.288-.755.

For Uribe, the 162-game average is 19-76-.253-.721. Last year, Uribe went 4-28-.204-.557.

Are these Dodgers hitters really what 2011 says they are? The Dodgers paid that group a combined $18.7 million last year and, factoring in that Uribe missed a lot of time, the three produced at least 60 runs fewer than they should have. The Dodgers finished last season in the bottom half of the National League’s offenses, but they should have been a top-half offensive team. They need Ethier, Loney and Uribe to produce. They don’t need All-Star performances. Just average productivity. Their 2012 contracts will pay a combined $25.33 million.

That's your ball game. Loney is 28, Ethier is 30 and Uribe is 32. All are in their prime, or close. It's not like the Dodgers are asking codgers like Bobby Abreu (38), Torii Hunter (36) and Vernon Wells (33) to produce at their prime levels.

The Dodgers open their season Thursday night (4:05 p.m.) at San Diego. The incoming ownership group figures to add firepower in July, if the club is contending. So, the Dodgers won't merely go as far as their hitting takes them.

But they do need their hitting to get them to July, so the new ownership can make that difference.

As McCourt disappears, what of the Dodgers?

Frank McCourt, the villified owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, finally has agreed to sell the team. Now, Angelinos have their ball club back after avoiding Dodger Stadium in droves last season. This post first appeared on The Expo Line (www.theexpoline.com) on Nov. 2, 2011, and is re-posted here because this is where it belongs.

By BILL PETERSON
Big Leagues in Los Angeles

Among the various caveats to relocating in Los Angeles this summer, one of the most disturbing concerned a general lack of interest in the Dodgers, who, for decades, not only maintained one of this city's most respected and unifying institutions, but, more broadly, forged a championship eminence across the baseball world and advanced an ideal of American diversity as one of its most successful practitioners. No one with a pulse for this country's high purpose and its great game could deny any of that. Even the rivals knew it was true. This summer, though, one could feel it missing. The Dodgers, in this city's walk and imagination, were dead. Glad that's over.

The good news all along was that no one hated the Dodgers. They hated Frank McCourt, and still do. Just this morning, hours after Major League Baseball (MLB) announced that McCourt finally agreed to sell the club, one Los Angeles Times columnist said it would be decent of McCourt if he would just leave town. Chances are, he won't. He and his recently ex-wife bought a portfolio of pretty nice houses here, including the $27 million glass masterpiece in Malibu and the $19 million home right next door. They also bought $29 million worth of mansions in Brentwood, collateralized with the Dodgers, which they purchased with $421 million of almost entirely borrowed money.

Never has a club owner in any professional sport exploited the property so gluttonously as McCourt, and we include his ex-wife, Jamie, for some of the houses are in her name, she produced documents naming herself as a club co-owner and she will walk away from the marriage and the Dodgers with $130 million. It's understood that team owners commonly hide personal purchases on the company balance sheet, but leveraging $75 million in real estate against the club is quite guilding the lilly. We don't know a lot about the McCourts, nor would we want to, but we do know that when they have so thoroughly blown an opportunity such as owning the Dodgers, it speaks to a general lack of competence. Anyone with access to capital could have extracted a fortune from people needing to park their cars in Boston. And when two people like the McCourts have everything you would want and they're unhappy, there’s a chance that they are incapable of happiness, together or separately.

But Dodgers fans did not deserve to be unhappy and, heeding that, they decided to make the McCourts more unhappy. Dodger Stadium attendance fell 20 percent in 2011, costing the team $27 million, according to the Times. The fans didn't turn their backs on the Dodgers. They cured the Dodgers by bleeding them. A little primitive, perhaps, but it worked. They also had MLB Commissioner Bud Selig on their side, because he owed them one after allowing the lightly funded McCourt to buy the club in the first place. Selig exerted enormous pressure on McCourt this summer, first by appointing a trustee to run the club, then by rejecting a television contract for the Dodgers and forcing the club into bankruptcy. When Frank McCourt started lashing back at Selig and other club owners spoke openly in Selig's support, McCourt was finished.

MLB said the McCourts extracted $189 million from the Dodgers to finance their lifestyle. The lifestyle of Dodgers fans has not been likewise enriched during the last two seasons. Suddenly strapped for cash, the Dodgers spent $104 million on players in 2011, 12th among 30 big league clubs, according to USA Today. The problem isn't that a baseball club must spend $150 million to win. The problem is that the Dodgers should have no trouble spending $150 million. They've got the second largest city in America all to themselves (the Angels are a suburban club), and they don't even have to worry about an NFL team stealing the Sundays in September. They've got a great tradition and a beautiful stadium, even if it's a little run down lately.

But they don't have enough players. Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw aren't enough. By many measurements, Kemp was the National League's best offensive player in 2011, and, by every measurement, Kershaw was the league's best pitcher. It says volumes about those two players, and perhaps more about first-year manager Don Mattingly, that the Dodgers finished the season with more wins than losses, an 82-79 record, because this club had nothing, or next to it, at any other position. The next best player, Andre Ethier, wasn't even an average right fielder in 2011, which was his worst season. One could easily name a dozen major league right fielders who are better than Ethier right now. Dee Gordon is an exciting presence at shortstop, but he has a long way to go as an offensive player. First baseman James Loney batted .356 the last two months of the season, but it's hard to erase the memory of his weak stick all the way through July.

When a veteran hitter finds his stroke in September, that's not the wisdom of experience. It's the outcome of playing against rosters expanded to 40 players in September, which, except for the contenders, is a Class 4A season, spring training in the fall. The same goes for the Dodgers, generally. The Dodgers won 20 of their last 30 games, which means not that they put it together, but that the Class 4A talent they played with all season is better than the Class 4A talent to which other clubs resorted in September. It says something about the Dodgers' field management and clubhouse leadership that they fought to the finish, but it says nothing about the Dodgers having the resources to compete in 2012.

On the principle that your club should have at least a major league average starter, or its equivalent, at every position, the Dodgers would be smart to keep Kemp and Kershaw for sure. If you’re the patient sort, you can give Ethier and Loney another year to become what the talent says they are. Either way, the Dodgers have more serious problems. They desperately need to upgrade at catcher, second base, third base and left field. They could comfortably keep Gordon and pitchers Javy Guerra, Kenley Jansen and Chad Billingsley for their potential. They would be no worse off replacing the rest of it.

Perhaps, now, they can. MLB and McCourt are shopping the club. It will take a few months. When Newscorp decided to sell the club to McCourt in October 2003, it still took MLB nearly four months to approve the sale. We're not even close to that point right now. The next owner hasn't been identified, let alone approved. But if the commissioner's office, McCourt and a prospective pending owner can actually work together to some extent, it's conceivable that the Dodgers will be allowed to expand their payroll during the next few months. In large part, it will depend on how the commissioner assesses the sales outlook for the club.

Be sure of this: Selig understands, as well as any of us, that it's good for baseball if the Dodgers are good, and you know the players union is griping in the shadow because a franchise that should be driving up salaries isn't doing it. Then again, all the other club owners know that if the Dodgers are back in the game for free agents, it will raise the cost of players for everybody. So, it’s also conceivable that Dodgers fans are in for one more winter -- and summer -- of discontent, until a new owner who can make his own calls is firmly in place.

Something says, though, that the worst is over, that Chavez Ravine will buzz again in 2012. Something says that you won't have to explain yourself to your pals when you go to a Dodgers game next summer. Something says the Dodgers could be on their way to a comeback. That something is a brief announcement from the commissioner's office, dated on this day, Nov. 2, 2011: "The Los Angeles Dodgers and Major League Baseball announced that they have agreed to a court supervised process to sell the team and its attendant media rights in a manner designed to realize maximum value for the Dodgers and their owner, Frank McCourt. The Blackstone Group LP will manage the sale process."

It doesn't mean the Dodgers are back. But it means McCourt is gone. By some reckonings, that’s almost as good.