Los Angeles, City of Angels? The Dodgers think not.
The Angels had their magical run to the 2002 World Series title, turning Edison Field and much of Southern California into a sea of red, but any hopes the Orange County upstarts had of knocking the Dodgers down to the No. 2 slot in the Southland baseball market have been wiped out by their disappointing first half of 2003.
And, just to be sure Southern California baseball fans were still thinking blue, the Dodgers returned to the forefront of the region's baseball consciousness with a first-half surge that had pushed them into a first-place tie with arch-rival San Francisco in the National League West, before a 2-0 victory Thursday enabled the Giants to leave town with a one-game lead.
When the Dodgers and Angels resume their Freeway Series rivalry tonight with the first of a three-game interleague set at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers' primary motivation will be to keep pace with or move ahead of the Giants in their division.
But there is added incentive for the Dodgers, who can reclaim some of the fans they lost last October and reaffirm their king-of-the-hill status in Southern California with a strong showing against the Angels this weekend and next, when the teams play three more games at Edison Field.
"I tip my hat to the Angels, they're the world champions, but it's a new year, and I think this is going to be our year," Dodger center fielder Dave Roberts said. "If there were some fans who wavered, who jumped ship or changed sides, we've got to find a way to get them back, and the only way to do that is to win."
For decades, the Angels looked longingly up the 5 Freeway, wishing they had the winning tradition and bedrock fan base of the Dodgers, the model franchise with six World Series championships, annual attendance in excess of 3 million and the legacy of Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Duke Snider and Jackie Robinson.
But this year, it is the Dodgers who are looking south with envy.
"They have something we want," Dodger catcher Paul Lo Duca said of the Angels. "Defending your title is always tough. They want to prove they're still the top team in Southern California, and they are until we knock them off."
Though some Dodger executives privately seethed at all the attention the Angels got last fall, and some players admitted it was tough to stomach watching the Angels win the World Series, the company line, for public consumption, was that the Dodgers were happy for the Angels.
