Arch Enemy

"I really wanted to throw a strike anyway because, I thought, symbolically the first pitch in Los Angeles should be a strike. I threw a fastball, got the strike, and then, with the next pitch, did a really good job of knocking Davenport down, his cap flying in one direction, his bat in the other. He got up, dusted himself off and, on the next pitch, singled off the screen in left field. I looked over at Alston in the dugout and he just shrugged."

Former Dodgers pitcher Don Newcombe, now the team's director of community relations, remembers a similar moment.

"I was told I had to throw at Willie Mays with my first pitch or it would cost me $50," Newcombe said. " 'I've got to throw that first pitch at you,' I warned him. 'That's OK,' Willie said, 'I can hit the second pitch.' "

The Giants had their own forms of retribution. San Francisco Manager Alvin Dark once ordered the area around first base watered so heavily that it nearly turned into mud in an effort to slow down Wills, the base-stealing king of his day.

The fans also got involved when the Giants called Candlestick Park home. To get to the clubhouse, the Dodgers had to walk down the right-field line. That enabled fans to shower them with everything from beer to batteries.

"Add the wind and the fog and the cold," Roseboro said, "and those nights up there were among the worst nights of your life."

Worst nights. Best nights. There were plenty of both when the Dodgers played the Giants.

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steve.springer@latimes.com

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Great moments in Dodgers-Giants history

The Dodgers and Giants have a long history of playing spoiler against one another. The most famous instance occurred in 1951, when Bobby Thomson hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of the deciding game of a three-game playoff, capping the 13 1/2 -game late-season comeback by the Giants that came to be known as the "Miracle of Coogan's Bluff." Some other late-season dramatics involving the two rivals:

1962: The Dodgers again found themselves in a playoff with the Giants, again leading in the ninth inning of the deciding game only to collapse. This one was painful in a different way. The Dodgers not only gave up four runs in that final inning at Dodger Stadium to lose 6-4, but right-hander Stan Williams walked in the go-ahead run and an error added an insurance run.

1982: With a chance to catch the Atlanta Braves by winning on the final day of the regular season, the Dodgers were beaten by the Giants at Candlestick Park on a three-run, seventh-inning homer by Joe Morgan.

1991: The Dodgers headed to San Francisco for the final weekend of the season tied with Atlanta. While the Braves were winning two out of three against the Houston Astros, the Dodgers lost two out of three to the Giants to finish a game back.

1993: The Dodgers, playing at home, eliminated the Giants from postseason play on the final day of the regular season.

2004: The Giants came into Dodger Stadium for a season-concluding three-game series needing a sweep to tie the Dodgers for the division title. After losing the first game, the Dodgers clinched first place by winning on a ninth-inning, walk-off grand slam by Steve Finley.

-- Steve Springer