Dodger Season

By late Wednesday night, a season of Dodger baseball, such as it is, appeared to hang on Jim Tracy's shoulders. Postgame reflection in his office, where walls bear large photos of former managers, is Tracy's charm. He strips the socks from his calves, one eye on a late game on the television, and recounts the decisions of the previous three hours. If he had hit Olmedo Saenz in the eighth, what would Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa have done then?

Here is this year's list of 25 things I positively guarantee will happen with the Dodgers this season. If you will examine last year's list of predictions, you will note I hit every single one. It's a gift. 1. On opening day fans will marvel at the new high-definition screens, and then complain the concession lines are still too long. 2. Much to his surprise, Zack Greinke will discover he actually loves the media. 3. Guggenheim will announce it is buying AEG, two movie studios, the Los Angeles Times, two small South American countries, and build an NFL stadium in the Dodger Stadium parking lots.

The Dodgers, still numb from the reality that their season was abruptly over, sat on the bench Friday night and watched the Cincinnati Reds go wild. It was as if the Dodgers were trying to punish themselves, forcing one another to endure the pain of watching a team celebrate in all its glory. It's difficult to believe that in six days the Dodgers went from a team celebrating a National League West division title, believing it could be in the World Series, to being humiliated by the Reds.

  Join Times Dodgers writer Dylan Hernandez and Angels writer Mike DiGiovanna at 10:30 a.m. today for a live discussion of the Angels and Dodgers. Two big topics: The Angels are on the verge of trading Vernon Wells to the Yankees, while the Dodgers need to figure out what to do with Yasiel Puig. As Hernandez wrote this week about Puig: "Manager Don Mattingly has dropped hints in recent days that spring-training sensation Yasiel Puig could make the Dodgers ' opening-day roster as a reserve outfielder.

Well, another Dodger season is over at the All-Star break, two years in a row! Again, the Dodgers have used a patched-up ball club to attempt to win a divisional title. As a loyal Dodger fan, there is so much Dodger Blue this fan can bleed. I think that my veins have returned to their normal color--and will wait for football season to start. JEFF RHINE Temple City

EDITOR'S NOTE: These letters represent many of the best received by The Times in 1987, and reflect the leading issues and events discussed in Viewpoint during that period. Well, another Dodger season is over at the All-Star break two years in a row. Again, the Dodgers have used a patched-up ball club to attempt to win a divisional title. As a loyal Dodger fan, there is just so much Dodger blue this fan can bleed. I think that my veins have returned to their normal color--and will wait for football season to start.

Let the NFL be warned. Peter O'Malley is not fan-friendly. He is fan-unfriendly and fan-desperate. First the cheap seats were made available for Dodger season tickets. Then half-season tickets (with postseason privileges) were offered. Now a measly $150 deposit for next year's season tickets buys you postseason privileges for this year . I've been a season-ticket holder for three years. Now I'm told I can buy tickets to only one World Series game because there aren't enough tickets to go around.

I have listened to UCLA and USC games on the radio since 1943, but that has now ended since USC joined UCLA in having XTRA broadcast the games. One would have thought USC would have learned from UCLA that it is very hard to get XTRA on the radio and when you do, it is a very weak signal. But that is not all UCLA and USC have in common. It would never have happened except both schools have sorry excuses for athletic directors, which can be blamed on the president and chancellor of the respective schools.

Thud! That's the sound of Dodger "fans" jumping off the Blue bandwagon after they realized this team really wasn't as good as the hot start indicated. Francis Ma Buena Park To all you folks who jumped on the Dodger bandwagon while they were beating up on struggling West Division teams at or below .500, wait till they start playing the Cardinals, Braves, Marlins, Cubs, Astros and Reds. It won't be a pretty sight. And there won't be any World Series appearances as long as Jim Tracy's in charge.

Chan Ho Park, Terry Adams and James Baldwin all can file for free agency. Kevin Brown, Andy Ashby and Darren Dreifort all are coming off surgery. That's not to rule those pitchers out for next season. The Dodgers hope to sign two of the pending free agents, and they expect Brown and Ashby to be ready for spring training.

For openers, it is again the big, nasty, orange-and-back-clad San Francisco Giants. Also it should probably be mentioned, the World Series champion Giants. Major League Baseball announced the games and times for its opening week Thursday, with the Dodgers playing host to the Giants on April Fool's Day at 1 p.m. as part of a four-game package on ESPN. The official season opener comes the previous evening, MLB/ESPN selecting the Houston Astros' entrance into the American League at home on March 31 against state rival Texas Rangers at 5 p.m. The Dodgers-Giants game is the second of four games ESPN will broadcast on that Monday, the first being a 10 a.m. contest between the Red Sox and Yankees.

This one's not for everyone. There's not a whole lot that involves the Dodgers, and it's admittedly personal. But these moments come to us at some point, though clearly the perks of being a sportswriter make them much more common. The opportunity arrives in a flash, normally without warning, and if you don't act quickly is gone forever. This is about Brian Wilson. No, not the Giants' curious reliever. This is about Brian Wilson, Beach Boys legend. The moment occurred at the Dodgers' 2012 home opener against the Pirates on April 10. The Beach Boys, celebrating the start of the 50th anniversary tour, were to sing a song and the national anthem.

The Dodgers' opening-day payroll in 2013 could be double what it was last season, but the pricing structure for season tickets at Dodger Stadium doesn't appear to be changing significantly. Season-ticket prices for about 8,000 seats in the 56,000-seat ballpark will increase, but prices for more than 10,000 of them will go down. About 38,000 will remain the same. The price changes that occurred were largely the result of the reclassification of seats, according to David Siegel, the senior director of ticket sales.

Clayton Kershaw earned a major victory before he pitched eight masterful innings in a 5-1 win over the San Francisco Giants in the Dodgers' season finale Wednesday. Trainer Sue Falsone announced Kershaw wouldn't have to undergo surgery to repair his right hip. This month, Kershaw delayed one start and missed another because of pain in that hip. "He should have a regular off-season," Falsone said. Kershaw declined to talk about his hip, other than to say he hadn't been told by the medical staff that surgery was unnecessary.

Didn't mention in my feature on Jamey Wright , even if it is just sort of understood, but the right-hander said he hopes to return to the Dodgers next season. “I've always wanted to play here,” Wright said. “I thought I had an opportunity to come here in 2008 and it didn't work out. Ever since first coming here with the Rockies, there's something about being here, being in L.A., being in this city. It's something I've always want to get the opportunity to do.” Wright, 37, won a spot with the team during spring training , an experience he has now undergone with some club an amazing seven consecutive years.

The most popular dessert in Dodgers history is back, and cinnamon is the secret ingredient. The Cool-A-Coo, the ice cream sandwich that accompanied strikeouts by Fernando Valenzuela and home runs by Mike Piazza, returns to Dodger Stadium on Thursday. When Stan Kasten took over as the Dodgers' president May 1, he put the Cool-A-Coo revival at the top of his to-do list. He figured it would take a few weeks, not an entire summer. "We had to put Humpty Dumpty back together," Kasten said.

His future cloudy, Jim Tracy plans to get some sunshine today watching his son's football practice at Claremont High. The Dodger season is finally, mercifully over after a 3-1 loss to the San Diego Padres on Sunday at Petco Park. The Dodgers finished 71-91, their most losses since 1992. And their victory total represented a drop-off of 22 from last season, the steepest decline since 1991 and '92. The Padres (82-80) avoided becoming the first team to enter the playoffs without a winning record.

Unless the Valley Dodgers can raise about $7,000 by Monday it appears unlikely the team will participate in the National Baseball Congress World Series next month in Wichita, Kan., a club official said. All season, the semi-pro team has been enticing local ballplayers with alluring phrases such as "join our team, see the U.S.A," or even "help us win some games, win a free trip to Kansas." The promises were made in good faith.

SAN FRANCISCO - As the gravity of their 5-2 loss to the San Francisco Giants started to sink in, there was a noticeable change in rhetoric in the Dodgers clubhouse Friday night. Talk shifted from the division race to the wild-card race. "Getting there is what your goal is," outfielder Shane Victorino said. "Winning the division is your first goal, but if we don't win the division, it's about getting in the playoffs. " Josh Beckett agreed. "You want a chance," Beckett said.

SAN FRANCISCO - It was only three games, and more than two months remain in the regular season. But the Dodgers' three-game sweep of the San Francisco Giants, which concluded Sunday with Clayton Kershaw's five-hit shutout in a 4-0 victory at AT&T Park, felt significant. These wins felt like statements. They felt as if they might have changed the course of the season. The Dodgers won seven games on a 10-game trip that included visits to New York and St. Louis, but gained something far more significant than three games in the National League West standings, which now show them in a virtual first-place tie with the Giants.