Dodgers-Giants taunting? The skies have it

Henry Yu glanced nervously toward the sky. He had paid to taunt the Dodgers, for a plane to tow a banner above Dodger Stadium demeaning the home team, and the plane had not shown up at the appointed hour.

Turns out the skies were so crowded that Yu’s plane had to wait to enter the airspace above the stadium.

The storied Dodgers-Giants rivalry went aerial Thursday, with a touch of mutual provocation amid the Dodger blue sky.

“That is one thing they never did at the Polo Grounds or Ebbets Field,” Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said.

Photos: Dodgers home opener

The first plane appeared two hours before game time, towing this banner: “LA 5, SF 1, GO DODGERS.” That would be the total number of World Series championships for each team since moving from New York.

That also was the counterattack before the attack, the response to the widely publicized plans of Giants fans to conduct an aerial taunting campaign on opening day.

Yu’s plane followed shortly thereafter, with this banner: “DODGERS STILL SUCK, FROM SF CHAMP FANS.” Later came another plane, and another banner: “SF GIANTS 2010 CHAMPS, BEAT LA.”

Yu, who grew up in San Francisco but lives in Long Beach, attended Thursday’s game dressed in his Tim Lincecum jersey. He said he paid $1,050 to hire the plane, a small price for payback for all he has endured to root on his Giants at Dodger Stadium.

“I always got heckled about the fact the Giants had never won a World Series,” Yu said.

Photos: The Fernando Valenzuela years

The plane wars did not appear to attract much interest in the stands, in part because they were relatively invisible in comparison to the Goodyear blimp that hovered overhead, providing aerial camera shots for the ESPN broadcast while displaying this decidedly nonpartisan message to the fans below:

“ENJOY THE GAME.”

bill.shaikin@latimes.com

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