Just call them the Valley Brewers

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I’m smelling a little conspiracy in major league baseball after the Milwaukee Brewers reached agreement to take away free-agent pitcher Randy Wolf from the Dodgers. That means Wolf, a 1994 graduate of Woodland Hills El Camino Real, will finally get to pitch with Jeff Suppan, a 1993 graduate of Encino Crespi. The two played in the West Hills Pony baseball league.

Add Ryan Braun, a Granada Hills grad, and you can see why they should be called the Valley Brewers. And they just signed catcher Gregg Zaun, a graduate of La Canada St. Francis. The Brewers’ owner, Mark Attanasio, hangs out in North Hollywood, where his son, Mike, is the starting point guard for the Harvard-Westlake basketball team.

And Harvard-Westlake baseball Coach Matt LaCour is a former El Camino Real coach who happens to allow Wolf to practice with his team each off-season. So put it all together, and I blame LaCour for taking away the Dodgers’ veteran pitcher.

‘I just conveyed the message Randy Wolf is a heck of a guy,’ LaCour said.

Of course, one of LaCour’s baseball parents last season was Dodgers owner Frank McCourt, whose son, Gavin, was one of Harvard-Westlake’s top players.

No more free Dodgers tickets for LaCour this coming season unless the Brewers are in town.

-- Eric Sondheimer