A Dodger Debut From A to Zeile

On the way to his first official day at his dream job, Todd Zeile drove his 3-year-old son, Garrett, to preschool.

Walked him inside. Listened to his teachers gush. Couldn’t do that in Baltimore or St. Louis or Philadelphia.

“I thought, ‘This is cool,’ ” Zeile said.

He then drove from his Santa Clarita home to Dodger Stadium through what could have been heavy morning traffic, but wasn’t.

“I know how to get around it,” Zeile said with a native’s smile.

Once at work, he walked to the on-deck circle, and then he heard somebody bellowing his name. Two old high school buddies were in the box seats.

What could he do? After seven years of hoping, he was finally among friends. He was back on the old block. Right there in the middle of the game, he waved.

Homecomings, as Zeile learned Tuesday, can be very nice if you think about it.

But very ugly if you think about it too much.

Which is what happened in the seventh inning of opening day, when the pressures of playing for his childhood team in his childhood town crystallized in two very adult fastballs from Curt Schilling.

One out, Philadelphia Phillies leading, 2-0, Schilling suddenly behaves like a human and throws seven consecutive balls while walking Mike Piazza and Eric Karros.

Up steps Zeile, former Hart High and UCLA standout, signed last winter for $9.5 million.

Rising fastball. A swing and a miss. Strike 1.

Cutting fastball. Swing and a nick. Grounder to second baseman Mickey Morandini, who starts an inning-ending double play.

Less than 12 hours earlier, while lying in bed, Zeile began thinking about this game and started kicking his covers.

Now he was kicking himself.

“That was a rally killer,” he said.

That was an afternoon killer. The Dodgers did not reach base again in a 3-0 loss that seemed to be about many things but was only about one.

It was not about the conditions, windy and chilly, which made Zeile wonder if he hadn’t signed with a different team.

“It was more like Candlestick Park out there,” he said.

It was not about Curt Schilling, who pitched brilliantly and would have beaten any other team in any other town.

It was about this:

The Dodgers have now lost eight consecutive games dating to last year, and have scored a total of 10 runs in those eight games, and signed Zeile to help fix that.

When he relaxes is when that will happen.

As Tuesday proved, that will take more than a game.

Which is fine, as long as he doesn’t pull a Darryl Strawberry and take three months.

Or an Eric Davis and take two years.

There’s something strange about Southland natives who return to play for the Dodgers. Somehow, all of those familiar faces and landmarks make them temporarily lose their way to first base.

“I’m just glad to have this first day behind us,” Zeile said.

He struggled for most of spring training before finishing with a homer and eight RBIs in 60 at-bats.

In his first Dodger plate appearance in the second inning Tuesday, with Karros on first after a walk, he hit a grounder to first.

In his second chance, he hit a nice fly ball to left field in the fifth inning but the wind steered it into Gregg Jefferies’ glove.

Then came Schilling’s cutter.

Zeile is an extremely patient hitter--no expression on his face or his swing--who suddenly became wild.

“I was a little bit more anxious,” he said. “I came out of my game plan.”

He admits it. The pitch he hit into two outs would have been Schilling’s ninth ball in his last 11 pitches. If only he had not hit it.

“I did him a favor,” Zeile said.

Some other day, perhaps, Zeile watches that pitch, watches the pitcher squirm, watches the next fastball sail too far across the middle, knocks it into the corner, ties the score.

The Dodgers are confident that day will be soon.

“He’s really a mature guy,” Brett Butler said. “Coming home is not something that seems like it will really bother him.”

To look at Zeile is to wonder if anything ever bothers him.

To watch him at the plate in the seventh inning Tuesday is to realize, well, something does.

“Today was the first day I’ve been nervous in quite a few years,” Zeile said. “But that will change. I’ll get used to it.”

Zeile was talking about going out with hometown friends the other night, something he could rarely do during the baseball season.

One of the guys was in a rotisserie league and was trying to draft him.

“But I was already gone by the time he wanted to take me,” Zeile said. “So I am not on his team.”

Then he smiled. This was good. Playing for one fantasy team is enough.