Chilly Reception to Murdoch’s Move

There were objections and outrage, anger and analysis, confusion and consternation, sadness and sympathy.

There was some understanding, but it was dwarfed by utter disbelief.

Oh, and Rupert Murdoch and his Fox Group lieutenants, who took over the Dodgers in March, needed to look somewhere besides their stadium Friday night for votes in anybody’s popularity contest.

Mike Piazza a Marlin? “I hope not,” said Kim Allen of Torrance, sitting behind third base, “because I don’t want to have to move to Florida. He brought me to baseball two years ago.”

She sat beside 6-year-old son John, who carried a scroll bearing Piazza’s image and just said, “No.”

They were next to the Curtises, 7-year-old Mark Jr., who wore a Piazza shirt and a look of anger, and Mark Sr., of Torrance, who was unhappy about the whole thing, but realistic.

“I think it might be a good deal because [Gary] Sheffield will even out the home runs, and Charles Johnson is a better defensive catcher than Mike,” Mark Sr. said. “And [Bobby] Bonilla and Todd Zeile cancel each other out at third base.”

Still, he wouldn’t have made the deal, even if the price of the $14 seats in which they were sitting was increased to pay Piazza $100 million on a seven-year contract.

“He’s worth every penny,” Mark Sr. said. “I was just afraid ‘Frisco was going to pay him. I still think ‘Frisco might pay him.”

Money is apparently no object for James Thomas of Pasadena.

“We love Mike Piazza. We want him here,” Thomas said. “He brings a lot of money to the organization. He brings a lot of fans. They keep trading away the good guys, trading them and losing them to free agency.

“Mike Piazza is OK. He brings out he best in fans at a game, gives them a good feeling and makes them want to come to a baseball game. I like him, and it just baffles me that he’s not going to be a Dodger.”

The reason for the deal involving Piazza and Zeile is simple enough, according to George and Ron Anderson of Paramount.

“It’s the almighty dollar,” said George. “This wouldn’t have happened if the O’Malleys still owned the club. They were like family.”

Son Ron agreed.

“It’s the business side,” he said. “It’s a numbers game, and it’s more Murdoch than anybody else.

“The timing just doesn’t make sense. . . . If it was the second half of the season, if it was July and you were eight or nine games out, maybe. But it’s early and you’re only seven games out. It doesn’t make sense.”

That the Dodgers have struggled of late was not lost on David Cooper of Moreno Valley, who had a culprit.

“I think it’s a good trade,” Cooper said. “With the atmosphere we’ve seen on the ballclub recently, I think they had to do something.

“I’m a Piazza fan, but I can just see the morale change in him going back to the end of last year. I don’t know if it’s money or what, but he doesn’t seem very happy, and I believe if a player isn’t happy, especially a player like Piazza, he has to move on.”

Son David Jr. seconded that motion.

“If he isn’t going to be a leader, if he isn’t going to be the one to lead them into battle, trade him.”

David Sr. also extolled the play of Sheffield, Johnson and Bonilla, and added about Jim Eisenreich, “If he can help us like he’s hurt us, then that’s great.”