Forget NFL, Coliseum Almost Got Baseball

The Dodgers back in the L.A. Coliseum?

They were thinking about it, for what would have been a memorable night.

To a generation of sports fans raised in Los Angeles in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, the Coliseum was a football field of baseball dreams.

When the Dodgers first came to Los Angeles in 1958, they used the Coliseum for four years until Dodger Stadium was ready. The New York Yankees played there, in a 1959 exhibition game and in the 1963 World Series.

And the Dodgers, intrigued by the idea of creating an evening of nostalgia, wanted to play the Yankees there once next weekend when New York comes to Los Angeles for two exhibition games.

“But it just wasn’t economically feasible,” Dodger President Bob Graziano said.

The problem was that the stadium has changed so much since the days when the Dodgers roamed its field. The removal of the running track and the addition of seats made the dimensions, already awkward for baseball, even more unusable.

So it will have to remain a field of dreams.

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In beating the Atlanta Braves on Sunday at Holman Stadium in Vero Beach, Fla., 3-2, the Dodgers got a strong pitching performance from Ismael Valdes, who gave up two runs in seven innings. He struck out six and didn’t walk a batter. . . . Pedro Borbon, bidding for a bullpen spot, pitched a scoreless inning, striking out two, and closer Jeff Shaw collected his second save by pitching the ninth. . . . Catcher Todd Hundley, who tested his reconstructed elbow Friday with his first two innings behind the plate this spring, bounced back strongly with five more innings Sunday. . . . Third baseman Adrian Beltre got three hits in as many at-bats and also contributed two impressive fielding plays.

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The most impressive blow of the afternoon was struck by Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones, who smashed a 0-and-1 fastball from Valdes in the first inning over the screen in center field, the ball landing more than 450 feet from home plate.

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Dodger reliever Antonio Osuna, recovering from off-season elbow surgery, threw 10 minutes of batting practice Sunday at what he estimated to be 95% of full strength.

He is expected to get into a game by Tuesday, but still figures to begin the season on the disabled list.