Quote Unquote : It Has Been a Season of Contradictions for the Dodgers and Angels

They believed. I believed. Maybe you believed.

Of all the questions concerning the most nationally embarrassing baseball season in Southland history, one has yet to be properly answered.

It is not, how could our teams be so bad?

It is, how could they be so wrong?

The Dodgers and Angels spent the spring doing more preaching than playing. Their most exciting action was not on the field, but in the media.

Kevin Brown, Mo Vaughn, breaking jinxes, returning to glory, step right up for an honest-to-goodness Freeway Series.

It was fun. It was inspiring. It worked. The Lakers were slipping. UCLA basketball was sliding. You listen closest to what you need to hear.

By opening day, many folks were buying.

Sadly, it turns out, that did not include the guys who were selling.

How could they be so wrong?

It was as if they were playing a game of chicken with our psyches.

Now it’s time for the egg. . . .

*

“They can’t forget us now because they know the Dodgers are back.”

--Kevin Malone, Feb. 18

“Yes, we did inherit some situations that we’re still trying to fix.”

--Malone, Aug. 23

*

“People talk about me bringing an intensity to the team. This team is already intense. We have enough talent to make the playoffs.”

--Mo Vaughn, Feb. 24 edition of the Times

“You call that a [expletive] team?”

--Vaughn, Sept. 1

*

“If everybody just does their jobs and plays together, we should be all right.”

--Gary Sheffield, April 3

“I know what it takes to win in the playoffs, and this team doesn’t have close to what it takes to even think about that.”

--Sheffield, Aug. 5

*

“This is a good place to be.”

--Terry Collins, Feb. 23

“Hopefully, this is a bad dream we can all forget.”

--Collins, Sept. 3

*

“This is a veteran team with a lot of proven guys, guys who are all-stars, but nobody was acting like they were too good too work.”

--Eric Young, April 4

“I play when other guys around here would take days off.”

--Young, July 24

*

“It’s no longer, ‘If everything falls into place and we stay healthy, we have a chance to win.’ It’s, ‘Bang, these guys are front-runners.’ ”

--Gary DiSarcina, Nov. 19

“We’re pretty much embarrassed and ashamed.”

--DiSarcina, Sept. 4

*

“[Todd Hundley] is back, even better than he was. Do you know how monumental this trade is for us?”

--Rick Dempsey, Dec. 1

“These fans here can boo pretty good.”

--Hundley, June 10

*

“We’re here to help, support and encourage Raul [Mondesi] in any way he needs.”

--Malone, Aug. 3

“[Expletive] Malone.”

--Mondesi, Aug. 11

*

“We can’t start saying, ‘Here we go again, here we go again.’ I am not going to let that happen.”

--Collins, Feb. 22

“I tried everything I know--I patted them on the back, kicked them in the butt, everything. I gave it all I had, and it wasn’t enough.”

--Collins, Sept. 3

*

“I love Mondy.”

--Davey Johnson, June 29

“[Expletive] Davey.”

--Mondesi, Aug. 11

*

“[Carlos Perez] is a quality left-handed starter.”

--Malone, Jan. 15

“It’s no fun being in the minors.”

--Perez, July 28

*

“We’re gonna have a great team, and we’re going to be there at the end of the year, regardless of who’s on the field.”

--Darin Erstad, April 21

“We have a soft team.”

--Erstad, July 21

*

“We needed to make a move quickly to get a player of this [Devon White’s] ability. . . . He’s a proven winner.”

--Malone, Nov. 6

“Don’t use me as the scapegoat. . . . Why ever sign me if they didn’t think I could play?”

--White, Sept. 3

*

“This club has really come together under Davey and his staff. They’ve been able to unite the team and get everyone on the same page.”

--Malone, March 31

“We have to get everyone on the same page.”

--Malone, July 24

*

“We try to be real careful about the guys we go after.”

--Bill Bavasi, Dec. 18

“They quit on somebody.”

--Bavasi, Sept. 3

*

“I walked into chilly, wind-whipped Dodger Stadium Monday . . . and there sat Eric Karros. As comforting as blue and white.”

--Bill Plaschke, Feb. 19 edition of the Times

“If the Dodgers believe they can substantially improve by trading Karros, they need to do it, quickly, for his sake and ours.”

--Plaschke, June 28 edition

*

“Given the teamwork ethic instilled by Collins and Larry Bowa, the Angels are not the sort who can easily accept someone who openly looks at this as a business.”

--Plaschke, Dec. 1 edition

“The Angels . . . don’t have the type of players to win.”

--Plaschke, June 23 edition

*

“Rauuuuuul!”

--Dodger fans, April 5

“Booooooo!”

--Dodger fans, Aug. 13 to present

*

Bill Plaschke can be reached at his e-mail address: bill.plaschke@latimes.com.