This Might Be About Coolest Rivalry Going

You want a rivalry? Go to New York. The Yankees and the Mets, that’s a rivalry.

“From the first pitch of the series, on every single pitch, people are cheering or booing. Every single pitch,” Dodger catcher Todd Hundley said. “It’s the most intense series I’ve ever been a part of.”

You want a rivalry? Go to San Francisco. The Dodgers and the Giants, that’s a rivalry.

“I remember my first year with the Dodgers, going to San Francisco for the first time and seeing 10,000 fans out for batting practice just to boo you,” Angel pitcher Tim Belcher said. “That’s when you realize you’re in a good rivalry.”

The Dodgers face the Angels tonight at Edison Field, the start of the fourth season of interleague play. Fans will cheer, often for the Dodgers, in the Angels’ ballpark. Few will boo. Everyone will enjoy the postgame fireworks show.

What kind of rivalry is this?

“I wish there was more of a rivalry, quite honestly,” Dodger Chairman Bob Daly said. “I don’t really think the Angel fans feel all that passionate against the Dodgers. I don’t think the Dodger fans feel all that passionate against the Angels.”

Major league officials plan to shuffle the interleague schedule next year so that the Dodgers and Angels will play teams outside the American League West and National League West, respectively. Finally, Dodger fans might see Cal Ripken, and Angel fans might see Sammy Sosa.

“There are some wonderful ballplayers you never get to see in person,” Daly said. “I’d love to see the Yankees play here. I’d love to see Boston and Cleveland play here.”

Daly insists he wants to play the Angels every year, and the Dodgers will. Major league officials vow to retain the geographic rivalries of interleague play.

That’s terrific, for the Yankees and Mets. But why legislate a rivalry in Southern California?

For one, money. The Angels would scream if the Dodgers no longer played in Anaheim.

The Angels sold out three games last season--two against the Dodgers, one against Ken Griffey Jr. and the Seattle Mariners. The Angels anticipate a sellout tonight. In the old, cavernous Anaheim Stadium, the Angels drew 11 crowds of 55,000 or more for exhibition games against the Dodgers.

“I understand they want us to play L.A. from an attendance standpoint,” Angel pitcher Troy Percival said, “but what difference can three days make? I guarantee you if Atlanta came here, we’d fill the place.”

Even in front of sellout crowds, Hundley said, “there’s no comparison” between the intensity of interleague games in New York and Southern California.

“Obviously, it’s great for the fans in Southern California,” he said, “but we don’t look at the Angels as rivals.”

Under one radical realignment plan, with little support, the Dodgers and Angels would play in the same division. Until then, however . . .

“It’s not like we’re playing them 12 times a year, so what kind of rivalry is that? And we don’t play in September, when games really matter,” Angel outfielder Garret Anderson said. “I would get up more to play a team in our division.”

The Dodgers colonized Southern California--including Orange County--for baseball when they moved from Brooklyn in 1958. The Angels were born in 1961 and did not move to Anaheim until 1966.

The Dodgers attract three million fans every year, sure as Tom Lasorda bleeding blue and Vin Scully inviting listeners to pull up a chair. The Angels never have drawn three million.

The Dodgers have played, and won, in October. If the Angels don’t collapse in September, they collapse in October. Their next World Series appearance will be their first. The Dodgers’ next appearance will be their eighth in L.A.

“I don’t think there are too many moments between the Dodgers and Angels that are historic in any way,” Daly said.

“It’s not like they’re knocking us out of the pennant in any given year, like we’ve done with the Giants or the Giants have done with us.”

Winning would help, on both sides. The Yankees and Mets both advanced to the playoffs last year. The Dodgers and Angels never have qualified for postseason play in the same season, and neither club has appeared in the playoffs since the start of interleague play.

“I think you can create the rivalry, but both clubs have to be strong,” Dodger President Bob Graziano said.

Daly said he wants to energize the rivalry and said he has encouraged General Manager Kevin Malone to explore trades with the Angels. The teams have not made a major trade since 1972, a swap that sent Andy Messersmith and Ken McMullen to the Dodgers and Frank Robinson, Bill Singer and Bobby Valentine to the Angels.

The Dodgers have floated the concept of a trophy or challenge cup, awarded to the winner of the Dodger-Angel series each year. That concept, Graziano said, could be expanded to a “California Cup” that included the Giants, Oakland A’s and San Diego Padres.

Daly also said he has talked with Disney Chairman Michael Eisner about ways to spark the Dodger-Angel rivalry. Eisner did his best last year, playfully tossing a dart at the Dodgers in spring training.

“They’re the lesser team in the market,” Eisner said then. “They’re just going to have to deal with that.”

If Eisner intended to stir up the fans, his remarks were brilliant. Fans rushed to call talk shows and write letters to sports sections, some defending Eisner and some disparaging him. Then the season started, both teams flopped, and no one much cared any more.

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Times staff writer Mike DiGiovanna contributed to this story.