Dodgers Deal With the Heat

It’s on.

The facade of civility between the two local baseball teams cracked a bit Sunday. The Dodgers and Angels were one more nasty remark from coming to blows. Mike Scioscia, the long-beloved Dodger catcher and now the Angel manager, was ejected and booed off the field he called home for 13 years. The rematch: June 28-30 at Edison Field.

The standings did not change over the weekend, but the temperature of the rivalry may have. The Dodgers beat the Angels on Sunday, 5-4, so the Dodgers remained one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West and the Angels one behind the Seattle Mariners in the AL West.

And when the Angels’ Dennis Cook hit the Dodgers’ Shawn Green with a pitch Sunday, angering the Dodger players and a sellout crowd of 52,183 at Dodger Stadium and triggering a bench-clearing gathering on the field, the seeds of a bitter rivalry may have been planted.

The Angels messed with Green, and at least some of the Dodgers didn’t want to hear explanations, not after Green hit two home runs Friday, two more Saturday and two doubles Sunday.

The Dodgers had rallied from a 4-1 deficit, tying the score in the sixth inning on back-to-back home runs from Eric Karros and Marquis Grissom. In the seventh, after Mark Grudzielanek singled home what would become the winning run off embattled Angel reliever Al Levine, Cook took the mound.

Cook’s first pitch to Green hit Green in the back, and the two men glared at each other. As Green walked to first base, Cook walked toward him, to offer an apology.

Said Green: “By walking over there, I thought he wanted to start something.”The Dodger right fielder later acknowledged that Cook “probably” didn’t throw at him intentionally, but the Dodgers were suspicious enough, what with the Angels seemingly unable to confine Green to first base any other way and with Cook using a sidearm delivery the Dodgers swore they had never seen from him.

“It was a very interesting arm angle from Dennis Cook,” Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said.

Said Karros, of his former Dodger teammate Cook: “I’ve never seen him drop down like that, never.”

Cook denied any intent to hit Green, saying: “Whatever they think over there, they can think. But I’ve never hit a guy for doing his job, and I never will.”

Scioscia, who said, “There was obviously no intent,” soon had his own troubles. After Cook approached Green, and the two started yelling at each other, the benches and bullpens emptied, for a round of shoving and hollering.

“When you start walking in the direction of one of our players, we’re not going to sit there and watch,” Tracy said.

Order was quickly restored, and Cook returned to the mound. According to Scioscia, several Dodger players resumed heckling Cook, who told them to go back to the dugout.

“All of a sudden, two umpires are jumping in Dennis’ face,” Scioscia said. “I had a problem with that, and I let them know.”

Scioscia told the umpires they should tell the Dodgers to shut up. Instead, home plate umpire Gary Darling ejected Scioscia, the first ejection for the Angel manager this season.

“Scioscia was telling me how to do my job,” Darling said.

That no players were ejected, or subject to suspension, was a relief to both teams. The Angels stumbled to a 6-14 start this season, in part because infielders Scott Spiezio and Troy Glaus were suspended for a total of seven games because of a spring training brawl with the San Diego Padres.

Three years ago, when the Dodgers’ Chan Ho Park delivered a karate-style kick to the Angels’ Tim Belcher, a heated rivalry did not ensue.

This time?

Check back in two weeks.

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*--* What a Difference a Year Makes NL WEST AFTER DODGERS’ FIRST 68 GAMES IN 2001 2002 W L GB W L GB Arizona 41 27 -- Arizo 42 26 -- na Dodgers 37 31 4 Dodge 41 27 1 rs San Fran 36 32 5 San 38 29 3 1/2 Fran Colorado 35 32 5 1/2 Color 33 36 9 1/2 ado San Diego 30 38 11 San 30 39 12 1/2 Diego

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*--* AL WEST AFTER ANGELS’ FIRST 66 GAMES IN 2001 2002 W L GB W L GB Seattle 52 14 -- Seattle 41 27 -- Angels 32 34 20 Angels 39 27 1 Oakland 32 34 20 Oakland 37 31 4 Texas 23 43 29 Texas 27 40 13 1/2

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*--* Power Surge A comparison of statistics in the Dodgers’ last two interleague series with the Angels at Dodger Stadium: 2001 June 8-10 2002 June 14-16 At-Bats 104 97 Runs 7 19 Hits 25 27 Home Runs 1 10 Batting Avg 240 278 Strikeouts 20 22 Left on Base 26 13 Result Lost series, 2-1 Won series, 2-1

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