Angels Aren’t Scaring Anyone in New York

I’m sitting in Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant on Monday afternoon across from Central Park, talking up the Angels because no one else is here, and Celda, the bartender, tells me she’s from Santa Monica.

Now I’m celda here, of course, so I’m thinking to myself of all the gin joints in New York, just my luck, I’ve probably run into the only fan in town who doesn’t share my fascination with this Angel-Yankee series--especially after I’ve made fun of her name and tell her I celda do that.

“Not quite fascinating,” Celda says, and I hope that’s an olive she’s dropping into my drink, because I’ve heard stories about something called, “Ecstasy,” and since I’m married, I know I’m not supposed to experience anything like that.

“The Angels are just going to be another notch in the Yankees’ belt,” Celda says, and I wonder if every Dodger fan is rooting for the Yankees to beat the Angels, and make Anaheim fans feel as miserable as Dodger fans.

“I’m no Dodger fan,” Celda says, and loud enough so everyone in the restaurant can hear, and I’d imagine every October shouts like this can be heard most everywhere in the country: “I’m no Dodger fan.”

*

IN MY quest to understand the atmosphere that surrounds this Angel-Yankee series here, I remained at the bar for hours, which is a good tip for journalism students who want to work at a big paper some day--do your bar work.

At some point I think I remember speaking to Stefanie Colombatto, and asking where she was from and what her major was.

“I’m from Orange County,” Colombatto said, which probably meant Anaheim, because everyone I know who lives in Anaheim likes to tell people they live in Orange County, hoping they might think they really live in Newport Beach or San Clemente.

“I have no interest in the Angels,” she said, and while it made absolutely no difference to me that Colombatto was extremely attractive, I decided I’d sit there as long as it took for her to gain an interest in the Angels, because as we know, only a month ago no one in Orange County had any interest in the Angels.

“I don’t care about the Angels either and I’ve got a plane to catch back to L.A. in an hour,” said Gary Nickerson, and so I told him, “Goodbye.”

*

I WALKED around the restaurant hoping to find someone who might be concerned about the challenge the Angels pose to the Yankees, but there were reminders everywhere of the Yankees’ 26 World Series titles.

I made a note of a Mickey Mantle poster, however, that read: “Kids (8 to 80), Get Mickey Mantle’s Batting Secrets Free,” and will pass the address along to Adrian Beltre: Lifebuoy, Box 1443, New York 46, New York.

I noticed Duke Snider’s 1956 Dodger jersey, as well as other items from the world of football, basketball and boxing, but I couldn’t find anything in the room to suggest the Angels were even in business. Lots of mention of Mickey, but not one of the mouse.

“The Angels have that Little League-sized guy playing for them, don’t they?” Long Island’s Ed Simpson said. “How can they expect to beat the Yankees if they’re playing Little Leaguers?”

I said the Yankees aren’t playing the Dodgers, and Simpson’s friend said, “We’ve got Roger going for us in the opener,” and I said we got that guy who was falsely accused of some sexual thing going for us.

Simpson said, “The atmosphere in the stadium is just going to be electric.”

Our guys are used to that, I said. “They play in Edison Field.”

This was more like it, a little passion, some intensity and I promised everyone I’d be back Wednesday night and the drinks would be on sports editor Bill Dwyre if the Angels win the first two games. I thought it would be impossible, but I think I have some people rooting for the Angels now, and even liking Dwyre.

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IT WAS Fan Appreciation Day at Dodger Stadium on Sunday, and some fans left feeling downright unappreciated. The Dodgers started a lineup of minor league players who failed to score, and while they gave a new car away last year on the final day, this year they did not.

“I saw the Dodgers field a minor league team and I watched a boring game,” Michael Lewis said. “At the very least I thought there’d be a chance to win a decent prize in appreciation for suffering through this season, but they gave gas logs, Avenger tickets and other prizes I can’t remember. I really feel appreciated.”

Lonnie Wagman e-mailed to say, “This was an insult to the 3,331,000 fans who were loyal to this team through their tribulations. We were there to show appreciation to our team, where were they? We know they weren’t resting up for the postseason. And the so-called prizes were the worst; the booing was quite intense.”

Dodger vice president Derrick Hall, who is in charge of making things right or making them sound right, said, “We heard from a number of people who were really excited to see those young guys,” while admitting the team also heard from unhappy fans.

He said the team gave away around 100 prizes, “and this year,” he said, “we gave away more trips than ever before.”

In fact, the Dodgers provided the Giants with a nice trip to Atlanta to play the Braves in the first round of the playoffs.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes from the New York Times:

“The first Times’ Computer Ranking of 2002, has Notre Dame ranked as the No. 1 college football team in the nation.”

Unfortunately there are glitches in the machine: USC is ranked No. 2.

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com.