It’s Programming You Won’t See in October

In the visiting dugout sit the Dodgers, loaded with pitching, scraping for runs, engaged in a taut struggle for first place with the archrival Giants.

In the home dugout sit the Angels, under .500, closer to last place than first, stunned by the recent season-ending injury to their designated hitter.

In other words, Fox Sports Net today and Channel 9 Sunday will air summer reruns this weekend.

For the 43rd year running, there won’t be a Freeway Series in October.

Every now and then, local fans get their hopes up -- and how often are the Angels ever going to carry around the tag “defending World Series champions?” -- but the thought of an Angel-Dodger World Series remains the longest-running pipe dream in baseball. Give or take the thought of a White Sox-Cub World Series, which, let’s face it, has a chance only in some parallel universe where points are awarded for fans assaulting players.

The current plight of the Angels, though depressing in some regards, has nevertheless performed several valuable public services.

Lots of seats now empty and available on the Angel bandwagon.

Fewer appearances of the words “rally” and “monkey” in the local sports pages.

More fans are taking time to think about and appreciate the Angels’ ‘02 World Series triumph for what it was -- the most amazing team championship in sports history.

What about the Jets over the Colts in Super Bowl III, you say? If you had to win one football game to save your life, who would you rather start at quarterback, Joe Namath or Earl Morrall?

The Patriots over the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI? Security was so tight at that game that Mike Martz’s usual play chart was pulled and replaced with a single laminated sheet that read, “The Patriots know Marshall Faulk is the best player in football. Use him only as a decoy.”

The 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team over the Soviet Union? We had home-ice advantage.

The Angels won the World Series -- six words that, when arranged in that precise combination, continue to stop traffic and typists -- despite a four-decade tradition of misfortune, injury and death so mind-numbing, so soul-wrenching, even Red Sox fans used to shake their heads and say, “Man, that is one wicked curse.”

The Angels won the World Series with sales tags still attached, unwanted by Disney, which thought it saw a more promising future in California Adventure. They won despite being outspent by $70 million by the New York Yankees. They won despite being overlooked and ignored by the rest of the country, up to and including the final out of a sparsely watched World Series.

This is Angel history in a nutshell: At 43, they are the oldest major league franchise without a hall-of-fame plaque bearing the team’s logo. The Angels have rented numerous Hall of Famers, so many that in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Anaheim Stadium resembled a way station for Cooperstown-bound codgers. But no one has yet entered the Baseball Hall of Fame as an Angel, and the still-reigning champs are conspicuously short of candidates.

Troy Percival? Too many injuries.

Troy Glaus? Too early to project.

Garret Anderson? Maybe.

Anderson, who turns 31 Tuesday, recently and quietly logged his 1,500th hit. He’s on track for 3,000, which would make him a Hall-worthy Angel.

Barring, of course, any traditional Angel malady, such as the career-shortening injury or the panicked trade to pick up some pitching help that will help only until the career-shortening injury strikes.

Also available for viewing this weekend:

TODAY

* Wimbledon

(Channel 4, 9 a.m.)

The tennis so far has been less than spellbinding, but the other day on the BBC, John McEnroe chided Greg Rusedski for embarrassing himself during an on-court temper tantrum.

McEnroe moves over to NBC today. So there’s always the chance of hearing something you thought you’d never live long enough to hear.

* Oakland A’s at San Francisco Giants

(Channel 11, 1 p.m.)

ESPN showed the auctioning of Barry Bonds’ 73rd home run ball, which sounded like way too much of a dull thing, but that was until the final results were in. The winning bid was $450,000 -- not even close to the $3.2 million spent on Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball.

That means the two greedheads who laid claim to the ball will barely break even after court costs.

And Bonds wasn’t happy, dismissing reporters looking for his reaction with a terse, “Don’t come over. I saw it.”

A win-win, in other words.

SUNDAY

* FIFA Confederations Cup Final

(Channel 34, Noon)

Would the NFL postpone a playoff game if one team’s starting running back died three days before the scheduled kickoff? That was what confronted FIFA officials when Cameroon’s star midfielder, Marc-Vivien Foe, died after collapsing on the field during his team’s semifinal victory over Colombia on Thursday.

FIFA opted to play on, so it will be Cameroon against France for the championship, despite the misgivings of several French players, who don’t believe the match’s timing is appropriate.

Cameroon captain Rigobert Song told Reuters he and his teammates “will pull ourselves together. We will try to win in memory of Marco.”

* SportsCentury: Roy Campanella

(ESPN Classic, 11 a.m.)

Once there was a time when outstanding Dodger catchers did their jobs, day in and day out, and were rewarded accordingly with starting spots in the All-Star game. As opposed to now, when Paul Lo Duca is batting .324 after hitting safely in 25 consecutive games and trails Javy Lopez, Ivan Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, Benito Santiago and Mike Matheny in the National League’s All-Star voting.