Once Again, Dodgers Are Caught Looking

Ginger Lewis and I noticed the same thing. The Dodgers, as a group, were sprawled out on the grass along the third base line before Saturday’s game, and although they were supposed to be stretching, they weren’t doing much of anything.

I suppose they couldn’t have been blamed if they had been scoreboard watching, with the Marlins’ and Phillies’ games posted on the right-field wall, but they were just lounging on the field until one by one they began to gawk at Lewis.

Lewis is a blond bombshell. To make sure I wasn’t overstating the obvious, I asked someone else who was staring at her, Derrick Hall, the Dodgers’ spokesman on all team matters. “She’s attractive,” Hall said, and if my count was correct, he repeated himself six times before moving on.

A little while later the Giants came out, fell to the ground along the first base line and immediately spotted the beauty -- proving which team has the better batting eye -- and began calling to her.

While the Dodgers just stared at Lewis like a group of eighth-grade boys lined up against the wall for a Saturday night dance, the Giants asked her to join them as they stretched, and she accepted. From up in the stands, whistles could be heard ... or maybe that was from the Dodger dugout -- I never really did see where Hall went.

“Never seen that before anywhere,” said Don Newcombe, the team’s director of community relations. “They wanted her to join them, and she went.”

Well, as we’ve learned this season, when the Giants set their sights on something, they get it.

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LEWIS, a country singer and yoga teacher, said she was surprised to see the Dodgers weren’t doing much to prepare for the Giants. She also said the gawking Dodgers were nowhere near as friendly as the Giants. The Giants not only invited her to walk among them as they stretched, they volunteered to give her their autographs. What nice guys.

“I was hoping she might jinx them,” said Lewis’ father, “or blind them.”

Lewis, the good daughter, had bid $1,800 for the benefit of charity to win “A Night with Don Newcombe at a Dodger Game” as a birthday present for her parents, Jim and Toni Corrick. Newcombe has done this 25 times this season, raising as much as $5,000 a bid for a night at the game, but this night was different.

“She’s a stunner, all right,” Newcombe said. “She got the players’ attention. Maybe we should make her bat girl, and see if that distracts the Giants.”

If it works, someone suggested, you should have thought of that back in April when it might have really mattered.

Of course, it didn’t work. For all we know Ginger Lewis inspired the Giants, which really makes you wonder now what it would take to inspire the Dodgers.

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THE DODGERS gave away noisemakers Saturday night, the kind Angels’ fans banged together last season, but these appeared to be silver and black. “Gray and black,” a Dodger team official said. I guess you’re supposed to “Think Gray & Black” from now on.

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I LOGGED onto the UCLA Web site and called up the list of coaches on Karl Dorrell’s staff to see who was in charge of special teams. I wasn’t surprised to find no one listed with those duties.

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THE GAME was on the line, fourth and one, and Michigan State elected to run leading Notre Dame, 22-16. The Spartans got the first down, but there was a penalty. While Irish fans hoped for the best, the ref announced Notre Dame had 12 men on the field. My first thought was the same as your first thought, but I checked -- Sports Editor Bill Dwyre was not in South Bend on Saturday.

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I HAD dinner this week with Kenny Brack, who will be racing today in the IRL Toyota 400 at California Speedway. I know he was a race car driver because he told me so.

Brack said he won the Indy 500 a few years ago. News to me. He recently ran into a wall at 202 mph and didn’t break anything. He said he’s afraid of earthquakes. He plays guitar in a band named Kenny Brack and the Subwoofers, which sings tunes such as “Sweet Home Alabama.” Kenny is from Sweden.

Brack posted the second-fastest qualifying time for today’s race. He hasn’t won all year long. I mentioned that to him. I said I was going to stay home Sunday and watch football because I don’t like watching losers. I lied, of course, because I’ll be watching the Chargers.

“It’s two hours of driving at 200 mph, maybe three cars coming to the finish line, one winning by .01 seconds, which makes it the most competitive racing the world,” Brack said. Exciting, I said. Call me if you win -- just make sure it’s halftime.

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DODGER BROADCASTER Ross Porter is a graduate of Oklahoma and took pleasure in the win over UCLA. “I was a sophomore at Oklahoma when the school’s 47-game win streak was snapped in a 7-0 loss to Notre Dame,” Porter said, which obviously prepared him to make his living talking about a team that cannot score.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in an e-mail from Michael Esperon:

“I heard you interviewed on Hacksaw’s radio program and beg to differ with you on your choice of National League MVP. How can you compare someone like Eric Gagne, who has played in only 50-plus innings, to someone like Barry Bonds or Gary Sheffield, who have played in 1,300-plus innings both offensively and defensively? To think he is MVP of the league -- you have to be baseball stupid. I would welcome your response to this letter, but I know you don’t have an adequate rebuttal.”

I never dreamed anyone would be listening to Hacksaw’s show.

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