One Explanation for Dodgers’ Spirited Play

Something out of this world is going on here. The Dodgers are in first place, and the Angels stink.

It was supposed to be the other way around. The Angels signed all the big-name free agents, while the Dodgers loaded up on Grabowskis.

But today the Dodgers have the better record -- only two teams in baseball have more wins -- and they probably also have the better chance of making the playoffs, which is beyond belief until you factor in Rube.

“Rube” is a play about a flamboyant old-time pitcher, Rube Waddell, written by Joel Beers and being performed this week -- Thursday through Sunday -- at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton.

When they put on this play a year ago, the Cubs made the playoffs and came within fan interference of playing in the World Series. (More on that later)

The folks involved with the production of “Rube” claim that every time there was a performance of “Rube,” the Cubs won, which they credit to Rube’s mojo.

This year the playwright, a Dodger fan, got brave and decided to see what Rube’s mojo could do for the Dodgers. Play rehearsals began a few weeks ago, about the same time the Dodgers began winning consistently. Last week they had the first four performances of “Rube” onstage, and the Dodgers won four in a row.

Strange, I agree, and I haven’t even introduced Darcy Hogan.

Hogan is a member of the California Society for Ghost Research, and received an exclusive invitation to join the International Paranormal Research Organization.

To put it more simply, Hogan saw a ghost during the performance of “Rube,” and wasn’t afraid to say so to Page 2 -- knowing how seriously I take these things.

“I noticed something lingering in the center of the auditorium, and toward the middle of the second act it started swooping down to the stage,” Hogan said.

Now I should tell you my office at The Times is next to Sports Editor Bill Dwyre’s, so I’ve spent a lot of time around folks who appear as if they’ve just plain lost it, and have the ability to listen and not let on to how nuts they might sound.

“I see it swoop back over the auditorium and next to Beers,” she continued. That’s next to Beers, the playwright; not beers, as in the ones she might have been drinking. I know, because I asked.

“I had seen pictures of Rube, so I recognized him,” she said, “He didn’t say anything, but he had this big old smile on his face.”

Why of course, he got in free.

“I don’t buy any of it,” Beers said, “but then how do you explain Shawn Green suddenly hitting home runs?”

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HOGAN SAID she wouldn’t be surprised if the Dodger clubhouse were filled with ghosts, and since having a lot of ghosts around is a good thing, it might explain the Dodger success.

And here I was telling people they didn’t have a ghost’s chance of making the playoffs. (The problem with the Clippers apparently is that they have more stiffs than ghosts in their locker room).

“I’ve had ghosts pull my pigtails, but I’ve never met a scary ghost or a bad one; they’re more like good-luck charms,” Hogan said, which is certainly going to ruin “Ghostbusters” for me the next time I see it. “You know, you could take your wife’s digital camera into the Dodger clubhouse and I’ll bet you’d catch them on film.”

The wife is big into scrapbooking, and she’d probably like the idea of my snapping pictures in the Dodger clubhouse, but if I do that, the players are going to do two things: 1) Put on their clothes. 2) Beat me up.

“Ghosts often manifest themselves on film as huge glowing orbs,” Hogan explained, which is funny, because the wife took a picture of Tom Lasorda and that’s all she got on film -- this huge glob, which until now I always thought was his stomach.

“You can usually find a lot of intelligent haunts at sporting events because ghosts like to do the same thing they were doing when they were alive.”

It makes you wonder, though, with ghosts everywhere, if that was really Steve Bartman who reached up to take the ball away from Moises Alou and keep the Cubs out of the World Series.

Maybe it was a ghost visiting from Florida. I know this, that’s the last time anyone has seen Bartman.

Anyway, the whole idea of a bunch of good-luck charm ghosts in the Dodger clubhouse does explain a lot.

And the nice thing about ghosts, Hogan said, is you don’t have to pay them. So if there’s a move to be made by the trading deadline, I would presume the Boston Parking Lot Attendant will be adding more ghosts.

But whether it’s ghosts or Rube’s mojo, I’m just relieved to know it had to be somebody or something out of this world, because I’ve seen enough of the Choking Dogs over the years and the cast of stiffs they’ve assembled to know something strange is going on there.

As for the Angels, I asked Hogan whether she believed in them.

“I’ve seen Brad Pitt,” she said. “How could I not believe in angels?”

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SHAQ HAD everyone laughing in Miami, but I’m sure the biggest laugh came from somewhere in Italy when he said, “It’s never about the money.”

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DEREK FISHER leaves, so the Lakers go out and get Vlade Divac to fill the role of designated flopper. I’d have thought Devean George had already done that.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes from Angel Manager Mike Scioscia:

“I’d like to apologize to your wife for asking the other day how old she is.”

You ought to be apologizing to me for reminding me how old she is.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.