Southland’s Big Double Play

Angel fans are displaying symptoms of scarlet fever. Dodger fans are feeling a little, well, blue. Best cure for the baseball bug? Back-to-back game watching. And plenty of liquids.

For the first time, the Southern California teams are making playoff appearances in the same season, with the Dodgers taking the field at 10 a.m. today in St. Louis against the Cardinals. Anaheim plays its opener at home against the Boston Red Sox at 1 p.m.

The daytime schedule means one sure thing for local business and schools: a major-league distraction.

Business owners are bracing for preoccupied employees, and bars are throwing open their doors early.

“It is going to be very close to a national holiday,” said David Carter, a Los Angeles-based sports business consultant.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience for a Southern California sports fan. It is going to be an all-time low in terms of productivity in the workplace. I’d hate to be a human resources manager. I know I’m running a fever as we speak.”

Of course, if you’re the boss, there are no worries. Jim York, co-owner of the Irvine-based insurance company Profit Concepts, doesn’t need a creative excuse to skip work.

“We’re going to go to the closest bar and start drinking at 8 a.m.,” he said. As for his employees, “they’ll be working.” Somebody’s got to hold down the fort.

Then there are your nice bosses, like Ron Bidnick of Orange. The owner of Sell Roofing said he plans to leave work early and his employees can, too.

“It’ll be up to them if they want to take the afternoon off.”

Another generous boss, Don Kennedy, chairman emeritus of the Orange-based First American Title, divvied up the company’s four box seats Monday.

For the few thousand employees who didn’t get any tickets, he expects many of them to be glued to the TVs in the cafeteria and those scattered around the office.

“We’ll be open for business and we’ll do a wonderful job,” Kennedy said. But he acknowledged, “Production will be a little bit limited.”

At City Hall in Anaheim, spokesman John Nicoletti said workers were likely to sneak a peek at the game or monitor it on the radio.

The City Council doesn’t meet until 5 p.m., leaving officials plenty of time to get to chambers -- unless, of course, the game goes extra innings. Though Nicoletti noted, “The demeanor of the council may be affected by the outcome of the game.”

They’re not so lucky in Los Angeles, where the City Council meeting begins at the same time as the Dodgers game.

Councilman Tom LaBonge gave this advice to his constituents: “Know you can make it through [today] if you have Vin Scully [the Dodgers’ longtime announcer] in your ear.”

He conceded there would be “some distraction” at the meeting and added, “We will all be listening to hear if the Dodgers are doing well.”

L.A. Mayor James K. Hahn had a healthy view of the day game.

“Los Angeles residents are pumped up and more productive when the Dodgers are winning.”

A closed session of the L.A. Unified School District school board will be underway at game time, as members discuss Supt. Roy Romer’s contract.

“I had been supportive of extending Romer’s contract,” board member David Tokofsky said. “But if he doesn’t have anything good to say about the Dodgers, I may have to rethink my position.”

Tokofsky has been a Dodger loyalist since childhood. Though he will not be able to watch the game, he said he saw no reason why teachers shouldn’t weave it into their lessons to keep students’ attention focused, even if it meant keeping the broadcast on.

“I always thought baseball was a good way to teach mathematics,” he said.

At Anaheim’s Loara High School, a few miles from Angel Stadium, Principal Ben Sanchez was taking a more stern approach.

“We’re going to try and keep them focused on what they’re here for

A Dodger fan, Sanchez said he’d make the same sacrifice as his students.

“I’ll probably catch up with both games on the Internet at the end of the school day,” he said.

“And I might TiVo the Dodger game and watch it when I get home.”

Many fans who said they would be stuck at work Tuesday, planned to track the baseball scores via the Internet or with an ear to the radio.

“I have my little transistor radio,” said Mark Poplawski 39, of Santa Ana. “I just got it ready this morning.”

Foothill Ranch resident Kevin Brown , 38, has the day planned out, too.

“Sales guys,” he explained. “Long lunches.”

*

Times staff writers Robin Fields and Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.