His Favorite L.A. Stadium Now a Little Farther Away

I’ve always thought Mike Scioscia was a pretty good manager, although to be honest, I didn’t pay as much attention to him as the Micro Manager because the Angels played their games so far away.

But now that Scioscia is managing my favorite Los Angeles baseball team, I thought it might be a good idea to spend some more time with him.

When I arrived at Angel Stadium on Saturday afternoon, I was informed the media parking lot had been moved farther away from the stadium. I guess I shouldn’t have let Scioscia know I was coming.

The new parking arrangements now require sportswriters to cross several lanes of busy traffic in the dark after a game, and so I asked someone from Angels’ PR, who would prefer not to have her name used, if she were concerned about someone getting hurt.

“Depends on which sportswriter it is,” said Nancy Mazmanian, the Angels’ PR rep, and it didn’t take her long to start talking like a PR rep for an L.A. team.

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BEFORE I get to my chat with Scioscia, I should tell you I know a little something about managing, and for that matter, owning a baseball team.

I had the 10th choice in our fantasy baseball draft. The Grocery Store Bagger, who picked fourth, is currently in first place, so I know a little something, too, about folks who are lucky rather than good, which is what makes me such an authority on the Dodgers these days.

My team’s off to a slow start primarily because Steve Finley has been such a dud and because Scioscia elected not to use Francisco Rodriguez the other night in an obvious save situation.

I mentioned this to Scioscia and how his poor managing moves have already affected my fantasy team, and he said, “I don’t care about your fantasy team.”

Scioscia will be our guest on the father/daughter gabfest on 570 at 9:20 this morning, primarily because we’ve run out of big-name guests. If his pregame news conferences are any indication, I can’t imagine he’ll be very good.

But it will be one more opportunity to drive home the point that the Micro Manager would never leave Eric Gagne sitting on the bench with a save on the line, which probably explains why the Micro Manager has 65 more career wins than losses, while Scioscia has only 40 more.

Of course, I’ve spent more time with the Micro Manager over the years, so I’m not surprised he has a better record than Scioscia.

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NOW THAT I have my own baseball team, I also have something in common with Arte Moreno. I’m not very popular, so I thought that was something else we’d have in common, but then I took a walk with the Angels’ owner through the stadium before Saturday’s game.

The paying customers mobbed Moreno, asking for his autograph, asking him to pose for cellphone photo after cellphone photo with almost every one telling him what a great job he was doing. I’d like the Boston Parking Lot Attendant to take the same kind of walk, and if he survives, fill me in on the details later.

“Love the prices,” one fan told Moreno, while another congratulated him on his “courageous stand” in establishing new seating regulations for the handicapped to prevent others from taking advantage of the handicap ticket opportunity.

“Thanks for coming,” he told each of them, kneeling down so he could have his picture taken with someone in a wheelchair. Plaschke should have been here.

One man asked him to sign his Angel cap, and so I asked him, “Do you have any problem with the name change to L.A. Angels?” and he said he didn’t like it, and in fact he had been in a heated discussion earlier that day, but he was still an Angel fan and thanked Moreno for his autograph.

“Now don’t start stirring it up,” Moreno said, and so that’s when I offered to make him a deal and back off.

“By any chance do you have a red phone in the owner’s box that can get you to Scioscia any time you want -- so the two of us don’t have K-Rod going to waste?”

Moreno played dumb, but to tell you the truth, Frank McCourt does it so much better.

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FOR THE record, one woman complained they were charging $1 for sauerkraut to be added to her hot dog, and what was Moreno going to do about it? He advised a staff member, who has obviously eaten a lot of hot dogs, to check into it.

Most of the fans who approached Moreno were wearing Angel garb, and I told him I expect him to wait for the name-change storm to blow over, and then in a few years begin selling merchandise with L.A. on everything. The Parking Lot Guy has already done that, selling baseball caps that say, “Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles.”

“We’re not going to do it; absolutely not,” Moreno said, and I told him I’m going to hold him to that, and he said, “Go ahead, we’re not going to do it. We’re trying to brand the Angels’ name.”

Moreno kept walking and talking at the same time, a trick I can’t imagine McCourt pulling off, and Moreno said, “We talked to nine focus groups in the metro area and learned the women want an affordable, safe environment for their families, while the men want a winning team.”

“Metro areas?” I said. “Are we talking metro Anaheim, or metro L.A.?”

“L.A.,” he said, which explains why folks in L.A. might come to love my Angels.

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THE BAGGER wants to trade me Shawn Green for Finley.

I asked Finley what he thought, and he took a little longer to answer the question than I would have liked.

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I RECEIVED the following invitation via e-mail: “On behalf of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Frank and Jamie McCourt cordially invite you to the inaugural Los Angeles Dodgers Media Day Barbecue.” I get this kind of spam all the time.

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I SEE where Mr. Lisa gave up four home runs in less than five innings for the Dodgers. Scott Erickson’s wife lasted only a year as “Monday Night Football’s” sideline reporter, but at least when folks said, “Thanks for the memories,” there were a couple.