Maybe the Madonna of Baseball Can Give Dodgers a Miracle

First, there are the many Dodgers out with injuries. Then there’s the lack of talented players remaining due to owner Frank McCourt’s penny-pinching ways. It’s obvious that it will take a miracle of near biblical proportions for the team to win its division this year.

Which is why it may be time for fans to make a pilgrimage to the San Fernando Mission to pray to Our Lady of Chavez Ravine, the Madonna of Baseball (see photo).

She is on permanent display in the Madonna room, a converted jail (really) with various representations of the Blessed Virgin donated by private collectors.

The Madonna of Baseball, as you can see, is flanked by just four players. Like McCourt, she doesn’t seem to have a full team.

The Yellow Rose of ... what? In Santa Clarita, John Mino saw a sign that was in a state of confusion regarding one company’s name (see photo).

And you thought the DMV was slow: Consider one state agency’s warning to divorcees (see accompanying).

An event that’s hard to eclipse: There’ll be a full moon over Amtrak all day in Laguna Niguel on Saturday.

It’s the 26th annual drop-pants salute to rail passengers by thousands of folks lined up along a chain-link fence near the Mugs Away Saloon.

The bar, on Camino Capistrano, does not sponsor the celebration (no one does), but that’s where the project originated.

K.T. Smith, a regular, told his friends one day that he’d buy a drink for anyone who ran outside to the tracks and mooned the next train. Several did. The tradition became so popular that Smith stopped buying drinks for participants.

As for official reaction, the city of Laguna Niguel, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and Amtrak all look the other way (though Amtrak passengers don’t).

The event is so organized that it even has a website (www.moonamtrak.org) with train schedules and answers to frequently asked questions, including:

* Must I moon, or can I just watch? You can watch.

* Can I decorate my butt? Yes, that’s OK.

* Are pets OK to bring? Yes, you can bring your dog, cat, snake, parrot or iguana. Don’t forget water for them.

The pets can moon too.

miscelLAny: There is something Dodger fans can be proud of.

The starting lineup Wednesday night included four Jasons (Repko, Werth, Grabowski and Philips). That is a major league record in the Jasons category.

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com.