behind the dugout

One of the biggest rivalries in baseball is the one between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Fransisco Giants. These two teams have battled each other dating back to their times in New York. They both moved west and the rivalry has expanded to the host cities. San Fransisco and Los Angeles compete for economic, cultural, and political arenas much like their teams battle for top honors on the field.

I’ve wondered though is this a rivalry this year? I’m sure Dodger and Giant fans would agree only on the statement that yes it still is. Does that mean the rest of the fans of baseball should feel the same way?

Let’s look at a little history of the Giants and Dodgers.

The Dodgers and Giants have had more head-to-head games than any other team in the sport, topping over 2,100 contests. The Giants have won 1,063 while the Dodgers have won 1,046 games prior to today’s game.

The two have been close in virtually every stat when it comes to head to head match ups.

Perhaps the hight light of the rivalry came in 1951 when the Dodgers held a 13 1/2 game lead over the Giants as of August 11th when Dodgers manager Chuck Dressen declared “the Giants is dead”. The Giants had other ideas and charged after the Dodgers as the season came to a close. With the Giants winning the final game of the season a three game playoff was declared to decide the pennant. The Giants won the first game (thanks to a Bobby Thomson home run off of Ralpha Branca) , the Dodgers the second and in the third game Bobby Thomson hit a dramatic ninth-inning home run off of Ralph Branca. The home run was dubbed the Shot Heard ‘Round the World’

“Branca pumps, delivers - a curve, swung on and belted, deep shot to left field — it is — a HOME RUN! And the New York Giants win the National League pennant and the Polo Grounds goes wild!” - Red Barber

The rivalry extends beyond the fans to the players. Jackie Robinson retired after he was traded to the Giants from the Dodgers in December of 1956. According to his teammate Tommy Lasorda, he did so because he had come to hate the Giants after ten years in Dodger Blue.

On August 22, 1965 in a game at Candlestick Park the most notorious incident occurred between the two clubs. After Juan Marichal had hit two Dodger batters before coming to the plate. Dodger starter Sandy Koufax had no interest in hitting Marichal but Marichal claimed that catcher Johnny Roseboro was and was returning pitches from Koufax close to his head. The two began to argue and then Marichal hit the Dodgers catcher over the head with his bad. A bench-clearing brawl ensued. Oddly Roseboro and Marichal would eventually become close friends later in their lives.

In the 1981 season as a member of the Dodgers, Reggie Smith was taunted by Giants fan Michael Dooley, who then threw a batting helmet at him. Smith then jumped into the stands at Candlestick Park and started punching him. He was ejected from the game, and Dooley was arrested. Five months later, Smith joined the Giants as a free agent.The two clubs have had many exciting series as well as a storied history of eliminating each other from the playoffs most noteably in 1991 and 1993.

In 1991 the Dodgers finished one game behind the Atlanta Braves after dropping two of three in San Francisco in the final weekend. Two years later the Dodgers returned the favor when two home runs from Mike Piazza and a complete game by Kevin Gross on the final day of the season kept the Giants who had won 103 games out of the playoffs, again allowing the Braves to win the division.

In 2001 Barry Bonds set the single season home run record by hitting his 71st and 72nd home runs of the season off of Chan Ho Park. The Dodgers won the game though and the Giants were eliminated from the playoff picture.

During games in San Francisco, Giants fans will chant “Beat L.A.” or “Dodgers suck” throughout the game. During games in Los Angeles, Dodger fans will chant “Giants suck” and would chant “Barry sucks” when Barry Bonds would come to bat.

With the realignment in 1995 the two teams now face off against each other 19 times each year.

The Dodgers have won 9 pennants and 1 championship in Brooklyn, while winning 9 pennants and 5 championships in Los Angeles, the most recent World Series win in 1988. The Giants have won 14 pennants and 5 championships in New York and 3 pennants in San Francisco (the latest in 2002), but have failed to win a championship since their move to California in 1958, the 3rd longest current streak in baseball as of 2006, behind the Chicago Cubs (1908) and the Cleveland Indians (1948).

Probably the darkest day of the rivalry came in 2003 when Giants fan Marc Antenorcruz was shot and killed by Pete Marron, a Dodger fan, on September 19, 2003 in the parking lot of Dodger Stadium. The Giants had won the game clinching the NL West title. Marron was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 50 years in prison. A second defendant, Manuel Hernandez, plead no contest to voluntary manslaughter and had his 15 year sentence suspended.

Is it really a rivalry if one team isn’t any good?

The two teams this year are celebrating 50 years in California. They will play each other 19 times but it doesn’t take much to realize the two teams are opposites.

The Giants last season had Barry Bonds, the biggest Dodger kill of them all but this year they are led by Bengie Molina who smacked 19 home runs? Sure the addition of Aaron Rowand will help but the rest of the lineup is filled with old veterans trying to hang on and a group of young pitchers.

Rich Aurilla, Ray Durham, Omar Vizquel, Dave Roberts may have all had good careers but that was years ago. You could probably get by with one or two if you had to in your lineup but no team should have saddled themselves with so many aging veterans like this. To top it off it’s not like the duo of Bengie Molina and Randy Winn are spring chickens as both are 33 to start the season.

The Dodgers on the other hand have rebuilt their team via their farm system and the bank. They’ve have a young core of Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp and James Loney expected to take the field today. In addition Chin-lung Hu and Tony Abreu both figure to be on the roster and share time at third while 23-year-old Andy LaRoache works his way back from injury.

Their staff is a nice mixture of experience and youth.

Both teams are led by two of the better managers in baseball as Joe Torre came to the Dodgers this year and the Giants picked up Bruce Bochey last year.

No one expects the Giants to finish higher then last this season. They just aren’t that good, they are old, and they don’t seem to have much in the line of young position players in their system right now to go with their youthful pitching.

The Dodgers have no excuse not to win the NL West. They haven’t had one for seasons and yet have found themselves behind Arizona, Colorado and San Diego even though they have the highest payroll in the division.

So what do you guys think? Is this still a game worth watching?