Shaikin: Can the Angels woo fans in the Dodgers' shadow? If they win, the support may come
Shaikin: Can the Angels woo fans in the Dodgers' shadow? If they win, the support may come
A fan takes a photo of a dog outside Angel Stadium before the team's home open against the Cleveland Guardians Friday.
(Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
Dave Roberts was recognized wherever he went last winter: at a Chargers game, at a UCLA game, at a Palisades High baseball practice, even in Japan. He is the manager of the Dodgers, the reigning World Series champions. In three weeks, the Dodgers will distribute 40,000 Roberts bobbleheads.
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Ron Washington, the manager of the Angels, went out to run some errands Thursday. As usual, he said, no one noticed.
'I have not had anyone recognize who I am out there,' he said Friday.
When might that change?
Angels and Guardians players watched a flyover before they played Friday at Angel Stadium.
(Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
'When we show a consistent amount of success,' Washington said. 'Right now, I'm just a regular Joe out there.'
This is the Dodgers' world, and everyone else in baseball is just living in it.
Unfortunately for the Angels, they are living with the longest playoff drought in the major leagues, and with the Dodgers in their faces, in a stadium 30 miles up the Santa Ana Freeway.
And so it was that when the Angels threw their fans a party before the home opener Friday, I did not have to look far to find someone in a Dodgers jersey.
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In fairness, the Dodgers fans I found were part of households with divided loyalties. Marie Hernandez of Los Angeles came with her son, who supported the Angels. Her gear for the day: a Dodgers World Series sweatshirt and cap.
'I'm representing the team that won,' she said. 'I'm still very hopeful for the Angels.'
Read more: Shaikin: What's the future for aging Angel Stadium? It feels like an increasingly uncertain one
Manny Galvan of Pico Rivera did not much care about that. His son wore his Mike Trout jersey. Galvan wore a Dodgers jersey with Shohei Ohtani's name.
'I always wear a Dodger jersey,' he said. 'I wore Ohtani so I didn't get booed today.'
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Zuleyka Gonzalez of Riverside also wore a Dodgers jersey with Ohtani's name. She attends Angels games regularly — sometimes in that Ohtani jersey, other times wearing Dodgers jerseys with the names of Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman or Teoscar Hernández.
Her fiancé is an Angels fan. The couple agreed their child would be raised as a Dodgers fan if a boy and an Angels fan if a girl.
The Angels' Mike Trout celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a home run against the Cleveland Guardians at Angel Stadium on Friday.
(Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
Congratulations, Halo Nation: You have a beautiful month-old girl supporting your team, even if she does not quite know that yet. Her name is Zule.
Jered Weaver, one of the greatest pitchers in Angels history, caught the ceremonial first pitch Friday. He played high school ball in Simi Valley, where he grew up a Dodgers fan. He now lives in Thousand Oaks.
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'Everybody's on the Dodgers bandwagon out there,' Weaver said.
Kenley Jansen, the Dodgers' closer for a decade, is the Angels' closer this season.
Read more: Shaikin: The Angels have the longest playoff drought in MLB. What exactly is the plan?
'Dodger fans have been great forever,' he said. 'Every time I'm walking down the street in L.A., all these great Dodgers fans keep me giving me a fist bump. They show love, and how much they care.
'Now, I'm getting all the Angels fans too. I feel like I'm a complete package now. All the Angels fans are so excited that I'm wearing the Angels uniform. I'm a complete L.A. guy. I get to play for both teams now. It's something special.'
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Jansen lives in Palos Verdes, which he is said is more Dodgers territory than Angels territory. Travis d'Arnaud, the Angels' new backup catcher, played at Lakewood High and lives in Los Alamitos, on the Orange County edge of the border with Los Angeles County.
'There's more Angel fans and Angel gear,' he said. 'There's still a lot of Dodgers gear, don't get me wrong.'
I asked Jansen what message he had for Angels fans tired of hearing about the Dodgers.
'We can't worry about that,' he said. 'The Dodgers are going to be the Dodgers. We have to figure out how to be successful again. The focus of this group is to get this organization back to winning.'
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I thought about that in light of the Angels' news of the morning: Anaheim mayor Ashleigh Aitken wants Angels owner Arte Moreno to restart negotiations on a deal to revitalize Angel Stadium and extend the team's tenure there, and she wants Moreno to stop with the Los Angeles name and revert to calling his team the Anaheim Angels.
To be sure, the Angels' fan party was overwhelmingly populated by Angels fans: many in Trout jerseys, very few in jerseys of anyone else on the roster, quite a few in jerseys of Angels greats that actually won postseason games in Anaheim, including Weaver and Vladimir Guerrero, Torii Hunter and Howie Kendrick, Garret Anderson and Tim Salmon, Darin Erstad and Troy Glaus, Rod Carew and Reggie Jackson.
Angels outfielder Mike Trout takes the field before a game against the Cleveland Guardians at Angel Stadium on Friday.
(Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
Trout is 33. The last year the Angels won a postseason game was the year he graduated from high school.
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There is work to be done in Anaheim. Aitken can negotiate a deal on behalf of the city, if Moreno even wants to negotiate.
If you build a better ballpark, will they come? If you build a better ballclub, will they come?
The Dodgers have done both. Fans have come. Rings have come. For the Angels, success is defined 30 miles up the freeway.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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