Viewing party

Dodgers Viewing Party - My car

is third from the right, front row.

By Ed Piper

Monday, October 12 was a grueling day. I looked at my car panel, with the thermometer reading 93 degrees as I tried to doze while letting the engine run. My location: on the street near Elysian Park, just down the road from Dodger Stadium.

I went solo--wanting further "postseason experiences" (see previous entry)--in joining the Dodgers Viewing Party in the stadium parking lot.

I got in line at 3:30 for a 4 p.m. entry. (Game at 5:08 p.m.) We trundled in, the temperature still 93. I was directed to park in the front row, seventh or eighth car down, in front of the giant screen erected for NLCS game 1 between L.A. and the Braves.

What was fun, though contact was restricted due to COVID, was honking our horns each time a Dodger did something positive.

I got out of the car to go to the Port-a-Potties along the left side of the parking lot. That was it. The rest of the three-hour, 25-minute game, I was confined to quarters inside my 2008 Toyota Camry.

Neck kink was courtesy the Dodgers, as I found the rear view mirror was right in the way of my (tall) viewing angle from the driver's seat to the big screen. Three hours of that will do it to you.

Another band of gypsies parked on the opposite side of our screen, facing us and a second screen that was set up.

The Dodgers disappointed us, after carrying through to the ninth inning tied 1-1 with Atlanta. The Braves broke loose for four runs in the ninth, sending us home (115 miles for me) with a 5-1 loss in the opener.

'Postseason experience'

Sweat dripping down the back on a 90-degree day,

nearly another hour to go to enter the Padres Team

Store on 7th Ave. (Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

I had my "Padres postseason experience" yesterday afternoon (Oct. 3).

I stood in line for almost two hours, in the broiling sun, waiting to get in the Padres' team store at Petco Park.

All I bought when I got inside--finally--was a "Tatis" shirt, pretty cool, I must say (it was for my son-in-law), and a pin with "23" on it (Fernando Tatis Jr.'s uniform number).

I say "postseason experience" because, with the stadium closed to fans, the guy in front of me (a diehard, long-suffering Padres fan) and I agreed that this would be the closest thing we could get toward attending a game this year. COVID wins out.

I leaned in to the fence on the 10th Ave. side, snapping photos of Dave Winfield, the Padres' Hall of Fame, and workers munching on lunch at picnic tables inside.

Getting in line shortly before 1 p.m., I sweated out the first hour, with sweat running down my back on a 90-degree-plus afternoon.

This was after I parked my car in a handicapped spot (I have a placard) on 3rd Ave., began to walk toward the stadium, and looked down--only to see my red St. Louis Cardinals shorts (to honor my wife's birthplace).

I thought, No way, the Padres just beat the Cardinals Friday. Someone in line is going to razz me like crazy.

So, quick-thinking, I dodged into CVS, bought the cheapest Scotch tape dispenser, folded a plastic bag so that it would cover the "STL" logo on the left leg, and taped it into place.

In the end, no one razzed me. There wasn't much interchange in line, with masks on, the heat boiling, not much of a group spirit.

That isn't to say people weren't pumped up and supportive of their Padres. Many people walked by us on their way out of the store carrying "Padres" plastic bags holding their "merch". Many of those were chatting, happy, mission accomplished.

Everybody, I imagine, was pretty pumped over the local club finally defeating their nemesis the Cardinals in a postseason series, the first time since 1998. It was/is a big deal.

But with the COVID situation, no one is going around slapping people on the back. We all keep pretty much to ourselves and our companions.

After I bought the shirt for my son-in-law--which he appreciated (I bought a similar one three days before up in Carlsbad)--and the pin, I walked out, tore off the tape and plastic bag over the "STL" logo on my shorts, and continued on my way to my car.

It was a long afternoon, with two hours of intense heat baking down. But I had accomplished my goal, getting near the stadium and taking part in something that had to do with the Padres, my "postseason experience".

By the way, I never told the guy in front of me in line that the Padres are my no. 2 team. No reason to. I enjoy Tatis, Manny Machado, Josh Cronenworth, everyone else.

Heck, I know them backwards-and-forwards after watching many of their games on TV this summer/fall.

I told my grandson, Luke, who is 8, about the Padres. He said, "One thing I don't get: You're for the Dodgers."

I responded to Luke, "The Padres are my number-two team." It made sense to him. It makes sense to me.

Barrett

Former location of "Barrett Honor Camp"

sign at head of road.

By Ed Piper

I went out to the Alpine fire area the other day.

The place has held a special spot in my heart ever since I taught at Barrett High School (Camp Barrett) from Sept. 1998 to May 2000.

I taught boys who were "wards" of the state once they were each sentenced to time at Barrett. One day they would come to class. The next day they would go out on a work crew to repair roads or some other task.

My students were high-school age. It was a learning two years for me, with a boy who was drugged up and zoned out so as to be sedated and calm during his time in school. To others who wore their big, heavy blue work jackets in class. Still others who did their work, expressed interest in some of the subjects we taught, and hopefully made their way in life to overcome the error (or errors) they had made in their teen years to break their probation.

A "lake" of ashes cover an area

next to the former road leading

to Barrett High School.

Back to the fire: I witnessed devastation as I drove the other day. I don't know if the Barrett facility (rebuilt after I was there to a gleaming new set of classrooms) made it through the fire. I couldn't get down that far--a locked gate blocked my path.

As I slowed more and more on my drive through the area, and began to take in what I was really seeing, the melancholy--the sadness--of the power of intense fire to scorch the earth and leave only stumps of trees in its wake sank in.

Where my students are now, 20 years later, is hopefully healthy, productive lives. Many made it through after serving their time. The really bad kids got shipped to "Y.A." (California Youth Authority in Camarillo). The good ones got released back to their homes in San Diego, and a lesson learned, I presume.

Locked gate leading to Barrett facility.

The interlocking message of fire tells us that life moves on. Bad things happen to good people. Thank God for our firefighters, who were out at the so-called Valley fire south of Alpine last month and earlier this month braving the elements--and hot sparks of the fire.

A piece of plywood had been propped in front of a house back up the road from Barrett: "If you don't live here, go away. If you don't live here, you will be shot." It was ominous. Someone had to be breathing resentment and bitterness over their misfortune, and they were warning anyone unfortunate to come upon their place what they might do to them.

Small "buds", I call them, are sprouting up in the fire area. They are new buds from the old, burned vegetation that hold promise for the renewal of the Valley fire area.

White "buds" of new growth (foreground)

peak out as harbingers of

a future of renewal and reestablishment.

Photos MLB

By Ed Piper

(from my TV monitor while watching games)

Mookie Betts, Dodgers superstar

Zack Greinke, Astros RHP

Dusty Baker, Astros manager

Kike Hernandez, Dodgers utilityman

Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager

Alex Bregman, Astros 3b

Tatis, Kronenworth, others vie with Dodgers on equal footage

 By Ed Piper

As Fernando Tatis, Jr. (the acknowledged spark plug of the "new" Padres), rookie Jake Cronenworth, and the new passel of players garnered in the multi-team trade Aug. 30 continue to play well, let's hear it for the local franchise and their exciting, watchable brand of baseball in this shortened COVID season.

As Mark Grant, TV analyst for Fox Sports San Diego (I had dinner with him and play-by-play announcer Don Orsillo last season with my brother and his college classmate who won a contest for the dinner), mused last week during a game broadcast, "I didn't (comment) on what an impact the injury of Tatis Jr. had (on the team) last year."

That injury sidelined the rookie phenom Aug. 15, 2019. From then on, the Padres deflated and regressed, costing fourth-year manager Andy Green his job and leading to Jayce Tingler being named to the position last fall.

Now that we know Fernando is the driving force of the squad, we can relax, enjoy watching some of the baseball the new boys in brown play, and begin looking forward to the expanded MLB playoffs--of which the Padres will be part--starting at the end of next week.

I've made no bones about who my favorite team is. But with Tatis, Kronenworth, starting RHP Mike Clevinger (taken from the Indians in the multi-team trade last month) and the others continuing to forge forward and plow new ground, we've got a local club that is worth watching.

More than that, everybody's excited with the news that part of the MLB playoffs will be played in San Diego, increasing the possibility that Tingler and company will see more time than just the first round in the expanded playoff format.

Funny story about Andy Green before I move on: In Spring Training in Arizona in February 2020, I decided I'd be like the kids and go get some autographs before and after games. I went down to the passageway where players and coaches traverse at the Rockies' ballpark in eastern greater Phoenix.

Lo and behold, who comes by but Andy Green. He took one look at my baseball, said, "You've already got me," and walked on! It was so funny--the kids all know who's who. I don't. And they would have known Andy Green by sight!

I was just a little embarrassed. To be called out by the Padres' manager. And I didn't even know I already had the guy's autograph. Oh, boy...

Since the trade, Mitch Moreland has bolstered the Padres' lineup, at DH and at first base. (He was traded from the Red Sox.) Clevinger is a key starter (though he's got a herky-jerky windup).

Kronenworth, who hails from St. Clair County, Michigan--everybody in town is buying "Extra Innings" to watch the Padres games--has been phenomenal at the plate and in the field. His stint filling in for Eric Hosmer at first base earlier in the truncated season led to Tingler writing him in at second base when Hosmer (temporarily) came back.

The excellent-fielding "K" is exemplified by one play: His leaping grab of an errant throw at first that would have got into/near the stands. He plays shortstop, he pitches. But what he does best is play anywhere in the infield where the Padres need him. His glove is stellar.

Besides that, from the beginning of the July 24 opener, Capt. K has hit, hit regularly, and hit wherever he is placed by Tingler in the lineup.

Who else has been a key? The pickup of the Mariners' Austin Nola in the Aug. 30 trade has finally given the Padres a catcher who can hit. Austin Hedges never could; San Diego got Jason Castro, from the Angels, as well in the multi-team trade.

Hosmer looked good in his cameo before getting hurt this season. His launch angle was good. He could pound the ball like we haven't seen in our two seasons watching him. Hopefully, he'll be back on the field for more heroics for the playoffs.

You noticed I haven't mentioned Manny Machado. He is definitely not a leader (last year's collapse after Tatis Jr. got hurt took place with Machado in the lineup). But he is a heck of a ballplayer. Having him slugging the way he is, and playing third base so capably, are both big pluses that the Padres got him for. He just has some habits that grate on people.

Chris Paddack, the tall RHP, is definitely part of the new Padres. He has pitched with spirit, though his results this season have been uneven. He is a winner, and will eventually get his ship righted.

I'm forgetting Zach Davies, RHP; Garrett Richards, RHP; Dinelson Lamet, RHP--the latter is phenomenal. Davies has pitched particularly well, crafting no speed into an art form as he paints the corners. (The Padres got him from the Brewers over the winter.)

Trent Grisham and Wil Myers have played well, both being outfielders. I didn't think Myers could play as well as he has this season--ever since the Padres made him their poster boy the year before Eric Hosmer showed up. Grisham came over from the Brewers over the winter. He got my goat a little when he did his bat flip thing and admired his home run against the Dodgers earlier this week.

Not to be totally forgotten is the consistent Jurickson Profar, a fixture mostly in left field (also second base before Cronenworth came on). He hasn't been spectacular, but he has been, like I said, consistent. Tingler writes him in his lineup everyday. Jurickson came from the A's, before that the Rangers.

Tommy Pham, obtained from the Rays over the winter, was expected to provide some pop from the right side of the plate. But he broke his hamate (I didn't know we had a hamate bone) in his left hand Aug.17 and hasn't been heard of since.

Bball fascination

 By Ed Piper

Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks

athletically arching toward another attacking

layup in the Bucks' opening playoff game Aug. 18.

Does the "Greek Freak" have enough horses

alongside him to go far in the playoffs?

Probably not.

(Photo by Ed Piper from TV monitor)

Showing up the opposition

By Ed Piper

I don't agree with other writers' condemnation of first-year Padres manager Jayce Tingler for initially being apologetic about Fernando Tatis Jr. swinging away on a 3-0 count Mon., Aug. 17, the Padres holding a seven-run lead over the Rangers, and Tatis ending up hitting a grand slam.

That led to Rangers pitcher Ian Gilbaut throwing behind Manny Machado when he came to bat in the next inning in retaliation, and both Gilbaut and Texas manager Chris Woodward being suspended.

Let me be clear: I am not advocating or defending throwing at opposing hitters because a team feels shown up.

My take on this is that at the high school and youth baseball level--these kids are not pros--the influence of the pros is very pronounced, leading to things like high school baseball teams piling on runs against defenseless opponents who are far over-matched, and the victors proclaiming, "Well, we have to keep a fine edge or we'll lose it," "We didn't do it to humiliate the other team, we just wanted to give every player on our team an opportunity," and similar justifications.

It's the younger players my focus is on.

If, as U-T columnist Tom Krasovic (August 19) declares, "That unwritten rule should be tossed in the trash," and his colleague, Bryce Miller, insists, "Tingler gets it right after his initial bobble" (after initially apologized), then the whole idea of sportsmanship and respecting your opponent on the younger (and non-professional) levels becomes eroded that much further.

When I was a student athlete, there were whispers about the youth and prep coaches who didn't respect these unwritten rules, and were known to pile on the score even after their team had amassed large leads.

The same during my 16 years covering San Diego high school sports: There are a few bad apples, who hide behind the facade, "But I run a high-expectations program, I'm going to push my kids," who are the ones in the county known for their unsportsmanlike philosophies.

This is a bigger thing than making sure you win, as Padres defenders have argued, Padres relievers representing a leaky sieve and giving leads away during the losing streak that preceded Tatis' grand slam (resulting in an 11-run lead). "We have to score as many runs as we can, because we don't have any guarantees our bullpen will hold even a large lead."

But that's at the pro level. During an abbreviated 60-game Major League season, I get it, every game is like playing in the last two months of the season--because every game is being played in the last two months in 2020 (with the truncated schedule). The Padres are fighting to be one of two National League Western Division teams that automatically qualify for the postseason, or one of two top percentage leaders outside of those six to move on.

My mind goes back to Mission Bay's Dillon Baxter, who absolutely buried the Viking football team many years ago, with his hand in six (maybe seven?) touchdowns in an absolute blowout on the old grass Tom Edwards Stadium surface.

I can understand the motivation. Baxter is compiling a record to attract top college recruiters, which he successfully did in garnering an athletic scholarship to play football at USC. (He later was cut from the program for associating with a pro agent, and other rule violations--his decision-making at the time hadn't matured.)

But in the sandlot, you still encounter the maniac coach, in almost every case male in my experience, some of them living through their kids, others focused on being a "successful coach" in a "top-flight" program, who piles up the score against helpless opponents. Such coaches never got the wider perspective of the youth/high school coach as mentor of formative youth, who is building well-rounded young people for futures in all fields (99 percent of those fields not being professional athletic fields of competition).

Let me put it to rest: As a teacher, grandparent, reporter covering high school sports, my central focus is on how our CIF sports contribute to or detract from providing student-athletes (they are enrolled in school) with positive opportunities for healthy competition, yes, but also growth for future lives in caring professions, academia, business, you name it. Let's model, mold, and nurture them toward having a heart, a heart for work and sacrificial teamwork with classmates, but also a heart for the players in the other dugout. Especially on those afternoons when everybody knows one team way outclasses the other in talent, and massacring the inferior team by posting humiliating numbers up on the scoreboard to shame the opponent isn't honor. It's honor-less.

Let's keep a wider perspective of how our activities for youth mold better human beings (or fail to do so). And that includes the pros, who when we're kids we naturally look up to and emulate in everything from length of baseball pants, to mannerisms at the plate, to how we view our opponent on the other side of the field.