ANGELS WANT SLICE OF THE DODGER PIE.Byline: JOE HAAKENSON Imagine you're Tommy Aaron
Thomas Dean "Tommy" Aaron (born February 22 1937) is a professional golfer who is best known for winning The Masters Tournament in 1973. , or Ken Brett Acute sense of personal inferiority, often resulting in either timidity or (through overcompensation) exaggerated aggressiveness. Though once a standard psychological concept, particularly among followers of Alfred Adler, it has lost much of its might not be such as easy task. For the Angels, it's taken just about 40 years to get over their's with the Dodgers. Lacking the tradition and the championship hardware, it's been difficult for the Angels to feel on par with their big brothers a few miles north up the Golden State Freeway The Golden State Freeway is a north-south freeway running through Kern County and Los Angeles County, California. Originally built as U.S. Highway 99, it was re-signed as Interstate 5 in 1964. . The Angels have had their share of big names going back to the 1960s, but when it came time to play the annual Freeway Series The term Freeway Series refers to a series of baseball games played between Major League Baseball's Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of the American League and the Los Angeles Dodgers of the National League. after spring training each year, the Angels usually thought they had to earn the respect of the Dodgers. ``I got the sense that they looked down on us,'' said Angels right fielder right fielder n. Baseball The player who defends right field. Noun 1. right fielder - the person who plays right field outfielder - (baseball) a person who plays in the outfield Tim Salmon
``Before, there was the Piazza craze, and the (Raul) Mondesi craze. But those guys aren't there anymore. They've got some good players there now, like (Shawn) Green, but I don't sense that feeling anymore.'' Angels vice president Tim Mead, who is in his 23rd year with the club, has had close relationships with many in the Dodgers organization over the years. But soon after he began his career in Anaheim, he noticed a difference in how the two teams were treated by the media. The Dodgers won the World Series in 1981, and the club was lauded by the local chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) is a professional association for baseball journalists writing for daily newspapers and magazines. The BBWAA was founded in 1908 to improve working conditions for sportswriters in the early part of the 20th century. after the season during its ``annual'' dinner. The next year the Angels reached the American League Championship Series
``I don't think the organizations ever competed,'' Mead said. ``A lot of it, and rightfully so, is media generated. It's an L.A.-based media.'' Mead, however, admits he is noticing a change in the general perception of the two organizations, one that has them closer to being equal both on and off the field. ``Part of what you're seeing right now has to do with Mike Scioscia,'' Mead said of the Angels manager, who played 13 seasons with the Dodgers. ``He really has implemented a tremendous program. Mike has brought a lot of (public) support with him. And I think the change of ownership, with both teams, has affected both sides.'' Though both teams are owned by corporate giants now - the Dodgers under Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. and the Angels under the Walt Disney Co. - the team payrolls are not equal. The Dodgers' payroll this season is the fifth-highest in baseball at just below $95 million. The Angels rank No. 15 at $61 million. On the field, it couldn't get much closer. The Angels have more than held their own, winning 14 of 27 games entering Saturday since interleague play began in 1997. But the idea of any real rivalry is lost in the expanse of a 162-game season. After all, the Dodgers hate the Giants, not the Angels. ``Rivalries are going to exist more so within your division,'' Scioscia said. ``Those are the teams you're trying to get past to win a pennant.'' Some of the other intra-city rivalries are more intense, Scioscia said, because there is more of a history between the teams. ``It's not like the Yankees and the Mets or the Giants and the A's, because those teams have played each other in the World Series,'' Scioscia said. ``We haven't had those games with the Dodgers yet.'' Yet. Could this be the year? The two teams haven't been in first place at the same time this far into the season in nearly five years. On Aug. 2, 1997, the Angels were a half-game up in the AL West and the Dodgers were tied for the NL West lead but neither team reached the playoffs. Going into this weekend, both teams were one game out in their respective divisions and playing relatively well. ``Both teams have shown spurts of success from year to year,'' Scioscia said. ``But this year the consistency of both clubs shows we're in this for the long haul.'' And if somehow, some way, both teams reach the World Series this season, who would win? Buzzie Bavasi, the only person to serve as general manager for both teams, has a satellite dish and watches three major-league games a day. But even he can't answer that one. ``Both teams are equal in talent,'' Bavasi, 87, said from his home in La Jolla. ``The only difference is that one team might want it more than the other one. But I do know this: I'd buy a ticket.'' |
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