FREEWAY RIVALRY DRIVES INTO CALIFORNIA LEAGUE L.A. TEAMS BATTLE AT SINGLE-A LEVEL.

Byline: PETE MARSHALL

Staff Writer

The rivalry between the San Bernardino and Rancho Cucamonga franchises in the California League began nearly 15 years ago, when the old San Bernardino franchise moved to Rancho Cucamonga and became the Quakes for the 1993 season.

Another franchise came into San Bernardino, leaving twofranchises in the league minutes away from each other.

But the rivalry didn't really heat up until this year, when San Bernardino's Inland Empire 66ers became a Dodgers affiliate again, a fitting adversary for the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes, who have been an Angels affiliate since 2001.

It is the first time the franchises simultaneously have been Dodgers and Angels affiliates.

While the teams have already played 10 times this season in what is effectively the Junior Freeway Series, they will become even better acquainted with each other over the next 16 days, when they play ninetimes, beginning with tonight's game at Arrowhead Credit Union Park in San Bernardino.

It may take time for the rivalry to completely blossom, but there are signs that it has already changed.

Quakes outfielder Drew Toussaint, who went to Compton Centennial High School, was a fan of the SanFrancisco Giants while growing up -- not the Angels or the Dodgers.

But Toussaint, who played for the Quakes last year, sees a difference among the fans this year as opposed to last year against the Sixers, then a Seattle Mariners affiliate.

"I think there's a lot more fans into it because they're the Dodgers," Toussaint said.

Sixers second baseman Travis Denker, who grew up in Orange County and went to Brea Olinda High School, said he followed both the Dodgers and Angels growing up.

"Garret Anderson (who faced the Sixers in a rehabilitation assignment this year) was my favorite player, but I was also a Dodger fan," Denker said.

He's also very familiar with the Quakes, having attended games at the Epicenter because his neighbor, Chris Briones, was a catcher for the Quakes when they were a San Diego Padres affiliate in the 1990s.

"Obviously, I think it means a little more for it to be Dodgers vs. Angels," Denker said. "I want to see some of those (Quakes) guys in the big leagues, but right now I want to beat their (butts)."

Until this year, when it moved to San Bernardino, the Dodgers' high Single-A affiliate had been in the Florida State League, where the Angels don't have an affiliate. Also this year, the Dodgers moved their low Single-A affiliate from the South Atlantic League to the Midwest League, where the Angels have their Cedar Rapids affiliate.

Denker said there is also a rivalry in the rookie-level Pioneer League, where the Dodgers affiliate is in Ogden, Utah, and the Angels in Orem, Utah.

But a rivalry between Los Angeles-area affiliates in Utah isn't the same as one in Southern California.

And that's what first-year general managers Gerard McKearney of the Quakes and Loren Foxx of the Sixers are hoping to capitalize on.

The two already have had preliminary talks about some things they could do next year to increase interest.

"I see a lot more Dodger hats when we play them now than before," said McKearney, who also worked for the Quakes several years ago. "We've thought about having something like a cup or a trophy, that the winning team gets to keep."

An addition Foxx and his staff made this year is having former Dodgers signing autographs. McKearney wanted something similar, but didn't limit it to Angels. Frank Tanana, a former Angel, is one player who will be signing autographs later this month, but he also brought in former Dodger Steve Sax in June.

"We were going to get a former Padre, since that's who we were affiliated with, but we didn't want to go with anyone who was on that list," McKearney said.

Like McKearney, Foxx senses an extra buzz around the ballpark when the Quakes are in town.

"It's something that gets the fans talking," Foxx said. "They're not big-leaguers now, but some of them are going to be. It's like buying a stock early or seeing a band play in a garage that turns out to be the next Beatles."

Foxx said many people who have called about tickets have indicated it's because of the Dodgers' affiliation.

Foxx would like to take the competition between the teams beyond the players. He envisions on-field contests between Sixers and Quakes fans in the future and sees it as a front-office rivalry as well.

"Rancho's attendance gives us something to shoot for as an organization," Foxx said of the Quakes, who have led the league in attendance every year since moving to Rancho Cucamonga.

Sixers manager Dave Collins is new to the league and doesn't see the Quakes as the team's No. 1 rival. After all, it was the Lancaster JetHawks who defeated the Sixers in a one-game tiebreaker for the first-half South Division title. And it was the High Desert Mavericks, (affiliated with the Sixers' former parent club, the Seattle Mariners), who had a bench-clearing brawl with the Sixers last week.

But he does notice a lot of fans from both teams traveling to the other ballpark -- the two are fewer than 20 miles apart -- to root on their team.

"I think it's a great atmosphere," he said. "Fans are able to see their team on the road."

[e-mail]

[phone]

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) The Inland Empire 66ers, with Shane Justis, are the Dodgers' High Single-A affiliate.

Gabriel Luis Acosta/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) Cliff Remole and Rancho Cucamonga could see the rivalry with the 66ers blossom.

William Vasta/Special to the Daily News