SAN DIEGO — See, this is how this rivalry, such as it is, has always worked dating to 1969 and the birth of the San Diego Padres.
San Diegans hate L.A. – kind of smugly, to be honest, as befits a burg that calls itself “America’s Finest City.” Consequently, they despise the Dodgers with a passion, which explains why those chants of “Beat L.A.” are so loud here, and also why the locals are so aggrieved when so many people wearing that shade of blue show up at Petco Park.
Dodger fans, meanwhile, have always considered the Padres the annoying little brothers who demand attention but seldom have done enough to warrant it. Even the events of last October – maybe the most shocking playoff meltdown in the Dodgers’ recent history, leading to the sheer joy that lit up the Gaslamp Quarter in the aftermath – haven’t changed the equation.
The Dodgers are still a first-place team. The Padres were emboldened enough last winter after winning two playoff series to empty their vault even more and doubled down at last week’s trade deadline even though they haven’t been north of .500 since May 10. While they entered Monday three games back in the National League wild-card race they also have to leapfrog four teams to get back to the postseason.
But, you know, “Beat L.A.”
Maybe Monday’s matinee between the teams, a 13-7 Dodgers victory, was the relationship in microcosm. The Padres scored five times in the third inning for a 5-0 lead, smacking around Tony Gonsolin to the tune of four hits and six batted balls with an exit velocity of more than 100 mph. (Given that Gonsolin was topping out at 93 mph that inning, the hitters were providing most of the oomph.)
And yes, the majority in the announced crowd of 44,455 were raucously chanting you-know-what.
So the very next half-inning, the Dodgers yanked the rug out from under the home team: Eleven men batted and eight scored, punctuated by Mookie Betts’ grand slam on a 3-and-0 pitch, the team’s 11th grand slam of the season. (Oh, by the way, whatever happened to “Slam Diego,” anyway?)
“I think we were just, ‘All right, let’s go to work’,” Dodgers outfielder James Outman said, describing the team’s mood as they returned to the dugout trailing 5-0.
“We never really panic, and we play every pitch … I don’t know if the plan was to take it all back that inning. We were trying to just get a couple of runs across, but it ended up being a big inning.”
Two innings later, the dragons from the north, as Padres majority owner Peter Seidler memorably referred to them a year ago, scored five more.
And a couple of innings after that, many of the Padres fans that had (maybe) played hooky from work to go to the game were on their way home, either listening to the end of the game on the radio or trying to wipe it from their minds.
Rivalry games can be difficult.
This weekend the Dodgers secured their 13th consecutive season series victory over little brother; they’ve won eight of 10 over the Padres this season with three more to play, Sept. 11-13 at Dodger Stadium. The last time they lost a season series to the Padres was in 2010, and they’re now 33-14 against them over the last three seasons, as well as 80-35 overall and 39-20 in Petco Park since 2017.
In this case, maybe it was just timing because the summer months often belong to the Dodgers.
On the morning of June 20, they were in third place in the NL West, 4½ games behind Arizona. Following Monday’s game they were 65-36, their 25-13 mark since June 20 the best in the National League – yes, even a half-game better than Atlanta, which entered Monday with the game’s best record at 70-39.
They’re also 9½ games ahead of Arizona going into their two-game series Tuesday night in Phoenix.
“In my tenure, my eight years, we’ve done this (consistently),” Manager Dave Roberts said. “I think it speaks to talent, depth of talent and a team collectively willing to have the ability to kind of get through the grind of July and August and continue to ascend.
“It’s not easy.”
And if you are a Dodger fan you have reason to be optimistic going forward. Roberts confirmed after Monday’s game that Clayton Kershaw will come off the injured list to start against the Colorado Rockies on Thursday night at home. And Walker Buehler, after a throwing session Friday at a San Diego performance lab monitored by Dodgers assistant pitching coach Connor McGuiness, is expected to throw to hitters this week in Arizona.
It is a cliche, and often a tired one, to suggest that the guys you get back from the injured list are equal to or better than the guys you didn’t get at the trade deadline. But while Andrew Friedman failed to land that marquee starting pitcher a week ago, he did add significant reinforcements (Lance Lynn, Joe Kelly, Kiké Hernández, Amed Rosario).
And now the Dodgers will get one ace quality pitcher back this week, with the possibility that Buehler, 13 months out from Tommy John surgery, could even meet his personal goal of Sept. 1 for being back on a major league mound.
As for those of us who termed last Tuesday’s deadline inaction frustrating, or worse?
“Those people are always going to have their opinions,” Roberts said. “I trust our guys and we’re betting on people, past performance, their assimilation, their ability to assimilate in our clubhouse. And so those guys are doing great. So it’s our job to just continue to pour into ’em and expect good things from ’em.”
Footnote: Since the trade deadline the Dodgers are 6-1. The Padres, who acquired five players at the deadline, are 3-3.
And yes, you can be sure the Padres would love nothing better than another October shot at big brother. If they can get there.