Dodgers fans will pay price to see Yankees

So if you live in Los Angeles and want to watch the Dodgers play Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira and the New York Yankees this summer … you’re going to have to pay a big price.

Forget about buying single-game tickets when the Yankees come to Los Angeles on June 25-27.

If you’re a Dodgers (or Yankees) fan and want to watch the Bronx Bombers in LA, you’ll have to buy a 14-, 21-, or 28-game package to do so.

Ouch!

So much for the “average” fan getting to see the Yankees-Dodgers renew what once seemed like an annual World Series match-up in generations past.

The Dodgers anticipate selling out all three Yankees games via ticket packages. If tickets remain available, they'll be sold individually at a later date. Hey, buy your Yankees tickets now and at least you’ll get to see the Pittsburgh Pirates and Washington Nationals come to town, lol.

This is similar to a ticket ploy of the San Diego Chargers several years ago when they used to lose regularly to the Oakland Raiders … instead of the Chargers now having won 13 straight against Oakland.

To keep the stadium from being comprised of primarily Raiders fans 10 or so years ago, the Chargers made people buy tickets to several other games besides Chargers-Raiders.

The Dodgers really don’t need much of an attendance boost from what they normally draw annually. But selling out the Yankees series will probably assure other sellouts this season.

Dodgers don't match up well in playoffs

The Los Angeles Dodgers set an all-time franchise record this season by having 22 different pitchers earn at least one win.

Good news?

Not really.

More than anything, it only confirms the fact that the Dodgers have lots of small pieces on their pitching staff … but no ace.

Never is that more evident than in the pitching match-ups for the first two games of the National League Divisional Series vs. the St. Louis Cardinals.

Who would you rather have as your top two pitchers in the playoffs?

Journeyman Randy Wolf, an 11-game winner; and Clayton Kershaw, who finished with a .500 record?

Or Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, both of whom have legitimate cases for winning the NL Cy Young?

About the only thing the Dodgers have going for them in the first round of the playoffs is home field advantage against the Cardinals. But let’s face it: The Dodgers earned home field advantage with wins before the All-Star break; not in September or October.

How else do you explain them losing five of six games to the lowly Pittsburgh Pirates and San Diego Padres down the stretch … when two wins during that time would have clinched the NL West division a lot earlier than Oct. 3?

The Dodgers may have the record to prove they were the best team in the league during the regular season; but that means squat come October.

It looks like a minor miracle … or Randy Wolf turning into a postseason Orel Hershiser … are the best hopes for Los Angeles in postseason 2009.

Padres' schedule is a little too strange

If you enjoyed watching the Padres play the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park on Tuesday night, get used to it.

The teams will play six times at Petco Park this season, before they ever meet in Colorado.

Advantage, Rockies; if it comes down to the end of the season between these two teams.

For some reason, the Major League Baseball schedule is more quirky than ever this season … especially for the Padres.

They play the Los Angeles Dodgers nine times in September, the first time one can ever recall teams meeting in three series during the same month.

And playing the Rockies nine times in Colorado from June 30 on is not a picnic for the Padres.

With the Padres already being in a five-team division in the NL West, somebody always is going to be playing outside of the division. In fact, six of San Diego’s last nine games are against the Washington Nationals and Pittsburgh Pirates.

But playing the Rockies six times in San Diego through May 11, then not visiting Colorado until June 30?

That’s a little too strange.

Perez: The one that got away

A straight-up trade of Brian Giles to the Padres for Jason Bay alone would have been a great deal for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2003.

Giles is a descending former star. Bay is a rising star.

But don’t forget, the Pirates also received pitcher Oliver Perez in the trade.

So, who got the best of the trade overall? Try the New York Mets.

Perez is now pitching like an All-Star for the Mets. He is 6-3 with a 2.69 ERA, and appears a pretty good bet to join Padres ace Jake Peavy on the 2007 National League All-Star team.

Last season, Perez was traded by the Pirates along with pitcher Roberto Hernandez to the Mets for Xavier Nady, another former Padre. Yes, that’s the same Nady who helped the Pirates beat the Padres, 4-1, Tuesday night.

Perez and Peavy broke in with the Padres during the same 2002 weekend series against the New York Yankees at Qualcomm Stadium.

It’s scary to think what it would be like still have those two in the same rotation!

Kouzmanoff should bat seventh

Kevin Kouzmanoff should be batting seventh for the Padres.

Why?

He had an eight-game hitting streak while primarily in the No. 7 hole, recording a .520 batting average with four home runs and 12 RBIs during the streak.

So, the Padres rewarded Kouzmanoff by elevating him to fifth in the order. So, Kouzmanoff responded by going 0-for-7 in the last two games at No. 5, dropping his average from .217 to .205.

During his hot streak, the same people who had wanted Kouzmanoff sent to the minors were talking about him as a possible Rookie of the Year. But batting fifth, he looked like the same guy that the multitudes wanted sent out to Triple-A Portland.

When the Padres lineup comes out tonight in Pittsburgh, you can only hope Kouzmanoff is batting seventh.

ESPN's Phillips looks like a genius

Credit Steve Phillips for looking like a genius thus far in 2007.

The ESPN analyst more than went out on a limb before the baseball season when he picked Milwaukee to win the NL Central.

At the time, I’m sure most of us were laughing. But look who’s laughing now (Phillips) with Milwaukee leading the NL Central by seven games over the Chicago Cubs.

St. Louis was the obvious preseason pick in the division, coming off its 2006 World Series title. Houston can always be figured on to make a late-season run, and Cincinnati was hot most of last season. Then there are the Cubs who spent $300 million in the offseason; but are still the Cubs (see: losers).

Hardly anybody could have rightfully picked Pittsburgh to win the division, which left Milwaukee as a solid choice to finish fifth.

Obviously, Phillips saw something that the rest of us did not.

Nevin is a breath of fresh air

It’s nice to hear the voice of Phil Nevin on XX Sports Radio these days.
Nevin started last Friday on the Padres pre-game radio show, and he certainly is a breath of fresh air.
He’s not one of those former ballplayers who are going to make excuses for what happens on the field. He tells it like it is, which is what listeners want to hear after all.
Nevin was the first Padre to speak his mind when Petco Park opened in 2004 concerning how difficult of a hitter’s park the new facility is. He took the rap from management for being the first guy to say something that is commonly repeated these days about how low-scoring games and long fly outs (that would be home runs in most ballparks) are the norm at Petco Park.
It was interesting a couple years ago when Nevin became so frustrated by Petco Park’s vast dimensions that he let it be known by directing his anger toward General Manager Kevin Towers in the press box during an August game against Pittsburgh. As the story is told, Towers took then Padre announcer Rick Sutcliffe to the clubhouse with him after the game to act as a buffer and keep Towers from going overboard after Nevin.
The sad part for Nevin is that he has certainly burned bridges with the Padres. The team desperately needs another right-handed bat, and Nevin is capable of filling the role.
But because Nevin was the first to speak out against Petco Park, he will always be held liable for what plenty of others are saying nowadays.