I'm guessing you were joking about the 7th inning crack (have heard it most of my life), but people would be surprised to learn that the core Dodgers fans are pretty strong. The people who leave in the 7th inning, well, there might be 5,000 of them, but that still leaves 30,000-40,000 in the stands depending on the year.

It's not New England baseball crazy, but with so many people in the LA area, there's quite a few intense fans.

Let's see, the Dodgers have DePod and a great farm system, while the Angels have...$4.50 beers instead of $7 ones?

I know what franchise I'd rather be associated with.

Are we sure DePodesta is "that good"? I can see how a reputation as a "boy genius" could be more of a hindrance than a help in the GM business. Shouldn't we ask DePo to play his first season before handing him the ROY award?

I've talked to a couple of my Dodger-loving friends about this and have found that it is a VERY touchy subject. Want to watch a Dodger fan hav a meltdown? Simply say: "Don't you think you should give McCourt a chance?" Then run to a safe distance...

Cheap beers, yes. Also Colon, Guerrero, and an owner willing to expand payroll. Their current advertising campaign may turn out pretty well, also.

I'm speaking as an lifelong Dodger-blue-fan and an Angel-hater. I think Moreno sees a giant window of opportunity to close the popularity gap with the Dodgers, and he's going to try to do it with all the means at his disposal.

Get real, if you could trade McCourt away and get Moreno in return, wouldn't you do it?

I am a lifelong Dodgers fan, growing up listening to Vin on radio. I now have lived in FL for 4 years. I have to say that the last few years have been so disappointing (Kevin Malone, Dan Evans), it has been much more fun for me to follow the Marlins...(championship notwithstanding).

Maybe I will turn in my Blues gear on one of those Conversion Nights.... *sigh*

Well, the sale wasn't finalized until the best hitters were already unavailable. Still, McCourt might want to "force" some sort of trade for Jaque Jones just to make the fans think he's serious about doing something; the reality of the situation is that this season is pretty much lost, period... but it's hard to admit that and not lose the faith of the fans.

If McCourt wants to force a trade, I'm sure the Pirates would provide Raul Mondesi for Greg Miller or Edwin Jackson. I wrote about possible LA-Pittsburgh trades in my blog this morning (click on my name to see it).

Speaking of insanely-great PR for the Angels, click on my name for another link.

Just saw that Gammons reports that LA refuses to deal Edwin Jackson for Adam Dunn. Also, Gammons seems to think that offer was absurd. What are the Dodgers (and Gammons) thinking? That makes no sense to me.

Why is it absurd? Because moving one of the best pitching prospects in baseball for a potential slugger with injury and severe strikeout problems at the major league level isn't a fair exchange of value. Dunn could still be a great player, but he's increased his strikeout rate each of his three years (up to one every three at-bats last year) and his thumb could be a serious problem. He's just simply too much of an unknown quantity compared to Jackson.

Another grounds for comparison of the Dodgers and Angels is that the Dodgers moved Kevin Brown, clearing salary space for a free agent hitter. They had a deal inplace for Vlad (the same deal he signed for with the Angels, reportedly) but McCourt with his highly-leveraged deal colluded with Selig and squelched the deal. Now it looks very much like McCourt is more interested in further reducing payroll than in spending more money on players. (McCourt has also made enemies among the existing Dodger staff, driving away several respected front office people, as well as some who were not so well-respected. He's been very slow to replace them. ) None of this endears him to fans.

I used to live in LA and loved to attend games at beautiful Dodger Stadium. I agree with Mike that the early-departing (and often late-arriving) fans--who also tend to be more interested in their cell phones than in the game--are only a minority of what are generally good baseball fans at Dodger games. At the time (late 1980s thru mid-1990s) going to Angel games was a much less enjoyable experience--worse team, worse fans, far less appealing ball park.

Some people are projecting that the Angels may draw more fans this year than the Dodgers for the first time since both have been in the LA area. Why? Because the Angels have a better team; simple as that. Moreno is more appealing than the McCourts but fans come to the park to watch the players, not the owners. The best way that the McCourts can improve the relationship between the team and the community is too eventually put a good team on the field that is competing for the playoffs. Likewise, if the Angels start to stink for a number of years then Moreno will seem less appealing to Angels fans.

I think in the context of the articles about the McCourt's what DePodesta's hiring means is that somebody has adopted the dark side of the Moneyball philosophy. They hired a guy who proved he could get/assist a team to win and be profitable on a tight budget. So, they get a guy who can eliminate expensive unproductive labor costs, just like a Carl Icahn in business. If they win, that's a bonus for the PR-side, but their goal is to use the franchise to make themselves richer. I'm afraid DePodesta may turn out to be the Bud Fox to the McCourts' Gordon Gekko.

I've been a lifelong Dodger fan, but I work in Orange County and have always liked the Angels. The difference between the fans at Angels games now vs. 3 years ago is rather stunning. It used to be that there'd be maybe 20,000 people in the stands and a lot of the season ticket holders were just corporate tickets given to entertain clients. And there'd always seem to be tons of expatriate fans for the visiting team. Now there are like 40,000 people there, many of them really showing the love for the Halos. I did see Clemens pitch for the Yankees there, and there were still a lot of vocal Yankee fans. But the difference now is that there were also a lot of vocal Angel fans to compete with them.

Anyway, my point is that Moreno and the Angels are doing everything right now while the Dodgers are doing everything wrong. Yes, they have DePodesta and a great farm system... that and their history is ALL the Dodgers have. If their farmhands pan out they can have a great team in a year or two. But in the meantime they took the worst hitting team in the league last year and actually let it get worse in the offseason. Having 3 or 4 great pitchers in Las Vegas is a very good thing to have, but it isn't gonna help the big club win if nobody can hit.

Saunders has a great point--- it might even be easier to make money in sports with a losing team than with a winning team. Just look at the Clippers. I fear that McCourt is interested in becoming the next Donald Sterling.

Let's see, the Dodgers have DePod and a great farm system, while the Angels have...$4.50 beers instead of $7 ones?

I know what franchise I'd rather be associated with.

Hey, Al -- Jeff Mathis, Dallas McPherson, Casey Kotchman, Ervin Santana, and Bobby Jenks all say hello, and will all be at either AA or AAA for the Angels, slated to be in Anaheim starting 2005. AND I get cheaper beers. I'm pretty happy to be rooting for the Angels.