Dodgers-Giants rivalry renewed tonight

The Dodgers and Giants renew their blood feud tonight at AT&T Park and the feelings still run high.

I have been a Dodgers fan for as long as I can remember. It was a family tradition primarily because by Mom liked to go out to Dodger Stadium whenever she could and allowed me to tag along and bring a few friends at 75 cents a pop to sit in the left field pavilion.

The Giants have always been the enemy. Willie Mays, Will McCovey, Gaylord Perry, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, Hal Lanier and later Barry Bonds, Matt Williiams, Will Clark, Jeff Kent and others have played the role of villain against the Dodgers.

But let’s give credit where it is due. The Giants have won three World Series titles in the last five years. That’s as close to a dynasty that baseball has seen for decades.

San Francisco has proven that all that matters is getting to October and then anything can happen. The Giants won the one-game Wild Card play-in last year then marched all the way to the title.

I caught the Dodgers against the Giants for a couple of games last year at AT&T and the fans were friendly and playfully giving me and others a hard time for being decked out in Dodger gear. I never felt it was anything more than friendly competition.

The funniest moment came on the Muni train after the game when a decidedly inebriated young lady starting berating a group of us wearing Dodger gear.

“LA, everything about LA is phony. Even the women with their boob jobs. Everything there is fake,” she said. Then (pointing at her own chest) she proclaimed, “these are real.”

The guy sitting next to me then earned a high five when he said, “Prove it.”

You gotta love baseball.