Touch 'Em All: La La Land glitz and Philly grit
LOS ANGELES - So much for sunny Southern California.
The weather that greeted the Phillies when they arrived here last night was a lot like May in Manayunk. Skies the color of J.A. Happ's pallor. Low 60s. And a sporadic light rain - though, come to think of it, it could just have been liquid smog.
Game days, tomorrow and Friday, are expected to be a little more normal - which is a word you don't hear often in conjunction with Los Angeles and environs: Sunny with highs in the low 80s.
Philly plea
A particularly smarmy sports-talk radio host out here was begging for expatriates from "the 215 area code" to discuss the Phils-Dodgers National League Championship Series.
Be careful what you wish for.
"Yo, you was asking for a Philly guy, right?"
"That's right, sir, to whom am I speaking."
"None of your friggin' business. Don't I win nothin'?"
"No, I just want to know how you see the NLCS."
"I'm gonna watch on TV. Maybe a sports bar."
"No, who do you like in the series?
"You gotta be kiddin' me, right? The Phillies are gonna kick the Dodgers' baby-blue butts all the way to Encino. Clayton Kershaw? What kinda name is that? Sounds like some sissy lawyer. Though I admit we got Cole Hamels. He's one of youse. Soft. Flaky. Blond wife. Left a game last week to have a baby. Wimp. Pete Rose woulda played through that."
Homecoming
It'll be good to see all the former Phillies that now wear Dodger blue.
There's third-base coach Larry Bowa, the anti-Southern Californian. Despite establishing residence here, Bowa will adopt the area's laid-back demeanor at about same time Tony Luke Jr. wins an Academy Award.
Then there's first-base coach Mariano Duncan, who among the '93 Phillies was the only one who (a) smiled, (b) wore suits whose colors resembled seasonal vegetables, and (c) owned more Etienne Aigner designer bags than Winona Ryder.
The pitching staff includes erratic Randy Wolf, who inspired his own fan club and no one else; and Vicente Padilla, who combined menace, torpor, and mystery in a personality that brought to mind Milton Street.
And, of course, we'll all see plenty of ex-Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, providing we all hang around the cameras and the microphones.
Way downtown
