As an Angels AND Dodgers fan I will root for the Dodgers if they reach the World Series. If there was to be a Freeway Series I would root for the Angels to win it in seven games. As the Red Sox have a habit of sweeping the World Series in the 21st century I would hope that the Dodgers would win one game to force a Game 5.

After the Dodgers eliminated the Cubs to advance to the NLCS I went out and purchased Dodger World Series tickets on Stubhub. If the Dodgers indeed play three World Series games at home I will spend more money on 2008 Dodger post season tickets than I did for 2008 Angel season tickets. My eldest son Rick saw the Angels play three World Series games (2, 6, and 7) in 2002 at the age of 9. Here’s hoping my youngest son Roger gets to see three World Series games in 2008 at the age of 8. For the record I saw one World Series game at the age of 11 (the 4th game of the Dodgers sweep of the Yankees in 1963).

From July 30th to August 7th Roger and I went on a road trip to Missouri. We flew round trip from John Wayne Airport to Kansas City because an open jaws ticket (SNA to KC and STL to SNA) would have doubled our rental car bill (dropping the car off at an airport different than the one we picked it up at). Upon arrival in KC we immediately drove to Hannibal and stayed at the Clemens Hotel. The next day we toured Samuel Clemens’ house, took a river steamboat ride on the Mississippi River to see Jackson Island, and explored the Mark Twain Cave.

The next day we drove to St. Louis. Flooding of a tributary river south of Hannibal necessitated a one hour delay and a return to Hannibal before driving southwest on a four lane highway. As a result we checked into our hotel in St. Louis less than two hours before the Friday game time. We saw the Phillies take two of three from the Cardinals. The highlight was Ryan Ludwick blasting four home runs in the three games. This was my fourth time to St. Louis but the first time that I went to the top of the Arch.

In Kansas City we saw the Red Sox take two of three from the Royals. In the August 5th game Jason Bay hit a deep fly to leftcenter that Royal centerfielder Mitch Maier gloved at the top of the fence. The ball rolled off of Maier’s glove along the top of the fence for about eight feet before leftfielder Ross Gload barehanded the ball into his glove and threw to second base to hold Bay to a double. That was the closest I had seen Bay come to hitting a home run before Games 1 and 2 of last week’s Red Sox vs Angels ALDS. We enjoyed visiting the Negro Baseball Leagues museum and the Jazz museum in Kansas City. They are in the same building about five blocks northwest of the old Muncipal Stadium where I saw Boog Powell hit a home run into Brooklyn Avenue in July 1972.

I find it ironic that Roger and I will see the Red Sox and Phillies play in post season games the same year we went on a road trip to see them play. I thought we might see one of them play in the post season, not both.

This year I the Angels were 32-16 in games I went to. The Dodgers were 11-5. I enjoyed reading Roger Angel’s books about games he went to across the nation. My hobby is collecting baseball stadiums. Colorado, Florida, and Texas are the only franchises that I have not seen play a home game. I have not seen the Washington Nationals play at home but I did see the Expos sweep four games against the Reds in Montreal in 1989 (that was my last Pete Rose sighting). For the record—no, Roger was not named after Roger Angel.

I last saw the Dodgers play in a World Series thirty years ago. In 1978 I went to games 1, 2, and 6 of the World Series. I am looking forward to the renewal of the Dodgers and Phillies post season rivalry. The Dodgers sport a 2-1 series lead—winning in 1977 and 1978 and losing in 1983. The 1950 Whiz Kids don’t count. The Phillies that year advanced to the World Series with a win over the Dodgers in the last regular season game.

At the hotel pool in St. Louis I spoke with a Phillies fan. He was so happy that the Mets had blown a 7 game lead with 17 games to play in 2007 to get the Phillies into the post season. That lessened the injury of the 1964 Phillies collapse when they were up by 6 1/2 games with 12 to play. I mentioned that I had seen the Phillies sweep a doubleheader from the Pirates at Veterans Stadium on August 4th, 1974 with Willie Stargell and Ollie Brown homering in the opener and Mike Schmidt hitting a home run and double in the nightcap. The Phillies fan emphatically corrected me and stated that twinbill was played on July 27th, 1974. He was sure because those were the first major league baseball games he ever went to. I reserve the right to be wrong. I looked it up on BaseballReference.com and he indeed was correct.

So… I gotta root for either the Sox or the Rays, whichever team makes it to the World Series. Since the Sox had the skill to take down the Halos… I’ll route for the Red Sox and take solace in the fact that we lost to the (eventual) best team in baseball.

and UCLA alum Chase Utley
he was drafted out of high school by the Dodger and gave them the big “screw you” by going to UCLA instead…