Dodgers-Giants Rivalry: Dead Because of the Standings, Not Bryan Stow

It’s been a little over three months since Bryan Stow was nearly beaten to death in the Dodgers Stadium parking lot on Opening Day. According to some, LA Times blogger Steve Dillbeck included, it’s been since then that the Dodgers-Giants rivalry has cooled.

Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images via Zimbio

Dillbeck argues that the beating has taken the fun out of hating the Giants, and “even if in your deepest heart, you would still enjoy nothing more than a Giants pratfall of some sort, it is no longer comfortable to wave it as if it’s some personal banner.” He’s right to a degree, yet that degree is small.

If you’re a sincere Dodger fan, then it really might be difficult to razz a man sitting next to you who is wearing orange, at the risk that you could be cast as a sympathizer to the beating.  But in reality, the beating has no bearing on the rivalry’s dullness this season. The standings however, play a significant role.

Should the Dodgers have not fallen flat on their faces in the first half of the season, the rivalry would likely be at an all-time high down the stretch. The March 31st beating would have added fuel to the fire, just like the Giants’ champagne celebration five months prior. Does Dillbeck actually believe that Bryan Stow wouldn’t have riled up Giants fans if the teams were fighting for first place? Does he really think that a critical September affair on a foggy night in San Francisco would be peaceful in the bleachers. A tight race would have had drama written all over it, especially in the stands considering the gauntlet had already been dropped. And for the blood thirsty media, it surely would have been storylines galore.

Instead, the Dodgers are a baker’s dozen back of the Giants, adding weight to their chaotic bankruptcy and their poorest season in recent memory. So while Dodger fans flood AT&T Park in San Francisco, they have nothing to be proud about, giving the Giants’ faithful have all of the power. That’s what has killed this rivalry, not a mauling.

So unless you’re still delusional, and believe that the rival is really dead due to Stow’s condition, there’s a couple of things to keep in mind. The old style glove in left field of AT&T Park has just four fingers for a reason, because as Vin Scully once said during the Dodgers’ first trip to the ballpark, the other digit “was given to the Dodgers”. So would it really be that much of a surprise that a city and region on such a perpetual high horse as it is, has gotten to the point where looking down their crooked nose at Los Angeles and the Dodgers in particular has lost a little luster?  Nope. Because the Dodgers are a ridiculous poor baseball team, on and off the field, while their Giants were touche’d just last October.

The Yankees-Red Sox rivalry never achieved its current hype until 2004. And since the mid-90s, the AL East has been won by one of them in all but one season. The Dodgers-Giants are far from that, and until they start to coordinate their winning ways, the rivalry may continue to be moot, given the Giants’ 2010 conquest.

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