Carpool Lane: Trip to Dodgers vs Brewers and Ryan Braun

About the Carpool Lane

There was a lot of anticipation leading up to Ryan Braun making his first trip to Los Angeles since he was voted the NL MVP last season, faced a positive test for performance enhancers, and won an appeal (presumably on a technicality) against MLB for his 50 game suspension.

While he said that he did not want the award, even if Major League Baseball vacated it, Matt Kemp is the obvious choice for 2011 NL MVP in Ryan Braun’s stead, if not the deserving outright winner.

Even if Kemp doesn’t feel like the award was stolen from him, Dodgers fans feel Kemp’s loss is their loss, and take it personally for him. The many Dodgers jerseys bearing number 27, and the name “The Real MVP” get that point across.

Braun walked in his first at bat as part of a scoreless first inning for Aaron Harang. In the bottom of the first, Braun made his way out to the outfield for the first time. I regrettably arrived a few minutes late for the 5:05 Memorial Day start, but I knew exactly where it was in the game when I heard the boos echo down from the pavilion, around the stadium, and back to my eager self just outside the pavilion gate, ready to be part of the melee.

Only two balls were hit anywhere Braun’s direction for the entirety of the contest, which left plenty of time for Braun to be anchored to his plot of grass in left field and listen to the packed left field pavilion crowd dish it out.

And this isn’t intended to be a challenge, but I thought he got off rather easy. The boos and spattering of jeers likely weren’t any worse than the treatment he got the rest of the ballparks the Brewers visited this season.

They were boisterous before that, but it took until the bottom of the 4th for fans in the pavilion to get organized: “Hey Braun” yelled a guy. The crowd belted, “You Suck”; ‘Hey Braun,” crowd “You Suck”; “Heeeyyy Brauuun,” crowd “Yooouuu Suuuuck.” It got the point across, but for the most part he was comparatively left alone—compared to the bleachers I imagined. The bleachers when there’s a pennant race going down, the Giants are in town, and Barry Bonds is in left field.

I overestimated how personally Dodgers fans were going to take Braun winning the MVP coupled with his steroid test. They took it personally, but didn’t feel burdened to attack Braun in any form.

As I see it, there are multiple contributing factors.

First, there are no teams or players that Dodgers fans dislike more than Giants fans. I explained this to a Phillies fan last summer, sitting in the pavilion amongst a fair amount of red jerseys in the stands—no Phillies fan or player will ever be hated like a Giants fan. So no matter what, the Mission Hills native was already going to get some sort of reprieve.

But secondly, that ties back to the case of Bryan Stowe who was beaten into a coma following last season’s home opener against the Giants. One way The Dodgers skirted that problem this season was by scheduling the Pirates on Opening Day. But more than that is the increased security. It is very noticeable when you come into the pavilion how much more thorough security personnel are in searching fans.

There weren’t any mounted police riding around the parking lots like on Opening Day, but there was an officer in police uniform stationed at the bottom of the stairs in every aisle in the left field pavilion (which was full compared to the ¼ full right pavilion). Even if I didn’t see them throw anyone out of the stadium, it is a serious deterrent to any problems in the stands. Despite there being an altercation last homestand, no one wants to be part of another Bryan Stowe incident.

The third is the ownership. It seems to be a different place in the pavilions, and I don’t know how much of that credit to give to the new ownership. They did lower parking at the gates to $10 from $15. There are beautiful new signs at every entry kiosk telling fans that they do not allow outside alcoholic beverages onto the premises because it puts the family friendly atmosphere at risk.

And whether it’s the new ownership, any additional security measures taken, or just the winning ways of the 32-16 Dodgers this season, it was a fan friendly atmosphere. The father and 9-ish year old son from out of town sitting in front of me in the pavilion, were scoring the game in their program with a big bat shaped pen, and punching their votes for the 2012 All Star Game in Kansas City. It was a safe friendly, and enjoyable atmosphere for them to watch the game. And a heads up: the son, an avid MLB Network watcher, was a ringer and picked one legit All Star lineup. My fantasy teams will require his assistance soon.

After flying through the first part of the game, it came to an absolute standstill in the eighth as the Dodgers really started battling in their at bats. Fouling off multiple two strike pitches, Abreu lead the way with a single in the eighth for one of the Dodgers 8 hits. He stole second and eventually scored on a single by Jerry Hairston. But they were unable to get one more run in the ninth off of closer John Axford. In a 3-2 loss.

Ryan Braun was treated to boos, but nothing more disrespectful than was necessary to him, or 9 year olds scoring the game in the stands. Braun walked twice, flew out, grounded out, and scored a run, not in that order. But the Dodgers MVP and runner-up in the 2011 NL MVP Voting, Matt Kemp likely returns to the outfield on Tuesday. He will certainly be treated with even more respect.