Steve Lopez: Lots of security, few fans at Dodger Stadium [Live blog]

  I just got to Dodger Stadium, and my buddy Nathaniel Ayers is confused.

"There's nobody here," he said, which isn't far off the mark.

There might be more cops, security guards and stadium employees than fans.

But if you saw Wednesday's news, the employees might not get paid next month. Owner Frank McCourt has houses next door to each other in Holmby Hills and Malibu, but The Times reported that he might not be able to make payroll. 

It's becoming more like a minor league operation every day, but at least the food is half price at the ballpark Wednesday.

Plenty of seats available folks, roughly 50,000 or so.

Come on out to the park and say goodbye to the McCourts.

WITNESSING HISTORY?

[Updated at 12:23 p.m.: I may be witnessing history.

Dodger fans are notorious for late arrivals, but today's game has begun and I've seen more people at Tommy's Burgers on Beverly Boulevard than I see in the ballpark. Is this the end -- a new low for the Dodgers under McCourt?

Help me out, folks. What was the lowest attendance in Dodger Stadium history? When you figure that out, please come to the ballpark.

This is embarrassing.]

THOSE UNIFORMS

[Updated at 12:42 p.m.: The Dodgers are wearing some vintage uniforms today with no names on the back. Three possibilities:

-- McCourt couldn't afford to send the regular uniforms to the laundromat.

-- They actually wanted to wear these uniforms but the person who stitches names on the backs was busy installing new curtains at one of Jamie McCourt's mansions.

-- The Dodgers figured that even with names on their backs, we still wouldn't know who these players are, so why bother?]

IN THE SUN TOO LONG

[Updated at 1:10 p.m.: So this guy comes out of the sun to sit next to us in the shade and says he almost gave up his piece of a season ticket plan after last year's lousy Dodger season.

The quality of the team went down and ticket prices went up, says screenwriter Tom Ropelewski. He and his mates intended to drop out, but the Dodgers offered a deal on some cheaper seats.

Ropelewski said he actually likes the looks of this Dodger team, so obviously he was in the sun too long.]

MINOR LEAGUE BALL

[Updated at 1:19 pm.: To begin the third inning, the Dodgers just flubbed an easy-out pop-up to short left field. A guy named Russ Mitchell is playing third base for the Dodgers. Aaron Miles is at second and Dioner Navarro is the catcher.

Andre Ethier, the only Dodger anyone wanted to see, is not in the lineup. My guess is he quit.

On the bright side, there could be as many as 15,000 fans here now. You know, I've always wanted to see minor league baseball in Southern California, but Rancho Cucamonga and Lake Elsinore are too far.

Thank you, Dodgers. Now I can see minor league baseball without leaving L.A.]

B for Brooklyn

[Updated at 1:26 p.m.: Oh, now I get it. The Dodgers have a "B" on their hats today, so I thought they sent the B squad onto the field. Gibbons, Mitchell, Miles, Navarro, Gwynn. But the B is for Brooklyn Dodgers.

I was going to wear my Brooklyn ballcap to the park today but feared I'd be savagely beaten by idiot fans who thought the B stood for Boston, as in Red Sox. Fifth inning. Guy named Soto, with two homers all season, just hit his third. Cubs 1, Dodgers 0.]

SLIPPING INTO COMAS

[Updated at 1:45 p.m.: Now a guy named Pena, batting eighth in the Cubs lineup and hitting .162, just hit a home run that nearly landed in Eagle Rock.

Cubs 2, Dodgers 0.

A fan threw the ball back onto the field; probably someone worried that Frank McCourt can't afford any new ones. Now Marlon Byrd, a Cub with no homers, just launched a three-run blast into orbit.

Cubs 5, Dodgers 0.

All the fans near me have slipped into comas, much like the Dodgers themselves.

DODGER RALLY

[Updated at 1:57 p.m.: Dodger rally! Runners on first and third, no outs. Sacrifice fly and the Dodgers are on the board. My buddy Nate Ayers is awake and cheering.

I think I just saw Frank McCourt buy a half-price ice cream. He handed the vendor an IOU.

Matt Kemp is up. The best player on the field. Go Dodgers! NO! Weak ground ball. To second for one, back to first, double play.]

FANS LEAVING

[Updated at 2:04 p.m.: Memo to Dodgers: Fans are beginning to leave, but Nate Ayers and I are still here. He brought his glove along with him.

We occasionally take swings at the batting cages on Sepulveda, and we are not much older than shortstop Juan Uribe, who I see is now out of the lineup due to lack of interest or perhaps an arthritic condition.

Translation: We are available for pinch-hitting or relief pitching duty. Today. Right now. You could do worse, and in fact you are.]

DREAM WAS ALIVE

[Updated at 2:44 p.m.: Top of the eighth and I'm starting to feel some sympathy for bumped-aside Dodger owner Frank McCourt, who can't make payroll. Why should he?

If the Dodgers were paid based on merit, maybe three or four players would be getting paychecks.

Meanwhile, some fans along the first base line are trying to start a wave to break up the boredom. But it doesn't work when there's no one sitting on either side of you.

The Dodgers are so weak, a 3-2 count qualifies as a rally. Now Tony Gwynn just walked. The dream is alive!

But Aaron Miles, showing no patience, swings at a pitcher's pitch and hits a lazy flyball for an out. It's up to Jay Gibbons, hitting .000, to keep the rally alive. He swings. He connects.

The Cubs first baseman catches a feeble foul pop, and I'm wondering, can you hit lower than .000?]

SILVER LINING DEPARTMENT

[Updated at 2:50 p.m.: There won't be much traffic leaving the stadium. My Dodger Dog was half price. We didn't get beaned by a foul ball and carried out on a stretcher, though that might have been preferable.

"This is about as bad as it gets," says disgusted die-hard Tom Ropelewski, the screenwriter, who waited 'til the bitter end for something to happen.

Final score: Cubs 5, Dodgers 1. But it wasn't that close.

One last thought: I have tickets to eight more games this year. Anyone interested in a really good deal?]

-- Steve Lopez

Photos from top: Empty seats at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday; Frank McCourt; Lopez and Ayres.  Credits: Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Times; Reuters

Comments

[jayzee1]

The fact of the matter is that attend has dropped consistently since the last strike. Not just here, but at all parks. Couple the horrible economy with the beating incident that happ opening day, the Blue Room has even less fans show up.

Who wants to risk their life? High prices, make that disgustingly high prices at the Park for everything and horrible security. LAPD should be thick everywhere for every home game. With the "element" that frequents the Blue Room, this has been my view for years, opening day just makes it moreso.

[MrTemecula]

Must be nice not having to work.

[LJL]

There at work! Oh wait, no there not, no one is employed! HAHA the boycott is working!

[Todd]

September 19, 1963: 476 lonely fans watch the Angels and Orioles game at Dodger Stadium (the Angels refer to the stadium as Chavez Ravine). The Angels win, 7–2.

[kw]

Thank you, Steve. You made me chuckle.

People made fun of Gordan Ramsey for leaving the Dodger game to watch a Lakers game after he threw the first pitch. Can you really blame him?

[DaBronx1]

Ha-Ha!

This is too funny. A ball club/business that was at one time the "gold standard" is now the laughing stock of baseball and the object of ridicule from fans and non-fans alike.

Between the outrageous parking, ticket and concession prices along with an atmosphere where you could see more fights in nine innings than an entire weekend in Vegas I long ago stopped going to the ballpark.

See this Mr McCourt .......... it's the world's smallest fiddle playing for you.

Karma, ain't it a kick in the pants.

Once again, Ha-Ha.

[At work]

Well, you ARE there during a day game. Most of us who are employed don't get paid to go to see baseball games!

[C.J.]

The smallest Dodger Stadium crowd is 6‚559 on Sept. 13, 1976. The crowd count that will be announced today, remember, will be tickets sold, not the actual body count.

[Mark Banuelos]

6,559 in September 1976 when the Dodgers were owned by the O'Malley's and were 20 games behind the Big Red Machine.

[Egg]

I imagine all the security is to keep people from buying the cheap seats and moving to the empty expensive ones

[Woody McBreairty]

Whatever happend to the thug criminals who commited this ugly act? Are they just going to walk off scott free? I don't get it - what's with the public description of these low life scum? Any political correctness at work here at all....? Just wondering

[Edward]

Bring the Dodgers back to Brooklyn and see how quick the stands fill up!

[LA GREAT]

I'd rather watch the game on television or listen on the radio. Anyway, Vin Scully is great. I will not attend a Dodger game until we get a owner who cares about the team and it's fans.

[Paul M. Mock]

No matter, they'll give the "today's attendance" which will be the number of tickets sold and compped which will be a respectable number for a mid-week day game with temps in the 90's and the kids still in school.

[Jim de Bree]

I recall that the Angels played a game in chavez Ravine (what they called Dodger Stadium when they played there) in front of an audience of 426 people. I don;t recall the exact year--1964 maybe.

[PaulO]

More pictures, please.

[Dr. Nonsense]

My friends and I made a pact. No more Dodger games until the two that attacked Brian are in custody and Frank goes away. No surprise that multiple groups with the same decision will have an impact.

[Edward Mooney]

This is heartbreaking, Steve. Los Angeles deserves better than this. Is this really the team of Vin Scully, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Jackie Robinson and Tommy Lasorda? McCourt's Dodgers ("McDodgers") are a shadow of who they used to be.

This is coming from an Angels fan! L.A., you deserve MUCH better than the "McDodgers"...

[David]

I'll say goodbye to the McCourts from here.

GOOOOOODBYE!!!!!

[Dancing Scorpion]

The CROWD CONTROL at this ballpark has always been a joke. Lax doesn't describe it. The cost of getting and being in attendance at a game has become onerous to working class people. The stadium ambience has always been offensive, the stands a little unsafe, but, until recently, tolerable.

Anyway, the management and players and business people have become millionaires marketing a child's game without respecting the customers.

Professional baseball (at least) must return to reasonable pricing in every aspect of marketing their silly product.

[TrueFreedom]

I'm no Dodger fan and have to admit, I was very apprehensive to attend a game after the recent events... but we went with the little league and had a great time. I think our section was reserved for groups, so perhaps we weren't in the stadium that attracted thugs... plus we paid for premium parking, so perhaps we missed them in the lot... or maybe the thugs are staying home knowing that the crackdown is on...

but, needless to say, me and the family had a great time.

[Nicolas Cocaign]

Give'em hell, Steve!

[SiR]

HAHAHAHA...best thing I've read all day! I can't wait for McCourt to leave so I can finally go back to Dodger Stadium!

[arpaio]

If the NFL has a lockout they will soon have the same faith of a mjority of MLB teams.

[Dylan]

Fun blog to read, but you should watch more baseball, Steve. That "guy named Pena" is one of the top home run hitters of the past 5 years. He batted clean-up in the World Series for Tampa Bay.