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SAN DIEGO—The San Diego Padres issued an email warning to all their fans attending National League Division Series games against the Los Angeles Dodgers this week at Petco Park: There will be zero tolerance for throwing objects on the field “or making foul or abusive comments to anyone.”
The penalty is immediate ejection from the ballpark without refund.
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The Padres were not seeking a repeat of what happened in the seventh inning of Game 2 at Dodger Stadium, when Dodgers fans threw baseballs, beer cans and water bottles on the field delaying the start of the inning by about 15 minutes while security and the six umpires worked to gain control of the situation.
Cooler heads prevailed Tuesday at Petco as the Padres hung on for a 6-5 win in Game 3.
The best-of-five series between these two heated rivals could end Wednesday with another San Diego victory. If not, it’s back to hostile Dodger Stadium Friday for the finale. The sellout crowd of 47,744 waved yellow towels and was fairly respectful, as opposed to their brethren about 120 miles up the coast.
“Baseball is a grind,” Padres third baseman Manny Machado said after the game, declining to address any of Sunday’s shenanigans. “We grinded 27 outs. This crowd was rockin’ tonight. The city of San Diego deserved it.”
The crowd was boisterous but well-behaved.
“San Diego is San Diego, and L.A. is L.A.,” Padres reliever Jeremiah Estrada added. “They should let the guys play. We’re out there, and guys are throwing beer bottles. If you want to a throw a $30 bottle of beer go ahead. It’s your money you’re wasting. If you want to be banned from the ballpark, that’s up to you.”
The Padres were not blameless Sunday, as a trio of their players goaded opposing fans. Jurickson Profar interacted with some fans in the left field seats. Fernando Tatis gyrated his hips at fans in the right field pavilion and rubbed his eyes indicating they were crybabies. And Machado, in a tiff with Dodger starter Jake Flaherty, tossed a ball at the screen below the railing that protects the Dodger dugout.
Asked if his players had acted appropriately, Padres manager Mike Shildt said they were simply responding to the crowd provocation.
“I’d have been disappointed in them if they didn’t,” he said.
Shildt added before Tuesday’s game he expected local fans to de-escalate the tensions.
“We have a very passionate, encouraging, hungry, loud fan base that knows where the line is,” he said. “You hope there’s not one or two people who do anything to cast a poor shadow, which I think probably is exactly what happened in Los Angeles.”
The Dodgers didn’t taunt the San Diego fans Tuesday night. That wasn’t a message that needed to be delivered to his players, manager Dave Roberts.
“I just don’t feel that there was a reason for me, a need for me to rally the troops,” Roberts said. “I think that our guys understand it.”
It all started Sunday during the first inning of what turned out to be a 10-2 Padres win when Profar reached above the low wall into the left field seats to steal a potential home run hit by Mookie Betts among a gaggle of paying customers. Profar clearly had the ball in his glove as Betts rounded the bases. Profar stood there with his back to the field staring at the fans. He could have just thrown the ball back in.
“That’s what the [the fans] wanted me to do,” Profar said.
Before the start of the seventh, Profar approached one of those fans and handed him another ball. The fan promptly threw it back on the field.
There are conflicting stories.
That fan, Mario Zazueta, explained to the local ABC television outlet that he didn’t want the ball.
“Don’t give it to me. I’m going to chuck it,” he says he told Profar. “He had a big old smile and grin on his face, and he handed me the ball. So, as soon as I got it I just turned around and chucked it down the line.”
Other balls and garbage followed, bringing Shildt on to the field along with Dodger Stadium security. Zazueta was ultimately ejected from the ballpark.
Profar had another version.
“They asked for the ball,” he said. “And when I went over there and gave it to him he threw it. They make it seem like I’m the bad guy. I wouldn’t go there just to taunt the fans. But they asked for it.”
Of course, he didn’t have to engage at all.
In another strange twist, on Tuesday at Petco, again during the first inning, Betts hit a shot into the left field corner and Profar gave chase, leaping toward the wall and just missing the ball as it cleared the fence. But this time, Betts thought Profar had caught it and circled off the field before touching second base.
When left field umpire Mark Ripperger signaled homer, Betts had to retrace his steps.
“That was pretty funny,” Profar said.
A break in the tension of a tough series.
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