Padres Scene & Heard: Dodgers play hardball in negotiations for rookie’s first HR ball

First home run ball, priceless?

Nope. Not by a long shot.

Eric Saldana and Alex Espinoza were sitting in Section 125 of the field level Friday night at Petco Park, just inside the right-field foul pole, when Dodgers rookie second baseman Alex Freeland stepped into a sweeper offered by Padres starting pitcher Yu Darvish.

“I was on my phone,” Saldana said. “Then I looked up and I’m like, ‘Yo, the ball’s coming.’ I stuck my arm out. It bounced off the dude to my right, and then it comes back to me.”

Saldana said it was the first time he’s ever gotten a ball, fair or foul, though he was not overly attached to the souvenir when Dodgers officials came out to their seats and asked for the ball.

It was Freeland’s first career home run, after all.

Saldana was happy to oblige — on one condition.

“I asked for a (signed Shohei) Ohtani ball,” said Saldana, who lives in Anaheim. “They said no.”

It didn’t seem to help that both men are former Angelenos who were decked out in Dodgers gear.

Espinoza countered with something that apparently would have been easier than acquiring an Ohtani autograph.

“I have three daughters,” said Espinoza, who lives in San Diego. “I said we’d take a first-born son.”

The Dodgers instead offered a bat and ball, both autographed by Freeland.

“Whatever,” Saldana said. “It’s not a bad deal. The bat looks super nice, unused, like it’s straight from the store.”

The ol’ ball game

Saldana had to stop by security after the game to pick up the bat and ball. It seems fans can’t be trusted with such objects during a game.

Dodgers fans have only themselves to blame.

For an explanation, let’s go back three decades to Dodger Stadium. The St. Louis Cardinals were in town for a game on Aug. 10, 1995. It was “ball night” and souvenir baseballs were given to the first 14,000 fans to enter the stadium.

Umpire Jim Quick was behind the plate and made several calls that didn’t sit well with the Dodgers — or their fans.

In fact, Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros and right fielder Raúl Mondesi were ejected at one point. Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda came out to argue as well and was given the heave-ho.

The Dodgers fans (disregarding pleas not to throw objects on the field) responded by littering the field with baseballs.

The game was stopped once to clear hundreds of balls from the field. Then a second time. Then a third, with one out in the ninth inning and St. Louis leading 2-1.

At that point, a forfeit was declared, handing the Cardinals the victory. It was the first forfeit in the majors in 16 years. There hasn’t been another one since.

MLB decided balls should be distributed after the game to avoid similar situations in the future.

Did you know?

A fun feature on the Petco Park video board is the little nuggets about each player that accompany their picture and statistics. For instance:

The one for Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts read: “2023: Rented an Airbnb just in case rumors of ghosts at the team hotel were true.”

For Padres third baseman Manny Machado: “Leads the National League with 213 hard hit balls (95+ mph).”

For Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman: “Grew up in Fountain Valley as an Angels fan.”

For Padres first baseman Luis Arraez: “His 93 three-hit games since 2019 rank second in the majors (Freddie Freeman, 95).”

For Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernández: “His favorite Marvel Comics character is Captain America.”

Then there was this for Dodgers catcher Will Smith: “Played baseball at the University of Louisville (2014-2016).”

Yawner.

How about this instead … “Has never slapped comedian Chris Rock.”

Relatives over rivals

During the Padres’ three-run fourth inning on Saturday night, a Padres fan wearing a Fernando Tatis Jr. jersey and a Dodgers fan wearing a Cody Bellinger jersey bumped fists after both Ramon Laureano’s two-run single and Jake Cronenworth’s sacrifice fly.

What’s this, bitter enemies making nice?

Actually, it was relatives over rivals.

San Diego’s Erik Contreras wore the Padres jersey. Jesus Contreras, Erik’s uncle, was in Dodgers blue.

While they were cordial in public, it didn’t mean there hasn’t been some trash talk between the two in recent days.

“He came from Mexico just to see the Dodgers lose,” Erik said with a laugh.

It was sweet payback after his uncle popped off after the Dodgers swept the Padres in Los Angeles last weekend and predicted more Dodgers domination at Petco Park.

Clowning around

Dodgers fans, thousands of them, clogged the Petco concourses and represented a significant percentage of the fans in the stands.

Hundreds of them were decked out in Dodgers jerseys of current and former players.

Then there was the guy wearing a Dodgers hat with a T-shirt picturing a Padres player in clown makeup.

“It’s Manny Machado,” Long Beach’s Carlos Lucero said. “I always thought he was a clown. Plays dirty. So I had to wear this.”

Lucero said he didn’t even cut Machado some slack when he played for the Dodgers in 2018.

“I didn’t like him,” Lucero said. “We had a good team at that time, and he always had his things he was pulling, back to when he was in Baltimore, where he was always being dirty and stuff like that.”

“I thought of people like it,” Lucero said. “Even Padres fans. They think it’s funny.”

Really? That sounds like a clown statement, bro.

Parting thought

The stock market hit an all-time high Friday, with the Dow closing at 45,631.74. It’s up 7.6% since the beginning of the year.

If only one could invest in downtown parking futures.

Street parking rates in the “special event zone” near the ballpark are jumping to $10 an hour on Sept. 1, when the Padres return against Baltimore for their next homestand. That’s a 400% increase from the current one-hour rate.

Not that there’s a lot of open spaces, anyway. Seems like the closest open street parking is a mile away at the 100 block of Ash Street.