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LA Dodgers playoffs: Anxious fans try to keep hopes up
Thinking blue is giving some Dodgers fans the blues.
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Photo by pvsbond via Flickr Creative Commons
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Tony Chavez, of Montebello, eats at Rodeo Mexican Grill on Sunset Boulevard before or after a lot of Dodgers games.
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Brian Watt/KPCC
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Two years of living in Echo Park have made Georgia Hartman a Dodgers fan.
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Brian Watt/KPCC
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LA Dodgers playoffs: Anxious fans try to keep hopes up
With the Dodgers down two games to none against the Cardinals in National League Championship Series, fans are doing what they can to keep their hopes up.
As he sat down to breakfast at Rodeo Mexican Grill on Sunset Boulevard, Tony Chavez was feeling what no Angeleno should on a lovely October morning.
"Stressed, depressed, mad, anxious," said Chavez. "I really want them to win. If they don't, I'll probably be depressed for like a month."
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The 29 year old Chavez says he was born a Dodgers fan and always will be, but isn’t afraid to show them some tough love.
“These past two games, I think we beat ourselves," he said. "We should have won game 1, and we should have won game 2. There’s no excuse why we have bases loaded and can’t score a run. "
Chavez lives in Montebello and works as a special investigator for the state. He was four years old last time the Dodgers won the World Series. Now he’s a season ticket holder with seats at this week’s games. Outside the grill, a newer Dodger fan echoed his mood.
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"I am worried," said 32-year-old Georgia Hartman.
Hartman grew up in St. Louis, but never got attached to the Cardinals the way she has to the Dodgers after just two years of living in Echo Park. She calls her fan-dom a hobby more than a dedication, but she went to six games this season and got swept up in the excitement.
"They're winning, and I live right here, and this whole place just becomes alive when it's a Dodgers game," said Hartman, who's studying anthropology at UC-Irvine. "So I’m rooting for them, but two games down doesn’t sound very good. But I shouldn’t be that way, right? I’m a fan. I should be excited and optimistic."
Tony Chavez says he is optimistic the Dodger can bounce back. For proof, he looks back at the Dodgers' regular season.
"We started off slow, and then we took the National League West, so there's no reason we can't come back," Chavez said, but then went back to his tough love.
"No one else can go out there and play for them. The players themselves have to show up," he said. "So if they want it, they will show up."
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