As months of catcalls became a long moment of cheers, a personal hailstorm interrupted by a strange and warm sun, the most embattled Dodger danced and soaked and basked.
Not Milton Bradley, but Frank McCourt.
Alongside the Dodgers’ dugout late Tuesday afternoon, the owner leaped out of the newly constructed McCourt Family Field Box with a dozen seats and two fancy TVs and protective railings.
He pumped his fist at the field.
He pumped his fist into the stands.
He ran down the stairs and through the tunnel amid a chorus of roars.
“This is a good team!” McCourt shouted in the tunnel. “I’m telling you, this is a good team.”
This was certainly a good few minutes, these Dodgers coming back from a five-run sucker punch to steal their home opener 9-8 from the bumbling San Francisco Giants.
This was certainly a terrific Milton Bradley scene, last year’s villain hitting a two-out, two-strike fastball better than he ever threw a plastic bottle.
… [But] even Bradley acknowledges that trust is something that cannot be gained in one week.
But give him credit. He’s trying. He delivered the big hit Tuesday, waved to the fans, stood in front of his locker in full uniform for nearly 30 minutes doing interviews, and asked for only one thing.
“When I do something wrong, I hear about it from everybody, and I understand that,” Bradley said. “All I’m saying is, I’d like to also hear about it when I do something right.”
Agreed.
