Tracy Press

 
Giants-Dodgers rivalry to be played out in Stockton

But forget about those teams from San Francisco and Los Angeles. This is the grudge match between the Tracy Giants and the Stockton Dodgers, who will meet for the third time in the Valley Baseball League’s championship series.

The VBL is the local league for the National Adult Baseball Association, and includes 10 men’s 28-and-over teams that play in Lodi, Galt, Stockton and Manteca. The Giants are one of two teams — the Yankees are the other — that call Tracy home.

The league finished its 18-game season at the end of July, and for the past two weekends the north and south divisions held playoffs — the second- and third-place teams from each division played each other Aug. 3 for a chance to play a division championship game against the league leader Aug. 10.

Giants player-manager George Fidentzis said his team is made up of Tracy and Manteca players, including some of the coaches from Manteca and Sierra high schools, and players who have experience with the minor league affiliates of pro baseball teams.

“Most of the guys are involved in the game in one way or another, and have some type of ballplaying experience in the past,” he said.

The Giants’ roster includes Ted Dodson, Mike Kinlaw, Dave Sanchez, Rick James, Manny Lopez, Pat Trestler, Neil MacDannald, George Flores, Tom Tapps, Phil Torretto, Jim Sandoval, Mark Mendoza, Lloyd Johnson, Greg Wilson and Tucker Swift.

The Giants led the southern division with a 15-2-1 record and held onto the division title with two wins, 6-3 and 15-8, over the Buchanan Glass Cardinals at East Union High School in Manteca on Sunday.

The Dodgers have been in the championship series ever since it was established in 2003 and have won it three out of five times, twice against the Giants. Fidentzis said the Giants and Dodgers players are all good friends, but his players plan to hand the Dodgers a loss this time.

“We always go at it,” he said. “The rivalry is pretty intense once we get on the field.”

Meanwhile, Dodgers manager Wilbur Berrios said he’s confident his team can take its fourth championship.

The Dodgers rallied from third place in the northern division, beating the Valley Red Sox 4-2 on Aug. 3 and beating the Beavers twice, 13-3 and 7-1, at Galt City Park last weekend to win a spot in the championship series.

He said the playoff games are more indicative of the team’s talent than the regular season, where the Beavers went 15-2-1, the Red Sox 13-4-1 and the Dodgers went 10-8.

“During the regular season, we don’t play as good as we can play when it counts,” the Dodgers coach said, adding that he has 16 players who all get a chance to play in the regular season.

“When the playoffs come, I gotta have my best nine,” he said.

The first two games of the best-of-five championship series will be Sunday at Billy Hebert in Stockton, and the teams will meet again Aug. 24 for another possible doubleheader. A fifth game if needed, will be Sept. 7.

 
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