Did Yogi Berra say it? When the two best teams in the league meet, someone always loses. Atlanta may have beat the Dodgers Friday night, 6-3, but it was a winning night for southland and central coast Episcopalians and Lutherans — nearly 1,100 strong at an ecumenical night at Dodger Stadium. A disappointing evening for the home team, yet a welcome home feeling for dozens of parishes and missions as summertime enters late innings.
The Rev. Canon Greg Larkin, our legendary Canon Baseball at the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, who makes it all happen every year, was scoring the game as usual. Just because it was an inconsequential loss didn’t mean he didn’t want the win anyway (another sentence worth of Yogi).
Canon Kathy Hannigan O’Connor and I were along with Lindsay Ann Taylor, Mark and Valerie Passarella, and Harriet, 4, who made friends with Melia, 4. Bishop Brenda Bos of the Southwest California Synod ELCA and I kept meeting in the aisle, making our rounds. It was moving beyond words when Kobe Bryant’s elder daughter, Natalia, threw out the first pitch, and her sister Bianka took Vin’s classic line: “It’s time for Dodger baseball!”
