Red-Letter Daze Has Blue Blood Boiling

Talk about a brushback pitch.

The television commercial features two hip-looking guys wearing Angel jerseys. Accompanied by an urban thump, the dudes are running through city streets while slapping the red “A� logo on city signs.

LAX.

MAlibu.

Griffith PArk.

Notice a common thread here? It is one that has drawn ire from Dodger fans, admiration from national market experts and a wink from Arte Moreno.

The Angels are based in Orange County, yet every place being slapped with that “A� is located in Los Angeles County.

“It’s smart,� said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. “If the Dodger loyal fan base is questioning their loyalty, why not take a stab at making new friends?�

It’s smart, and it’s on.

Led by that commercial running 15 times a day on Channel 9 -- especially during those heavily watched Laker games -- the Angels have invaded Dodger country for the first time since they moved to Orange County in 1966, as unabashedly as a Vladimir Guerrero throw from the right-field corner.

An organization that spent four decades existing meekly at the foot of a fence surrounding its famous neighbor is not just attempting to scale that fence, it’s trying to destroy it.

Confident that its team, ballpark and total baseball experience are the best in Southern California -- hard to argue with any of that -- the Angels are openly flirting with those fans whom the Dodgers have forgotten or ignored.

Many Westside Dodger season ticket holders are finding themselves stuck in Wilshire Boulevard traffic behind buses featuring huge baseball photos of Guerrero.

Blue loyalists from the South Bay are passing billboards on the 110 and 405 freeways that subtly remind them, hey, there’s a recent world championship team in your rearview mirror!

The “Anaheim� has been removed from the uniforms -- they will just read “Angels.�

When the stadium lost Edison as a title sponsor, instead of immediately making a deal with a new sponsor, the team is initially calling it “Angel Stadium.�

You can even see it in this year’s Angel logo.

Calling themselves “The ‘A’ Team� implies that somewhere, there is a “B� team.

Gee, wonder who that would be?

Those on Dodger message boards may have figured this out and are reacting with numerous criticisms of what is perceived as squatting, including one thread titled, “Angels billboard in Hollywood -- puke.�

“If the Angels like their state of affairs, and [Frank] McCourt still has a lot of questions about him, why not?� said Swangard. “It’s all about survival.�

The Angels, of course, say this has nothing to do with the Dodgers.

“This is not about a conversion, it’s about an activation,� said John Carpino, the Angels’ new vice president of sales and marketing. “We’re not trying to steal their fans. We’re trying to activate the passion of new fans.�

Like other longtime Moreno employees who joined the team after his purchase last summer, Carpino said he wasn’t aware of any huge Dodger fence.

“I don’t understand the big revelation here -- the Angels are part of the Southern California market, so why not appeal to everyone here?� he said. “It just seemed obvious to me. I just didn’t know any better.�

He should know now.

The Angels have been hard to miss this spring -- and they’re going to be darn near impossible to ignore this summer.

Although Dodger co-owner McCourt claimed that every one of his team’s games was going to be on television, the Angels could televise more. By adding more than 60 games, the Angels say they expect to broadcast about 156, while the Dodgers are currently scheduled to broadcast about 147.

And while the Dodgers’ radio broadcasts are on a news station (980), the Angels’ are on an ESPN-affiliated sports station (710). Even during spring training, the Angels have dominated the radio airwaves, as their exhibition games have been broadcast live while the Dodgers’ weekday exhibition games have been delayed until 7 p.m.

Just look at this newspaper. Angel stories are being played more prominently than Dodger stories because the star-filled team and bold owner are more newsworthy.

“The Angels are a diverse group with more appeal to more of the population,� said Jeff Proctor, vice president of sports for Channel 9, which devised the popular commercial. “It really has an opportunity to become Southern California’s team.�

By diversity, he was talking about the numerous Latino players on the Angels, a demographic the Dodgers have always embraced.

By diversity, he could also be talking about a team willing to spend money to improve itself, yet willing to lower prices to appease the fans.

Or he could be talking about an Angel team run like the old Dodgers, with the manager and several coaches being former beloved Dodgers.

“The commercial wasn’t trying to omit Orange County,� said Proctor, whose production was heartily endorsed by the Angels before it ran. “It was intended to highlight other places where there might not be Angel fans, where maybe they can extend their fan base.�

This fan base last season accounted for more than 3 million in attendance for the first time in Angel history.

This season, they are likely to achieve a loftier mark -- outdrawing the Dodgers for the first time in the history of pro baseball in Southern California.

Another important number is 18 -- that’s the percentage of Angel season ticket holders who live in Los Angeles County. That figure will probably get higher.

“It’s not about the Dodgers or Frank McCourt or Arte Moreno, it’s about the fans,� said Carpino. “We’re trying to take care of the fans because, when you take care of the fans, everybody wins.�

Carpino acknowledged that many Los Angeles residents have difficulty navigating the drive south to Anaheim, which can be especially brutal for weeknight games.

“But you don’t have to come to all those games to be an Angel fan. That’s why we’ve increased our television exposure,� he said.

“You come once or twice this year, give us a chance to impress you, and then maybe you say, ‘Hey, this is good, let’s go next year.’ �

The search through the Dodgers’ depleted front office for a marketing executive to comment on this topic was understandably difficult.

Finally, Derrick Hall, the vice president who has resigned and will be leaving the company in a couple of weeks, came to the phone.

“The Angels’ campaign is not a threat because Dodger fans are unique in their loyalty,� he said. “The market is big enough for both of us.�

Hall says the Dodgers are advertising this spring with more billboards and commercials than ever.

For the life of me, I can’t remember one.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.