Being a traditionalist, I find it hard to consider pigging out a spectator sport. But look what ESPN is televising on the Fourth of July – Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest. Can six-time defending champion Takeru Kobayashi hold off challenger Joey Chestnut, who recently broke the world record by inhaling 59½ hot dogs in 12 minutes?

I don’t think I’ll watch. I just saw enough hot-dog consumption to keep me thinking of fruit salads for a week. I spent Sunday afternoon in the right-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium.

John Zant

The Dodgers must be pleased with the response to the marketing gimmick. The pavilion was almost full of fans for Sunday’s game. Not only did everybody load up on the hot dogs and other goodies, under the illusion they were free, but many of the fans shelled out extra money for beer, ice cream and slushes, which were not included in the all-you-can-eat package but were much in demand on the hot afternoon.

The baseball game between the Dodgers and the San Diego Padres – both of them contending for the division title – was almost incidental to the constant flow of patrons between their seats and the concession stands. Beach balls provided another distraction. Although signs say they are prohibited, dozens of beach balls had been smuggled into the ballpark and were being batted around in the stands. There was a beach-ball death squad – posing as security personnel – who managed to seize several of the offending toys and mercilessly deflate them.

I was attending the game at the invitation of Bill Connell, a man who combines hot dogs and baseball in a felicitous way. He sells the former at his All-American Surf Dog cart in Carpinteria, and he engages in lively conversation about the latter. For the past 13 years, Connell has been chartering buses and signing up his customers for trips to Dodger Stadium.

Connell was pleased as punch that the block of tickets he received for this game put us in the shade under the roof of the pavilion. We also had a perfect view of the most spectacular play of the day, a leaping catch at the centerfield wall by San Diego’s Mike Cameron, robbing Luis Gonzalez of a home run in the second inning.

The Dodgers won 5-0, thanks to the superb pitching of Chad Billingsley, some aggressive base-running and timely hitting. Billingsley struck out nine batters and retired the last 16 Padres he faced in a seven-inning stint. He also laid down a sacrifice bunt that triggered a two-out L.A. rally in the third inning.

Matt Kemp went to second base on the sacrifice, and he scored the first run on Rafael Furcal’s single. Furcal promptly stole second, and he scored on Juan Pierre’s basehit. Then Pierre stole second, putting him in position to be driven home by Russell Martin, the Dodgers’ All-Star catcher.

With all that running, the Dodgers resembled the Santa Barbara Foresters, whose credo is always to look for opportunities to take the extra base. San Diego starter Justin Germano was throwing a lot of slow breaking pitches, which surely encouraged the Dodgers to go for the steals.

The long ball got the Dodgers two more runs – a homer by Kemp in the fourth inning that just cleared the right-field wall, and a bomb by Furcal into the seats below us in the seventh.

 L.A. has a nice array of young talent. Nomar Garciaparra was an old man in an infield that included James Loney, 23, at first and Tony Abreu, 22, at second. Kemp, the right fielder, also is 22, as is Billingsley. Martin, the best catcher in the league, is 24.

It is a nourishing experience in American culture to attend a ball game. In the right-field pavilion at Dodger Stadium, there is maybe too much nourishment. At the end of Sunday’s game, the stands were covered with discarded food trays, cups, wrappers and uneaten nachos oozing cheese under the hot sun.

LOCAL NOTES: After winning 22 of 25 games in June, the Foresters began a new month Sunday with a 12-0 whipping of the San Luis Obispo Rattlers. The local semi-pro baseball team will play its next game at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Carpinteria High against the California Oaks. On July 4, the Foresters once again play at Pershing Park at 4:30 p.m. against the Santa Maria Indians. . . . The Santa Barbara Breakers defeated the Central Oregon Hot Shots and the Everett Explosion in the IBL West playoffs, but the fell Sunday to the Portland Chinooks in the championship game. The Breakers went 17-6 in their inaugural season.