LOS ANGELES — With almost every pitch, Dave Roberts' eyes impulsively darted toward the mound.
He wasn't in a dugout. Wasn't in uniform. And certainly wasn't anywhere close to his normal springtime routine.
But even here, wedged into a plastic blue seat at Loyola Marymount University's quaint ballpark, bundled up in a thick puffy jacket on a brisk coastal night, sitting several rows back in the stands behind home plate, Roberts' managerial instincts kicked in — a natural urge that, in the middle of Major League Baseball's continuing lockout, gnaws at him a little more each day.
