Puig, Turner enjoy baseball on the beach

LOS ANGELES — Baseball can be played anywhere, even the beach.

That was the message Dodgers stars Yasiel Puig and Justin Turner helped relay to a group of 60 kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Venice on Saturday morning, when they arrived at Venice Beach for a surprise baseball play date before that night’s game against the Cardinals.

Puig and Turner, position players by trade, stepped out of their element a bit, pitching to the kids in two casual games no more than 20 yards from the surf. The big leaguers offered tips, words of encouragement and some playful ribbing.

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“I think I had more fun than some of them did,” said Turner, who often played different forms of baseball on the beach as a kid growing up in Southern California. “I think the message here is to encourage kids to get outside and be active. Maybe in the future, they will organize some little games like this on their own so they can come out and get out of the house, get out from behind the computer screen and the iPad.”

Not long after Puig and Turner set foot on the sand, they were surrounded by youngsters who seemed more than thrilled to be in the presence of a couple of Dodgers cult heroes.

“I think they were pretty excited,” Turner said. “Some of them were like, ‘I know you, I know what position you play, I saw you play Thursday night.’ And that’s the cool part, to be recognized by them. Hopefully, it motivates some to come back and get out on their own and just be …

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