The $113 million underdogs

Sporting News, The, August 20, 2001 by Ken Rosenthal

Outfielder Marquis Grissom was a risk the Dodgers embraced to get rid of Devon White. Reliever Jesse Orosco was, at one point, collecting termination pay after the team had released him. Infielder Jeff Reboulet, the last player invited to spring training, started out with No. 96.

Catcher Paul Lo Duca was an eight-year minor leaguer with little power. Pitcher Terry Adams was a reliever who had never started a major league game. Reliever Giovanni Carrara was joining his sixth organization in six years.

Say hello to the has-beens and never-weres who transformed the Dodgers into $110 million underdogs--make that $113 million, now that three more pitchers are in the fold.

Baseball's blue bloods have gone blue collar.

The Dodgers are paying over $31.1 million to three injured starting pitchers (Kevin Brown, Darren Dreifort and Andy Ashby). They're paying another, $10 million-plus to three players no longer with the club (Carlos Perez, Gregg Olson and F.P. Santangelo). Yet their evolution is nearly as stunning as the squatty Lo Duca batting leadoff or the volatile Gary Sheffield following the lead of the veteran Grissom.

Not long ago, this franchise represented all that was wrong with baseball. Now, it represents much of what is right.

"We made a commitment in spring training that we weren't going to tolerate anything less than a selfless approach," manager Jim Tracy says. "We were going to gain an understanding of what it was like day in and day out to dedicate yourself to scoring one more run than the other team."

And so the Dodgers have done it, using a script straight out of Hollywood to overcome a crushing series of injuries and move into the thick of the N.L. West race.

Tracy evoked a near-unanimous response (Jim who?) after his promotion from bench coach to manager. Sheffield demanded a trade in spring training. Former general manager Kevin Malone resigned under pressure on April 19.

The Dodger Diaries were part soap opera, part black comedy, but no more. Tracy is a leading candidate for N.L. Manager of the Year. Sheffield, Shawn Green and Eric Karros are taking turns playing hero. Interim G.M. Dave Wallace is such a contrast to the always-in-the-spotlight Malone, he's not sure he even wants the job permanently.

The Dodgers revolve around their pitchers and sluggers, but they wouldn't be in contention without their role players and budding stars. Nearly one-fourth of their roster consists of young, homegrown talent, and starting pitchers Eric Gagne and Luke Prokopec, shortstop Alex Cora and third baseman Adrian Beltre are playing critical roles.

Then there's Lo Duca, who jokes that the team kept him only because it ran out of money. He is an overnight sensation who is 29. Lo Duca has played four positions and batted in five lineup spots. But he had never hit leadoff before this season, not even in Little League.

Surprise! Entering the week, Lo Duca was batting .330 in the leadoff spot, second in that category in the majors only to Ichiro Suzuki's .336. His short stroke has accounted for 18 home runs and only 20 strikeouts. The last 20-homer man to finish with more home runs than strikeouts was George Brett in 1980.

"He's what the Dodgers needed: a hard-nosed, blue-collar baseball player," Malone says. "They had too many Hollywood pretty boys in the past. That's the difference in this year's club. The team has a lot more baseball players and not many pretty boys at all."

Malone's critics would contend that his poor acquisitions outweighed his good ones and that the Dodgers ignited only after his turbulent reign ended. Tracy clearly is the biggest reason for the team's improved chemistry--he is firm yet fair, encourages dialogue, uses all 25 players. But many of the right pieces were in place.

Take Adams. Malone and Tracy decided to work him as a starter in spring training, fearing that they might need him in the event of an injury. Little did they know that Adams would become a valued member of the rotation, averaging six innings per start.

Take Grissom. Fighting a fourth out-fielder's label, he hit 17 homers in his first 280 at-bats. Equally important, he became a team leader and mentor to Sheffield. "If there's a person in the clubhouse who has really helped solidify things," Reboulet says, "he's the guy."

The Dodgers remain a team of disparate parts, but suddenly they all fit. Orosco, 44, began his pro career before Beltre was born. He went home for three weeks after the Dodgers released him, then re-signed with the club and spent a month with Class AAA Las Vegas. Now his arm strength is back, and he's again jamming lefthanded hitters with his 88-mph fastball.

Outfielder McKay Christensen, acquired from the White Sox on July 13, is an even more unlikely success. Stunned to be traded for the first time, he started 1-for-20 at Las Vegas. His temporary residence--Arizona Charlie's casino--only added to his dismay.

"You have to walk through this smoke-filled, grungy old casino every day going to the ballpark," Christensen says. "It's the not the type of environment you want to come home to after going 0-for-4."