Center Field Gate

 

Tommy Lasorda is a ubiquitous presence in baseball and a legend in Los Angeles. The camera finds him in Dodger Stadium during nearly every game of the week, he’s constantly interviewed, and his baseball judgment is considered nigh on saintly: Tim McCarver mentions his name in a worshipful (almost liturgical) tone (“there’s Tommy”) and reporters scribble furiously when he talks, which he does — a lot. He’s even supplanted the late Walter O’Malley as “Mr. Dodger,” certainly he’s more worshipfully remembered than Walter Alston, whose managing career matches Lasorda’s. When Lasorda retired as the Dodger’s manager, back in 1996, he spent untold hours sidling up to Hollywood legends and walk-of-fame wannabes, hobnobbing with producers and starlets, and befriending crooner Frank Sinatra. Tommy’s done everything but the perp walk, but you never know.

But despite what Trolley fans might think, Lasorda’s not perfect. In 1993, he questioned whether then-Dodger prospect Pedro Martinez (5-11) was big enough to be a good pitcher, prompting the Dodger’s front office (which spent their time back then listening for the whip-crack in his raspy voice), to trade him to Montreal in exchange for second sacker Delino DeShields. Martinez rewarded Lasorda’s skepticism the next year: he pitched nine innings of perfect baseball for Montreal, compiling a 17-8 record. And he went on to become one of the best pitchers in baseball. Anyone can make a mistake, but apparently Pedro holds a grudge, not least because the endlessly yakky Lasorda was so outspoken in his criticism of his diminutive pitcher. It’s one thing to say a guy is “too small” to the front office, it’s another to say it in pubic. Then too, Pedro is not the kind of guy who’s known for steering away from controversy – and neither is Lasorda.

Back in 2005, Lasorda picked a fight with the Phillie Phanatic on his blog after the Phanatic took a Lasorda jersey, put it on a dummy, and ran over it again and again before a Dodgers-Phillies game. “This should not be shown in ballparks, especially in front of children,” Lasorda complained. “It exhibits disrespect and violence.” The next time the Dodgers were in town, Mr. Thin Skin (during a clubhouse lecture he gave on compassion, he told a player who interrupted him to ”shut the f … up!”) body-slammed the Phanatic to the ground. And bragged about it. Say what you will about Martinez’s defense in fending off Don Zimmer: at least he didn’t attack a mascot.

The Martinez-Trolley feud would be enough to make tonight’s Trolley-Phuzzie match-up worth watching, but it’s not the only story of this series. Head hunter Vicente Padilla is scheduled to start for the Dodgers against his old team, who traded him to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later — a “here, we don’t want him” swap that ruffled Padilla’s feathers and got under his very thin skin. Padilla was not well-liked in The City Of Brotherly Love, whose fans mercilessly dogged him about his wildness and mound antics and remained silent when he was traded. That wasn’t true for other Phillies: Randy Wolf (also now a Dodger) had a thick-as-syrup “Wolf Pack” following that howled when he appeared, while Jim Thome’s apologists were so vocal, so slathering, it was almost embarrassing. Padilla went on to become a felon in Texas, but has apparently cleaned up his act in L.A., where his teammates testify that he’s the brother of Mary Poppins. Of course he is: pitchers actually have to enter the batter’s box in the National League (where the game is played among men) — which means any Padilla fastball aimed at an opposing player’s ear is likely to result in his being carted from the field. Right past Lasorda’s box.

The silence you hear tonight when the Philllies take the field in the bottom of the 1st will have a lot to do with the importance of a second-of-seven NLCS  match-up: but the cameras will be trained on Lasorda, Martinez and Padilla, and not on the scoreboard. And any up-and-in fastballs are likely to be interpreted as more than pitches designed to move the hitter off the plate. This is for all the marbles in the National League, but this isn’t LA-St. Louis, or Philadelphia vs. the Rockies. This is an old fashioned grudge match between teams and players that don’t each other very much. And it will be pure entertainment.

There was a time — and not so long ago — that the Los Angeles Dodgers were the best team in the National League, and perhaps the best in baseball. That wasn’t true from the end of July through the first part of September, when the team seemed to struggle to win games and the Redbirds surged. That’s not to say that the Trolleys didn’t win, they did: but hardly at the same rate as in the first four months of the season, when their young pitching staff was the talk of baseball. There were low points, head scratching series that saw the listless Dodgers incapable of mounting their usual barrage of hits, or keeping their starters in games much past the sixth inning: the Trolleys lost three of four to the Redbirds at the end of July, then two of three to the Brewers, then three of four to the Braves. The losses to the Braves were particularly hard to take: they were all at home — and they weren’t even close. It was puzzling. Suddenly, the Trolleys — though sailing along in first place — looked vulnerable. 

Oddly (or perhaps predictably), the struggles of the L.A. Nine seemed to coincide with the return of Manny Ramirez, whose fifty game suspension actually energized the Chavez sluggers, giving new life to replacement Juan Pierre and Joe Torre’s raft of young boppers — particularly Andre Ethier (.283, 31 HRs) and first baseman James Loney (.283, 13 HRs).  Baseball’s community of pundits oohed and ahhed over Manny’s return (noting, and it seemed endlessly), that he remained “the best righthanded hitter in baseball,” but they couldn’t help wondering how the return of Pierre to the L.A. bench would effect Joe Torre’s mix. Good point: for instead of further energizing an already great squad, Manny’s appearance in Dodger Blue seemed to dampen L.A.’s race to the N.L. West title: the streaky Colorado Helton’s gained ground on L.A. and even the light hitting San Francisco McCoveys seemed resurgent.

But over the last two weeks all of that has changed. While the Rockies remain within spitting distance of first place, the Trolleys have reasserted their control over the division — most recently humbling McCovey ace Tim Lincecum. ”This club is playing with a purpose right now,” said manager Joe Torre. “They understand what’s out there and what’s at stake and they can’t expect anyone else to do it for them.” A lot of Dodgers point to the resurgence in the team’s pitching as the reason for the Trolleys’ new lease on the N.L. West — former Phuzzie Randy Wolf (11-6) has been a surprise among the starters (he outdueled Lincecum, and made it look effortless), and always-just-average Hiroki Kuroda has been much more than just average — winning his last two outings to give the Dodgers’ staff a needed lift. But the hero of the Dodgers’ latest resurgence (which comes just in time for the playoffs) isn’t anyone on the field. It’s L.A. General Manager Ned Colletti, who put together a series of trade deadline deals that, in retrospect, look nothing nothing less than brilliant.

Colletti might as well be working with hammers and saws, particularly considering the renovation job he’s done on the L.A. staff. The trade deadline acquisition of Jon Garland has provided a steadying groundball presence for L.A.’s younger pitchers, while beanball retread Vicente Padilla has provided a much-needed up-and-in intimidator for a group of knee shaking younger guys who love the outside half of the strike zone. Perhaps Colletti’s best decision, however, was the acquisition of former Birdland closer George Sherrill (1.70 ERA) who has become a par excellance set-up man and sometime closer who provides a lights out presence for the L.A. 8th. And that’s not all: the haunting of Washington (Juan Rivera, et. al.) continues with a resurgent Ronnie Belliard, who is hitting the skin off the ball in L.A. Then too, Jim Thome seems more than comfortable in his new role as a lefthanded bat off the bench. Who would have thunk it. Here we are in September, and Joe Torre’s first place team is being led by a bunch of gamers with enough mileage on their cleats to populate a retirement home. When we should be talking about Manny, we’re talking about Jon and Vicente and Ronnie — a passle of veterans who owe their playoff dreams to a G.M. who knows a bargain when he sees one. The L.A. Dodger’s might be Joe Torre’s team, but they’re also Ned Colletti’s.