New Dodger Regime Hasn’t Exactly Been Shipshape

After Fox’s great success with the movie “Titanic,” perhaps it is only natural that the company would try to duplicate some of the scenes with the Dodgers. How else can you explain the number of executives, managers, coaches, players and others who have either jumped or been pushed off a badly listing ship?

Since Rupert Murdoch took over the Dodgers not quite a year and a half ago, some who have left the organization--most not by their own choosing--include Mike Piazza, Fred Claire, Bill Russell, Reggie Smith, Joey Amalfitano, Mark Cresse, Charlie Blaney, Terry Reynolds, Glenn Gregson, Charlie Hough, Mike Scioscia and, now, Bob Graziano. Space limitations prevent me from naming them all.

Change is not necessarily bad. When Peter O’Malley sold the Dodgers, they had not won a World Series championship, a National League pennant or even a playoff game in 10 years. Some adjustment was necessary not only in personnel but in attitude.

Change, however, can be judged only by its results. Who left is not as important as who came.

Piazza was replaced by Charles Johnson, who was not an improvement. Johnson was replaced by Todd Hundley, who was worse.

Russell was replaced by Glenn Hoffman, who was not an improvement. Hoffman was replaced by Davey Johnson, who brought a better reputation but not better results.

Gregson, the pitching coach, was replaced by Charlie Hough, who might have been an improvement. But then Hough was replaced by Claude Osteen, who has not been an improvement.

Claire was replaced by Tom Lasorda, who made some needed changes but not in their position in the standings. Lasorda was replaced by Kevin Malone, who has had perhaps the worst first season of any baseball executive in recent memory but has not been replaced.

That might be only a matter of time. Graziano’s replacement, whom we have no reason to believe will be any better, probably will evaluate Malone for a year and, if not satisfied, bring in his own man. Maybe Malone should save everyone time and resign now.

If the last two seasons are an indication, this once-proud franchise is going nowhere except down.

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As if Malone didn’t already have to wear a batting helmet because of stuff dropping on his head, he was hit by this on the Internet:

Citing anonymous sources, KFWB’s Joe McDonnell wrote for his web page, L.A. Sports.com, this week that the Dodgers’ two minor league coordinators have become “increasingly verbally abusive with young players.” . . .

McDonnell added that Malone and assistant GM Bill Geivett have run an “Oliver North-type parallel administration” to prevent Graziano and other executives from discovering the methods.

Malone denied it in an interview with McDonnell, saying, “There’s too many lies being told, too much untruth about all this. Are our methods aggressive? Absolutely. We’re challenging these players to be the best they can be, and it’s a change for them. We want them to grow into the best possible players they can become, and you can’t do that by sitting back. But are we verbally abusing them? Absolutely not.” . . . “

Certain to further alienate Claire & Co., Malone also said: “I’m a traditionalist in every sense of the word, and there’s nothing I want more than to return this organization to what it once was. If I could do it in the way it was done in the past, I’d be all for that. But I can’t. Times have changed, and I’ve been dealing with a lot of stuff that’s been here for a long time, stuff that hasn’t been successful. Change was a necessity in this situation, not a choice.”

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Paul Hackett is facing the most challenging two weeks of his tenure so far as USC’s coach.

He lost his starting quarterback and one of his starting wide receivers to injuries and has a huge question mark in his kicking game.

Besides that, the schedule makers didn’t do him any favors. The Trojans play Saturday at home against Oregon State, which will have had two weeks to prepare after an open date last weekend, and then play the next Saturday at Arizona, which also will have had two weeks to prepare after an open date this weekend.

Only then do the Trojans catch a break with a game at Notre Dame.

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While wondering if Johnny Miller wouldn’t be the most provocative captain for the United States in the next Ryder Cup, I was thinking: We wouldn’t have had a revolution if we cared what anyone in England thought of us, good riddance to Candlestick Park and the Astrodome but not to Tiger Stadium, Claire probably won’t list Malone as a reference in submitting a resume to the Seattle Mariners.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: randy.harvey@latimes.com