Green Takes First Swings as Dodger

Shawn Green looked comfortable in his new Dodger uniform Monday, even if he wasn’t entirely comfortable with his swing.

True, the Dodgers’ highest-profile off-season acquisition did hit a few bombs off the green tarp hanging over the wall in left-center field at USC’s Dedeaux Field, but he also bounced a few off the top of the batting cage.

“I was popping some balls up and taking some bad swings,” Green said. “But that’s what January is all about.”

It’s also about the first voluntary winter workout of the year for the Dodgers, who are staging them this week at USC because renovations are underway at Dodger Stadium.

Green, a right fielder who was acquired in a trade Nov. 9 with the Toronto Blue Jays for Raul Mondesi, was one of six projected starting position players who showed up. Others were catcher Todd Hundley, first baseman Eric Karros and converted second baseman Mark Grudzielanek. Left fielder Gary Sheffield and center fielder Devon White showed up but didn’t participate.

Also taking part were starting pitcher Chan Ho Park, who recently became part of player agent Scott Boras’ stable; a pair of players acquired last week, middle reliever Gregg Olson and utility man F.P. Santangelo, and former staff ace Orel Hershiser, who also looked comfortable sporting his old No. 55.

“It’s like a familiar glove or coat--you just put it on and it feels good,” said Hershiser, who left the Dodgers for the Cleveland Indians as a free agent after the 1994 season and had subsequent runs with the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets before re-signing with the Dodgers on Dec. 17. “So I haven’t really gone ‘Wow, this is different,’ and I haven’t seen a mirror yet. But it is very, very comfortable.”

Hershiser, 41, is expected to compete for a spot in the starting rotation, 12 years after his Cy Young season led the Dodgers to their last World Series title.

New Dodger CEO Bob Daly said that this year’s team reminds him of that squad.

“The key is to have 25 players on the team who will all contribute,” Daly said. “When I look back at the ’88 Dodgers, that’s what they had--25 players who contributed. I don’t really want to put the pressure on any one player that he has to carry the team.

“Shawn is a very special young man but I don’t want the whole burden of the Dodgers on him,” Daly said of Green. “That would be a mistake. He’s going to do his share, I know he will, and the rest of the players have to do their share.”

Green, a Tustin High graduate, doesn’t see himself as a savior, either. Though he is appreciative of the opportunity to come home and play in Los Angeles. He was, after all, a teenage fan at two of the Southland’s more memorable postseason games--Game 5 of the 1986 American League championship series, when the Angels came within a strike of advancing to the World Series; and Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, when Kirk Gibson’s home run propelled the Dodgers to the championship.

“After playing for a few years, you kind of get used to being around some of your idols,” said Green, who will be starting his fifth full season in the majors. “It’s just a game. It’s fun and once you get over all the hoopla of when you first come up, once you get over that, it just feels like you’re playing Little League or whatever.

“But it’s different now, playing at home,” he added. “It’s going to be a big change, but it’s going to be a change for the better.”

Other workouts are scheduled at Dedeaux Field on Wednesday and Friday.