Cora Happy to Get Past Trade Deadline

During the last weekend of June, as the Dodgers swept a series in San Diego, Manager Jim Tracy summoned struggling shortstop Alex Cora for a chat. Cora was not getting traded, released or sent to the minor leagues. On the contrary, Tracy told Cora that he was playing well, that the hits soon would come and that the Dodgers could win with him at shortstop.

When Tracy’s bosses asked last week whether the Dodgers really could win with Cora at shortstop, the manager said yes. So, when the Kansas City Royals insisted upon top prospects in exchange for veteran shortstop Rey Sanchez, the Dodgers said no thanks. And, at the trading deadline Tuesday, Sanchez was traded to the Atlanta Braves for two minor leaguers, leaving Cora smiling in the Dodger clubhouse, still playing shortstop for a first-place team.

“They trust me, and that’s a good feeling,” Cora said. “It takes a lot of confidence for a manager to play a kid who’s hitting .200. I have to tip my hat to him.

“This isn’t an easy place to play. The people want to win here, with all the tradition, and all that payroll too. Putting me out there gives me a lot of confidence.”

Tracy said Cora’s recent surge--a .406 average during a nine-game hitting streak, lifting his overall average to .233, and only two errors since June 23--has not gone unnoticed. Tracy also said Cora and fellow shortstop Jeff Reboulet have provided the solid defense and smart situational hitting the manager demanded in spring training.

“You can’t say either of those guys hasn’t done the job,” Tracy said. “When you look at the job those guys have done for this club, what kind of a statement are you making to them when you’re 61-45, a game and a half ahead in the National League West, and all of a sudden you say, ‘Thanks and we don’t need you, we don’t feel you’re good enough?’ I don’t feel that’s the message to send to those guys.”

Reboulet, with nine hits in his last 14 at-bats, said he paid as little attention as possible to the trade rumors, even though the acquisition of Sanchez would have reduced his playing time. While playing for the Minnesota Twins in 1996, Reboulet said, he got a little too excited about rumors that the New York Yankees, searching for a utility infielder, would acquire him.

“Then they went out and got Luis Sojo and, next thing you know, they won four World Series,” Reboulet said. “Sometimes what you don’t know is good for you.”

Cora insisted he worried about how he played for the Dodgers, not whether the Dodgers would trade for a shortstop to replace him.

“You can’t control that--unless you have a no-trade clause, but I’ve only been around two years, so I don’t have that,” he said. “But I can’t lie. I’m happy I’m here, especially in the situation we’re in.

“I think we’re going to do something very special here.”

With Tuesday’s acquisitions of relievers Terry Mulholland and Mike Trombley, the Dodgers followed a trend established in recent years by the Cleveland Indians and Yankees. By hoarding quality relievers, these teams hope that any game in which they are leading after five or six innings becomes an almost automatic victory.

“We’ve pretty much shortened the game,” Tracy said.

The Dodgers now boast a bullpen in which closer Jeff Shaw is supported by proven relievers in Mulholland, Trombley, Matt Herges and Jesse Orosco. Mulholland and Trombley also are capable of long relief, a handy insurance policy as the Dodgers pursue a pennant with a converted reliever (Terry Adams) and two youngsters (Eric Gagne and Luke Prokopec) in their starting rotation.

“We don’t have to sit and wait to see if a guy will figure it out on a given night,” Tracy said. “We’re not going to let games get away from us with those guys in the pen.”

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

TERRY ADAMS

(7-3, 4.73 ERA)

vs.

REDS’

LANCE DAVIS

(4-1, 5.62 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 7 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports Net 2.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

Update--A victory tonight would set a career high for Adams. Davis, one of eight Cincinnati players to make his major league debut this season, is 3-0 with a 2.11 ERA since the all-star break.