DePodesta Might Have Sent Tracy a Message

If the Micro Manager thinks winning the World Series is going to save his job with the Dodgers, General Manager Paul DePodesta might have already indicated it’s not going to make a difference.

DePodesta tore apart a first-place team that had captured the fancy of Dodger fans. He sent away its most popular everyday player, Paul Lo Duca, and in doing so, he demonstrated he has his own plan for success and was willing to throw away a division title, if necessary, to get a start on it.

The Micro Manager, in the final two months of his contract, had the Dodgers in first, playing small ball, which you have to do if you’re relying on Shawn Green to supply the power.

He has had the Dodgers scrapping to establish a one-run lead through the first six innings, then turning the game over inning by inning to Darren Dreifort, Guillermo Mota and Eric Gagne.

He tried doing the same thing with the players acquired by Kevin Malone and Dan Evans, and somehow kept the Dodgers competitive into September the last three years. This year he had the stiffs atop the standings, in part because of some kind of chemical interaction that cannot be explained.

When Jose Lima is pitching better than he sings, it’s something magical all right.

DePodesta, though, is a computer graduate of the “Moneyball”/Oakland A’s style of ball, which doesn’t place the same importance on short relievers, or apparently chemistry.

When he traded Lo Duca and Mota, he was making a statement on the manner in which Tracy manages, and the style of ball the Dodgers will play in the future.

The public has never embraced Tracy as Dodger manager for some odd reason, so if the Dodgers make the playoffs, DePodesta won’t have to deal with angry Dodger fans -- as if that matters -- if he starts all over with a new manager.

Just ask Lo Duca, the Dodgers’ All-Star catcher this year, how quickly things can change around here ... maybe that’s why the Micro Manager is now wearing No. 16.

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SCORE ONE -- so far -- for Computer Boy. He got eight shutout innings from newly acquired Brad Penny, which avoided the scary proposition of bringing in Dreifort. Gagne got the save, but those three innings he threw Sunday because Mota is no longer here might have taken their toll on Gagne, who gave up two runs in the ninth.

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THE MICRO Manager took the jersey off his back, and gave Steve Finley No. 12, because as Milton Bradley could tell you, Finley gets everything he wants.

Tracy now wears No. 16 -- Lo Duca’s number. I asked one of the team’s attendants why the Dodgers couldn’t come up with something else for Tracy, and he said, “Can’t afford it.”

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THE FIRST time I met John Elway was the night he was traded to Denver. He wore a camel-haired sports coat, which could have been mistaken for a dirty rug thrown over his shoulders. Tuesday, we met again at a Glendale hotel to discuss his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend, and hats off to him for having the guts to wear a lime-green shirt so ugly most bowling teams would reject it.

Maybe that says it all, because with all the changes that have come in the last 21 years, it’s remarkable how much Elway the kid and Elway the superstar haven’t changed.

Elway’s older daughter will introduce her father at the Hall of Fame, and Dan Reeves, the coach he loved to hate, will be in the audience.

“I never thought about not inviting him,” he said. “You know, it’s been kind of a thorn in the side of both of us the way we’ve gotten along, so it’s kind of nice to pull that thorn out.”

Elway, who takes medication daily for acid reflux disease, spent all day in L.A. promoting the “Road to Relief” health awareness campaign. His mother still lives here, and if the NFL returns, he remains interested in joining the process. As an owner, of course, he could wear anything he wants no matter how ridiculous he looked.

You know, just like Georgia Frontiere.

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RYDER CUP captain Hal Sutton, who teed up a baseball at Dodger Stadium and pulled out a wedge to “throw out the first pitch,” stopped by The Times earlier in the day to discuss the upcoming competition.

Sutton will make two captain’s picks to complete the 12-man USA team, and he said he wants players who exhibit toughness, which I think would rule out most professional golfers. He said he also wants players “who can’t sleep,” which might favor John Daly, as long as he agrees to leave the parties in time to tee off.

Sutton offered no clues on his choices, but I’m guessing he picks Scott Verplank, a captain’s choice the last time around, and Jay Haas, because he will want a grizzled veteran -- much like himself.

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MARK IT down on the calendar for next year. You missed one of the most interesting sporting events in L.A. on Tuesday night, “The NFL 101 & 201” football seminar, presented by the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission with appearances by Bill Walsh, George Allen’s daughter -- Jennifer, Amy Trask, chief executive of the Raiders, and ESPN’s biggest talent but shortest person, Andrea Kremer.

Tom Arnold, from the “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” was also there, and no one complained.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Don Gallagher:

” ... I believe that a bold move like (the Dodger trade) should be applauded. As for Mr. McCourt, do not be so quick to judge him. You have never worn his shoes ... “

And take away his only pair of shoes?

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.