Bradley Has the Dodgers on the Edge -- of a Title

Walking the Dogs all the way to the finish line ...

SAN FRANCISCO -- As soon as the media met with the Micro Manager and he laid out the starting rotation for the final week of the season with the possibility of Edwin Jackson and Kaz Ishii starting four of the final seven games, I knew the Dodgers would be motivated to the hilt to put away the Giants on Sunday.

In fact, I pictured the Micro Manager calling the team together just before the national anthem and saying, “Men, if it comes down to the final game of the year in Dodger Stadium, the Giants intend to throw Cy Young candidate Jason Schmidt at you, while we’ll have to counter with Ishii. Don’t let that happen.”

Two batters up for the Dodgers, two quick runs scored for the Dodgers, and credit Jackson and Ishii for making their biggest contributions of the season.

Now just imagine if the Dodgers make the playoffs, the Micro Manager obviously waiting to play the biggest motivational card of them all: “Men, don’t put me in the position where I have to pitch Nomo.”

As you can see, there might be no stopping the Dodgers now.

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I MAINTAIN now that it all started the day before the season began when the Dodgers had no hope of going anywhere -- offering very little to motivate their fan base into thinking this year would be any different from any other -- only to have the Cleveland Indians’ management go Mike Piazza/Gary Sheffield dumb at the last moment -- this time to the benefit of the Dodgers.

The Indians gave away Milton Bradley, as the Dodgers gave away Piazza and Sheffield, and though Bradley didn’t mention the Indians by name after taking two out of three from the Giants, he said, “The people who were talking badly about me will be sitting home and watching the playoffs on TV.”

You look at the Dodgers now and there might not be anyone on their roster more motivated to play well and shove, well, show the Indians and everyone else in baseball how wrong they were.

“I had that reputation [of being a hothead] and it bothered me,” he admitted. “But I have a saying now: ‘Too blessed to be stressed.’ ”

Obviously I caught him on a good day, but then all kidding aside, most every day with Bradley now is a good day. He’s not only one of the brightest players in the Dodger clubhouse, but an interesting work in progress and he knows it.

He can still look intimidating, and in almost every game he appears on the verge of an explosion, but so far, so good -- much to the Dodgers’ benefit.

The other night after the Dodgers opened the series with a win over the Giants, a playful Bradley chased me down and opened the top button of my shirt.

“Just want to loosen that collar,” he said playfully, and this a week or so after being blasted here for making a lewd gesture and being caught on TV.

It’s all in a day’s work for Bradley, a hard day’s work, and in addition to becoming one of the more popular players in the clubhouse, he’s not only good for insightful comments after most games, but often they now come attached with a smile.

“I’m not bitter anymore,” he said. “I feel really comfortable and accepted here. The guys in here want me to have that fire.

“I’ll still get upset at times, and if I said I won’t, I’d be lying. But it’s different now. Talking to people like Tom Lasorda -- he said the Dodgers believe in me, and if they believe in me, then I’ve got to believe in myself.”

Bradley has brought an intensity to the Dodgers that has made an obvious difference on the field, although early on no one could be sure he’d make it through an entire game without being ejected. Three times in the first 77 games he was tossed, but after saying he would never again be ejected, he has played 78 games without interruption.

He also made the move from centerfield to right without so much as a dirty look when the team acquired Steve Finley, and now considers Finley a role model.

“I watch him, and even when he struggles he takes it all in stride,” Bradley said. “He’s been there, and done that, and in these big games there is just an ease about him that seems to set the tone for everyone else.”

That alone might be enough to validate the trade for Finley, especially if Finley leaves at season’s end and returns center to Bradley. But right now both Finley and Bradley have some more meaningful baseball to play, and where would the Dodgers be right now if they hadn’t had the good fortune to pick up both players?

(Some people thought Finley was finished, too old to contribute, because they work for sports editor Bill Dwyre and they noticed what happens when you get too old. I say blame this miscalculation of Finley on Dwyre.)

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BEFORE SUNDAY’S game Eric Gagne was sitting in the Dodger dugout and several Giant fans leaned over the wall and asked for his autograph. Gagne said, “Not now.” And then added, “Tomorrow.”

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I NEVER got the chance to say goodbye to Jose Guillen.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Chris Blake:

“Nothing takes the fun out of sports like a guy who bowls over a kid to get a foul ball ... and nothing sucks the cheer out of a Sunday morning like a rotten shell of a man publicly humiliating his own daughter in a sports column. You remind me of those intoxicated jerks who heckle little kids for having the gall to root for the opposing teams .... “

You don’t have to drink to know little kids should be seen and not heard.