This Is One Meltdown Dodgers Didn’t Need

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

You know that nice, warm, cuddly column the other day about the easygoing Milton Bradley? Well, scratch that. That’ll teach me to say anything nice about one of the Dodgers.

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THIS PROBABLY isn’t the time to remind Bradley that he promised not to get tossed from another game, but his epic loss of self-control and battle with Dodger fans probably wiped out a season-long run to prove himself no longer a hothead.

He made an error, Dodger fans heckled and booed him, someone tossed a bottle on the field, he walked more than 20 feet to pick it up and then started walking toward the stands. Up in the press box everyone in unison said, “Uh-oh.”

The time bomb that he is, the fuse had been lighted, and he shouted as he neared the stands demanding that “someone be a man,” and isn’t that funny coming from an immature kid? He eventually went ballistic and tossed a bottle at the feet of his hometown fans, including a man wearing a Dodger jersey.

The Dodgers, a little slow to pick up Bradley and haul him off the field, allowed him to walk by himself from right field to the dugout. On the way he removed his cap and his jersey, the kind of behavior the Angels got from Jose Guillen, and then when he reached the dugout he raised his arms to the howling crowd.

And he stood there, glaring at the hometown fans, almost inviting them to come over the wall and take him on. Where were his teammates, who should have piled atop him and dragged him from the field before doing any further playoff damage?

Some fans wanted to blame the unidentified fan who tossed the plastic bottle. Others were upset with fans who had heckled Bradley. But as one of the Bradley defenders, Mikael Romano, had to acknowledge, “Bradley crossed the line.”

Instead of standing his ground, accepting his miscue (like a man) and tossing the bottle to a Dodger employee, Bradley -- like Guillen -- put his temper ahead of the Dodgers’ best interests. I better have another talk with him -- in a week or so.

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OH, BY the way, the Dodgers went on to rally Tuesday night from a 4-0 deficit to score five runs in the bottom of the ninth, rip the heart out of San Francisco and certify this a magical season.

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THERE HAS been a lot of talk about the National League most valuable player, and while the fans in Dodger Stadium have selected Adrian Beltre, the know-it-alls everywhere else are locked in on Barry Bonds.

If the MVP is supposed to be the best player in baseball, who strikes fear in every manager (and loafs to first after hitting a ground ball even if it means hitting into a double play), then there’s no doubt Bonds is the obvious choice.

But if the MVP is supposed to be the main reason why a mediocre team rises above everyone else to surprisingly make the playoffs, then I’d argue it’s Beltre.

Or Colorado Manager Clint Hurdle. Or the entire Arizona Diamondback roster.

I know this, it’d be the Micro Manager, if he were allowed to vote -- for himself.

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AS SHAWN GREEN said, “Everybody knows Bonds is the best hitter in the game, and the best hitter who ever lived, but without Beltre we’re not in first place, and it’s not even close.

“They ought to have something new, like the Henry Aaron award, for the best player and give it to Bonds every year. And then give the MVP to who really deserves the credit for getting a team to the playoffs.”

You listen to the Micro Manager talk these days, and let me tell you, that’s a grueling assignment, and it’s all about him taking credit for the work he has done the last four years -- no matter that three of them fell short of making the playoffs.

In patting himself on the back Tuesday, he said the turnaround for the Dodgers this season came after he delivered a speech to the team in early July.

“We went on to win 21 of the next 28 games,” he pointed out, and I hope the writers on the East Coast hear about that, because I worry the Micro Manager might not get any MVP votes otherwise.

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THE DODGERS wouldn’t be in first place without Beltre’s breakout year, of course, but to be fair you have to wonder where they’d be if Hurdle, the Mike Martz of major league baseball, wasn’t managing the Rockies.

The Colorado Rockhead had his team ahead of the Dodgers in the late innings in four of the last five meetings and managed to lose them all. Had the Rockies won the games they were leading, the Giants would have a game lead on the Dodgers.

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OK, SO the Diamondbacks did their part in helping the Dodgers climb to the top of the West. They not only lost 16 of 19 games played against the Dodgers, but gave them Steve Finley for a bunch of minor leaguers.

You add up the games Finley has won since arriving, the 16 victories the Diamondbacks handed the Dodgers, and tell me Beltre has done more than that? Bonds and Beltre are doing just fine, but I worry now that the Diamondbacks won’t get the credit they deserve for helping the Dodgers.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Jon Coleman:

“I wonder if you could help an old UCLA grad? I don’t ordinarily need a thesaurus when reading The Times, but an article in the Calendar section used the term, ‘unflattering sobriquet’ when referring to Jamie McCourt. Do you have any idea what this means?”

I went to NIU, and at times like this we probably both wish we had a USC education.

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