It’s a Really Good Bet That He’ll Find a Way Out of This

SAN FRANCISCO — Looking back on Tuesday, who would have guessed that both the Lakers and the Dodgers would be eliminated from playoff contention on the same day?

I’m still going to attend the Dodgers’ home opener next Tuesday, but it’s going to feel a little awkward knowing the season is already over -- especially now that I’m being forced to show up in Dodger Stadium wearing a genuine Dodger blue baseball cap.

The Micro Manager claims we made a bet some years ago.

“You said if the Dodgers ever won a Division title, you’d start wearing a blue Dodger baseball cap,” Jim Tracy said, and I’m pretty sure if I said any such thing -- and I can’t possibly imagine being so negative -- I would’ve said, “If the Dodgers ever win a Division title, I’ll eat a blue Dodger baseball cap.”

Now normally I wear a black LA cap in memory of the Dodgers and the way they were, and thinking about it now, I guess it really bugged the Micro Manager. And that probably explains why he thinks we made such a wager. He also says HeeSeop Choi fits nicely into the Dodger lineup in the second spot, so you can see how he fools himself into thinking the strangest things.

This is what I get, of course, for stopping by his office before the second game to tell him I had no doubt the team would win a game this season. The fact that I was right on, and the Dodgers crushed the Giants on Wednesday night, is another example of how supportive I can be of these clowns.

Tracy took it a step further, though, and gave me one of the team’s brand new blue Dodger caps to wear next week. (I’m sure the Boston Parking Lot Attendant will be billing me when he hears that.)

“You also owe me three dinners for bets we made,” Tracy said, and I told him I’d be placing a call to the commissioner’s office today to inform them of his gambling problem.

“You bet me a dinner that Steve Finley wouldn’t hit 10 home runs once he was traded here and I bet you the Chargers were going to win their division,” Tracy said, and people thought Pete Rose had a problem.

“In fact the Chargers sent me a hat and shirt after we made the bet and I’ll wear the Chargers’ hat to next Tuesday’s game,” Tracy said, and I’m guessing he didn’t report those perks on his income tax either. “We bet on something else too, and I know I won.”

I’m sure he’ll dream up something, and I’ll probably go along with it, because when this season is over, I’d like him to feel as if he won something.

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TRACY SAID Choi is his “everyday first baseman, but he’s not today, but will be tomorrow,” and he really does talk that way. He said he had a hunch Olmedo Saenz would fare better against Giant starter Kirk Rueter as if any one of us couldn’t have figured that out.

Saenz went three for four with a walk and three runs batted in, getting robbed on his only out, and Choi never looked so good -- sitting on the bench.

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JOSE VALENTIN hit a home run and made only one error at third base putting him on track to make 162 errors this season and hit 81 home runs.

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THERE ARE too many e-mailers to identify them individually and give them credit, but they all came up with the punch line I wish I had thought of after asking Tracy how many times he had thought about Adrian Beltre during the opener.

Tracy had said, “It’s 2005,” and when I told him he really hadn’t answered the question, he said, “It’s 2005.”

As the e-mailers pointed out, Tracy was obviously telling the truth -- Beltre had crossed his mind 2,005 times.

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ON MONDAY, the Dodger website asked fans, “Who will start the fourth game of the year for the Dodgers?” Fans were given four choices, Wilson Alvarez, Elmer Dessens, D.J. Houlton and Ryan Rupe.

I’m not sure if it’s an indication of how knowledgeable Dodger fans are these days or what kind of people read the website, but Alvarez had the lead with 42% of the votes even though he’s on the disabled list and not eligible to pitch. It kind of speaks to the knowledge of those who are running Dodgers.com too.

Given two more days to get up to speed on the Dodger personnel, Alvarez had increased his lead to 43% of the vote Wednesday. Maybe it’s only wishful thinking and an indication of what the fans really think of Dessens, Houlton and Rupe.

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I DIDN’T hear a word out of Mr. Lisa on Wednesday.

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THE DODGERS were leading 2-1 in the fifth, but the Giants had the tying run on first and starting pitcher Odalis Perez appeared to be laboring. As you might expect, that’s when Eric Gagne got the save.

He let the umpire have it from the dugout when Perez didn’t get the call on a couple of pitches and the umpire responded by ejecting him.

Perez then retired the next three batters, the Dodgers scored five times in the sixth and Gagne had once again worked his magic.

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TRACY SAID he didn’t know which side of the plate the switch-hitting Valentin was going to bat from against the left-handed Rueter, although it had already been announced in a Dodger news release (left-handed).

He said he gave Valentin the information to make a better decision, so “I allowed him enough rope,” Tracy said, to maybe hang himself, and I guess he misses Beltre more than any of us thought.

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FRANK and JAMIE McCourt attended Tuesday’s game at SBC Park but were not at Wednesday night’s game, and with the price of tickets these days, it’s understandable.

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TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from Marty Brown:

“Now u think the team u called, ‘the Choking Dogs,’ weren’t so bad after all, and u want them back. Why do turkeys like u criticize so freely and take people for granted until they’re gone -- before u finally realize they weren’t so bad after all? I would like u to be gone, and I promise not to regret it.”

U2.