Dodger Fans, Think of It as a Heimlich Maneuver

It was messy. It was ugly. If you listened closely, you could hear grunting and choking and wheezing.

Swallowing mistakes is not for the faint of heart or timid of spirit. Frank McCourt proved to be neither Saturday, swallowing a whopper that made him look bad, but will eventually make the Dodgers look good.

And that makes it a gulp worth taking.

Paul DePodesta has been fired as Dodger general manager, days after the organizational meetings, days before he was going to announce a new manager, weeks after the end of an awful season.

Some will say this means the Dodgers are in chaos. I say this means they are finally seeking order.

Some will say DePodesta wasn’t given a fair chance. I say he never should have been hired in the first place.

Some say this makes Dodger owner McCourt look like a man who has lost control. I say this is about him finally taking control, however clueless and callous he appears.

Some say, a hasty firing. I say, a smart trade.

DePodesta and his strange managerial candidate list have been dealt into our memories for Pat Gillick, Orel Hershiser and Bobby Valentine.

Here’s guessing Gillick and his World Series rings will be the new general manager. Hershiser and his World Series ring will be the assistant. Bobby Valentine and his World Series appearance will be the manager.

None of this would be possible if DePodesta were still around.

The kid’s computer, once foolishly hailed by McCourt as the organizational savior, had become little more than a flashy box blocking the door.

McCourt should have known better. Or, at least, he should have asked someone other than Oakland’s Billy Beane, the most famous general manager who has never won a playoff series.

To fill shoes once worn by Branch Rickey and Al Campanis, should McCourt really have hired a 31-year-old who, when with Oakland, had been the most invisible No. 2 executive in the game?

Remember when, during DePodesta’s hiring news conference in February 2004, McCourt mentioned how it was so cool that his teenage son had been surfing chat rooms that claimed DePodesta joining the Dodgers was like Alex Rodriguez joining the New York Yankees?

Error, hackers.

Bigger error, McCourt.

“There’s no question I’ve learned a tremendous amount the last couple of years,” McCourt said at Dodger Stadium, filled these days with destroyed seats and shattered potential.

You think?

DePodesta was a quiet fellow who kept to himself, until he suddenly tore apart a first-place team halfway through his first season.

At the time, the Dodgers were 60-42.

For the rest of his tenure, they went 104-118.

It was as if he thought he was smarter than predecessor Dan Evans, who built the eventual division champions. It was as if he cared little about the fans who loved them.

They won the NL West title in spite of his clubhouse remodeling, then he inexplicably tore the team apart again last winter, his struggles with personnel acquisitions matched only by his failures to communicate.

Many will blame this season’s 71-91 record on injuries.

But DePodesta was the one who gave big money to injury-prone J.D. Drew and malingering Odalis Perez.

DePodesta was the one who gutted the bullpen such that Eric Gagne’s loss became a nightmare.

I was in favor of his signing of Milton Bradley, so it’s unfair of me to blame him for that. His trade last year for Steve Finley was tremendous, and his signing of Jeff Kent was brilliant, so he did some good things.

But, by the time this season ended, the clubhouse was divided by guys who shouldn’t have been lumped together, his pet projects had not panned out, his vision simply wasn’t working.

So he fired Jim Tracy, and McCourt claims he agreed with the decision, but DePodesta’s inability to coexist with veteran baseball guys became clear.

Even then, DePodesta was given one last chance, his managerial search serving as McCourt’s final test.

When his odd list of candidates did not resemble one put together by a savvy general manager with lots of contacts -- and when he didn’t even try to ask for permission to talk to Mike Scioscia -- the decision was made.

It’s awful, it’s embarrassing, it cost the Dodgers an important month of off-season work.

But it had to be done.

“I can’t point to any one thing,” McCourt said of his reasons for the firing. “I’m a builder by nature, and, to build, you need a strong foundation.”

Now that McCourt has fixed this huge crack, he needs to remember, the foundation starts with him.

As their blunders pile up like peanut shells on a July night, McCourt and his wife, Jamie, need to show more personal accountability for everything from goofy marketing schemes to obstructed-view seats.

Not once Saturday would McCourt acknowledge that he blew it with DePodesta. How can we believe they have learned if they never admit they have failed?

Even the way they began Saturday’s news conference was disingenuous, with new flack Camille Johnston refusing to announce that DePodesta had been fired, instead announcing only that they were beginning a search for a new general manager.

C’mon, Dodgers. Have more respect for your fans.

You hired the wrong guy to run your team. Two years later, you fired him. Admit it and move on.

DePodesta will be paid for three more years, the wealthiest 32-year-old former general manager on the planet. He will undoubtedly become a great No. 2 executive somewhere else. He’ll survive.

This is about something much bigger than him, bigger than the team, bigger than Chavez Ravine. This is about a Dodger championship tradition worth saving even at the risk of the public humiliation that McCourt will endure, and deserve.

The Dodger owner did an unsightly, uncomfortable thing Saturday.

But for the first time in a long time, he did the right thing.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous Plaschke columns, go to latimes.com/plaschke.

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Class of ’05

A look at the performance of the Dodgers’ key acquisitions for 2005:

*--* Jeff Kent Signed as a free agent Dec. 9, 2004, to a two-year contract. 2005 G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB Avg. Record 149 553 100 160 36 0 29 105 283 72 85 6 289 * Gave the Dodgers power productio n consisten t with his past major league performan ce, leading the team in hits, home runs and RBIs, but became involved in a public feud with teammate Milton Bradley in August.

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*--* J.D. Drew Signed as a free agent Dec. 22, 2004, to a five-year contract. 2005 record G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB Avg. 72 252 48 72 12 1 15 36 131 51 50 1 286 * Injuries cost Drew half a season, which ended for him on July 3 when he was hit by a pitch that broke a bone in his wrist.

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*--* Jose Valentin * Signed as a free agent Dec. 18, 2004, to a one-year contract. 2005 record G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI TB BB SO SB Avg. 56 147 17 25 4 2 2 14 39 31 38 3 170 Signed to play third base after Adrian Beltre left for Seattle, Valentin never hit his stride offensively or defensively before a knee injury cost him three months in the middle of the season.

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*--* Derek Lowe * Signed as a free agent Jan. 11, 2005, to a four-yea r contract . 2005 W L ERA G GS CG SHO IP H R ER BB SO record 12 15 3.61 35 35 2 2 222.0 223 113 89 55 146 Provided solid work for the Dodgers througho ut the season, finishin g second on the team in victorie s, strikeou ts and innings pitched.

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