He Seems an Odd Choice for Dodger Honors Society

A week after news reports surfaced that police responded three times to Milton Bradley’s home for domestic violence incidents comes word he’s the Dodgers’ choice for two prestigious awards honoring him for his off-the-field activities.

The Dodgers’ front office made him the team’s good citizen nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, which was announced Wednesday, and at almost the same time it was announced the Dodger players had selected Bradley as their choice for “Man of the Year.”

I can hear his acceptance speech now: “I’d like to thank the police for not locking me up and keeping me away from this event ... “

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THE DODGERS said they were given the option of rescinding the Clemente nomination, which was submitted a while back, but General Manager Paul DePodesta said, “I don’t think that would be fair to him; he’s done a lot of good things.”

I disagreed, keeping my perfect record intact of never agreeing with him, and said I’m sure there are folks in jail today who have done good things only to be sidetracked by a mistake.

Bradley’s error has been his failure to address an anger-management problem that has touched his personal life and potentially put a premature end to his Dodger career.

This should have been the time for the Dodgers to make a statement, and rather than seating him in the owner’s box after being suspended as they did a year ago, they should’ve made it clear to Bradley that he will not represent the Dodgers again until he conducts himself as a professional on and off the field.

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THE DODGERS just can’t seem to get things right when it comes to Clemente. The Dodgers signed him for $10,000 as a kid, but before he could play for them, they lost him to the Pirates for $4,000.

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I ASKED Jeff Kent if he voted for Bradley. He said he was never given the chance, but said he would have based on what he has heard of Bradley’s charity work.

Jayson Werth, the interim players’ representative, said he went to everyone in the clubhouse about a month ago seeking man-of-the-year input, but not surprisingly, whiffed when it came to getting Kent’s choice.

There is no quarrel here with the suggestion Bradley has done great things in the community, but like a year ago when the Dodgers’ former marketing VP, Lon Rosen, set out to enhance Bradley’s public image, it becomes nothing more than window dressing when Bradley can’t help himself from just losing it.

Given my experience with Bradley, I suspect these two honors will be accepted by Bradley as validation that everybody else has it all wrong about him -- the Dodgers once again doing Bradley a disservice.

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BRADLEY underwent surgery Wednesday morning. A short time later the Dodgers posed for a photographer in stands erected in center field, and I guess you could say right now Bradley’s not in the team’s picture.

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WHAT’S MORE amazing? The audacity of the Dodgers to send invoices to season-ticket holders asking them to buy playoff and World Series tickets, or the fact they have already received 30 payments for Dodger postseason tickets ahead of the Sept. 13 deadline?

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IT’S ONE thing to perform poorly, but now the Dodgers lack class. When Giant pitcher Jason Schmidt was forced to leave the game because of a groin strain, the Dodgers played, “Hit the Road, Jack.”

When I asked Brad Lilly, the Dodgers’ music guy, why the Dodgers would resort to something so bush, he said, “He’s a Giant.”

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POOR DECISIONS are appearing to become the norm. The Dodgers asked fans Tuesday night on the scoreboard to vote for their favorite announcer, pitting Charley Steiner, Jaime Jarrin and Vin Scully against each other. I thought for a moment Rosen was back running the show.

There was no mention of longtime announcers’ Pepe Yniguez or Rick Monday, or Fernando Valenzuela or Al Downing. (I understand why they didn’t mention Steve Lyons).

Word in the press box was Scully was upset about the embarrassment it caused his fellow announcers. When I asked him about it, he put a hand over his mouth, and kept on walking.

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THE MICRO MANAGER’S odd choice to lead off has been Werth, who has struck out 99 times, including at least once in 14 of the last 15 games he has tried to fake it as a hitter.

“Who would you pick?” Jim Tracy said, and I suggested someone who might put bat to ball so the game doesn’t always start with an out.

I gathered by the look on Tracy’s face he never thought of that.

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TRACY WAS asked what Antonio Perez’s best position might be.

Tracy said, “second base,” while I interrupted to say, “the bench,” the way Tracy has been using the .317 hitter.

“I totally disagree with that,” he said.

Perez, although a career five for seven against Schmidt, didn’t start -- and has now been on the bench for eight of the past 10 games.

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FINALLY, SOME good Dodger news. When Jeff Weaver was knocked out of the game, the FSN West 2 cameras caught him making an obscene gesture to someone in the Dodger dugout. A Fox employee, however, said FSN had gone on a commercial break, so only those who were getting the “raw feed” caught Weaver’s act. That still leaves the question -- just who was the target of his obscene gesture?

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USC’S DENNIS SMITH, who went on to play for the Denver Broncos, said he was paid $2,000 to appear at the NFL’s youth clinic in the Coliseum on Wednesday.

I didn’t think to ask Nick Lachey what he was being paid because I never thought I’d reach the point where I’d have an interest in talking to him -- without Jessica Simpson at his side. But knowing he pals around with Matt Leinart, I asked who might challenge USC.

He mentioned Oregon, Notre Dame and Arizona State, so I told him that would make a good headline: “Lachey disses UCLA.”

He laughed. I presume at UCLA. I just hope that’s not coming from Leinart.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com