Dodgers Solve Puzzle Again

Besides booking postseason vacations, the Dodgers are spending their abundance of idle time working Sudoku puzzles, grids that must be filled so each row and column contains the digits one through nine.

Outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. started the clubhouse craze, and he makes copies and passes them out to everyone from rookies to veterans to coaches.

In the manager’s office, Jim Tracy is confronted with his own one-through-nine dilemma. Coming up with a formidable batting order is a challenge every bit as perplexing as the most difficult Sudoku problem.

If Jeff Kent bats third, who bats fourth to protect him? If Kent bats fourth, who is a legitimate third hitter? If Oscar Robles moves from No. 2 to No. 3, who handles the bat well enough to bat second?

And on and on.

Sometimes production comes from unlikely sources. No. 8 batter Jason Repko delivered two triples and drove in four runs in a 9-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday night at Dodger Stadium.

Cruz also helped his manager solve the lineup puzzle for one night, hitting his 18th home run and a double.

Yet judging by the Dodgers’ 70-86 record, Tracy’s effectiveness at assembling batting orders could be questioned. Some say he has done everything possible with an inferior roster racked by injuries. Others say he the manager is at least partially responsible for such a substandard season.

Who might be holding such a discussion?

Look no farther than the Pirates (63-94), one of several teams in the market for a manager. Tracy and Pirate General Manager Dave Littlefield spent time together with the Montreal Expos in the mid-1990s when Tracy was bench coach and Littlefield was director of player development.

Tracy’s name has been mentioned in the Pittsburgh media along with candidates who have ties to the city such as Art Howe, Ken Macha and Jim Leyland. Given the 2005 Dodger debacle, Tracy might be a tough sell in a city whose team has had 13 consecutive losing seasons.

But he interviewed for the Pirate job when it came open in 2000 and owner Kevin McClatchy has said he made a favorable impression. The Pirates are 344-459 since then under the man who got the job, Lloyd McClendon, and the man who replaced him when he was fired, interim Manager Pete Mackanin.

Tracy, meanwhile, posted a winning record in each of his first four years with the Dodgers and is 426-378. He can make himself available by opting out of the last year of his contract within seven days of the end of the season. He said Monday that he will not shop himself to other teams during that period, and reiterated that he prefers to remain with the Dodgers.

“I have a very good job right now,” he said. “I have no interest in pursuing anything unless the out clause is exercised.”

The only way it makes sense for him to turn his back on a salary estimated at $800,000 is if the Dodgers refuse to extend his deal and he has a multi-year offer somewhere else.

Dodger General Manager Paul DePodesta has said repeatedly that he wants to retain Tracy. But extending the manager’s deal beyond 2006 is another matter. Tracy and DePodesta acknowledge they have philosophical differences that must be ironed out.

For his part, Tracy won’t discuss his future until after Sunday’s finale.

“It’s not something I’m sitting around here giving a whole lot of thought to,” he said.

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Outfielder Ricky Ledee, who has been bothered by scar tissue behind his knee for weeks, won’t start again unless the final series at San Diego has bearing on the National League West race.... Injured reliever Kelly Wunsch is recovering from hip surgery and expects to be ready for spring training. Wunsch said the hip might have been injured when he was hit by a line drive in spring training.... Kent limped off the field after a collision at home plate in the seventh inning but remained in the game and doubled and scored in the eighth.