Tracy Ready to Greet Old Friends

Jim Tracy will have a bounce in his step today when he greets the Dodgers at his new place of employment. That’s what a victory will do, and nobody needed a victory Sunday more than Tracy, whose Pittsburgh Pirates opened on the road by losing six in a row before defeating the Cincinnati Reds.

He’ll give out hugs to guys he managed during his five years with the Dodgers, although there aren’t too many left: Olmedo Saenz, Odalis Perez, Yhency Brazoban and Brad Penny are the only players from the 2004 West Division championship team on the active roster, although Cesar Izturis and Jayson Werth are on the trip despite being on the disabled list.

“I think it’s ironic that my first game as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates at home is against the team I managed the past five years,” Tracy said. “There are a lot of people I’ve built special relationships with. It makes it a little bit tough.”

During a conference call with Dodger reporters, Tracy didn’t want to revisit the tumultuous 2005 season that led to his leaving. However, he recently told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that he was devastated by then-general manager Paul DePodesta’s roster changes during and after the 2004 season.

“We had worked very hard for four years, and it culminated in a division championship,” he said. “Unfortunately, we decided there was a different path we were going to take, and several things changed.

“The foundation was in place. Guys knew one another. They liked one another. The clubhouse was a very special place to be. That had all been built.

“[Instead] I had to go in and introduce myself to three-quarters of the [players] who walked in in the spring of 2005. Very disappointing.”

Tracy likes the collection of young talent assembled by Pirate General Manager Dave Littlefield, whom he has known since they worked together in the Montreal Expo organization more than a decade ago.

The slow start tempered the enthusiasm, though. It marked the first time the Pirates had opened with six losses since 1974 -- and this from a team that hasn’t had a winning season since 1992.

“I’m in a good place,” Tracy said. “Dave Littlefield is someone I’ve known for a while. I feel very strongly we are going to spearhead in a proper direction.

“The thing about our club, we’ve seen it in bits and pieces, but we’ve yet to have a ballgame where we’ve put our whole package together. It’s not a complete cure-all overnight thing. That didn’t happen in L.A., and it won’t happen here.”

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Reserve first baseman Saenz was six for 10 with two home runs and nine runs batted in at Pittsburgh last season. He’ll get a chance to duplicate those numbers because the Pirates will start three left-handed pitchers in the four-game series. Saenz, a right-handed batter, is platooning with left-handed rookie James Loney until Nomar Garciaparra comes off the disabled list.... Right fielder J.D. Drew and third baseman Bill Mueller will get today off. They played in both games Sunday. Second baseman Jeff Kent took off the second game of the doubleheader.