For Drew, It’s a Living With Very Little Life

The other day, J.D. Drew singled in the first inning, and while that should’ve been enough to stop the game and award him the ball, he drove in a run.

And I swore, as Drew rounded first base and came to a stop, I saw him clap both hands together almost as if he were excited.

“Yeah, I saw it too,” said Dodgers Manager Grady Little, and although Drew might’ve just been trying to dust off his batting gloves, any sign of life from the guy is not going to go unnoticed.

The Dodgers are winning in exciting ways these days, while the drip is five for 19 on this homestand and so quiet that when the player with the most talent on the field left the game recently with some kind of twinge, I’m not sure anyone noticed.

He’s so frustrating, and how good would the Dodgers be if he weren’t so frustrating? He’s a tremendous outfielder, has a great arm and swings a bat like he should be making instructional DVDs in his spare time, but playing in the entertainment capital he displays all the emotion of a rock.

He has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave the Dodgers at season’s end, but the Dodgers owe him $11 million next season, $11 million after that and another $11 million on top of that, so name a baseball team that’s going to give a dead man more than $33 million for the next three seasons.

That means Drew probably isn’t going anywhere, which could very well make him a drag on the Dodgers’ future plans unless he shows some life.

The Dodgers are overloaded with eager young players -- their show of enthusiasm is in part why fans enjoy coming to the stadium to watch this team. Hang around Drew, which is tough to do because he always seems to be in hiding, and I fear they’ll go numb.

Fans buy jerseys with the names and numbers of players they admire, for their play and their personalities. I wonder how the sale of No. 7 is going.

If you caught a glimpse of Dontrelle Willis at work Monday night, the guy just oozed charisma, slapping his own chest after Nomar Garciaparra’s two-run homer to tell his teammates the mistake was on him.

Willis wouldn’t have to say a word all night long, his body language letting everyone know his heart was into every pitch.

“J.D. has his own personality,” Little said, and when I said Little was trying to be politically correct to protect his player, he said, “That’s all I’m trying to be.”

The knock on Drew has been that he gets hurt, but this year he has played more than anyone except Rafael Furcal. Drew is hitting a disappointing .278, and after averaging 21 homers a year since 2001 while always being hurt, he has a disappointing 11 this year.

The best that can be said about Drew is that the Dodger Stadium crowd enjoys chanting his three-syllable name in time to music, just like they did Hee-Seop Choi, and when are you people going to get the message that it falls on deaf ears?

I’m all for getting a rise out of Drew, telling him on several occasions, in fact, he’s lifeless and a waste to the Dodgers when it appears he’s going through the motions, but I can’t say for sure whether he was awake.

Just imagine what it would be like to have a dynamic Drew playing in the entertainment capital, and how much it might elevate the Dodgers. Yeah, just imagine.

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THE DAY began with a letter from Times reader Carl Grossman, who just wanted to take the time to write out a $200 check for Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA. A nice way to start the day.

Then I opened an e-mail from Cathy Mendenhall, who had topped the earlier bidding for the Jeff Kent jersey twice -- before e-mailer Greg Yoshida’s last-minute winning bid of $2,750.

“Shoot, I’ve been out all day,” wrote Mendenhall. “If you can get Kent to donate another jersey, I’ll match whatever you got for the first.”

That would make a total of $5,500 for the children’s hospital, so I told her that even if I have to promise to ride on the back of Kent’s motorcycle to get another jersey, she’d get it.

Another e-mail followed, this one from the Dodgers’ Dream Foundation, and a club official saying the foundation would like to match the $5,500 donated by Yoshida and Mendenhall -- making it a total of $11,000 going to the children’s hospital in Kent’s name.

I’d suggest having Kent hop on his motorcycle and cruise on over to the hospital with the money, but I have this terrible feeling he’d like some company.

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MARK GUBICZA was recently inducted into the Royals’ Hall of Fame for compiling 132 victories, and no reason here to mention his 135 defeats. The point is, he comes to this discussion armed. Gubicza, a local broadcaster, predicted from the start that Greg Maddux would make a big impact, betting a local sportswriter $100 for the benefit of the children’s hospital that Maddux would win five or more games.

The Dodgers’ website is now asking the same question, with almost 13,000 fans agreeing with the guy with 135 losses that Maddux will win at least five games, while only 4,000 go with the sportswriter.

With a little more than 40 games to play, Maddux figures to have maybe nine more starts. So far, despite pitching well -- and this is what the local sportswriter took into account -- Maddux has received little offensive support, and is 1-0.

The nice thing about making a wager with Gubicza, he’s already used to losing, which reminds me, Deacon Jones still hasn’t made good on the $100 he lost to benefit the hospital.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.