Tracy Won’t Take the Bait

They came at the manager in waves in his office in the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium before Thursday night’s game, a media mob in search of the logical answer to an obvious question: Don’t you take some personal satisfaction in beating the Dodgers, the club that fired you after five years in Los Angeles, four of them winning seasons?

But Jim Tracy, whose Pittsburgh Pirates dragged the Dodgers back to reality after Monday night’s inspirational comeback against San Diego spurred by a four-home-run barrage, wasn’t biting.

“That sounds very vindictive,” Tracy said of the suggestion that he relishes the idea of damaging his former team’s chances of winning a division title. “Hey, we came here wanting to win all three games and, after this, we’ll go to San Diego and hopefully play baseball every bit as good. If the shoe was on the other foot, the Dodgers would be looking to wreck our season. Personally, it doesn’t matter who we play.”

OK, Tracy was asked, if a family member had called after the Pirates beat the Dodgers in the first two games of the series and asked if that was a sweet feeling, how would he have answered?

“I don’t comment on family secrets,” Tracy said with a grin.

Dodgers Manager Grady Little was asked if he thought a manager would take particular enjoyment in beating a team that had fired him.

“I think that’s human nature,” he said.

Would Little gain extra satisfaction from beating the Boston Red Sox, a team that fired him, in crucial games of a pennant race?

“Yes,” Little replied, no elaboration necessary.

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Little said first baseman Nomar Garciaparra’s sore leg muscle had reached a point where a day out of the starting lineup was necessary.

“He is really having trouble moving around,” Little said. “We are trying to help him out any way we can.”

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Marlon Anderson’s bat is on its way to Cooperstown -- the bat that propelled the fourth consecutive home run into the seats in the Dodgers’ record-tying rally Monday.

Acquired from the Washington Nationals at the end of August to provide bench strength, Anderson had hit .405 in 16 games before Thursday and won a starting job in left field.

“I sat him down when he got here,” Little said, “and told him about his role which had nothing to do with playing every day. But this time of the year, you’ve got to go with the hot hand. I don’t make the lineup, just put it on paper. The players show us where they need to be and, right now, he needs to be in the lineup.”

steve.springer@latimes.com