Text messages from press row ...

So impressive were the New York Yankees under Joe Torre, Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti says, that they even warmed up like champions. ...

Says the man who hired Torre to manage the Dodgers, “When they took the field to even stretch . . . there was a certain air of professionalism about them that told you it was the Yankees, and I think that starts with the manager.” ...

Derek Jeter might have had something to do with that too, but the Yankees didn’t make their captain available like they did the manager who guided them to four World Series championships in 12 seasons in the Bronx. ...

Of Torre’s sub-.500 record in 14 seasons managing the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals, Colletti says, “As time goes on and the more experience that you have at doing certain things, I think you get better at it.” ...

Owner Frank McCourt is betting millions of dollars on it. ...

If the Dodgers and Angels enter into a bidding war for Alex Rodriguez, the slugger would be best served if it’s more competitive than the on-field rivalry between the teams this year, which was dominated by the Angels. ...

USC fans would have more reason to smile about the team’s unbeaten record in November under Pete Carroll if the Trojans hadn’t played Texas in January two seasons ago, UCLA in December last year and Oregon in October this year. ...

Still, 20-0 is impressive. ...

Fifth-year senior John David Booty deserves a chance to try to extend that streak, but the next time he’s not right physically, his coaches should do a better job of determining his condition and pull him. ...

Television viewers saw UCLA Coach Karl Dorrell show uncharacteristic fire Saturday as he walked off the field at halftime of the Bruins’ 27-7 loss at Washington State, but it was unclear who he commanded to “just do it.” ...

FSN sideline reporter Michael Eaves says it wasn’t him. ...

Taking a cue from Matt Leinart, whose only academic pursuit during his senior season at USC two years ago was ballroom dancing, Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon is enrolled in only one class this semester -- billiards. ...

Channel 9’s cool new Lakers promo splices together video of players from different eras in a montage that shows Magic Johnson dishing a no-look pass to Kobe Bryant for a dunk, Bryant feeding Jerry West for a jumper and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Lamar Odom slapping palms, all narrated by Chick Hearn, of course. ...

Lakers fans only wish. ...

Says Marshall Hites, vice president of creative services and promotion for Channels 2 and 9, “We thought with the Lakers celebrating their 60th anniversary, it was a great opportunity to go back and visit past Laker dynasties.” ...

Especially, he might have added, with none on the horizon. ...

Though Donald Sterling’s Clippers have made 19 lottery picks, far more than any other team, they’ve never had a rookie of the year. ...

Al Thornton could be the first. ...

Excess Temptations, co-owned by Dodgers pitcher Brad Penny, is entered in the eighth race Saturday at Santa Anita and, suffice to say, the right-hander hopes the gelding shows a better finishing kick than the Dodgers did this year. ...

Says Penny, “I’m more nervous before a horse race than I am a baseball game. When I’m on the mound, I’m in control. I have no control over a horse race.” ...

Coach Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots, averaging 41.4 points a game, might remind longtime Southland football fans of the 1950 Los Angeles Rams, who averaged 38.8 en route to the NFL championship game but fell short of the title, losing to Otto Graham and the Cleveland Browns, 30-28. ...

Norm Van Brocklin and Bob Waterfield, sort of a two-headed Tom Brady, combined for 3,601 yards passing and 29 touchdown passes in 12 games. ...

Tom Fears, the Rams’ Randy Moss, caught 84 passes. ...

BTW, when the Minnesota Vikings scored an NFL-record 556 points in 1998, quarterback Randall Cunningham’s favorite target was Moss. ...

The Vikings averaged 34.8 points. ...

Sunday’s game at Indianapolis will be the eighth meeting in the last five seasons between Brady’s Patriots and Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis Colts, but Moss, oddly enough, has lined up against the Colts only once in 9 1/2 NFL seasons. ...

That was seven years ago.

jerome.crowe@latimes.com