Torre gets first Dodgers win under his belt

Only seven managers in history have won more games than Joe Torre. But until Monday, none of those wins had come with the Dodgers.

So when the team’s new manager showed up for work at about 7:30 Monday morning after a long, sleepless night, it hardly felt like just another day at the office.

“The first one, you want to get through it,” Torre confessed. “I was nervous.”

And no matter how hard he tried to hide that, it showed.

“You could tell he had that urgency,” hitting coach Mike Easler, his voice a whisper, said after the Dodgers made Torre’s debut a winner by beating the San Francisco Giants, 5-0. “Let me tell you something. This had to be monumental for him. There’s a lot of high expectations.

“To get off on that type of win, it’s a beautiful thing.”

Those closest to Torre knew that best. So in the hours leading up to the game he received messages of support from Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada, two of the players he mentored with the New York Yankees. Joe Girardi, who replaced him as Yankees manager, also called as did another former Yankees manager, Yogi Berra, the king of malaprops, who likely told Torre that first wins are sweeter the second time.

Torre hardly left baseball history behind when he left Yankee Stadium, however. Beneath the fresh coat of blue paint on the door to his new Dodger Stadium office you can still make out the words “ALSTON, MGR.,” a reminder that the room was previously used by Hall of Fame manager Walter Alston, the man Torre passed on the all-time wins list in August.

And before the 51st home opener in L.A. Dodgers history, Torre stood next to Tom Lasorda, another Hall of Fame manager, as the two caught ceremonial first pitches from legendary ex-Dodgers Sandy Koufax and Don Newcombe.

“There’s just such a strong connection with the Dodgers to the history of baseball,” Torre said. “The Dodgers and the Yankees, to me, are the two clubs you either love or hate. There’s no in between.

“What’s gone on here the last few days, that puts a little more emphasis on what you’re doing. You don’t win this first game, it’s sort of like, ‘Oh, OK. I know you have 161 left.’ [But] I think that sort of puts a little more emphasis on winning this game.”

His players made it easy, scoring three times in the first inning and then turning the game over to Brad Penny and three relievers, who combined on a five-hitter. By then, Torre said, the butterflies -- if not the pressure -- had passed and it was like he was a boy again, playing a tabletop baseball game in his family’s Brooklyn home.

“Once the game starts, you’re busy,” he said. “To sit there and watch a game and sort of have control, it sort of takes you back to your childhood when you were sitting in the basement with your buddy playing some form of baseball card games.”

More than a dozen family members and at least that many close friends were on hand Monday afternoon to watch Torre relive those memories. Despite that, he said he tried to treat the day like any other -- at least in front of his players.

“He talked to us before the game and said, ‘You guys are probably sick of hearing my voice. So just go out and win a ballgame,’ ” third baseman Andy La Roche said. “That’s all he said. No Knute Rockne speech.”

Still, some Dodgers quietly confessed afterward they knew how important it was to win one for the skipper.

“You get the win under your belt, it’s like getting your first hit,” Easler said. “It’s the greatest thing in the world. I’m sure he’s happy with the result.”

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kevin.baxter@latimes.com