Hey Joe

While lounging around after brunch on the patio I occasionally glanced up from the newspaper to the TV as the possible but unlikely Grapefruit League champion Los Angeles Dodgers were beating up on the real world champion Boston Red Sox. I watched the game with the volume muted (sorry Vinny) as L.A.’s new manager Joe Torre sat quietly in Holman Stadium’s breezy dugout trying to figure out just exactly who are these unfamiliar boys in blue. He scratched his head pondering how to create an identity for his hodgepodge team of misfits.

Last year they were a bit too young and a bit too old and their laid back skipper, Grady Little, was a little too much like the skipper… from Gilligan’s Island.

Lest we forget, their season ended in more confusion than an episode of Lost.

The boob tube was muted because I was listening to a digitally remastered box set of the still futuristic sounding Jimi Hendrix Experience. Forty years later and his music still makes the hair on my arms stand up with his soaring solos and magical riffs. I was engulfed in a purple haze when Jimi wailed, “So-uh, are you experienced? Have you ever been experienced-uh?”

That’s when it hit me – Experience. Jimi explained it all in song.

Experienced professional veterans. That’s who Joe will lean on early this season to send a message to his gaggle of talented young wanna be stars. Admittedly, some of the Dodger vets are long-in-the-tooth vagabonds but not so long ago they were decent professional ball players. Except now, in the twilight of their careers they're forced to listen to Joe not only because of his multi-championship past but because they really have no other choice.

Bad play or behavior will get you cut or traded lickety split in 2008. Trust me.

Unlike last year, when the team divided into factions between youngsters and vets, this season will carry severe consequences for such stupid behavior and selfish comments. The front office finally went out and hired a truly respected, capable manager who has the stature and knowledge to assemble the winning clubhouse needed to forge a championship attitude.

Now I would have preferred that Frank McCourt snatched up the effervescent Bobby Valentine from exile in Japan instead of Torre but that’s another column.

So, like every training camp in March 2008, hope springs eternal. Each and every team says, “this is our year,” but there’s something different going on down there in Dodgertown. Maybe it is a sign of the times because there’s real change in the air. This being the Dodgers last camp in Vero Beach is a part of it. And maybe even because of the groundbreaking and unprecedented presidential campaigns of Barack Hussein Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton there is a feeling of true renewal, actual change, and hope. Whatever the reason – it is real. And one thing that is for sure is that change is greatly needed in both the Whitehouse and in DodgerNation. The Dodgers are famous for making change, like when they integrated MLB with Jackie Robinson, and now they have to embrace change in order to break their twenty year championship drought.

The status quo isn't and wasn’t working.

Joe Torre suddenly became available during the off season and the Dodgers instantly gained a leader who commands respect, demands maximum effort from his players, and gets both. His resume alone is too damn impressive for any player to ignore. A guy like Jeff Kent, who can be a major league curmudgeon at times can still play ball in that old school Ty Cobb kind of way and is a good fit for Torre’s style. Also expect lovable but fragile Nomar Garciaparra and bloated question mark Andruw Jones to both give their best efforts for their new boss and have bounce back years. And expect a big trade or two by the 4th of July, especially if infamous hypochondriac Jason Schmidt doesn’t pan out. He’s been great in the past but he’s a head case. Dodger fans must rely on a miracle of modern medicine to repair his elbow and Torre’s best Dr. Phil imitation to save Schmidt’s fragile psyche.

General manager Ned Colletti has a lot riding on that big right arm too. He really rolled the dice on the former Giant ace and it’s not working out so far. I am very glad Colletti showed some patience and grande cohones by not trading away future all-stars Matt Kemp, James Loney, Russell Martin, or any other of their talented blue chippers like Andy LaRoche, Jason Repko, Andre Ethier, and Chad Billingsley. But, I suspect Repko or Ethier or both might be dealt away for a lefty. Especially if Andruw Jones proves to be sound and healthy.

Experience is what old Joe will lean on when the Dodgers begin playing real games this spring but his Dodger kids will be tested early because of nagging injuries. Kent and Garciaparra are banged up, heal slowly, and both remain creaky. As the season wears on into the dog days of summer Joe will depend and demand a lot from the Dodger youth, riding them hard so they'll be ready to perforn into autumn when each pressurized game grows in importance. If you can remember all the way back to the mid 1990’s, Torre, a true hometown hero who had grown up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, led his first championship New York Yankee team with young, unproven talents like Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, and Jorge Posada then leaned on vagabond vets in the fall like Jim Leyritz, Cecil Fielder, Paul O’Neill, and Luis Sojo.

Recently, the Dodgers brilliantly tapped into their most experienced and wisest baseball resource by incorporating the great Tommy Lasorda back into the clubhouse. I expect a great season at Chavez Ravine and can’t wait to see Joe Torre ask Tommy Lasorda for his input. We might even see Tommy sitting right next to Joe in the dugout offering a little of his experience ala Don Zimmer.

Jimi Hendrix was, is, and forever will be a mind blowing genius. I just didn’t know he was able to foresee the 2008 Dodgers return to glory by speaking for Joe Torre to me from the grave as they practiced under the Florida sun but apparently he can because I could hear Joe’s thoughts resonating in Jimi’s 40-year-old lyrics:

So-uh, are you experienced?

Have you ever been experienced? (-uh)

Well, I have

Uh, let me prove it to you, yeah

Trumpets and violins I can-uh, hear in the distance

I think they’re callin' our name

Maybe now you can't hear them,

But you will, ha-ha, if you just

Take hold of my hand

Ohhh, but are you experienced?

Have you ever been experienced?

Get ready Dodger fans; this year promises to be a mind blowing experience. Summer 2008 is going to rock a lot like the late sixties and so are the boys in blue.

So, have you ever been experienced?

Indeed.

Thanks for reading the Hustle and remember... give peace a chance.