Torre's steady hand steers young Dodgers

This was supposed to be the classic fish-out-of-water scenario, as the puckish TV ad suggested. Joe Torre doing yoga? Riding a wave? Pitching a screenplay?

Why, what's the quintessential New York guy doing in La-La Land, anyway? And how can he possibly function in such a laid-back environment?

Quite effectively, it turned out.

Being forced out by the New York Yankees last fall -- and a lowball contract offer sweetened by incentives amounted to exactly that -- may have been the best thing to happen to Torre. It was undeniably the best thing to happen to the Dodgers.

The youngsters who tuned out Grady Little a year ago are headed for a National League Championship Series showdown with Philadelphia precisely because Torre never stopped teaching and never lost patience or confidence, even when things seemed to be unraveling.

Consider that eight-game losing streak in August. Some managers would have raised the volume.

Torre? He was Joe Cool.

"He never lost his belief in the players," third baseman Casey Blake said. "He said, 'Hey, man, we're going to get through this. Just go out and keep doing what you're doing. Keep fighting and don't give up.' He was awesome through it."

This was a culture change for Torre, 68, which went well beyond lifestyle or intensity or even media demands.

"There was a lot more veteran leadership" in New York, said Dodgers hitting instructor Don Mattingly, a member of Torre's New York staff and a Yankees icon in his own right. "You got Mariano (Rivera) in the bullpen. You got (Derek) Jeter in the infield. You got (Andy) Pettitte and those guys. You got leaders in every area.

"Here, you gotta keep teaching."

And Torre did. About plate discipline, approach, concentration, confidence.

"He kept preaching and kept preaching, and guys slowly started coming around," said pitching coach Rick Honeycutt, a holdover from Little's staff.

"Obviously, the additions we had -- getting Manny (Ramirez) and Casey Blake and Greg Maddux, three veteran guys -- were a huge impact. But at the same time Joe never wavered. ... The bulk of our team is very young, but they've got to have somebody directing them where they want to go, and that's what Joe was able to do."

General Manager Ned Colletti said Torre probably had more one-on-one meetings with players this year "than in all his years combined." They were, more often than not, low-key yet forceful reminders of how things needed to be done.

"These players really didn't need anybody to tell them they were talented," Torre said. "They felt pretty good about themselves because they've all had a little taste and have all had some success. The only thing I think was missing was just the consistency of it on a day-to-day basis, and how to bounce back from bad games or bad weeks or whatever. I think they put a lot of pressure on themselves.

"... You have to eliminate the highs and lows. You've got to be able to handle negative stuff and setbacks and all that. And that's what really accentuated our conversations, the fact that we just needed to be that same guy every day. And it took some time."

Torre practiced the consistency he preached.

"Every day he's the same guy, whether we're playing good or not so good," catcher Russell Martin said. "He really keeps his emotions in check, and I think he has kind of a calming effect on a lot of our younger players."

Early on there was a sense that Torre favored the veterans, just because. But by the time the postseason arrived, Martin, Andre Ethier, Matt Kemp, James Loney and Chad Billingsley were shouldering most of the responsibility while continuing to learn what the game on its highest level was about.

Yet there has not been that divide between young and old that destroyed this team last year. Winning helps, as does the presence of the effervescent Ramirez. But Torre's steady hand helped, too. He wasn't about to lose the clubhouse the way Little did a year ago.

"I can't thank the veterans on this club enough for stepping aside, Jeff (Kent) and Nomar (Garciaparra) and Juan (Pierre)," Torre said. "I mean, they made (it) a lot easier to write a lineup without their names in it."

He's being modest. The credibility that comes with four World Series rings and a resume of success likely dissuaded those players from kicking up a fuss.

And now the Dodgers, for the first time since 1988, are eight victories away from an absolutely improbable ring of their own.

Who says there are no Hollywood endings?

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)