DODGERS PREVIEW: WORK WHISTLE BLOWS MANUFACTURING RUNS THE KEY TO SUCCESS, DODGERS SAY.

Byline: Brian Dohn Staff Writer

VERO BEACH, Fla. - Think of the Dodgers offense and think station to station. Think home run or lose. In the past few years, the Dodgers could score runs in bunches but hit dry spells that made the Sahara look like a rain forest.

It's been that way for years. Tweaking the lineup didn't work. Not in 1999. Not in 2000 and certainly not last season.

So, manager Jim Tracy decided to stop tweaking the lineup and transform it:

--The speedy Dave Roberts batting leadoff and playing center field.

--Cesar Izturis at shortstop, batting second, using his speed and situational hitting knowledge.

--Mark Grudzielanek, a constant in the second spot in his career but always criticized for not taking enough pitches, moves to seventh or eighth.

There is the need for speed, particularly at the top. So much so, the team is willing to have two players who have a combined 121 games of major-league experience at the top of their lineup.

Gary Sheffield is gone and the Dodgers hope the sit-back-and-wait approach on offense went with it. Brian Jordan, Eric Karros, Adrian Beltre, Shawn Green and Paul Lo Duca are in there, but can a mild change in personnel drastically alter the personality of the lineup?

``I think it can,'' Grudzielanek said. ``I think it's possible, especially what kind of trance we were in the last few years, waiting for the big long ball all the time, and not really running a whole lot, and having that relaxed attitude out there.

``I think we're going to step it up a notch, see a little more energy out there, see a little more life and a lot of enthusiasm going out there and taking the extra base. Do some good, positive things out there to enhance our run scoring. I think that is what's going to be the difference. It's going to be a different team this year, no question about it.''

Jordan, acquired from Atlanta with left-hander Odalis Perez in the Sheffield trade, takes over Sheffield's spot in left field and in the order in front of Green. Jordan is a .287 hitter and averaged 22 homers and 95 RBI the past four seasons.

Karros is healthy after back problems produced a career-worst 2001, and Beltre doesn't have health issues, either. He never rebounded from two abdominal surgeries in two months before last season, and though Green and Sheffield combined for 85 homers and 225 RBI, the lineup lacked depth.

``What killed us last year was it wasn't a solid lineup all through,'' said Green, who set a club record with 49 homers and drove in 125 runs. ``The fact is, you can't win championships with a choppy lineup. Look at the Yankees the last couple of years. The Indians and Orioles had better lineups than the Yankees, guys with bigger numbers, but they weren't as successful.''

The Yankees, the benchmark organization for the rest of baseball, consistently win with pitching, defense and the manufacturing of runs. For every helmet slammed by Paul O'Neill after an unproductive out, the Yankees seemed to have 10 productive outs of hitting behind runners and or placing down a bunt.

``The Yankees' strength the past number of years has been their ability to take pitches and work counts and get the base on balls and have the starter from the opposing team get to a pitch count relatively early in the game, not afraid to hit with two strikes,'' Karros said. ``That's what made them a team that's had a relatively high on-base percentage. It seems like they've always got something going on in an inning, a lot of baserunners.

``I wouldn't say that was our strength, but just because you do it doesn't mean you're going to win. Does it give you a better opportunity to score runs? Sure. I admit that wasn't a strong point.''

The Dodgers spent their second spring under manager Jim Tracy trying again to emphasize the finer aspects of the game. Legendary Maury Wills again instructed bunting and base running, and Tracy again spoke incessantly about hitting behind runners and working counts and taking well-timed chances on the basepaths.

Of course, he spoke of these things last spring and it translated into a worse offensive season in 2001 than in 2000. The Dodgers ranked in the middle or lower of the 16-team National League in eight of nine major offensive categories last season. In all nine categories, the Dodgers' production was lower than the 2000 total.

A year ago the Dodgers were eighth in runs scored (758), stolen bases (89) and slugging percentage (.425), ninth in walks (519), 11th in batting average (.255) and sacrifice flies (44), 12th in Tracy's ultra-important on-base percentage (.323) and 14th in sacrifice bunts (57).

The Dodgers were fourth with a .273 batting average with runners in scoring position but were 14th with runners in scoring position with two outs. In such instances, they had 128 hits and struck out 148 times.

The Dodgers were sixth with 206 homers, but relying on the home run was the biggest knock against them.

``It's one of those things where you have to stick to your guns, and if you're going to go with it, go with it,'' Lo Duca said. ``I think we're really going to have to do it this year. We've got a good pitching staff and if we score any kind of runs we're going to be in good shape.''

So are the changes, either personnel-wise or health-wise, enough to make a mediocre lineup strong enough to support potentially one of the best starting rotations in baseball?

After all, the Dodgers were 29-29 in one-run games last season. That statistic, in itself, gnaws at Tracy. The Dodgers finished 86-76, six games behind Arizona in the National League West, despite nine leadoff batters and a .306 on-base percentage, which ranked 15th in the league.

That deficiency made a late rally an absurd hope. The Dodgers, shut out eight times, won just twice when trailing after eight innings. Players point to the inability to manufacture runs as a prime example of why they rarely got to an opposing closer.

``It's not going to take someone stepping in and putting up Sheffield's numbers,'' Green said. ``It's going to take guys that were hurt or that had down years to get back to form, and guys that had good years last year keeping their form. It's not going to take any miracles. It's going to take a balanced lineup. That's all it is.''

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 5 boxes

Photo:

(1) Aaron Sele, who won 15 games last year for Seattle, will give the Angels' deep rotation a top-notch pitcher

Daryl Webb/Associated Press

(2 -- color) Andy Ashby's comeback from arm trouble represents one of several questions the Dodgers have about the strength of their rotation entering the 2002 season.

Roberto Borea/Associated Press

Box:

(1) OFFENSIVE NUMBERS

(2) 2OO2 DODGERS SCHEDULE

(3) 2001 DODGERS STATS

(4) TEAM SCHEDULES

(5) NATIONAL LEAGUE TEAM PREVIEWS