DODGERS PRIMED FOR PRIME ALOU.

Byline: MATT McHALE Baseball

Why would the Fox Dodgers want to steal a benevolent father figure like Felipe Alou away from the lowly Montreal Expos when they could have a mercenary like Davey Johnson, who wins everywhere he goes?

Because despite their lofty payroll and unlimited resources, the Dodgers are the neediest team in baseball.

Look at the four teams involved in the league championship series and there is a strength of character the Dodgers have lacked not just this season but this decade.

Alou would have changed all that in a hurry - on the field and in the front office. But Saturday night, he decided to remain with the Expos. He's well-respected as an excellent tactician, but that isn't why they wanted him. Like the Giants' Dusty Baker, he makes his players feel intensely part of something.

With Alou, it's unlikely you will hear Eric Karros ripping bench players the way he did this past year after one brutal loss. Or Bobby Bonilla asking out loud, at a critical point in the season, when the Dodgers will let him shut it down so he can start rehabbing injuries.

For the organization, Alou represents more than they know. In a city as ethnically diverse as Los Angeles, a native of the Dominican Republic would run the most popular team in town.

If you want catchy sound bites, Alou is not your man. His English isn't great, but his presence speaks volumes.

``I never met a manager who cared so deeply about his players,'' said shortstop Mark Grudzielanek, who played four years for Alou in Montreal. ``And if that means giving a kick in the butt, then he'll do it. I can't think of anybody who would be better to manage this team.''

It is a team that fired Al Campanis almost 12 years ago because of racially insensitive remarks but one that has done little to disprove that baseball is still far short in minority representation.

When Reggie Smith was fired June 24 as hitting instructor, the Dodgers had a bigger problem. They were left without any minorities on their coaching staff. Manny Mota hits fungoes and helps young Latin players adjust but is not technically a coach.

Worse, the Dodgers had just one African-American coach or manager in their entire minor-league system - John Shelby. Shelby, considered an outstanding minor-league manager, was named bullpen coach even though he never warmed up a pitcher in his life. He still hasn't, finishing the year as a second bench coach to Glenn Hoffman.

The lack of minorities in baseball is an easy problem to spot, a difficult one to solve. Major-league coaching staffs are developed years earlier during playing careers when bonds grow strongest.

Dodgers general manager Kevin Malone was a minor-league infielder who studied the game much better than he played it. He talked to teammates, developed friendships over beers and bus rides. He went into scouting, met Bill Geivett and Ed Creech in Montreal and formed relationships that one day would put all three men in positions of power on the new Dodgers frontier.

It's a story that has been written throughout baseball history. And like high school lunch tables and corporate cafeterias, the relationships rarely cross racial lines.

So when someone is given his chance to run a team, he calls on the people he likes and respects to help. Respect is a big word here because success doesn't translate from who you chased women with in Peoria. Who came to the ballpark to work five hours before game time often does.

Fortunately, Malone got to see the magic in Alou when the two worked in Montreal. He was ready for prime time, but not as much as it was ready for him.

Ninth inning only: Bullpens usually decide championships and this postseason is no different. The playoffs also have exposed just how fragile relief pitchers can be.

The Red Sox loss to Cleveland last weekend did not come down to using Pete Schourek instead of Pedro Martinez in the deciding Game 4. It came down to using Tom Gordon for two innings for the first time this year, obviously a role to which he was not accustomed.

Gordon, who entered the game with 43 consecutive saves, lost the game 2-1. The Red Sox went home without a World Series title for the 80th consecutive year.

Boston manager Jimy Williams was vilified for not going with Martinez. But the bigger blunder might have been using Gordon, especially since Williams had seen closers melt in this role before. In 1996, Williams was Bobby Cox's third-base coach during Game 4 of the World Series between Atlanta and the New York Yankees. The Braves were six outs from taking a 3-1 lead in the series with the next game in Atlanta when Cox went with closer Mark Wohlers in the eighth inning.

It was the first time Wohler had been asked to pitch the eighth all season and he allowed a game-winning home run to Jim Leyritz. The fact that Wohler, one of the hardest throwers in the game, threw a changeup to Leyritz is another issue. All that is remembered is the Yankees tied the series and won it three days later in New York.

Even Trevor Hoffman, the Padres' master closer, looked shaky when he entered Game 1 of the National League Championship Series in the eighth inning on Tuesday. Although San Diego eventually won in extra innings, Hoffman blew the save for just the second time in 55 attempts this season.

Home for the playoffs: For the first time since 1992, Fred McGriff is not participating in the postseason. It was McGriff's hot bat that Atlanta acquired to overtake San Francisco in 1993, but now he is with expansion Tampa Bay and this season was not fun.

McGriff finished strong to push his final average to .284, and his 19 homers and 81 RBI are respectable for a first-year team. But he had just 79 walks with no one around him. Not exactly Raul Mondesi numbers but a stat former teammate Gary Sheffield says is very telling.

``Something's wrong wrong because they pitched to him,'' said Sheffield, who played with McGriff in San Diego. Walks say a lot about whether teams are pitching to you. He taught me everything about patience at the plate. On a team like that you aren't going to pitch to the team's best hitter unless he isn't hitting.''

McGriff, who turns 35 at the end of the month, once had seven consecutive 30-plus home run seasons, but he hasn't done it in the past four years. Paul Sorrento, another veteran, batted just .225 with 57 RBI. Dave Martinez, before his season-ending leg injury, was about 40 points below his average of the past three seasons. Shortstop Kevin Stocker batted .208 before a broken hand ended his season.

``If the veteran players don't perform better in 1999, then somewhere along the line I have to say we might have chosen several other veteran players. That maybe I made a mistake in the veteran players I brought aboard,'' LaMar said. ``But there is no way I'm going to admit a mistake at this point because I believe in these guys too much. If I stick with them a year too long, the fans and the media will let me know.''

One veteran who pleased LaMar was third baseman Wade Boggs, who batted .288, his lowest average since 1992 but only his third season under .300 in 17 years. Boggs has 2,992 career hits and LaMar said he will be back next year.

``Wade Boggs has conducted himself as well as any player I've been around,'' LaMar said.

News and Notes: The Braves' sluggish offense against San Diego actually began in the three-game divisional series against the Chicago Cubs. In their first five postseason games, the Braves' 3-4-5 hitters were awful. Chipper Jones was 3 for 18 with one RBI. Andres Galarraga was 3 for 20 with no RBI and seven strikeouts. He hasn't had a home run since Sept. 7. Ryan Klesko was 3 for 16 with no RBI. . . . San Diego's free-agent right-hander Kevin Brown is 6-0 with a 1.85 ERA in his last eight starts against the Braves, including three times in the last two NLCS. The Dodgers have beaten Atlanta just twice since July 1997. ``The guy must really want to be a Dodger because he has been incredible every time I watch him pitch,'' said Dodgers GM Kevin Malone, who has said he probably will pass this winter on Brown's $12 million-per-year asking price.

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PHOTO The Dodgers had wanted Felipe Alou to instill character.

Ken Levine/Associated Press