LET'S BE CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

It's stunning how fast optimism has come back to Dodger Stadium, considering it feels like only last week that a new general manager was hiring a new manager and setting out to repair a wretched ballclub.

The Dodgers open the season today against the Atlanta Braves with crystal-baseball readers widely predicting a title in a weak division, with ticket sales brisker than they've been in a decade, and with Ned Colletti's mailbag reflecting an upbeat public mood.

Not that Colletti, the GM appointed in November, is letting it go to his head. Not that Grady Little, the manager named in December, is either. Not that any of the front-line players, about half of them recent arrivals as well, should be expected to either.

``The way I grew up,'' said Colletti, whose first family home in Chicago was a remodeled garage, ``I don't take anything for granted or rest on anything. It's nice to read letters where people are complimentary, but that doesn't make me do my job any different.''

During one of the Dodgers' last spring games over the weekend at Angel Stadium, Colletti looked out at a field he hadn't visited since he was the San Francisco Giants' assistant GM watching a World Series slip away.

``I don't get too far ahead of myself,'' said Colletti, who in a five- minute chat must have found half a dozen ways to state the nothing-for- granted theme. ``I've see a lot of things in my career, including in this ballpark in 2002.''

Run a scorekeeping pencil down the Dodgers' 117th Opening Day roster, and you could find another dozen illustrations of that premise. It is a team of veterans who have known personal glory and have seen what it takes to win championships but with few exceptions have not quite been able to clear that World Series hump. The exceptions are Opening Day starter Derek Lowe and third baseman Bill Mueller, winners with Boston in 2004, and Tuesday starter Brad Penny, a winner with Florida in 2003.

Little, the active manager with the highest winning percentage, saw his would-be pennant unravel in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series with the Red Sox.

Among other newcomers: Center fielder Kenny Lofton (a stolen-base leader) and catcher Sandy Alomar Jr. (a Rookie of the Year) went to the World Series twice, each suffering a Game 7 defeat, Lofton making the last out for San Francisco. First baseman Nomar Garciaparra (a Rookie of the Year and batting champion), has lost two league championship series and was traded away in the middle of Boston's title season. Pitcher Brett Tomko lost an ALCS when he was in Seattle. And shortstop Rafael Furcal (a Rookie of the Year) was injured and missed an NLCS loss in Atlanta.

``We're coming from a lot of different places, but we've got a common goal,'' Little said, ``to play in the last game of the season.''

The initial challenge is to play in the first game of the season, which might require some patience. Rain is expected get in the way of the 1:10 p.m. Lowe-Tim Hudson matchup amid Dodger Stadium's new pastel shadings, and the only official contingency plan is to wait all day and night if necessary to get the game in.

For non-baseball fans who might have got the wrong impression, there will be more to this baseball season than Barry Bonds' home-run record chase and the associated hand-wringing. Around here alone, the Dodgers must compete for attention with the Angels, good enough to make another run at the pennant.

This is an optimistic sports town by nature, different from Colletti's old stomping grounds in Chicago and San Francisco and Little's in Boston. We see a contender around every corner, the era since the Lakers' arrival in 1960 having produced only one period longer than one year in which none of L.A. or Orange county's major pro or college teams won a championship or played in a final. That insufferable drought happened in 1996-98, between UCLA's most recent basketball title and the Lakers' threepeat.

Into this atmosphere comes a Dodgers team seeking a mere return to respectability after a 91-loss, fourth-place season that hastened owner Frank McCourt's firings of manager Jim Tracy and GM Paul DePodesta. Maybe there's a sign of optimism in the Dodgers topping 2.5 million ticket sales last week, the earliest since 1993.

Jeff Kent can be counted on - the holdover second baseman is someone else hardened by the Giants' '02 disappointment - and Furcal is a sure thing. Practically everything else about the club falls under the nothing-for-granted heading. Lofton (strained left calf) went on the disabled list Sunday, Cy Young Award closer Eric Gagne doesn't look himself yet after elbow surgery, and the roster of older and oft-injured players will test Colletti's and Little's creativity.

It's an organization built to win now - if by now you mean 2009, when minor-league stars Chad Billingsley, Andy LaRoche, Joel Guzman and so on should hit their major-league stride. It's a lineup built to win now - if by now you mean 2003, the heyday of Lowe, Mueller, Garciaparra, etc.

While the old guys are holding places for the young guys, the Dodgers should be at least an interesting team and a competitive one. Even if that's tepid praise, it's more than could be said last fall.

``I don't see anything that can keep us from being very competitive in September,'' Little said Sunday before a pause for reflection and hard- earned clarity. ``It's a long season, a lot of things are going to happen between now and September, and we've gotta play good more days than we don't.''

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Dodgers fan Gerardo Pinto waves to cars passing on the 110 Freeway before Friday's Freeway Series game against the Angels. Dodgers followers have renewed hope following the team's offseason moves.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press