MURDOCH'S STYLE IMPACTING TEAM.

Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer

If you're trying to figure out whose fingerprints were on the shotgun that blasted Los Angeles Dodgers Manager Bill Russell and Executive Vice President Fred Claire out of their jobs Sunday, look 15 miles west of Dodgers Stadium to Culver City.

That's where media mogul Rupert Murdoch's offices are on the 20th Century Fox lot and where he works when he's on the Left Coast. It's most likely that's where Murdoch made the decision to pull the trigger.

Officially, team President Bob Graziano made the move late Sunday after consulting with News Corp. President Peter Chernin and Co-Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey. But to conclude that Murdoch, the self-made billionaire who built News Corp. into a worldwide empire from scratch, had no influence in sacking Russell and Claire would be naive, financial analysts said Monday.

``It would be surprising if this did not go all the way to Murdoch,'' said analyst Steven Cesinger of investment bank Greif & Co. ``He's obviously got to be concerned about how the team is being run, given the dismal performance so far this season.''

Murdoch's management style, more than anything, reflects a willingness to upset the status quo, even in a tradition-bound enterprise like Major League Baseball. Consider that when Murdoch completed the $311 million buyout of the Dodgers, Chernin and Carey promised News Corp. would respect the team's traditions.

Since then, the Dodgers have:

Gotten rid of free meals for the press and Dodgers executives.

Shaken up the cathedral-like atmosphere of Dodger Stadium by bringing in between-innings rock music and plenty of advertising.

Traded two of the team's most popular players, Mike Piazza and Hideo Nomo.

Become the first team this season to fire the manager and operations chief.

For those who know Murdoch, though, one of the big questions about the summer house-cleaning was a simple one: What took so long?

``Murdoch paid a hefty price for the team,'' Cesinger said. ``Above all, he's a performance-oriented owner, so if something's not working and you've got a better idea, there's no time like the present to fix it.''

Defenders of Russell and Claire argued that the team has suffered through an unusually large amount of injuries and bad luck. Other critics of the firings say that making a midseason switch amounts to throwing in the towel.

Murdoch trackers respond that those kinds of concerns don't matter in Rupert's world.

``I don't think the track record of Russell and Claire had been anything to write home about, and the team looks like it's been in disarray,'' said analyst Arthur Rockwell of Drake Capital Securities.

``Everyone knew that Murdoch's people were eventually going to bring in their own people. He didn't buy the team to learn how to run it. His people already know what's involved with undoing and building up sports teams.''

The bottom line

Murdoch, whose empire is valued at more than $30 billion, has a reputation as a workaholic and micro-manager who promotes executives who reflect his own bottom-line sensibility.

So the firings don't necessarily mean that Murdoch has been hanging out in the Dodger clubhouse with Tom Lasorda - who became Claire's replacement with the title interim general manager - but rather Graziano, Carey and Chernin have adopted the go-for-the-jugular Murdoch style.

``Carey and Chernin have a certain rough edge to them, and they're easy to picture as working in that kind of environment with a rough-and-tumble approach to business,'' Rockwell said. ``These are the sort of guys who have filtered up through the ranks and gained Murdoch's confidence by doing things in his style.''

The firings confirmed the fears of many longtime Dodgers fans. Murdoch's ownership clearly means wrenching changes after four decades of cautious operation by the O'Malley family.

``The organization has always had this deep emotional attachment to its heritage from the Brooklyn days, but this is a new era,'' said retail consultant Frederick Marx, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich. ``Murdoch has a willingness to part with convention. He's all about the bottom line and giving the public what they want.''

Analysts note that Murdoch generally operates his far-flung empire effectively because his strategies make sense on a long-term global basis. ``It doesn't matter where the venue is,'' Marx said. ``He's kind of the Marco Polo of our age.''

Denver sports consultant Dean Bonham said none of Murdoch's actions have surprised him. ``News Corp. is doing exactly what I expected them to do, which is making the moves that you make when a sports team is part of a conglomerate.''

Goals for Fox

Key among those goals is expanding the reach of the Fox networks, Bonham said, citing Murdoch's stated goal of using the Dodgers and sports assets as a ``battering ram'' to set up pay-per-view and cable networks in new markets.

``Candidly, I would not be surprised to see the Dodgers lose $20 million a year for the next five years,'' Bonham said, noting that News Corp. was willing to lose up to $150 million a year on pro football broadcasts simply to elevate the status of the Fox Broadcasting Co.

``What the Dodgers have been doing doesn't make sense if they were owned by an individual, but my gut instinct tells me that it makes sense for News Corp., which owns 72 companies on five continents,'' he said. ``The Dodgers are an important piece of that.''

At least one analyst said the firings are more a reflection of the industry than Murdoch's management style.

``These firings may be more of a testament to the whole direction of sports with the growing need to win immediately,'' said David Carter, a Los Angeles sports consultant.

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