NO LONGER BLUE FORMER DODGER LO DUCA IS OVER THE PAIN OF TRADE.

Byline: Rich Hammond  Staff Writer

In some ways, it seems as if time is standing still around Paul Lo Duca, that his trade to the Florida Marlins last July merely was part of some dream sequence that soon will end with him back in a Dodgers uniform.

In Thousand Oaks, dozens of fans showed up at a promotional event Saturday to get Lo Duca's autograph and tell him they still cheer for him. In Sedona, Ariz., a restaurant called the Brooklyn Grill, owned by Lo Duca's father, remains filled with Dodgers blue memorabilia, with only a hint of Marlins teal and black.

At Dodger Stadium, manager Jim Tracy still wears Lo Duca's old No. 16, as a tribute to the player. On the Internet, Lo Duca's profile on one major sports site still features a picture of him wearing a Dodgers cap.

Seems meant to be, doesn't it? Part of some greater plan? But Lo Duca knows better. After some rough times, he has accepted his fate, that his dream of being a lifelong Dodger won't be fulfilled. Lo Duca returns to Dodger Stadium tonight with the Marlins, and now, unlike 10 months ago, he's at peace with that fact.

``I'm a `Fighting Fish' now,'' Lo Duca said with a smile.

``Sometimes I still wonder, 'Why did this have to happen?' But everything is good now. I'm happy.''

Lo Duca is off to a typically strong start, with a .324 average, and the Marlins have been in first or second place in the National League East every day for the past four weeks.

Life as a Marlin now feels good to Lo Duca, who signed a three-year, $18-million contract in January. His wife, Sonia, gave birth to the couple's first child, a daughter named Bella, in November, and the family recently moved into their new home in Weston, Fla.

``I still love the Dodger fans, and I miss guys like (Cesar Izturis) and Wilson Alvarez and (Eric Gagne) and all the coaches, so I look forward to seeing all of them, but right now I'm moving on,'' Lo Duca said.

``This is a great situation here. We're playing well, and the team has accepted me. ... And (the Dodgers) are doing well, so you can't really knock the moves they've made.

``I think it will be a lot less emotional going back to Los Angeles this time.''

When Lo Duca first returned to Dodger Stadium, last August, the wounds were still fresh.

Less than three weeks earlier, Lo Duca, Juan Encarnacion and Guillermo Mota were sent to Florida for Hee-Seop Choi and Brad Penny. Lo Duca was so upset that he wept in front of reporters when discussing his departure from the Dodgers, the team that drafted him in the 25th round in 1993.

Lo Duca immediately endeared himself to teammates and fans in Florida when he hit a pinch-hit home run in his first at-bat, but things weren't the same. In his first at-bat back at Dodger Stadium, Lo Duca was overcome by emotion brought on by the tremendous ovation and had to step out of the batter's box.

``Anybody who tells you he wasn't affected by that trade would be lying to you,'' said Lo Duca's father, also named Paul. ``When it happened, he was devastated. It was very tough for him. When they came back to Dodger Stadium, he said, `Dad, I didn't even know where to park, where to go.'

``Finally I told him, `When you become a parent, you'll find out that when your kids hurt, you hurt,' but then I said, `Jesus Christ, Paulie, you're making $4 million a year!' ''

The message, from Lo Duca's Brooklyn-born, affable-but-no-nonsense father, was clear: It was time to stop looking back. Not until the offseason did Lo Duca begin to feel at home with the Marlins.

After the trade, Florida management told Lo Duca he was part of their long-term plans and wasn't simply a pennant-race rental. Talk is cheap, but the Marlins backed it up when they offered the three-year contract. Lo Duca probably could have earned more on the free-agent market last winter, but he chose stability.

``I'm sure that helped his transition,'' Marlins pitcher Josh Beckett said. ``I lived right by him in the offseason, and I know getting that contract made him feel more comfortable.

``Not too many catchers get deals like that, but our team showed some (fortitude) and stepped up and said, `We want you, and we want you to be the guy to lead our young pitchers.'''

Then, less than two weeks later, the Marlins signed slugger Carlos Delgado to a four-year deal.

``When I talked to Mr. (Larry) Beinfest and Mr. (Jeffrey) Loria,'' Lo Duca said, referring to the team's general manager and owner, ``they told me that they were committed to winning, and then right after they signed me, they signed Carlos. They meant what they said.''

Ironically, Dodgers general manager Paul DePodesta, the man who sent Lo Duca away, might have done the most to help ease his transition in Florida.

One by one, Lo Duca's closest friends on the Dodgers left town. First was Dave Roberts, traded the day after Lo Duca, then Adrian Beltre, then Alex Cora, then Shawn Green. By spring, there wasn't much left for Lo Duca to miss, because, as he says with a shrug, ``I was just the first one to go.''

Said Roberts of the Dodgers: ``The whole face of that team, from players to management, has changed. When you go back there, it's a totally different feel. I'm sure that helped (Lo Duca), because now he doesn't feel like he's missing out on that much, because so many of the guys he played with are gone.

``I know it hurt for him to see the Dodgers in the pennant race last season, because he didn't get the chance to finish what he started, but I think he had a chance to reflect a little in the offseason.''

In that time, Lo Duca learned that change doesn't have to be a negative. He's now the catcher for perhaps the best young pitching staff in baseball, one including Beckett, A.J. Burnett and Dontrelle Willis.

So now Lo Duca, who turned 33 last month, thinks of the Dodgers only in terms of good memories.

``I'm very excited to be a part of this team,'' Lo Duca said. ``This is a team that won it all in 2003, and I think we've got a real solid team right now.''

Back in Arizona, Lo Duca's father watches with pride, not just because of his son's on-field success but because of the way he handled a difficult situation.

``If there was anybody who thought he'd never be traded, it was Paul,'' his father said. ``But one thing I always tried to teach him was to never badmouth people, because you never know what could happen. He might not play for the Dodgers anymore, but who knows, he could end up there as a coach someday.

``Life has a strange way of working out sometimes.''

Rich Hammond, [phone]

rich.hammond(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

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(1 -- 2 -- cover -- color) BACK IN BLACK

Paul Lo Duca, now with the Florida Marlins, returns to L.A.

Photos: Elliot J. Schechter and Jeff Gross/Getty Images

Photo illustration: Matt Simmon/Daily News

(3) ``I think it will be a lot less emotional going back to Los Angeles this time,'' said former Dodger Paul Lo Duca, who signed autographs in Thousand Oaks on Saturday.

Tom Mendoza/Staff Photographer