ROBERTS GETS TO WORK, EVEN IN HIS DREAMS.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

If you still wonder who he is and why he's leading off Los Angeles' 2002 baseball season this afternoon, you should listen to Dave Roberts talk about his idea of the perfect Dodgers debut.

Roberts dreams not about hitting a home run the first time he digs into the left-handed batter's box at Dodger Stadium. Or slashing a triple and running all day. Or even lining a base hit.

Roberts dreams about walking before he runs.

``The best way (to begin) would be a 3-and-2 walk,'' he said, imagining himself working the count full and drawing the base on balls against San Francisco Giants opening-day starter Livan Hernandez.

``Steal second base,'' Roberts said as the fantasy sequence unspooled in his head. ``Then a sacrifice bunt. And a ground ball or a fly ball. And we'd be up 1-0 with two outs.''

One run, no hits, no errors.

``We're going to get our hits,'' Roberts said Sunday in Seattle before the Dodgers' last exhibition game (in which he led off with a 3-and-2 walk and stole second). ``But if we can score runs without getting hits, that's always positive. This team, I think we need that.''

In basketball, the point guard can be an extension of the head coach. In baseball, the leadoff hitter can be an extension of the manager. Dave Roberts became the Dodgers' leadoff hitter because he is manager Jim Tracy's kind of player.

Roberts shares Tracy's appreciation of ``productive outs.'' The new center fielder shares the manager's goal of ``manufacturing runs.'' He shares his belief that if a hitter takes ``the right approach,'' things like batting averages and on-base percentages and runs scored will take care of themselves.

``If you're a leadoff hitter and you're taking pitches, you're making the pitcher work, keeping the ball out of the air and stealing bases when you get on base, good things will happen,'' Roberts said. ``It's not all about getting hits. It's a matter of having good at-bats. As a leadoff hitter, having good at-bats leads to getting on base anyway.''

Tom Goodwin, speedy as he was, never grasped the concept and became the Dodgers' most recent leadoff-hitting failure. Over the past generation, the Dodgers have gone through a number of guys who never grasped the concept. Since the days of Maury Wills, Davey Lopes and Steve Sax, only twice in 18 years has the team had an All-Star at the top of its opening-day order. They were Willie Randolph in 1989 and Brett Butler in 1991.

Really, nobody jumped up to declare Roberts the solution when, a few days before Christmas, the Dodgers acquired the 29-year-old career backup from Cleveland in a trade for a pair of minor-league pitchers.

General manager Dan Evans, familiar with Roberts since Evans worked for the Chicago White Sox, who are in the Indians' division, figured he was simply adding depth to the contention for the leadoff and center-field job. It was not Evans but Dodgers scouting executives Matt Slater and Don Welke who thought Roberts could beat out Goodwin and McKay Christensen.

Roberts began to show the right approach when he drove two hours from his home in Oceanside two or three days a week to attend the Dodgers' winter workouts at Dodger Stadium.

``That told me a lot about his motivation and his desire. You don't do that unless you really want it,'' Evans said.

Roberts closed the deal by playing Tracy's idea of the leadoff hitter's role to a T. His spring on-base percentage of .481 shamed Christensen (.324) and Goodwin (.268). And Christensen and Goodwin were cut over the weekend.

With the Indians, Roberts had been stuck behind center fielder Kenny Lofton and shuttled between Cleveland and Triple-A Buffalo for three seasons. He never got the chance to show the ability that made him a three-time All-Pacific-10 outfielder for UCLA and a .308-hitting leadoff hitter for the United States' Pan American Games silver medalists in 1999.

Roberts played in 75 games with Cleveland.

The Dodgers won't go so far as to say he'll be the next Maury Wills, though Wills is a shining example of a player who didn't get a chance until he was in his late 20s. They will suggest he might be this season's Paul Lo Duca.

``How many (games) did Lo Duca have when he started a year ago?'' Tracy said, probably knowing the answer is 76. ``To me, he (Roberts) has the type of personality that will stimulate our offense. I think this guy has a real good idea of what kind of player he is. He plays at one speed. He's very intelligent. He's fundamentally sound. He knows what his limitations are. And I think he's hungry for the kind of opportunity our catcher was.''

When the Dodgers opened a two-game exhibition series against the Indians at Dodger Stadium on Friday, Roberts received congratulatory hugs from many of his ex-teammates. And from Indians general manager Mark Shapiro, the man who traded him away.

``He's just one of those guys you pull for in this game,'' Shapiro said. ``People like that, who have that kind of desire and work ethic, nothing surprises you in what they accomplish.''

Roberts is the son of a 30-year Marine. His father, Waymon, was serving in Okinawa when he met Dave's mother, Eiko. Dave was born in Okinawa and grew up in San Diego.

Dave Roberts aims to be the Dodgers' good soldier.

Unknown though he might be as he steps to the plate today.

``(Fans are) probably thinking, 'Who is this guy? Where did he come from?' I understand that,'' Roberts said. ``But I think they'll know early on that this guy comes to the park every day and he's businesslike and he's going to give everything he's got. I can't control whether I get four hits a day or zero hits, but I'm going to go out there and have a good approach and I'm going to battle - and good things are going to happen.''

That's the Dodgers' idea of a winning equation in the post-Goodwin, post-Gary Sheffield, post-Chan Ho Park era. If they play hard, play smart and live right, good things will happen.

It starts at the top of the lineup.