Grady Little

It might not have been the recommendation that sealed Ned Colletti's decision to hire Grady Little as the Dodgers' manager Tuesday, but it certainly left an indelible mark on the team's new general manager. When Bill Mueller, the free-agent third baseman known for his gritty play and quiet leadership with the Boston Red Sox, heard that Little was being interviewed as a possible replacement for Jim Tracy, he phoned Colletti.

In the Los Angeles Dodgers' most recent glory days, Tom Lasorda was the face of the team, the manager as celebrity. After a decade of entrusting their team to men without star quality, the Dodgers hope to revive the glory days of manager as celebrity. The Dodgers announced the resignation of Manager Grady Little on Tuesday, and by the end of the week they are expected to replace him with Joe Torre, the former manager of the New York Yankees.

Grady Little is back in the playoffs. It will be viewed in a few circles, unkindly, as at least three more decisions involving starting pitchers. It will be viewed in others as a baseball lifer's recompense. Little will regard it as neither, the first perception casting a single October judgment as a career reflection, the second inferring the game owes him more than it would someone else. He holds a simpler view of his place in the clubhouse and on the dugout steps.

As the Dodgers were closing in on a deal to make Joe Torre their manager Tuesday, Grady Little vacated the position by announcing his resignation. Little, who managed the Dodgers for two seasons, denied that his departure was related to news that the club was targeting the former New York Yankees manager to replace him, saying the move was "mutually decided" between him and General Manager Ned Colletti. Colletti denied that the team's managerial position had been offered to anyone.

As announcements go, it shouldn't be necessary. As points go, it should be moot. But there's been enough screaming around this, that somebody needs to stick a sock in it, so allow me. Grady Little will manage the Dodgers next season. Period. End of story. End of screaming. Please. "Yes, he's back," said Ned Colletti when I questioned the Dodgers' general manager early Thursday evening.

Grady Little is nothing if not a man of perspective, able to whittle down the sharp angles of harsh judgment and reconcile baseball's oddities, ironies and outright cruelties with impregnable reason cloaked in authentic Southern drawl. This, though, was tough to shake.

Once again, Grady Little didn't take Pedro Martinez out of the game. His Dodgers took care of that, with a big sixth inning. Tuesday was a much-anticipated night at Dodger Stadium. You had Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe pitching and Grady Little sitting in one dugout, so all the memories came drifting back. And to those, Little added a wrinkle. This is a man, the first-year Dodgers manager, who has been so vilified in Boston that you would think he had messed up their tea party.

The series that produced the game that produced the decision that produced the reaction that turned Grady Little's life upside down determined the 2003 American League championship. The Boston Red Sox appeared on the verge of advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1986 when David Ortiz homered in the top of the eighth inning of Game 7 against the New York Yankees, extending their lead to 5-2.

In the Los Angeles Dodgers' most recent glory days, Tom Lasorda was the face of the team, the manager as celebrity. After a decade of entrusting their team to men without star quality, the Dodgers hope to revive the glory days of manager as celebrity. The Dodgers announced the resignation of Manager Grady Little on Tuesday, and by the end of the week they are expected to replace him with Joe Torre, the former manager of the New York Yankees.

Closing a turbulent two months, the Dodgers hired Grady Little as manager Tuesday, two years after the onetime cotton farmer was fired by the Boston Red Sox in the wake of a fateful decision in the American League playoffs. The folksy, popular Little becomes the 29th manager in Dodger history and the seventh since the franchise moved from Brooklyn in 1958.

As announcements go, it shouldn't be necessary. As points go, it should be moot. But there's been enough screaming around this, that somebody needs to stick a sock in it, so allow me. Grady Little will manage the Dodgers next season. Period. End of story. End of screaming. Please. "Yes, he's back," said Ned Colletti when I questioned the Dodgers' general manager early Thursday evening.

Grady Little is back in the playoffs. It will be viewed in a few circles, unkindly, as at least three more decisions involving starting pitchers. It will be viewed in others as a baseball lifer's recompense. Little will regard it as neither, the first perception casting a single October judgment as a career reflection, the second inferring the game owes him more than it would someone else. He holds a simpler view of his place in the clubhouse and on the dugout steps.

Once again, Grady Little didn't take Pedro Martinez out of the game. His Dodgers took care of that, with a big sixth inning. Tuesday was a much-anticipated night at Dodger Stadium. You had Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe pitching and Grady Little sitting in one dugout, so all the memories came drifting back. And to those, Little added a wrinkle. This is a man, the first-year Dodgers manager, who has been so vilified in Boston that you would think he had messed up their tea party.

The series that produced the game that produced the decision that produced the reaction that turned Grady Little's life upside down determined the 2003 American League championship. The Boston Red Sox appeared on the verge of advancing to the World Series for the first time since 1986 when David Ortiz homered in the top of the eighth inning of Game 7 against the New York Yankees, extending their lead to 5-2.

Grady Little is nothing if not a man of perspective, able to whittle down the sharp angles of harsh judgment and reconcile baseball's oddities, ironies and outright cruelties with impregnable reason cloaked in authentic Southern drawl. This, though, was tough to shake.

Let me see if I have this straight. There was an unemployed manager out there whose last night of work was Game 7 of the American League championship series. There was a former manager out there whose last season contained 95 wins. There was an ex-manager out there who was fired because he trusted instinct over statistic, people over paradigms, baseball over everything. And this same guy, the Dodgers just hired him? Ned Colletti can pump his right fist any time now.

As the Dodgers were closing in on a deal to make Joe Torre their manager Tuesday, Grady Little vacated the position by announcing his resignation. Little, who managed the Dodgers for two seasons, denied that his departure was related to news that the club was targeting the former New York Yankees manager to replace him, saying the move was "mutually decided" between him and General Manager Ned Colletti. Colletti denied that the team's managerial position had been offered to anyone.

Closing a turbulent two months, the Dodgers hired Grady Little as manager Tuesday, two years after the onetime cotton farmer was fired by the Boston Red Sox in the wake of a fateful decision in the American League playoffs. The folksy, popular Little becomes the 29th manager in Dodger history and the seventh since the franchise moved from Brooklyn in 1958.