[GiamBOOM2005]

LOS ANGELES - He's thinner, tanned, and quite obviously, happier. He had a good shave, as if he'd just left the barber's chair. The perpetual hangdog look was gone, as were those weary creases that seemed to deepen each October the Yankees failed to win the World Series.

For a moment, this being Hollywood, I wondered if Joe Torre had begun a regimen with the local drug of choice.

But Botox had nothing to do with his rejuvenated appearance. It's plain to see he loves being the Dodgers skipper. He loves being here. But more than that, he loves not being there.

"The last three years in New York, it was something more than baseball," Torre said. "It wasn't a whole lot of fun."

For those of us who had watched him all those years in the Yankee Stadium dugout, this was an odd scene. Where once you looked out and saw the Bronx County Courthouse, you now saw a pastoral backdrop, verdant hills with a spray of pink flowers.

Torre had called old friends and players the night before. He spoke with Yogi Berra and Jorge Posada, and received a text from Derek Jeter. "I wished them well," he said. "They meant a lot to me."

Still, not enough to have stayed. To hear Torre tell it now, he was done with New York. "So exhausted," he said, recalling his final days with the Yankees. "I knew I didn't want that situation again. Opening day in that situation wasn't something I would be looking forward to."

It was 65 and cloudless when his Dodger team took the field Monday, after an extended homage to Dodger heroes of the past half-century. The fans — considerably more mellow and late-arriving than a Yankee Stadium crowd — recorded a sellout, their numbers tallied at exactly 56,000.

They went home happy, at least as happy as you can be on the freeway. Torre's debut was an auspicious one, what with the Dodgers beating the Giants 5-0. Brad Penny went six and two-thirds innings. Somebody named Blake DeWitt — a fill-in third baseman who had never played higher than Double A — got his first big-league hit, an inside-out single off San Francisco's $126 million starter, Barry Zito. Two batters later, Rafael Furcal knocked him in, giving the rookie his first big-league run.

For all the talk of the ferocious rivalry, Torre could not have asked for a more cooperative opponent than the Giants. Without Barry Bonds, they are not only toothless, but boring as well. Zito, it's worth mentioning, picked up where he left off last season, requiring 24 pitches to get out of the first inning. His fastball topped out at 84 mph.

For one day at least, Torre didn't have to worry. He didn't have to worry about whether Jeff Kent would alienate his talented young players, whether Andruw Jones could hit .280 or when Jason Schmidt would return. With Zito throwing batting practice, Torre didn't have a care in the world.

"Nice to settle in and get that one over with," he said.

Actually, the settling in part has yet to come. Torre's office measures just 110 inches across, cramped by any measure, but conspicuously modest in relation to his status as the game's best-paid and most celebrated active manager.

Then again, it had once been good enough for Walter Alston, who retired in 1976 after 23 seasons managing the Dodgers. Tommy Lasorda banished his coaches there when he took over the following year. Now Torre has given the bigger room back to the coaches. He has five of them. "I needed my coaches to be together," he said. "I don't need that much room."

But Alston's old office, as it is known, still feels uninhabited. There are few signs of its new occupant: a note from Billy Crystal on the desk, a box of Cohiba cigars, a picture of Torre's youngest daughter. The walls are bare, though that will change soon, as the first photograph has arrived to be mounted.

It was taken in Atlantic City after a Frank Sinatra-Dean Martin concert. Judging from the collar lengths, it's almost 30 years ago. From left to right: Martin, Lasorda (easily the most demonstrative figure in the frame), Sinatra, Torre and Torre's friend, a restaurateur named Joe Ponte.

"We saw Frank and Dean," Torre said. "Tommy was holding court."

The new Dodger skipper won't be holding court like that. Not his style. Actually, it occurs that Torre might go down as the anti-Lasorda. Until then — until anything becomes certain about Torre's reign in Chavez Ravine — he'll settle for a splendid start.

"I feel pretty good," Torre said.

Of course he did. It was Opening Day. He got his first win in L.A. And the Yankees were rained out in the Bronx

This post has been edited by GiamBOOM2005: 31 March 2008 - 07:42 PM

[The_Pinstripes]

What else is he going to say after a 5-0 game?

"I miss the Yankees. Maybe on the off day, I cna make their home opener"