They’re Back, but Not the Same

Coming home again not only is possible, it carries different meaning, as Ismael Valdes, Tom Goodwin and Davey Lopes discovered Friday at Dodger Stadium.

For Valdes, it meant insisting that his return to the Dodgers so soon after being unloaded in an off-season trade to the Chicago Cubs was not a surprise and not uncomfortable. The right-handed pitcher is wearing the same uniform--No. 59--he wore while posting a 61-54 record and 3.38 earned-run average over six Dodger seasons.

“What happened in the past is buried,” he said. “There are a lot of new faces here and a different atmosphere. I feel like this is home.”

For Goodwin, it meant reflecting on his accomplishments since he broke into the big leagues with the Dodgers as a reserve outfielder in 1991 and batted .237 in parts of three seasons. The outfielder stole 243 bases for the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers from 1995-99 and was acquired from the Colorado Rockies on July 31 to provide a spark in the leadoff spot.

“It’s special, obviously, to come back to this stadium in a Dodger uniform,” he said. “This is the organization that gave me the opportunity to fulfill my dream of playing in the big leagues.”

For Lopes, the Milwaukee Brewers’ first-year manager and the Dodgers’ leadoff batter and top base stealer from 1972-81, it meant examining the factors that enabled him and former teammates Dusty Baker, Mike Scioscia and Bill Russell to become managers.

“In the O’Malley days, it was drilled into us that we were the best organization in baseball and we learned to play their way,” he said. “It was a brain-washing process. It was like the Marines: Everyone else was second-best.”

*

Lopes, 53, struggled long and hard to land a managerial position, serving as coach for the Baltimore Orioles, Rangers and San Diego Padres from 1988-99.

The wait to develop a winning team might take as long.

The Brewers have had seven losing seasons in a row and are 19 games under .500 with a roster of unproven youngsters and veterans whose best years are behind them.

“Managing has been very rewarding, but I’ve learned to have a lot of patience,” Lopes said. “I’ve learned restraint.

“It’s a lot like being a teacher, seeing players develop and learn from their mistakes as the year progresses.”

*

With infielder Chris Donnels on the disabled list because of a sore right shoulder and utility man F.P. Santangelo serving a five-game suspension for his part in the May 16 melee at Wrigley Field, the Dodgers are a player short. Santangelo began his suspension Wednesday in Pittsburgh and will be activated Tuesday against the Chicago Cubs.

“It seems like we’ve been a player short all year,” Manager Davey Johnson said. “We came off the [10-game] trip pretty healthy. We should be OK.”

*

Flags flew at half mast to honor Bill Schweppe, a Dodger executive of 41 years whose funeral was held Friday.

Schweppe, who died Monday at 86, began working for the Dodgers in 1946 and was vice president of minor league operations from 1968-87.

TONIGHT

DODGERS’

CHAN HO PARK

(11-8, 4.08)

vs.

BREWERS’

JEFF D’AMICO

(7-4, 1.81)

Dodger Stadium, 7 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports Net 2. Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330)

* Update--In his last start, Park walked three in a row with two out in the seventh inning to force in the go-ahead run in the Philadelphia Phillies’ 3-2 victory. Park has walked 90 in 145 2/3 innings, but has given up only 119 hits. D’Amico, a 6-foot-7 right-hander, was the National League pitcher of the month for July, going 5-0 with an 0.76 ERA.