The acquisition of Milton Bradley on Sunday led to numerous changes in the Dodgers opening day lineup.

The largest impact is defensively as Bradley assumed the center field job immediately. That meant Dave Roberts had to either head to the bench or find another spot in the outfield. Despite an anemic spring (.222 average), Tracy decided to shift the weak-armed fielder to left, and sent Encarnacion to right. Have no fear, Encarnacion has the gun to play right.

Shawn Green "volunteered" to move to first base to accomodate the new outfield configuration. Green politely played first through much of the Spring, but his discomfort was obvious to all. The move of Green to first absolutely gives the Dodgers a better lineup offensively, but I will have to wait to see how it impacts Green's psyche.

The best news of all is that Robin Ventura goes from the starting first baseman to being the primary backup at first and third. Ventura's horrid numbers from the last two years had me questioning if he would hit .225 this year, but I love his situational bat off the bench.

The batting order also underwent dramatic changes. Izturis shifts to the two-hole, Green moves to cleanup, followed by LoDuca, Encarnacion and Beltre. The pre-Bradley order was LoDuca at two, then Green, Encarnacion, Beltre, Ventura, Izturis and Cora. A frighteningly pathetic offense takes a big step up with just one addition. I sense that ultimately the order may change based largely on how Izturis responds at number two. If he can work counts and advance Roberts, then he stays. If he resembles the Cesar Izturis of 2003, then he drops to number seven.

The other hope is that Beltre continues his great Spring and can establish himself at number five and protect Green. We shall see if he learned how to recognize, much less hit, a curve. If he can stick at five, then loDuca is free to hit second (his best spot), or seventh. My ultimate lineup, I think, would be:

Roberts
LoDuca
Green
Bradley
Beltre
Encarnacion
Izturis
Cora (man, is he bad)

That's assuming Beltre produces and Roberts doesn't continue his dropoff.

Well, Spring is the time to dream, and I realize I'm dreaming here. Ultimately, the Dodgers as presently constituted are not a playoff team, and those believing so are severly deluded. The best the Dodgers can hope for is an abysmal start by the Expos that frees up Jose Vidro and gets Cora out of the lineup. That, and Nomo, Ishii and Weaver perform far above what I think they will.

Incidentally, if Odalis Perez pitches in the regular season like he did this Spring (and in 2002) we could be talking about a Cy Young candidate. He is one Dodger I am definitely not down on.