Quiet success just fine with Shawn Green

VERO BEACH, Fla. -- While Barry Bonds was breaking Mark McGwire's home run record and Sammy Sosa was chasing him last year, Shawn Green quietly put together one of the best offensive seasons in the history of the Dodgers.

But Green has found comfort in staying out of the spotlight.

"It was great for me," the soft-spoken outfielder said. "For teams to be successful, it's better for guys to have quiet success.

"You look at guys having huge seasons, their teams don't always win. The idea of the team becomes a little distorted, there's all this media attention. Look at the Yankees all these years, nobody necessarily having a great year but everyone having a good year."

Green hit 49 homers, six more than the previous franchise record shared by Duke Snider and Gary Sheffield and equaling the fourth-highest total in NL history by a left-handed batter.

Green also hit .297 while scoring 121 runs and driving in 125, the most by a Dodger since Tommie Davis had 153 RBIs in 1962.

"Greenie basically carried the club," Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros said. "He was one of the few guys who stayed off the disabled list. He pretty much kept us in the race all year long."

Even better than Piazza

Karros said it was probably the best season a teammate of his ever had -- even better than the exceptional years put together by Mike Piazza.

The 29-year-old Green wasn't so great a year earlier in his first season in Los Angeles, hitting .269 with 24 homers and 99 RBIs. He signed an $84 million, six-year contract with the Dodgers after being acquired from Toronto in the Raul Mondesi trade.

"I think the best way to say it is my swing was ill all year," Green said with a smile. "It became a matter of me going up there and trying to hit home runs, that's what was expected of me. I wound up not being able to get hits."

Green said he worked with hitting coach Jack Clark during the offseason to get his swing straightened out, and it worked.

So what does Green do for an encore this year?

"I'm not thinking about it," he said. "I'm not going into the season expecting or trying to repeat the numbers. I'm going in trying to repeat the feel I had at the plate. After the 2000 season, I know not to go up there trying to hit home runs, not feeling I have to prove anything."

Green is optimistic concerning the Dodgers' chances this season, assuming they stay healthy.

That wasn't the case last year when five starting position players spent time on the disabled list and Kevin Brown, Andy Ashby and Darren Dreifort -- three members of the starting rotation -- suffered season-ending injuries.

Sneaking up on teams

"We're hoping to be one of those teams who sneak up on everybody," Green said. "That happened with Seattle last season. We overcame a lot last year, I think that will help us this season. There was a blue-collar attitude that wasn't here the first year I was here and from all the talk, wasn't here for years before that."

The Dodgers, who haven't made the playoffs since 1996, were 86-76 for the second straight year last season.

Like many of his teammates, Green endorsed the trade that sent the disgruntled Sheffield to Atlanta for outfielder Brian Jordan, left-hander Odalis Perez and a minor leaguer.

"As a player, I have the utmost respect for Gary, he's a tremendous talent," Green said. "He obviously wasn't happy with us. We're better off and he's better off."

Green wouldn't be specific, but said he the chemistry in the clubhouse this spring "is 10 times better than at any time since I've been in LA."

"I'm not pointing at any one guy," he said. "Chemistry's more important in baseball than in any other sport, I think. We play 162 games, it's every single day for six months, playing and traveling. It's all about getting to the playoffs, that's how everybody feels around here."