A perfect fit

Wednesday, April 2, 2003 | 9:52 a.m.

BIO

Name: John Shoemaker

Age: 46.

Drafted: 35th round by the Dodgers in June 1977.

As a player: Hit .317 with 55 RBIs for Single-A Lodi in '78, when he was an all-star second baseman in the California League.

As a manager: Is 767-811 (.486) in 13 years as a manager in the Dodgers' minor leagues.

Residence: Vero Beach, Fla.

Family: Wife, Jackie; daughters Kayla and Jenna.

John Shoemaker watched the Dodgers finish off Arizona on television in his Riviera hotel room early Monday night, then he switched channels to the New York Yankees' game against Toronto.

"It lets you know how fast one year can go by," said the new manager of the Las Vegas 51s. "It seems like not that long ago when it was opening day last year."

A year ago, Shoemaker wasn't even coaching or managing within the Los Angeles farm system. Shoemaker, the 2001 Southern League manager of the year at Double-A Jacksonville, spent 2002 bopping around the Dodgers' minor leagues as a roving defensive instructor.

As a player, Shoemaker scrapped around the Dodgers' system for four years. He has spent the past 22 years working for the team in a variety of roles.

He starts his most important assignment for the organization Thursday night as manager of the Triple-A 51s, who open their season against Salt Lake at Cashman Field.

"For the Dodgers to start off with an 8-0 win over Arizona, that's a big plus," Shoemaker said. "Everyone likes to get off to a fast start. We just hope this year's club in Las Vegas can play well and can have a lot of good players move up and play for the Dodgers.

"I know the fans here have supported the franchise over the years, and I hope we can play some entertaining baseball for them."

Shoemaker, 46, is aware of the excitement that can take place at Cashman. The games he witnessed during a few trips here last year taught him lessons about the 20-foot walls and the strong southerlies that propel moon shots.

In one game, he watched the 51s score seven or eight times in the first inning, and by the sixth the game was tied.

"And I saw an opponent score nine times in the ninth here to send the game into extra innings," he said. "This ballpark is a little more friendly to the offense than it is to the defense."

Which is a main reason why the team earned-run average of 4.60, the lowest for a Las Vegas team since 1992, provided the foundation for a franchise-best 85-59 record last season.

That's why Shoemaker will rely so heavily, especially in the first part of the season, upon Victor Alvarez, Bryan Corey and Lindsay Gulin, pitchers who combined to appear in 85 games for the 51s a year ago and are still on the roster.

The 51s need to trim a roster of 27 players to 24 by Thursday's game.

Shoemaker expects second baseman Joe Thurston, a two-time Dodgers minor league player of the year, to be a catalyst. In '02, Thurston hit .334, leading the 51s with 22 stolen bases and 106 runs.

"After playing so well here last year, he has to be one player who everyone would look to for a little team leadership," Shoemaker said. "Joe has really made a name for himself in the Dodger organization. He's a true professional in all senses of the word.

"The style of baseball that this guy has shown since he has come into the organization ... he's been able to advance through the system so rapidly because of the way he goes about the game, the way he approaches it and the way he competes."

The way the Dodgers competed for years under the O'Malley family ownership served as a model for other organizations. Players were mostly home-grown, keeping the parent team stocked with talent.

That's the system Shoemaker was weaned on, and he owes his career to a savvy suggestion by former Dodgers manager Walter Alston in the late 1970s. In an overhaul of the team's minor leagues, Alston was serving as a prime consultant.

Shoemaker was among those whom Alston earmarked as a fine teacher, motivator and team player.

"Those things don't just happen every day, for that length of time," Shoemaker said. "When the O'Malleys owned the club, the Dodgers had a lot of winning teams. That's a rich history of baseball, when you start talking about Brooklyn and Los Angeles.

"Maybe only the Yankees have a richer tradition."

Even Tuesday, during a media event in front of the home team's dugout at Cashman, Shoemaker repeatedly told anyone who would listen how he puts the organization and each player's development first.

He might fizzle in his first managerial stint at the Triple-A level, or he might sizzle. Most important, Shoemaker said, is having players prepared for when they get the call from Los Angeles.

It's that old-fashioned, family-type atmosphere that Dodgers third-year manager Jim Tracy has tried to develop so the club can prosper.

In '02, the Dodgers finished 92-70, a six-victory improvement over Tracy's rookie campaign.

"What he's tried to do, and done well, is to communicate," Shoemaker said. "Everyone's together. We went to many functions in the spring, sharing good times and laughs. I've talked to him more this year, about players, situations and baseball, and it's been very valuable to me."