Ethier the Dodgers' unsung hero

LOS ANGELES - He might be the best player you've kind of heard of. A name that sounds familiar, that's been around awhile now, yet that many would still struggle to truly assess.

Andre Ethier was the Dodgers' best offensive weapon this season. Got that? Their No. 1 threat, their most consistent bat, their top clutch performer. This would come as a revelation to those enamored with Manny Ramirez or convinced Matt Kemp is the team's next superstar.

Ethier is the other guy - not that he shouldn't be used to it by now. He's played with a chip on his shoulder his entire career, certain non-believers lurked around every corner.

Yet after a solid 2008, his past season was a veritable coming out party. From very good, to great. From a nice bat, to a scary one with the game on the line. To a guy who figures to garner MVP votes.

This season it was Ethier - not Ramirez, Kemp, James Loney, Russell Martin, or Casey Blake - who led the Dodgers in home runs (31), RBI (106), and doubles (42). And a major-league best six walk-off hits.

"I think sometimes he even surprised himself by how calm he is in tough situations," said Dodgers manager Joe Torre.

The Phillies got an up-close, personal view of Ethier's transformation last June. With Ramirez serving his 50-game suspension, it was Ethier who Torre selected to bat in the middle of the lineup, who helped the Dodgers jump out to the National League's best record.

A night after hitting a walk-off double against Phillies closer Brad Lidge, he hit a game-winning solo home run in the 12th inning.

Prime time had a new star.

Not that Ethier is truly convinced the world suddenly believes in him. From his viewpoint, he's battled a lack of respect his entire career. That was never made more clear to him than when he showed up at Arizona State and was told he didn't have Division-I ability and needed to play at the junior college level.

So he did, tearing it up at a local community college before returning to ASU the next year. He played two years with the Sun Devils, batting .371 and was a two-time Pacific-10 all-star.

He entered the draft and was taken in the second round by the Oakland A's. If Ethier believed he had played his way into the A's plans after being named the Texas League MVP, he had to be stunned when they traded him to the Dodgers in the off-season.

The Dodgers wanted to move combustible outfielder Milton Bradley, giving him a second chance elsewhere while still getting something in return.

It might have been the best trade Ned Colletti ever made as the Dodgers general manager. And that includes picking up Ramirez for a minor-league pitcher and a bench player.

Ethier, however, was hardly some instant success. He was a part-time starter in 2007 - and then, when Torre arrived in 2008, so did former Atlanta Braves outfielder Andruw Jones. With an outfield of Jones and Juan Pierre, Ethier rotated with Kemp. The left-handed hitting Ethier often sat against lefties. He was sure the world did not believe in him.

"I don't believe in myself," Ethier said. "Let's put that out first. I roll the dice every day and, hopefully, I can get it done. If not, chalk it up and show up tomorrow and do it again.

"I don't get motivated by any of that."

Anyway, that's what he was saying yesterday on the eve of the Phillies-Dodgers series opener. But if he wanted, and he has at times, he could recite every Dodger outfielder who started ahead of him.

Even with his standout year, with his breakout season, Ethier seems guarded about any adulation. If he's proven himself to his detractors, it's doubtful he believes it. Or admits to using it as motivation.

"There's a time where you start putting that aside and you don't really care anymore about that," he said. "I don't really care.

"Who do I have to win over anymore, what do I have to prove to anyone?"

Anyone who has covered Ethier at any length knows he would have come to this outlook extremely recently.

"Today, right now, just this second," he said. "I'm glad you [asked], because it freed my mind."

The Dodgers are now free to count on a consistent Ethier. He is only 27, with years of potentially great baseball ahead of him. And already they rely on him.

When he struggled during a late September nine-game stretch, hitting .103 with no home runs, so did the Dodgers. Their division lead shrinking until they finally won the West on the final weekend.

But when the playoffs arrived, Ethier was back at it. He went 6 for 12 in the Dodgers' sweep of the Cardinals, with two home runs and five runs scored. "He went to another level in [that] series," Colletti said.

Just like a team's best player is supposed to, whether everyone else recognizes it yet or not.