Game Over

With their personnel moves, the Dodgers have ruined the excitement their underdog season generated among fans

Los Angeles Dodgers

And just when you thought the Dodgers had tossed the last match on their division championship embers…

For Game Over, it's game over.

Ross Yoshida, the graphics designer who devised Eric Gagne's celebrated "Game Over" slogan and the "Game Over" logo, has been laid off.

His last day was Dec. 20.

His department was dissolved and contracted to an outside firm that did not offer a full-time graphics designer position.

He left without hearing a word — no gratitude, no farewells, nothing — from Dodger business bosses Martin Greenspun and Lon Rosen.

Even if they didn't acknowledge him as a person, surely they understood him as a profit.

How much money do they think the Dodgers have made during the last three seasons in "Game Over" apparel sales? How much money did they make in concessions from fans who stayed late in hopes of enjoying the "Game Over" show?

It was Gagne who ultimately brought in the bucks, of course, but it was Yoshida who helped turn the Dodgers' biggest sports star into baseball's biggest late-inning event.

And although he is no more unfortunate than the many others who have been laid off by Frank McCourt this winter, would it have killed someone to tell Ross Yoshida, "Thank you?"

Said Yoshida: "I had an emotional attachment to the job, it never felt like work to me. So am I disappointed? Yes."

The Dodgers don't comment on human resource matters, but the four-word message continually sent by this new front office is clear.

They don't get it.

Last season was about more than the return of a playoff spot, it was about a return of the magic, the oh-my-Sandy and heavens-to-Gibson feeling that had filled Dodger Stadium for decades.

It was back, and maybe it was a bit lucky, maybe it wouldn't last, but, it was back.

Just in time to be blown to all Beltre by a naïve owner and an over-his-skis general manager who don't understand the market and don't have the humble patience to learn.

Who needs a 25-year-old All-Star third baseman whom a town and team had come to love?

Paul DePodesta knows better, instead giving that money to an injury-prone outfielder who is older and more demanding.

Those who say that the loss of Adrian Beltre is offset by the acquisition of J.D. Drew aren't doing the Dodger math.

And, really, who needs an aging center fielder and light-hitting second baseman who helped give the Dodgers a strong up-the-middle presence?

DePodesta knows better, instead giving the money to a questionable fielder who hits home runs.

Don't say that Steve Finley and Alex Cora add up to Jeff Kent. Not in Dodger Stadium, they don't.

All of which brings us to Shawn Green who, for the moment, has inexplicably decided to remain a Dodger despite their repeated attempts to dump him.

Don't worry, young DePodesta. The classy Green will leave.

He will ultimately take less money in a contract extension from Arizona, if only to get away from a boss who recently, with an apparent straight face, said he wasn't looking to trade him

"We are not looking to trade the guys involved in this," DePodesta said when asked about an earlier botched deal that sent Green to Arizona.

Then he turned around about two minutes later and traded him again.

When asked whether Green would still play first base instead of DePodesta's pet, Hee-Seop Choi, DePodesta amazingly wouldn't commit to it.

"It's too early to tell," he said.

Too early to tell?

Green had a .900 OPS and 18 homers in the second half of last season. Choi batted .194 with one home run in the second half … and it's too early to tell?

Of course, Green also had one of the biggest homers of the season against Colorado, but DePodesta didn't look at that any more than he looked at Finley's title-clinching homer or Jose Lima's playoff victory or the runs Cora saved with his glove.

Did he ever watch Beltre hit a homer on one foot? Did he ever study how Paul Lo Duca called a game? Did he ever sit behind home plate when Guillermo Mota pitched?

It's apparent that the only place DePodesta and McCourt have been looking is the mirror.

They are remodeling a team in their image, not a Dodger image, and maybe it will work, and maybe Dodger fans are even willing to bet the huge ticket increases on it.

But if it doesn't, well, life moves on. It's time to put aside winter speculation and concentrate on real baseball, beginning with that annual rite: Dodger winter workouts.

Oops. Sorry. For the first time in recent Dodger history, there will be no winter workouts.

The Dodgers initially said it was because of stadium renovations. They were then reminded that several years ago, when the stadium was being remodeled, the team practiced at USC.

The Dodgers then changed their answer and said they were canceling the workouts to facilitate a Dodger winter caravan, a touring group of players who will visit with local fans.

It was the first we'd heard of it, but, well, OK, we'll be there, should be fun.

Ross Yoshida remembers fun. He remembers running to the loge level in the top of the ninth inning on many nights to watch the Gagne celebration, his creation, unfold.

"It never got old for me," he said of being among fans standing far from the Dodger executive offices, fans growing more distant every day.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. For previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.

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