Crawford Rediscovers Himself With Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES - Of all the indicators suggesting the return to form of Carl Crawford, a player once thought to be worth $142 million, the biggest was not the three home runs he hit in the last two playoff games for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the diving catch he made over the railing near the left-field stands or a comfortably stolen base.

No, the most visible sign that Crawford might truly be back after three seasons rife with injuries, disenchantment and diminished play was right on his face: his smile.

That grin, long absent, might be the biggest game-changer of all. It brought life to his weary eyes Wednesday evening, just as it had 48 hours earlier when Crawford belted two home runs in the Dodgers' 4-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves to clinch their National League division series.

'That smile on his face was just priceless the other day,' Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly said before departing for St. Louis, where the National League Championship Series begins Friday night. 'It was almost like a relief of two seasons. The seasons he had in Boston didn't go well, and the injuries, and this one has been up and down, too, really, injurywise. You can just see that smile on his face and that little swagger.'

As the night unfolded, Crawford's performance was overshadowed by Juan Uribe's two-run home run in the eighth inning, which justified the Dodgers' decision to pitch Clayton Kershaw on three days' rest. But it was hard to argue with Mattingly's assessment that it was a cathartic moment for Crawford.

After Crawford's second solo home run of the game, the roaring crowd at Dodger Stadium summoned him out of the dugout for a curtain call. When he jogged out to his position in left field, fans in the pavilion rewarded him with a standing ovation. Soon the stadium was chanting his name.

'It's a wonderful feeling to have that,' said Crawford, who hit into a critical double play late in the Dodgers' loss in Game 2. 'When they do something like that, it definitely makes you feel good on the inside. It's been awhile since I could smile like that. I just wanted to go ahead and let my emotions out.'

As he spoke Wednesday Crawford seemed to realize that his performance will be measured against that big contract he signed with the Red Sox, which has four years and nearly $82 million remaining, and that his disposition will be measured against the sullen star who had the joy of the game sucked out of him in Boston.

'A lot of guys I've talked to that have signed big contracts, they try to play to that contract,' said Dodgers reliever J.P. Howell, who spent four seasons with Crawford at Tampa Bay. 'That's a very big hill to climb.'

Second baseman Nick Punto, who arrived in August 2012 with Crawford, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and the injured pitcher Josh Beckett in a salary-dumping trade that resuscitated both franchises, enjoyed playing in Boston. But some players, particularly when they and the team do not play to expectations, find the scrutiny from fans and the news media oppressive.

Crawford was one of them.

'You make $20 million, but it's not like they're begging me to hit a home run every time I go up there, you know what I'm saying?' Crawford said to ESPNLA.com in August, comparing the atmosphere in Los Angeles with Boston. 'It's not like I need to go 5 for 5 every at-bat and, if I don't, I'm considered the worst player on the planet.'

Crawford is quick to admit that he responds best to positive reinforcement. It is why he flourished under Joe Maddon, the Rays' relentlessly sunny manager. When he was hitless with four strikeouts in his first two games with the Red Sox, Crawford was dropped from third in the lineup to seventh. Crawford had batted in five different spots in the lineup when the season was barely three weeks old. At the end of April, he was batting .155.

Though Crawford, who injured his wrist and elbow, would eventually restore his average, batting .279 over the rest of the season, he became a face of Boston's epic September collapse in 2011. He was not part of the beer and fried chicken brigade, but the season ended for Crawford much the way it started: when he could not make a sliding catch, the Orioles scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth of the season's final game. Moments later, Tampa Bay beat the Yankees to eliminate the Red Sox.

Last season was all but lost to injuries, and two days after Crawford had surgery to repair torn ligaments in his left elbow he was sent to the Dodgers in late August. The trade stunned baseball and elated Crawford.

'The day I called him, he was almost on the verge of tears he was so happy to come,' Dodgers General Manager Ned Colletti said.

Crawford has since described the atmosphere in Boston as toxic and articulated how unpleasant the experience was. When he does, it invariably becomes a story in Boston and further cements his reputation there.

'When people bring it up to me, I know I have to answer questions about it,' said Crawford, who, along with Gonzalez, would not speak with Boston reporters when the Red Sox visited Los Angeles in August. 'But at the same time I try to deflect it as much as possible now, because every time I say something it becomes much more than I intended it to, so I try to leave it alone.

'It's just one of those things where I'm the type that if you say something about me, I want to respond. I had to learn that's not what you do. Inside you want to say something back so bad. But I've learned to just be quiet and don't respond, and that seems to work better.'

Colletti bet that the change of atmosphere would reinvigorate Crawford, who never lost his reputation as a hard worker, even in Boston.

And the Dodgers had the memory of their experience with another player the Red Sox could not wait to be rid of - Manny Ramirez, whom the city threw its arms around as soon as he landed here and started hitting. The two playoff runs that Ramirez sparked also featured pitcher Vicente Padilla, who had been released by Texas for creating problems in the clubhouse.

'I really believe everybody will be productive, be a little productive, not be productive, based on their environment,' Colletti said. 'And I feel that this organization, this city, and how we go about it with different people, we're conducive to giving people second chances and having them be successful at it.'

And so, even after an uneven season with the Dodgers, where he showed flashes of the five-tool All-Star outfielder he once was but was also troubled by inconsistency, hamstring woes and other nagging injuries, it was not difficult for fans to send their love Crawford's way the other night.

Not in a place where so many second acts are born, reputations are remade and smiles reconstructed.

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