Last piece Dodgers need: Giants-like class

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The Dodgers wouldn’t admit to such a thing, but they’d like to be a little more like the Giants this year. A bit less drama, considerably more class. They’re definitely not as intimidating as last year’s team, but there’s no question they’re aiming for a Giants-style postseason blueprint.

Why tinker with a 94-win division champion? Because it was such a letdown in the end. It wasn’t just another postseason loss to the Cardinals, who dismantled Clayton Kershaw and shut down the Dodgers’ power bats. It was what manager Don Mattingly called “a lack of professionalism.”

In speaking of the Giants to reporters recently, Mattingly called Bruce Bochy “a manager you expect nothing to get by. You know he’s not afraid to go outside the box, and he has the credibility to back it up. The biggest thing with his clubs, they always play extremely hard and they seem to have a unified feel when you play them.”

By the time October rolled around, the Dodgers were emotionally fractured while the cohesive Giants cruised into a higher gear. Shortstop Hanley Ramirez was an enigmatic, brooding presence who clearly had the free-agent market in mind. (He signed with Boston.) Matt Kemp was constantly at odds with the mercurial Yasiel Puig, openly welcomed a trade, and the Dodgers couldn’t wait to accommodate him (acquiring merely Yasmani Grandal, an average catcher at best, in terms of major-league talent in the deal with San Diego).

The Dodgers are obscenely wealthy, flashing a $260 million payroll and a television contract that pays them $334 million annually. When the front office was radically overhauled, welcoming analytics-oriented executives Andrew Friedman (from Tampa Bay) and Farhan Zaidi (from Oakland), it was widely believed they’d be a force on the free-agent market with little regard for chemistry.

That’s not how it went. The Dodgers created a stable, experienced middle infield in shortstop Jimmy Rollins and second baseman Howie Kendrick. They settled on former A’s pitchers Brandon McCarthy and Brett Anderson as the Nos. 4 and 5 starters. And they’re banking heavily on three tremendous prospects — outfielder Joc Pederson, infielder Corey Seager and 18-year-old pitching sensation Julio Urias — to be anchors of the future.

“That was the most eye-opening thing,” said A.J. Ellis, who will share the catching position with Grandal. “For people allegedly only concerned about computer printouts, they’re taking a serious look at the character of people, and what kind of culture they’re creating here.”

Talking to scouts this spring, one gets the impression that the 2015 Dodgers are a superior version, with a balanced lineup and plenty of pitching, even with closer Kenley Jansen out perhaps 10 more weeks after foot surgery. And they have one of the game’s few legitimate superstars in Puig.

The challenge for the Dodgers’ mercurial Yasiel Puig is to be more disciplined without losing his star-power swagger. The challenge for the Dodgers’ mercurial Yasiel Puig is to be more disciplined without losing his star-power swagger. Photo: Ben Margot, Associated Press Photo: Ben Margot, Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Last piece Dodgers need: Giants-like class 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Puig isn’t a star in the manner of Buster Posey or Hunter Pence. He has been far too erratic while routinely torturing the fundamentals. Unlike those two Giants, though, everything stops when Puig steps to the plate. The fans come alive. Highlight shows prepare for the latest clip. So it was, on Tuesday, that Puig provided the shining moment in a 5-5 tie that was called after nine innings.

It was the fourth inning, and Ryan Vogelsong was pitching him tough. Puig looked unprepared for one sizzling fastball that barely missed the plate. The next one caught him looking for a strike. But when Vogelsong hung a breaking pitch on 3-and-2, Puig waited, timed it perfectly and sent it far into the left-field bleachers for a two-run homer. Cheers, boos and huzzahs.

Through an interpreter, Puig repeatedly has said he wants to be more “disciplined” this year, to play the game correctly and draw upon his teammates’ experience. That would be a blessing for Mattingly, and if the wondrous Cuban athlete maintains his natural swagger — that touch of star power that cannot be manufactured — all the better. “We never want to take that out of him,” said senior executive (and former general manager) Ned Colletti. “It’s so much a part of why everyone wants to watch him.”

With a new season upon us, the NL West race is looking like a Giants-Dodgers contest. That’s such a fine state of affairs. Unlike so many past seasons, though, the Dodgers have made it clear they’d like to add some San Francisco-flavored ingredients. Smarts and reliability make for a potent blend.

Bruce Jenkins is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. E-mail: bjenkins@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Bruce_Jenkins1