Raffa ...

LOS ANGELES - It was a good sign for the Dodgers when shortstop Rafael Furcal spent his afternoon before a game this week in the clubhouse debating the top player in the Toronto outfield instead of inside of the training room with a scowl on his face.

After two season marred with injury, Furcal is finally healthy. He looks happier than he has ever been and if push comes to shove, he'll take Vernon Wells, even an injured Vernon Wells, over his good buddy Alexis Rios if he has to.

Furcal is smiling again. He looks fit and his raspy voice is back to racing a mile-a-minute. He says his goals are simple. It's back to the basics.

"I just want to stay healthy all year and go far, at least to the playoffs," Furcal said. "I'm happy. When you are healthy, you are happy. It's different when you can't play at 100-percent. Last year, I could not do what I wanted to do. I couldn't play good defense. I couldn't hit the way I wanted to hit."

Well, he can now. A healthy Furcal might be the difference-maker in the National League West. In the first three games of the season, he is hitting .385 (5-for-13) with three RBIs. On Opening Day against the Giants, he went 3-for-4 and in the second game of the series, he scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. The stage was set for another Furcal triumph in the series finale when he stepped up to the plate with his club trailing by one run and speedy Juan Pierre on first base in final inning.

But the stage collapsed. Furcal struck out looking and Pierre was thrown out attempting to steal on the play to complete a double play to end the game. The Dodgers can't win them all, but by the looks of Furcal so far, he sure makes you think they can.

Yes, he looks that electric. He looks like the Furcal that shined in Atlanta and landed the three-year, $39 million deal in 2005 with the Dodgers. The performance could not come at a better time. This could be Furcal's last year in Los Angeles and he becomes a free agent at the end of the season.

Is that the reason he looks so good? Is he playing extra hard because it is a contract year? Note to self and others: Don't ask Furcal those questions unless you want him to roll his eyes and grunt. Maybe it's just me, but I seem to recall players in the final year of a deal playing extremely well in order to land another contract so maybe I was not that far out of line.

Furcal says he's playing so well so far because he is healthy. He also loves the game. A new contract is not an issue. Yet.

"I'm not thinking of that at all. I leave all that up to the lawyers," he said. "I just do my job on the field. I do the best I can do and it works out."

But what if he lives up to his expectations this year? What if his team goes to the playoffs and what if the Dodgers win the World Series? Will he come back to Los Angeles or just leave the Dodgers feeling blue? Remember, Furcal's first two seasons in Dodger Stadium were marred with an ankle injury, a sore shoulder and he came to the club fresh off of a minor knee surgery.

Doesn't he owe the Dodgers something for the first two years of disappointment? If Furcal plays like Furcal of the past this season, he would have still only fulfilled one-third of his part of the bargain. Will he come back to L.A.?

"I like it here a lot," he said. "Who would not like to be in a city like this with the fans and good players and a good manager. I'd like to be here but you don't know what is going to happen."

The Torre-factor might make a difference. Granted, the biggest factor will be money (it always is, no matter what the players say) but Furcal has already grown fond of manager Joe. Furcal has gone on record to say he likes the new skipper because he feels like Torre knows what he is doing. If that's not an indirect shot at former Dodgers manager Grady Little, I don't know what is.

"Torre is a tremendous manager and been good so far," Furcal said. "He's been a winner before and he's respected all over this league. He makes you want to play hard because you know the manager is working hard too. He motivates the players to be best you can be because he has won in this game."

The game, not the training room, is Furcal's primary focus these days. If somebody wants to debate American League outfielders, he's ready for that conversation, too. Just don't try to compare anybody to Vernon Wells because when Wells is healthy, he is one of the best in the game.

Sound familiar?