The kids these days, that’s what Dodgers need

I don’t get it. I don’t understand. Maybe my brain has been eroded by watching too many “Law and Order” marathons from the easy chair of semi-retirement, but all these claims and suggestions, all this. . . well, stuff, on the air and in print about the Dodgers’ youth movement incinerating doesn’t make sense.

Didn’t the younger players basically try to carry the Dodgers down the stretch, such as it was?

Didn’t the expensive older players, through injury, inconsistency or both, flame out to a large extent?

Isn’t it a misnomer to even say the Dodgers operated with a full-fledged youth movement in 2007?

If this was a full-fledged youth movement, why wasn’t James Loney -- who batted .380 in triple A last year and .414 in the spring and whose shoulders are now aching from toting the offensive burden in September -- up from the start rather than being recalled June 10?

If this was a full-fledged youth movement, why weren’t Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier playing every day, why not endure Andy LaRoche’s third base growing pains for the entire summer, and why sign Luis Gonzalez as a free agent or re-sign Nomar Garciaparra?

For a full-fledged youth movement, look to Arizona and the team that is about to win National League West, although that kind of first-year magic is rare.

Most full-fledged youth movements result in competitive capitulation for a year or longer.

With the Dodgers, who were legitimately alive in the division and wild-card races until mid-September, this was transitional integration -- and it might have led to October if some older players had stayed healthy or performed better.

The Dodgers guaranteed $55 million to Jason Schmidt and Randy Wolf despite questions about their physical durability. Schmidt won one game, and Wolf didn’t pitch after July 3, their injuries triggering a rotation of musical chairs.

Rafael Furcal, who stole 37 bases last year and was expected to trigger the offense in combination with Juan Pierre, injured his ankle in March and had only 12 steals before September -- he and Pierre producing on-base percentages that would be impressive only if combined.

Garciaparra, who has gone from 20 homers and 93 runs batted in last year to seven and 59, spent 19 games on the disabled list in August and will miss about 40 in all. And although Jeff Kent has produced decent numbers -- 20 homers and 79 RBIs -- at age 39, he too will miss about 20 to 25 games.

It was Kent, of course, who ignited all the commotion about the club’s young players with his mile-high rant in Colorado last week.

Altitude sickness or in character?

The player who was accusing the young Dodgers of showing the veterans no respect is the same player who accused the veterans of showing the young players no respect in his early seasons with the Mets, and he is also the same player whose clubhouse stoicism with the San Francisco Giants could make Barry Bonds look like Mr. Gregarious at times.

There may have been some merit to Kent’s suggestion that some of the young players needed an attitude adjustment or a lesson in how to prepare or both, according to people who have been close to the team on a regular basis. But going public in violation of a clubhouse credo and doing it during a tailspin seemed only to underline Kent’s acknowledged bitterness over the team’s lost opportunity in what might have been his last shot at a postseason.

Could the attitude and respect issues have been addressed earlier, privately and more professionally, or were Kent and some of his senior colleagues merely satisfied to snipe about the absence of respect and loss of playing time from their clubhouse corners?

The Dodgers obviously have bridges to rebuild, management issues, approaches and relationships (from the front office down) to re-examine and resolve, but make no mistake:

Although this is a difficult market in which to operate a development camp, the long wait for a nucleus of the current caliber to emerge from what had become a fallow farm system at times justified the 2007 route and demands caution if the club is now thinking it should break up that nucleus.

Trade 23-year-old Kemp and his 10 home runs, 10 stolen bases and .331 average in 94 games? Trade 23-year-old Loney and his 14 homers and 63 RBIs in only a half-season?

I say, bring on Tony Abreu, Delwyn Young, Clayton Kershaw, Chin-Lung Hu, that much more talent and attitude.

I say, forget this semi-youth movement and officially make it full-fledged.