SAN FRANCISCO — Nomar Garciaparra will manage the Dodgers Sunday, as Joe Torre will continue a tradition that he had with the New York Yankees of handing his team over to a veteran on the last day of the regular season.

"When I told him Manny wasn't playing, he got a little disappointed," Torre said of Garciaparra.

Garciaparra shrugged and laughed.

"Who needs Manny?" he said. "I'm just kidding, of course."

Mark Sweeney will be Garciaparra's bench coach.

Asked whether Dodgers owner Frank McCourt would pay him for the Dodgers' 162nd game, Torre jokingly replied, "That's an appearance fee."

Torre, who counted Roger Clemens and Bernie Williams among his managers for a day with the Yankees, said he started the tradition when he was managing the New York Mets as a way to quiet catcher John Stearns. He said Stearns approached him four times in that game to ask for advice but that he never gave him any.