Historical Night Concludes at Coliseum

Well, I wasn't able to personally be at the Coliseum last night for the historical night, but watching from afar on television, I was just as much in awe as I would have been if I had been there. From the wacky television camera angles, to the cooky dimensions, it was certainly a night to remember. Playing before the largest crowd ever in baseball history, the Red Sox upended the Dodgers 7-4 in front of an announced crowd of 115,300. That's in tickets sold! And even more importantly, as the event was part of the kickoff of the Dodgers 50th season in Los Angeles, all the proceeds from the event were going to ThinkCure, the Dodgers charity for cancer research.

The center field camera, usually just to the left or right of the pitcher in straight-away center field, was out in right-center field, almost directly behind the second base umpire much of the night. The dimensions were just as strange: 201 feet down the left field line, 374 to center, and about 300 down the right field line, almost an exact replica of the field as it was at the Coliseum from 1958 to 1961. Also in place was the 62-foot high screen from the left field foul line to left-center field as it was from '58 to '61. (Three home runs were hit over the screen: two by the Red Sox, one by James Loney of the Dodgers.) The bullpens were side-by-side in foul territory beyond the Red Sox third base dugout.

Even stranger was watching the defense in action. The Dodgers apparently did some homework and opted to scratch a left-fielder, allow the shortstop and third baseman to cover left field with the short dimensions and go with five infielders. Center fielder Andruw Jones played directly behind second base much of the night, and even covered second base on at least two occasions on stolen base attempts by the Red Sox. Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier were left to cover center and right fields.

The Dodgers were never really in the game, but that didn't appear to dampen anyone's spirits at the game. There was a beach ball sighting or two in the stands. What would a Dodger game be without a beach ball bouncing around amongst the crowd? There was even a wave! (History tidbit: the wave originated at the Coliseum in 1984 during the Summer Olympics, when fans grew bored between the day and night events; the wave was their way of keeping themselves entertained between events.) But, as it is at most Dodger games in L.A., some of the crowd began to head for the exits in the 7th inning. And slowly the game, the night, the event, came to a close as Jonathan Papelbon struggled to get the final three outs of the game.

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Some notes following the game heading into opening day tomorrow afternoon:

* Brad Penny was named the Opening Day starter tomorrow by Joe Torre. This will be Penny's first Opening Day start as a Dodger.

* The fifth spot in the rotation was awarded to Esteban Loaiza, in part because he has a guaranteed contract in place for the season. Loaiza didn't particularly have a good spring. Chan Ho Park did have a brilliant spring, and would have been the better choice of the two, but he doesn't have a guaranteed contract, and it appears he will be sent down to AAA Las Vegas, and not forgotten. Jason Schmidt will start the season on the DL as expected, and Clayton Kershaw, who had a brilliant Spring, will be sent down to the minors.

* Blake Dewitt has emerged as the third baseman for Opening Day with Nomar Garciaparra, Andy Laroche and Tony Abreu all expected to start the season on the DL.

* Jeff Kent made his Spring debut on Friday, played all nine innings last night, and will likely play today to gear up for Opening Day tomorrow. There was concern he might start the season on the DL to give his injured hamstring more time to heal, leaving the Dodgers even thinner in the infield. There was also speculation that Dodgers had been talking to Kansas City for infielder Esteban German, but the Royals were said to be dead set on receiving Chin-Lung Hu in return, something Dodgers were unwilling to do. Instead, Hu will now be one of the two reserve infielders, along with Delwyn Young. Veteran Ramon Martinez has been cut.

* Rudy Seanez and Mike Myers were released earlier in the week after both had poor Springs. Rookie reliever Ramon Troncoso has impressed enough during Spring to earn a spot in the bullpen. Hong-Chih Kuo also makes the club as the team's long-reliever/spot starter.

* Mark Sweeney has made the club, as well, as the primary pinch hitter and backup to James Loney at first base.

* And last but not least, it appears Juan Pierre has played himself out of a starting job after hitting .169 entering today's Spring finale. I had been campaigning since the day he was signed that he shouldn't have been signed, and campaigning even moreso since Jones was signed in December that he shouldn't even be in the starting lineup. With Jones in center field having pushed Pierre to left field temporarily, Ethier and Kemp should be the obvious choices to play everyday over Pierre anyway, as they are better offensively, and both have better arms, and can cover just as much ground as Pierre defensively. They both also earned their jobs by having solid Springs. Jason Repko has also made the club.