Catching Up in Dodgertown

When we last spoke about a week or so ago, half of the Spring Training roster was halfway around the world playing an exhibition series against a Taiwanese All-Star team, Blake DeWitt was making noise to be named the team's starting second baseman, Garrett Anderson was working out at first base, a beardless Casey Blake was out with a ribcage injury, and Don Mattingly admitted the Dodgers have made "overtures" about him becoming Joe Torre's heir apparent.

Since then, the roster has been cut in size as Opening Day nears, DeWitt still hasn't been officially named the starting second baseman, Anderson is still working out at first base, Blake has returned from his minor ribcage deal, and Mattingly has returned to his current role as hitting coach.

As for the roster cuts, Eric Gagne and Scott Elbert were reassigned to minor league camp. The Dodgers want Gagne to continue to pitch and get some innings under his belt in games, something they can't give him in Major League camp right now. There is still mutual interest from both sides for Gagne to get a shot at the big club again, but Gagne has an out clause in his contract that he can exercise if he's not on the Major League roster by a certain date. It seems at this point that Gagne won't be exercising it.

Cory Wade, who made a plea to get his old job back from 2008 as the club's primary set-up guy, will be out approximately three months after undergoing shoulder surgery. Wade struggled early last year that he was sent back out to Albuquerque, and was eventually sidelined with a shoulder injury.

Meanwhile, Garrett Anderson continues to workout at first base. The back-up job and primary lefty bat off the bench is now down to Anderson and Doug Meintkiewicz as Brian Giles called it a career last week and retired due to his nagging injuries. All indications are the Anderson-Meitnkiewicz battle will go down to the wire.

And don't look now, but Ramon Ortiz - yes, that Ramon Ortiz - is making a case to be the team's fifth starter out of Spring Training. Even if he does make it, there's no guarantees he'll be the long-term solution there as the season goes on. But for now, he's become the leading candidate, or, at the very least, the best option. With both Eric Stults and Charlie Haeger out of options, the Dodgers have some decisions to make as far as the fifth rotation spot is concerned.

No longer a candidate for any roster spot is James McDonald, who was also optioned to the minors. McDonald has struggled immensely this spring, and his 20.25 ERA was enough for the Dodgers to send him down. His demotion came just days after the team said he would be headed to the bullpen.

Rule-5 pick Carlos Monasterios is quickly gaining momentum to be included on the bullpen staff. As of right now, the only guarantees in the pen are Jonathan Broxton, George Sherrill and Ramon Troncoso. But with Hong-Chih Kuo still sidelined with a sore elbow after he was scratched from his start in his native Taiwan, and with Ronald Belisario still having visa issues and not in camp yet, an opportunity has opened up for Monasterios, and he hasn't disappointed. Monasterios has pitched well in eight Spring Training innings, and the Dodgers like the fact he has the ability to strike people out, as his K/9 IP ratio in the minor leagues last season proves. Unless someone else steps up to be the sixth inning guy out of the pen, there's no reason Monasterios won't be given first crack at it.

Though Russell Martin still won't be ready for Opening Day after he pulled his groin earlier in the spring, he's making progress and is ahead of schedule on his rehab, etc. There are still plenty of people blaming the injury on the 25 pounds of added bulk Martin added to his frame in the off-season, but Martin assures us that is far from the case. Either way, Martin is progressing nicely and he should be ready to go by mid-April.

Off the field, Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully is back in the booth today after falling in his home the other day getting out of bed and hitting his head. The 82-year old was taken to the hospital as a precaution for observation, but was released the following day. He's on the air right now doing the Dodgers-Indians game from The Ranch.

And finally, Giles wasn't the only player of note retiring last week. Former Dodger and L.A. native Nomar Garciaparra called it a career, as well. Nomar, who was a free agent after spending last season with Oakland, signed a one-day contract with the Red Sox and then retired because of nagging injuries.

Nomar certainly left Dodger fans with plenty of excitement as he hit the game-winning walk-off homer in the 10th of the "4+1" game. And had it not been for the rash of injuries over the past five or six seasons, Nomar could have finished his career as one of the greatest shortstops who ever lived. He was certainly well on his way to that. He finished his career with a .313/.361/.521 line with 229 home runs, 927 runs scored and two A.L. batting titles with the Red Sox in 1999 and 2000. Nomar was also the A.L. Rookie of the Year in 1997.

A Hat Trick For 'Dre

After a heart-breaking loss in Chicago on Thursday afternoon to the White Sox in 13 innings, the Blue got back in the win column last night at the Ravine with an impressive 8-2 win over Seattle, behind a three-homerun effort from Dodger right-fielder Andre Ethier. The loss in Chicago gave the White Sox the series win, just the second interleague series the Dodgers have lost this season, and gave the Dodgers a two-game losing streak.

With last night's win, the Blue avoided their first three-game losing streak of the season. The Dodgers are the only team in the league to have not lost three in a row all season. The win also put the Dodgers eight games up on the Giants again, who lost in Milwaukee, and the Dodgers continue to roll with the league's best record, 22 games over .500 at 48-26.

But the story of the night, the man of the hour last night, was Ethier, who slugged three homeruns and drove in six runs, both career highs. And it all came after a fitting beginning to the homestand. Lakers forward, Pau Gasol, was honored and threw out the first pitch before the game while donning a Dodger jersey with his name and familiar Laker jersey number 16 on the back, the same number Ethier wears. Coincidence? I think so.

Coincidence or not, Ethier has been red-hot in Dodgertown USA. Last night's performance was his fifth multi-homer game of the season, just two shy of the franchise record seven, held by Seattle's Adrian Beltre, who belted 48 homeruns for the Dodgers during his amazing 2004 season in which he finished second in the league MVP-voting. Beltre, who has just five homeruns this season, and hasn't come close to the 48 he hit in 2004, went 0 for 4 last night. Ethier has hit 13 of his 14 homeruns this season at Dodger Stadium.

Clayton Kershaw was superb for the Dodgers, pitching six strong innings, giving up two runs on five hits, striking out eight and walking just one while making 96 pitches. Kershaw, who struck out Ichiro to lead off the game, improved his record to 5-5 and now dons a 3.70 ERA.

The M's and Dodgers are at it again tonight at the Ravine, with Eric Milton, just activated from the DL today, to take the hill for the Dodgers. To make room for Milton, Cory Wade has been sent back down to Albuquerque.

And one last note... Manny will continue his Minor League "rehab" assignment tonight for the Inland Empire 66ers, the Dodgers Single-A affiliate. He's expected to play in four or five games with the 66ers before rejoining the big club next Friday in San Diego.

A Sweep and Interleague

Well, that was a nice ending to the Mets series. Dodgers complete a three-game sweep and improved their record to 29-13 (17-3 at home). But then last night happened.

During the Mets series, the Dodger offense started showing signs of living dangerously, and last night it caught up with them. It seems the Dodgers are starting to find it a wee-bit difficult to hit with runners in scoring position, and last night it proved to be costly as the Angels won the first game of their interleague matchup this weekendm handing the Dodgers a rare loss at home.

Clayton Kershaw didn't pitch very well either, but got lucky because the Angel bats had just as much trouble with runners in scoring position as the Dodgers did. The difference? While the Dodgers couldn't do anything against Angels starter Jered Weaver or the Angels pen, the Angels got that big hit when they needed it, and it turned out to be the game winner when Chone Figgins singled in two runs with the bases loaded in the 8th inning off losing pitcher Cory Wade.

The defense was pretty good in this game, as well. Most notably, Angel centerfielder Torii Hunter made two spectacular catches in the game, one of which probably saved an extra base hit off the bat of Casey Blake, and perhaps a run.

And, by the way, what has happened to Andre Ethier? His bat has gone comletely cold, and quiet, since Manny's suspension. I know the kid is a very good hitter, and a solid player, but it's become quite apparent that his offense has suffered immensely without Manny hitting in front of him. It is nice to see, however, Juan Pierre still tearing the cover off the ball in Manny's absence. Obviously Pierre doesn't possess the same power as Manny, but he's certainly proving his worth to this team by getting on base and being the table-setter for the offense. The Dodgers lead the Majors with 44 first inning runs.

Here is tonight's lineup, as the Dodgers send Randy Wolf to face off against Angels ace John Lackey, making just his third start of the season.

Tony Jackson, New Zip Code and Other Blurbs

Well, it's certainly been a weird two weeks to say the least. And I guess the most important thing is the Blue continue to roll despite major issues in the rotation and bullpen. But we'll come back to this in a bit.

I first wanted to say I'm sad to see Tony Jackson let go by the Daily News. His up-to-the-minute blog was one of the first - and best - places I went to for any real-time Dodger information and in-game updates. Obviously, in this modern day and age where information is more readily available online in real-time, and with the blog boom that allows freelancers and regular people to get information out to the general public, it's made life a little more challenging for those hard-working paid beat writers who do that for a living. Still, getting information directly from the press box was always a bonus for us regular readers of blogs from beat writers such as Tony. I certainly hope Tony resurfaces in some way, shape or form. He's certainly one of the best, and one of my favorites, as well. Good luck, Tony.

Dodgertown, CA 90090. No, that's not a typo. That's a real zip code for Dodger Stadium and the surrounding property it sits on. The L.A. city council recently designated the stadium and property with its own city name, "Dodgertown," and submitted a request with the U.S. Postal Service for "Dodgertown" to be granted its very own zip code. Well, the USPS granted it the zip code 90090.

My guess on the reasoning behind it all is to pay tribute to the original "Dodgertown" in Vero Beach, which was such an intrigal part of the Dodgers for about 60 years. This all becomes official on June 6. Pretty cool.

As for on the field stuff, nice to see the Dodgers cake-walking through the division already, as they've already built a nice 3.5 game lead on the Giants. The team is perfect at home (8-0) but break even on the road (8-8). This could come back to haunt them later on, especially if the bullpen and rotation issues aren't resolved soon. Outside of Broxton, who has been lights out so far, the bullpen has been inconsistent, and outside of Billingsley in the rotation, the same can be said there, as well.

Jeff Weaver is back in Blue after starting the season at Albuquerque, and he could be thrown into the rotation any day now, to bump the struggling James McDonald. Hong-Chih Kuo looks like he's all but headed to the DL. He looked awful last night while warming up in the pen. One of his warm-up pitches sailed so far over the BP catcher the BP gate, that the ball wound up near home plate! Meanwhile, Cory Wade has been reactivated from the DL, much to the delight of Joe Torre, I hope. There's no telling how much longer Ronald Belisario will be relied upon in any close game. I think between the rotation and BP issues, Ned Colletti should be on the phone as we speak trying to find any reliable arm. I assume Eric Milton will get a chance at some point, as well.

Other than that, too early in the season to get too excited, but its nice to see much of the offense, sans Russell Martin, off to a good start. Four Dodger starters are off to such great starts that they should be mentioned in early All-Star vote conversation: the three outfielders and Orlando Hudson. This could obviously change between now and early July when the voting ends. Both Broxton and Billngsley will obviously get some consideration, as well, if they keep up their early performances, as well.

That should cover things for now. Happy Saturday.