A Few Spring Training Notes

First, Russell Martin will miss 4-6 weeks after an MRI revealed a strained hamstring area. This means Martin could miss Opening Day. In the interim, A.J. Ellis takes over as the starting catcher.

Garret Anderson, who nearly retired last week before the Dodgers came calling, says he'll need about a week before he'll be ready for any kind of game action. Anderson is competing with Brian Giles and Doug Meintkiewicz for a potential bench role as the primary left-handed bat off the bench. I say potential because yesterday Joe Torre hinted at the possibility of going without a left on the bench this year. (Good luck with that, Joe. You'll put the Dodgers at a huge disadvantage when teams start throwing all their right-handed relievers at you and you've got no one to counter with.)

Eric Gagne, battling with a handful of others for a spot on the roster out of Spring Training, didn't look very sharp in his Spring debut yesterday against the White Sox. Gagne gave up two runs on three hits in an inning pitched. He'll likely have to start the season at AAA-Albuquerque before getting a crack at the Bigs again. He's clearly got a long ways to go.

The Dodgers have split the first two games of the Spring so far. On Friday, they beat the White Sox 8-3 at The Ranch. Vicente Padilla, Reed Johnson and Jamey Carroll had solid days. However, the White Sox returned the favor yesterday, beating the Blue 8-4. Gagne, Jeff Weaver and James McDonald all struggled on the bump for the Dodgers.

Manny appears to be in mid-season form. In five plate appearances, he's 4-for-4 with a walk and two RBI in two games.

Dodgers are in Mesa today taking on the Cubs.

Spring Training Has Arrived

It's been a relatively quiet past two weeks for the Dodgers.

Oh, yeah, sure, Manny had something to say. And then he had something to say again.

But did he really tell us anything the first time that we didn't already know? Not really.

And was he just having fun with us when he changed courses the second time around? You betcha.

And of course, the media ran with it both times.

Ah, it's that time of year again.

The warm air; the sunny Arizona and Florida skies. The green grass. The muffled sounds of a 95-mph fastball hitting a catcher's mitt. The hallowed sound of a bat cracking on impact with another 95-mph fastball.

Ah yes, life is finally back to normal.

The Blue have taken refuge at The Ranch for the next four weeks. They have their official Spring Training opener this Friday against their "Ranchmates," the White Sox. A home-and-home series, so-to-speak. One team is the home team on Friday, and the other on Saturday.

And with that, as the Dodgers continue to figure out who will be their fifth starter, or who will be their everyday second baseman, or who will round out the bench, and the bullpen, they quietly keep adding to their collection of veterans coming in on minor league contracts with Spring Training invitations.

Today's addition: Garret Anderson.

Anderson played for a number of years with the cross-town Angels, and then bolted for Atlanta before last season as a free agent. So of course, G.A., as he was so popularly known as down in the O.C., finding a home in Dodger Blue can only sting a little when it comes to Halo fans down I-5.

Of course, there's also no guarantees Anderson even makes the team. He's competing with Brian Giles and Doug Meintkiewicz to be the left-handed bat off the bench. And, as it's been said here before, unless by some miracle chance the Blue go with 11 pitchers out of Spring Training instead of the recent customary 12, Meintkiewicz would seem to have the inside track to serve as not only the primary lefty bat off the bench, but also as James Loney's back-up. That would all but eliminate any chance of the Dodgers carrying five outfielders.

But then again, with the health questions of Giles and Meintkiewicz, Anderson might be the only sure thing among the three.

You can't really even fault Ned Colletti for at least trying. He knows most of these guys he's brought in have little-to-no chance of panning out. So naturally, the plan is to bring in as many of these guys as possible anyway, throw them out there in Spring Training, hope one or two of them pan out (my votes go to Anderson, Ronnie Belliard, Jeff Weaver and Eric Gagne, for nostalgia purposes), and then take the credit for it later in the year when he's labeled a genius for pulling a rabbit out of his hat.

Ah, the joys of Spring Training.

And Yet Another...

And this one's a familiar face. Jeff Weaver is returning to the Blue on a minor league deal rather than a Major League deal because of roster restrictions on the 40-man roster. He should make the team out of Spring Training as the long-man/spot-starter out of the bullpen once they figure out the 40-man roster dilemma.

Also, Guillermo Mota has jumped shipped and signed a minor league deal with the Hated Ones to the North.

Manny's Staying

And this time it's official. Last week we heard SI's Jon Heyman say it was coming, and today, through his agent Scott Boras, Manny notified the Dodgers that he was not opting out of his contract and instead was exercising the $20MM option for 2010.

Also, five more Dodgers filed for free agency today: Brad Ausmus, Vicente Padilla, Guillermo Mota, Jeff Weaver and Jim Thome. We already know of the Dodgers interest in retaining Padilla's services, and if he doesn't retire, they would probably like to bring back Ausmus for one more season, as well, to back up Russell Martin.

Game 1 Pre-Game Thoughts

Random blurbs...

• Only two changes were made to the roster from the LDS to the LCS. As noted yesterday, Hiroki Kuroda was named the starter for Game 3 in Philly. The domino effect trickled down to Jon Garland, who was bumped off the roster. Chad Billingsley will pitch out of the pen. Jeff Weaver was replaced by left-hander Scott Elbert. Weaver is battling the flu-bug, which has also hit Russell Martin and hitting coach Don Mattingly.
• The War of the Roses, Part II: Dodger owners Frank and Jamie McCourt are separating and apparently headed for a bitter divorce. Once source claims both have 'lawyered up'. If the Padres situation was any indication last year, a divorce could force the McCourts to sell the team.
• Former Dodger Pedro Martinez will get the nod for Philly Friday afternoon at the Ravine against the Blue in Game 2.

Game time for Game 1 is T-minus five hours and seven minutes.

Torre on Game 1 and NLDS Roster Decisions

Jon Weisman over at Dodger Thoughts has all the quotes from Joe Torre regarding his decision to go with Vicente Padilla in Game 3 over Chad Billingsley, starting Ronnie Belliard over Orlando Hudson in Game 1, and perhaps Game 2, says Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness, and also some other roster decisions for the first round, including Ken Gurnick noting Jeff Weaver's inclusion, Blake DeWitt's omission, and the status of Hiroki Kuroda should the Dodgers advance to the NLCS.

Interleague Success... Finally! And Manny...

The Blue are not known for having much success over the years since interleague began play in the mid 90s. So when I last blogged here in this space, the Dodgers were about to dive into the bulk of their interleague schedule with five straight series against AL opponents. Most seasons, that would be a cause for concern for Dodger fans. But so far, they've come out of the first three in pretty good shape, having won two of three in each of three series, at Texas, at home against Oakland, and at Anaheim (who took two of three from the Blue at the Ravine back in May).

Last weekend the Dodgers were here in town in Arlington, and I was thrilled to have finally gotten a chance to see them play, although I wished Manny had played. In any case, it was a good weekend for the Dodgers.

On Friday night, the Rangers beat up on the Dodgers, 6-0, with a furious lightning storm just out behind right field throughout much of the game, followed by a fireworks show after the game. There were no fireworks on the field from the Dodgers on that night. Then on Saturday night, a bank of lights never came on, and a one hour, 40 minute delay ensued waiting for the electric company to fix a breaker that malfunctioned, and halted a scoreless pitching duel through five innings. When play resumed, the fans were treated to free tickets for an upcoming July 5th game against Tampa for waiting out the delay, and the Dodgers would cash in on a 3-1 win, just their sixth road interleague win since 2005. The Rangers lone run came on a solo homerun from former Dodger Andruw Jones that tied the game 1-1 in the sixth inning. Matt Kemp untied with a two-run shot in the seventh inning. And on a blistering scorcher on Sunday afternoon, the Dodgers grabbed the series with a 6-3 win behind Chad Billingsley's ninth win of the season.

The Blue then headed back to LA for a three-gamer against Oakland in a rematch of the 1988 World Series. And just like 1988, the Dodgers would win Game One, 5-4, in walk-off fashion on a 10th inning RBI single from Kemp. The A's then had to hold of the Dodgers to win the second game by the same 5-4 score. But the Dodgers got the last laugh in the finale, holding off Oakland for a 3-2 win, marking the 2,195th career managing win for Joe Torre, putting him 5th on the all-time wins list for managers, passing Hall of Famer, Sparky Anderson.

The Dodgers then traveled south about 40 minutes down I-5 to Anaheim, and capped off the week with the Angels. On Friday night, the Blue held a 4-1 lead before the Angels would tie it with three runs in the sixth. Jose Guillen then untied it with a solo homerun in the eighth inning of Guillermo Mota, enough for a 5-4 win. But the Dodgers bounced right back, and Jeff Weaver outdueled his brother Jered for the Angels last night in the Dodgers 6-4 win. And then tonight, behind a stellar performance from Clayton Kershaw, the Blue took the series with an impressive 5-3 win to even up the season series with the Angels at three games apiece.

Several things of note to mention during this nine game stretch. First, the Dodgers have got to do something about Mota. Everytime this guy comes in to pitch, I cringe. And I'm probably exaggerating here when I say this, but everytime Mota pitches, it seems like he's either giving up a lead, or allowing the opponent to get back into the game. There's got to be someone else they can use instead of this guy.

I've also noticed Russell Martin's struggles offensively. Sure, he finally hit his first homerun of the year last night, but I really think there's something going on with him, and my guess is it's all mental. Earlier in the season, I had heard or read somewhere (I wish I could remember where so I could back this up with a source) that because he wasn't hitting for any power, Martin had it in his head that he couldn't hit for power anymore. Hitting coach Don Mattingly has been trying to remind him all season, or least since that point when Martin felt he couldn't hit for power anymore, that Martin still has the tools to be a solid power hitter in the middle of the Dodger lineup. Mattingly says Martin still has no idea how good he really is, and he's been trying to get Martin to realize that he's a far better hitter than what we've seen so far this season.

And as solid as Juan Pierre has been in Manny's absence, I can not wait until he is out of the lineup again. Pierre has been an unexpected, pleasant surprise, but his outs are still very predictable, and very annoying. The guy's outs are still the same: either pop-up or fly outs to left field, or grounders to the right side, usually second base. Fortunately, because of the balance in the lineup with Casey Blake and Orlando Hudson, and the maturity of guys like Kemp, James Loney, and Andre Ethier, Pierre's outs, when he makes them, don't always kill rallies, or put additional pressure on the rest of the lineup.

It's nice to see everyone picking up the slack when someone isn't doing so well at a given time, and it's even nicer to see someone different be the hero every night. This is a total team effort. And they've more than proven that in the 41 games since Manny's suspension began. So, having said all that, Manny is expected to begin a "rehab" assignment Tuesday with Albuquerque for three games, and then finish up with a few games next weekend with the Inland Empire 66ers, before rejoining the team on July 3rd in San Diego.

And while Manny is making his tour with the Dodgers West Coast affiliates for about a week, the Dodgers head off to the Windy City for an interleague series with the White Sox beginning Tuesday night before heading back home to wrap up their interleague schedule with a three-gamer agianst the Mariners. Then the red-hot Rockies arrive in L.A. for three games before the series in San Diego, marking Manny's return.

Mini Streak is Over

The Blue were on a little mini three-game streak that came to a crashing end tonight with a 6-3 loss in Miami. First time since 2007 the Marlins have beaten the Dodgers at home, which is now called Land Shark Stadium. The field was littered with reflective strands from give-away pom poms that were wind driven onto the field after some of the poms poms were thrown by kids in the general direction of the Dodger pen in the left field corner.

Dodgers actually led in this game but with the score tied 2-2 in the 6th, Jeff Weaver relieved the newest AARP member to join the team in recent weeks, Eric Milton, and gave up a two-out, two-run homerun to Marlins catcher, Scott Baker. The Fish never looked back. Milton was called up from AAA Albuquerque yesterday to replace James McDonald, who was sent down. Weaver was then yanked from the rotation and thrown back out into a pen desperate for arms. The addition of Milton in the rotation gives the Blue four lefties in the rotation (Milton, Kershaw, Wolf and Stults).

The Dodgers impressively won the final two games of their three game series in Philly earlier in the week, then hung on as the Marlins nearly rallied against Jonathan Broxton in ninth inning last night. While Broxton was able to get the last out before the tying runs could score last night, he couldn't get that last out on Thursday, blowing a 3-1 lead with two outs, and costing Chad Billingsley another well deserved win. It was the second time Broxton had blown a possible win for Billingsley. But once again, the offense rallied, and Broxton was awarded the win. Broxton now has four wins and nine saves in 11 tries. Speaking of the offense, both Juan Pierre and Russell Martin have been red-hot of late, especially Pierre since replacing Manny in the lineup.

Kershaw takes the bump for the Blue tomorrow in the road trip finale. A series win would be nice heading back home with the Mets and Angels waiting in the wings on the next homestand. Speaking of the Angels, anyone see John Lackey get tossed today after throwing just two pitches? Pretty comical, if you ask me!

Weekend Game Thoughts, and More on Manny

Jeff Weaver is following up yesterday's gem by Eric Stults with one of his today. Yesterday, the Blue earned their first win post-Manny's suspension with another scoring outburst, beating the Hated Ones To The North 8-0. Stults pitched a complete game, four-hit shutout, the second of his career, and improved his season record to 4-1 one, lowering his ERA a full run to below 4. Today, against Giants' ace Tim Lincecum, the Dodgers have tallied four runs so far through five innings, and have staked Weaver to a two-run lead. As we speak, Weaver is being pulled from the game with five solid innings after giving up a lead-off double to Randy Winn here in the sixth.

Really, though, the story of the game, and in the four games since Manny started serving his 50-gamer, has been Juan Pierre. Originally supposed to be a regular everyday player when he was signed three off-seasons ago, and now getting a chance again with Manny out, all Pierre has done is tear the cover off the ball, coming up with big hits, and scoring key runs. Pierre, with two more hits today, is hitting well over. 400 for the season, albeit, still in limited chances.

(Ramon Troncoso enters the game.)

So far, in the three plus games sans Manny, the Dodgers have scored 24 runs, an average of six runs a game (if the current score holds up) through four games, up from their season average per game. So far, the offense hasn't really lost a beat.

If you were watching the game on TV in the third inning, Vin Scully interviewed Frank McCourt after he and GM Ned spoke by phone yesterday with Manny. McCourt basically echoed his disappointment with Manny, and said he was pleased with the conversation he had with Manny. McCourt said Manny has taken full responsibility for his actions. The key component of the conversation,however, was to make sure Manny knew it was important for him to speak with his teammates, as well as the fans. McCourt expects this to happen soon, and he expects to see Manny back on the field for workouts (and to support his teammates during games from the clubhouse) in very near future, perhaps as early as next weekend when the team travels to Florida to play the Marlins.

Now, I'm not going to get into the logistics of L.A. Times columnist Bill Plaschke's thought process into the whole Manny debacle, other than to say I completely disagree with him, and I think he's completely lost his mind. The article he wrote showing his displeasure for Manny, and his tirade on ESPNEWS on Wednesday afternoon was pretty comical, and in a nutshell, moronic. To counter this, Jon Weisman of Dodger Thoughts pretty much echoed how I feel about the whole mess, Plaschke, Kurt Streeter, also from the Times, and many other media members, such as some of the goons at the Big Four-Letter Network, Dodger and baseball fans.

(And for another similar, and more comical take on Plaschke's superb professional journalism, check out this bit over at Fire Ned Colletti Now.

It took me some time to get my thoughts together and figure out exactly how I felt about it all, and Weisman pretty much hit the head on the nail with his comments today. And let's not forget, I still don't care that players have been juicing, because the game has never been on a level playing field anyway.

In any case, as a Dodger fan, I still support Manny, and will when he comes back. I too am a bit saddened that it came to this, but it is what it is, and there's nothing we can do about it.

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.

Opening Day Roster Is Set

UPDATE (8:47PM CT): The final cuts have now been made and much to my surprise, Ronald Belisario will make the team and take the final bullpen spot on the roster ahead of Tanyon Sturtze and Josh Lindblom. Lindblom is headed to AA-Chattanooga to work on being a starter. Ramon Troncoso has also made the team, as well.

Also making the team is Blake DeWitt, who the Dodgers apparently feel would act as a capable middle infield back-up. Juan Castro has been sent out to minor league camp and will re-assigned.

Still at issue, though, is the 40-man roster. The Dodgers have just one spot left on the 40-man for three guys (Belisario, Ohman, Meintkiewicz). Obviously this will work itself out over the next 20 hours or so.

And, forgot to mention earlier that James McDonald has officially been named the fifth starter and will start Friday night's game in Arizona.

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At least for the moment, it's set. Here's the official team release with the roster as of now. Keep in mind this will change between now and game time tomorrow.

Both Claudio Vargas and Delwyn Young are on the list, but both are expected to start the season on the DL. This will open up two spots, one for Will Ohman, who was told he won't have to go to Albuquerque to start the season, and another for Doug Meintkiewicz. With Ohman starting the season on the Big Club, Jeff Weaver, who many thought had made the club as the long-relief/spot-starter with a solid spring, will start the season in ABQ. The reason behind this move is the issue of the 40-man roster and making room on it for him, and any other non-roster invitee who should make the team. Also on the roster is Blake DeWitt, who appears to have beat out Juan Castro for the last bench spot.

In any case, Opening Day has all but arrived and the team is gearing up for the season with one last Spring Training hurrah up in San Francisco this afternoon. Four regulars did not make the trip up north inorder to get one last day of rest before the games begin: Manny, Raffy, O-Dog and Martin all stayed back in L.A. They will be in the lineup starting tomorrow.

Another Reunion?

Add Jeff Weaver to the list of former Dodgers coming back on a minor league deal. Here's Ken Gurnick's story, with more info here from Tony Jackson. Weaver and his beach bleached-blonde hair are a longshot to not only crack the rotation, but to make the team. Next on Colletti's list: Darren Dreifort! By the way, Ned, how's Manny?

Oh, forgot to mention this from my neck of the woods. Andruw Jones has inked a minor league deal with the Texas Rangers, with a chance to earn $1.5MM (including incentives) if he makes the team. The funniest part of this? The Dodgers get half of any guaranteed money he earns from the Rangers. Brilliant!