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News
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A place to find a quick overview of Dodger news...
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Spring Training Begins
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3/1/03
The Dodgers lost 4-2 to the Montreal Expos. Falling behind early, the dodgers came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie it in the 7th, however in the bottom of the 8th Montreal 3rd baseman Scott Hodges blasted a two run shot of Rodney Myers. The Dodgers threatened in the 9th, but could not produce.
2/27/03
The Dodgers won their first exhibition game of the season against the Tigers on two homeruns by Mike Kinkade. Hideo Nomo started the game and pitched two scoreless innings. Gagne also pitched an inning, allowing a double, but no runs. The dodgers first-round pick James Loney had a Grand-Slam taken away from himby Ernie Young. Non-roster invitee Larry Barnes continued to impress with a two run double in the bottom of the 9th, to give the Dodgers a 6-5 win in Alan Trammell's first game as manager of the Tigers.
2/26/03
The Dodgers now have 2 power lefties who have combined for over 700 homeruns. Fred McGriff is 22 homeruns away from 500. Shawn Green has 234.
When the Dodgers traded Eric Karros, I was very upset. He represented the Dodgers to me. I didn't remember the Dodgers before him. I'm still sad at the idea of starting the season with out the long-time first baseman. But the fact that it is Fred McGriff taking his place does do a lot to make me feel better. McGriff wanted to be a Dodger. He took a pay-cut to be a Dodger. That says a lot.
As Jim Tracy likes to mix up the lineup, Brian Jordan will probably bat cleanup, with McGriff batting 5th. Brian Jordan would have had a disappointing year last year if it hadn't been for his steller September. It didn't help that most of the time, he batted in the bermuda triangle that was the clean-up position. Last year, his knee was injured. This year, he is recovering from knee surgery. For this reason, I still consider him a bit iffy. I just hope the surgery was a success and he'll be back to the Brian Jordan of old.
Last year, Paul Lo Duca had a somewhat disappointing season by the stats. After all, he hit under .300 for only the 2nd time in his proffesional career and did not hit many homeruns. The thing a lot of people forget about Paulie is that he was the only thing that kept the whole pitching rotation from crumbling towards the end of the season. He is one of the most intelligent catchers around. He also had a torn groin muscle most of the year. But now he's healthy. And now he has two catchers to back him up, meaning he'll catch fewer games than he did last year, which will definatly help him.
Shawn Green has a sore shoulder, just as he did last year. It contributed greatly to his slow start. This year, however, he states that he is far several weeks ahead of where he was last year.
Joe Thurston continues to impress. Jim Tracy says he will consider doing a middle infield by committee, which would mean Cesar Izturis playing short, Thurston playing second, and Alex Cora splitting time between the two positions.
Darren Dreifort and Kevin Brown have both successfully pitched off a mound several times. The big question for Dreifort is how long can he pitch at one time? After all, he hasn't pitched in a real game in a year and a half. He pitched two innings in the first intrasquad game of spring training. The big question for Brown is, is he returning too fast? After all, he "returned from injury" twice last year, just to be shut down quickly after. If all pitchers are healthy, Brown, Kaz Ishii, Dreifort, Odalis Perez, and Hideo Nomo, chances are Dreifort would be moved to the bullpen, if for no other reason than he hasn't pitched in the majors since the middle of 2001.
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