Dodgers (0-0) at White Sox (0-0-1)
12:05pm, Camelback Ranch, Glendale, AZ
The spring opener is finally here. The Dodgers and White Sox are battling at Camelback Ranch, with the Dodgers as the road team today.
New Dodger Garret Anderson will wear number 00, a number no Dodger has worn in the regular season. Andre Ethier offered Anderson his number 16, the number Anderson wore for 15 seasons with the Angels, per Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times.
The Dodgers are still interested in Braden Looper as a potential fifth starter candidate, and his agent was hanging around Camelback Ranch on Thursday, says Ken Gurnick of MLB.com. The Dodgers are only willing to offer Looper a minor league deal. Looper has been a starter the past three seasons, but has put up an unimpressive 4.76 ERA (89 ERA+) in that span. His x-FIPs over the last three years are 4.87, 4.36, and 4.87. On the plus side, he was a teammate of Casey Blake at Wichita State. From 1996:
Wichita State teammates showed a lot of heart, too. When relief ace Braden Looper was hit hard and took the Monday night loss in an 8-4 elimination game with Florida State, Looper had trouble keeping his composure in apologizing to his teammates for letting them down. Blake interrupted him. ''I'd like to say something,'' he said, then looked at his tearful teammate. ''Braden, first of all, you didn't let anyone down. You wouldn't let the team down. That's a crock right there.'' The Shockers stood by their man, who was the No. 3 overall pick in Tuesday's major league draft, selected by St. Louis.
The lesson, as always: Casey Blake, beard or no beard, is an awesome teammate.
I missed this yesterday, from ESPN's Tony Jackson:
Jaime Jarrin arrived. Told me he will do 29 tv games on Fox this season. He'll work with Manny Mota
Good for Jarrin, a legendary announcer in his own right. Did Jackson mean Jose Mota though?
Here are the lineups. If you are keeping score of an ever-changing spring training game, I wish you Godspeed.
| Dodgers |
White Sox | |||
| SS | Furcal |
CF | Mitchell | |
| CF | Kemp |
SS | Vizquel | |
| RF |
Ethier | RF | Quentin | |
| DH | Manny | 1B | Konerko | |
| 1B | Loney | DH | Rios | |
| 3B | Blake | LF | Botts | |
| 2B | DeWitt | 3B | Nix | |
| C | Martin | 2B | Lillibridge | |
| LF | Johnson | C | Lucy | |
| P | Padilla | P | Buehrle | |
The Dodgers plan to use this pitching schedule today: Padilla, Ramon Ortiz, and Charlie Haeger for two innings each, followed by Luis Ayala, Scott Dohmann, and Jon Link.
The White Sox are expected to have Mark Buehrle, Jeff Marquez, Scott Linebrink, J.J. Putz, Santo Luis and Freddie Dolsi all pitch.
The game is not televised, but will be on radio. You can listen online here.