One day after learning Russell Martin might miss a month or more, the Dodgers heard more bad news on the injury front today. Cory Wade, who twice went on the disabled list in 2009 with right shoulder problems, has been shut down for two weeks after getting a cortisone shot on the same shoulder. "They took an MRI and no structural problems," said manager Joe Torre, "it's similar to what he had last spring."
In other injury news, Casey Blake left today's game in Scottsdale against the Giants as a precaution, saying he felt something in his back while throwing (Ken Gurnick of MLB.com says it's a strained ribcage). Blake may have had the quote of the day, per Dylan Hernandez of the L.A. Times:
"I don't think it's real serious but being Mar. 8, I didn't want to take any chances. Plus, I'm an old man."
Torre noted that Blake had no problems running or hitting, and that trainer Stan Conte felt this injury was "not an issue." Then again, we thought Martin's injury wasn't serious at first, either. Kudos to the Dodgers for playing it safe.
On the field, the Dodgers lost their game to the Giants in 10 innings, but had some highlights:
- Matt Kemp hit the first Dodger home run of the spring, taking Barry Zito deep in the first inning
- Blake DeWitt got on base all four times, with two hits and two walks
- Josh Towers, Carlos Monasterios, and Jon Link combined to retire 14 out of 15 batters. Monasterios in particular threw a 3-2 changeup for a strikeout that had radio announcers Charley Steiner and Rick Monday excited. Torre was also impressed, praising his changeup and how Monasterios kept the ball down
- Chad Billingsley and Clayton Kershaw each gave up a run on three hits in their first two innings of the spring
- Josh Lindblom, in this morning's "B" game against the White Sox at Camelback Ranch, gave up just a single hit in two scoreless innings. Said Torre: "Lindblom impressed me, he's simple to watch."
- Ramon Troncoso pitched a scoreless inning in the "B" game as well
Tomorrow, the Dodgers are back on television, playing the Rockies on Prime Ticket. Scheduled to pitch are Hiroki Kuroda, Charlie Haeger, Hong Chih-Kuo, George Sherrill, and Jonathan Broxton.