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A week after he was told he would not make the team, Doug Mientkiewicz was released by the Dodgers tonight. Also, the club officially announced that Jason Repko and Eric Stults cleared release waivers, and that Stults was sold to the Hiroshima Carp. A source has confirmed that the Dodgers received $400,000 from the Carp for Stults.
After the game, manager Joe Torre announced that Garret Anderson, Ramon Ortiz, and Jeff Weaver made the team, per Jill Painter of the LA Daily News. It appears Carlos Monasterios, Nick Green, and Russ Ortiz are three guys fighting for the final two spots on the roster.
On the field, newly reassigned Justin Miller of the Dodgers allowed two runs in the ninth inning to drop the Freeway Series opener to the Angels 4-3. Some notes:
- The ovation for Garret Anderson in the first inning, before his first at-bat, was lukewarm at best. Here was Anderson, a 15-year Angel, the franchise leader in several categories, a key part of the only World Championship in their franchise history, playing in his first game back in Anaheim since leaving after the 2008 season. He deserved a prolonged standing ovation, and all he got was polite applause. As someone who has seen Mike Piazza and Shawn Green, to name a few, get booed at Dodger Stadium, I don't know why this bothered me so much, but it did.
- Anderson said he would choose a new number, other than his current 00, once he officially made the team.
- Clayton Kershaw was cruising along through three hitless innings, mixing in the occasional slider and changeup to go with his fastball and curve, but allowed two runs on three straight hits in the fourth inning, including a long, opposite field home run to Torii Hunter. On the night, Kershaw struck out five in his four innings of work.
- Blake DeWitt picked up three walks, inching to within one walk of A.J. Ellis in the all-important spring team walk lead. The starting second baseman also had a base hit, pushing his spring on-base percentage to .466.
- Carlos Monasterios and Weaver combined to retire all nine batters they faced. Monasterios pitched the fifth inning, and Weaver pitched the sixth and seventh innings.
- Russell Martin caught his third straight game, and added two hits and walk out of the second spot in the batting order. Martin is expected to be the designated hitter in tomorrow's spring finale.
- Old friend Tony Abreu has made the Diamondbacks' opening day roster, according to Steve Gilbert of MLB.com.
- In what might have almost been a rematch of Game 3 of the NLDS, Chad Billingsley pitches tomorrow for the Dodgers against Joel Pineiro of the Angels.