Spring Opener Recap: Dodgers Drop Two, Kuroda Sharp In Debut, Padilla Hopes Rehab Days Are Few

The Dodgers opened their spring slate today with a pair of games on the road, and though they once simultaneously held 1-0 leads in both games, the end result was a pair of losses for the Dodgers today. The Dodgers lost 4-1 to the Angels in Tempe, and 8-3 to the Giants in Scottsdale.

In off the field news, Vicente Padilla is back in Camelback Ranch, and says he hopes to be pitching for the Dodgers by May 1, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:

In a best-case scenario, Padilla will need three to four weeks before he resumes throwing, then would need the month of April to essentially go through Spring Training and rebuild arm strength with bullpen sessions and a Minor League rehab assignment.

Because he is being viewed as a reliever, Padilla's rehab will be shorter than that of a starting pitcher.

Notes

• Against the Angels, Hiroki Kuroda allowed one hit in two scoreless innings, striking out one. On the Angels' broadcast of the game, Jose Mota said that Kuroda threw 23 pitches
• Rubby De La Rosa followed Kuroda and also pitched two innings, giving up a pair of runs on an opposite field home run by Mark Trumbo
• Tim Redding, which I believe translates to "Ramon Ortiz" in Spanish, started the game in Scottsdale against the Giants, and allowed two hits in his two scoreless innings. Redding struck out one
• Jamey Carroll had the first hit of the spring for the Dodgers, a one-out single in the first inning against the Giants
• Matt Kemp scored the first run of the spring, as he singled, stole a base, advanced to third base on a grounder, then scored on a shallow fly ball to center field off the bat of Russ Mitchell. Craig Calcaterra of NBC's Hardball Talk describes Kemp's second-inning adventures here.
  
• Carlos Monasterios gave up five straight hits in a 31-pitch third inning, during which he allowed four runs
• Oscar Villarreal didn't fare any better in the next inning, allowing four runs of his own
• Scott Elbert, fighting for a bullpen spot, walked two batters in his only inning of work, but in Elbert style also struck out two, getting out of the inning unscathed.
  
• All nine Dodger starters played four innings in the field in Scottsdale, then exited the game after the top of the fifth. All nine starters got on base once, with eight hits and a walk, but only scored one run.
• Eight Dodger starters played four innings in Tempe against the Angels, while Justin Sellers played five innings
• The Dodgers didn't spread out their offense evenly, collecting 15 hits and three runs in Scottsdale, but just three hits and one run against in Tempe.
• Dee Gordon singled and scored in his first spring plate appearance, in the game in Scottsdale against the Giants
• Jerry Sands started at first base against the Angels, and went hitless in two at-bats
• Luis Vasquez, the 100 mph man, faced four batters in the eighth inning in Tempe against the Angels, and walked three of them. The one out he recorded was via sacrifice bunt.
• Calcaterra was at the game in Tempe today, and noticed that the Dodgers had to take a rather direct route from the team bus to the dugout for today's game against the Angels.
  

The Dodgers resume play tomorrow with only one game, their spring home opener at Camelback Ranch at 12:05 p.m. PST against the Angels. John Ely will start for the Dodgers, and be followed on the mound by Blake Hawksworth, Mike MacDougal, Ramon Troncoso, Kenley Jansen, and Jon Link. Scott Kazmir starts for the Angels.

It is supposed to rain tomorrow morning in Glendale, but the skies might be dry by game time.

Today's boxscores: at Angels | at Giants