More Like Great Year, Am I Right?

Clayton Kershaw will make his second start of the Cactus League on Wednesday night, as the Dodgers head to Goodyear to battle the Cincinnati Reds. Kershaw is slated to throw roughly four innings or in the neighborhood of 60 pitches, possibly more. After the game he will head to Los Angeles, where he will receive the 2011 Los Angeles Sportsman of the Year award from the L.A. Sports Council.

Also traveling to Goodyear tonight are pitchers Michael Antonini, Josh Lindblom, Jamey Wright, Will Savage, and Josh Wall.

Homer Bailey starts for the Reds, who also had a home game this afternoon against the San Diego Padres. Bailey is scheduled to be followed on the mound by Daniel Corcino, Pedro Villarreal, Clay Zavada, Logan Ondrusek, and Kanekoa Texeira.

Injury Update

First baseman James Loney was held out of workouts for the second straight day on Wednesday, still receiving treatment for his strained calf. Relief pitcher Matt Guerrier missed his second straight day of workouts with a back injury. Both are day-to-day.

Ronald Belisario missed workouts on Tuesday with strep throat, but was back on the field on Wednesday.

First Cuts Coming Thursday

Manager Don Mattingly said the first round of roster cuts will come Thursday, and all indications are that the first to be sent to the minor league side of camp will be many of the players just added to the 40-man last winter, who are in their first big league camp. Players like Antonini, Alex Castellanos, Stephen Fife, Scott Van Slyke, Wall, and Chris Withrow, for instance.

There was some talk last week of Withrow possibly starting on March 17, as the Dodgers have their second day-night split squad games of the spring, but that is no longer the case as Nathan Eovaldi and Aaron Harang will start on Saturday against the Rockies and Giants, respectively.

As for Withrow, Mattingly said on Monday after a 2 2/3-scoreless-inning performance that Withrow might have the best stuff in the system. I asked Mattingly today for some clarification on whether he meant to include major leaguers in that assessment, and the manager said yes.

"His stuff is legit," Mattingly said of Withrow. "I'm not saying he's better than everyone, but he's a four-pitch guy who throws 95-96. There a lot of guys like that in a lot of systems. Now he has to put it together. It has been encouraging, he's throwing the ball well here."

We Went To Jarrad, But...

Reporters were scheduled to meet this afternoon with new Dodgers minor league switch-hitting outfielder and former Minnesota Vikings and UCLA Bruins defensive back Jarrad Page, who was signed to a minor league deal out of the Dodgers open tryout camp at Camelback Ranch on March 1.

But the meeting was postponed a week by his agent and brother, John Page, who wanted the 27-year old, six-year NFL veteran to get settled into minor league camp first. For what it's worth, NFL free agency began on Tuesday.

Starting Lineups

Scheduled reserves for the Dodgers tonight are CF Matt Angle, 2B Alex Castellanos, 1B Josh Fields, RF Scott Van Slyke, 3B Ivan DeJesus, and C Josh Bard.

Game Time: 7:05 p.m

TV: None

Radio: None, though an MLB.com broadcast can be heard through MLB Gameday Audio

MLB Gameday