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After 13 days of camp at Camelback Ranch, it's finally time for some baseball. The Dodgers open their Cactus League schedule on Monday with a "road" game against the White Sox this afternoon.
Juan Uribe, expected to be the regular third baseman this season, is out of the lineup today but there is no injury. Manager Don Mattingly just wanted to stagger the off days, as many regulars will begin the spring on a program of playing two games, then using the third day to work in the batting cages. Uribe will play Tuesday, and James Loney will not start. There is a rule of MLB teams needing to start at least four regulars in spring training, though I'm not sure how hard it is enforced. Mattingly didn't want to run into problems with that rule.
Chad Billingsley starts for the Dodgers and is scheduled to pitch two innings. Nathan Eovaldi will follow Billingsley on the mound, also scheduled to throw a pair of frames. After those two, scheduled to pitch for the Dodgers are Fernando Nieve, Wil Ledezma, Angel Guzman, Ryan Tucker, and Scott Rice.
Mattingly had nothing but praise for Eovaldi, who for all intents and purposes is basically the sixth starter on this team, ready to be called up should the need arise.
"Joe [Torre] threw Kershaw into the Sandy Koufax mix. I'm going to throw Nate with Kersh. I think Nate's that kind of guy. He works hard, he's got great stuff. He picks things up and will continue to get better," Mattingly said. "We look at Nate as long term, and we think this guy is going to be a quality starter for a long time."
Philip Humber starts for Chicago, and will be followed by old friend WIll Ohman, Jesse Crain, Addison Reed, Hector Santiago, Pedro Hernandez, Charles Leesman, and Nestor Molina.
Starting Lineups
| Dodgers | White Sox | |||
| SS | Gordon | CF | De Aza | |
| 2B | Ellis, M. |
C | Pierzynski | |
| CF | Kemp | RF | Rios | |
| RF | Ethier |
1B | Konerko | |
| LF | Rivera | DH | Dunn | |
| 1B | Loney | SS | Ramirez | |
| 3B | Kennedy | LF | Viciedo | |
| C | Ellis, A.J. | 3B | Morel | |
| DH | Gwynn | 2B | Beckham | |
The Dodgers also listed reserves for each of the first eight positions in the lineup, as all are scheduled to play today. In order, the reserves scheduled to play are SS Justin Sellers, 2B Ivan DeJesus Jr., CF Trent Oeltjen, RF Scott Van Slyke, LF Alex Castellanos, 1B Josh Fields, 3B Russ Mitchell, and C Tim Federowicz.
Game Time: 12:05 p.m. PST (remember, there is a time difference until Sunday)
TV: None
Radio: KLAC 570 AM (Charley Steiner and Rick Monday) & KTNQ 1020 (Jaime Jarrin & Pepe Yñiquez)