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Carl Crawford's red-hot opening week has Mike Petriello of Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness pleased as punch.
Mark Saxon at ESPN LA writes that Adrian Gonzalez, who drove in four runs with three singles on Sunday, believes in the RBI.
The fine folks at Baseball Prospectus will hold Baseball Prospectus Day at Dodger Stadium on April 27, which features a pregame meet and greet with BP authors Sam Miller, Jason Parks, Joe Hamrahi and Jason Martinez, plus a Q&A session with "industry guests" and Dodgers general manager Ned Colletti.
"I know I feel ready," Tim Federowicz told J.P. Hoornstra of the Daily News . "I know (the Dodgers) kind of feel the same, but at this point in time it's better to go with Ramon and A.J."
Luis Cruz may be 0-for-17, but he's got a long way to go before setting a record. Per Cliff Corcoran at Sports Illustrated, "According to Baseball-Reference.com, the longest season-opening hitless streak by a non-pitcher who was on his team’s Opening Day roster was the 0-for-34 by Indians outfielder/pinch-hitter Richie Scheinblum in 1969."
R.J. Anderson at Baseball Prospectus wrote about old friend Eric Stults, enjoying some success with the Padres. Stults, who will start against the Dodgers on Wednesday in San Diego, is perhaps best captured in this passage from Anderson about an at-bat by Lucas Duda of the Mets:
Stults changed speeds so religiously that Duda never got the same look twice. He started at 63 mph, added 14 mph, subtracted 10 mph, added 12 on, added 7 more on, took 17 mph off, then added 10 again before finishing things off with an extra 9 mph. The at-bat demonstrates Stults' carefulness and resourcefulness as well as it demonstrates his shortcomings. Even in an at-bat where Stults won in the end he had to use a lot of pitches and a lot of looks. Stults has to continue to mix patterns and velocities because he has no other choice. There are no security blankets for junkballers.
Oh yeah, in case you forgot, the Petco Park we see beginning Tuesday is different than in years past, with outfield fences brought in. Doug Miller at MLB.com has more.