Dan Haren pitches 2 scoreless, talks Australia, has never eaten fish

GLENDALE -- Dodgers pitcher Dan Haren threw a pair of scoreless innings on Monday in an intrasquad game that ended in a scoreless tie after three innings. But the news after the game was the most stunning story of spring training to date.

"I've actually never had a piece of fish in my life," Haren said. "I'm a very picky eater."

The 33-year-old Haren grew up liking meat and potatoes thanks to his Irish father and loves Mexican food because his mother is of Mexican descent. Years of not trying fish has emboldened his stance.

"At this point I almost don't want to do it just because I've waited so long," Haren said. "I've been offered a lot of money to try something."

He brought up fish after a question of whether or not he would eat kangaroo meat in Australia.

Haren is one of the starting pitchers, along with Clayton Kershaw, Zack Greinke and Hyun-Jin Ryu, preparing for the Dodgers' two regular season games against the Diamondbacks on March 22-23. Strangely, the Dodgers still have not announced their starters for those two games.

"It's a long trip for us. Going over there is going to be tough, but we have to think of those games as real regular season games so we've got to turn the switch on" Haren said. "The actual trip will be a lot to handle for the starting pitchers, but are we really complaining about flying on a charter plane, staying at a hotel all expenses paid? I don't really want to complain. It's a lot to ask of the players, but I think everyone understands why we're doing it, to build the brand.

"I would be happy with [pitching in Australia]. We don't really know who's pitching or anything yet. It would really stink to fly 30 hours and not pitch, I guess. I don't know what my role is going to be there. I obviously know I'm not the one or two starter, I'm not stupid. I know they're preparing at least four or five of us to be able to pitch there because you never know what can happen."

Grid View

• ESPN Baseball Tonight was on site on Monday
• Dan Haren pitches in first inning.
• First base dugout
• Miguel Rojas at third base, with Justin Turner at shortstop and Alex Guerrero at second
• Joc Pederson, shortly after robbing Andre Ethier of a home run
• Terrible picture. Here is Scott Van Slyke, as Yasiel Puig (off camera) catches a fly ball by Tim Federowicz
• Yasiel Puig in center field
• Chris Reed delivers a pitch
• Maury Wills coaches third base, with Jarret Martin as his bodygyard
• Players and umpire Nick Monaco walk off the field after the game.

Haren allowed two singles in his two scoreless innings on Monday, which included a strikeout of Dee Gordon in a 10-pitch at-bat to open the intrasquad game. Haren will make his Dodgers debut in their fourth Cactus League game, on Saturday afternoon against the Brewers in Maryvale.

Notes

• Joc Pederson continued to impress in the intrasquad games. On Monday he led off the game with a single, then in the second inning robbed Andre Ethier of a two-run home run by reaching over the wall to catch the drive.
• Chris Reed retired five of his six batters faced, including strikeouts of Yasiel Puig and Scott Van Slyke.
• Chone Figgins walked against Paco Rodriguez in the third inning, then stole second base. Both Figgins and fellow non-roster invitee Justin Turner played shortstop on Monday, then stayed after the game to take extra ground balls at the position with instruction from coaches Jose Vizcaino and Juan Castro.
• SportNetLA debuts Tuesday night at 7 p.m. PT, and will be available to Time Warner customers on channels 431 (high definition) and 249 (standard definition) in the Los Angeles area. In a release, SportsNet LA says "We are in negotiations with all other TV providers."
• We now have a second provider to carry SportsNet LA, as Bright House Networks (locally, in Bakersfield) has agreed to carry the network. On Bright House Networks, the network will be on 1107 in HD and 21 and 107 in standard definition.
  

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